As we approach day 300 of being confined to our homes, we no longer have any concept of time. What even is “a weekend†anymore? Surely a thought-provoking question, the answer to which we do not know. Among the concepts rendered meaningless is “the cocktail hour,†as the Barefoot Contessa herself reminded us all earlier this week at 9:30 a.m. Now, Ina Garten certainly believes in the tradition of the cocktail hour. In fact, in the video posted to Instagram, she starts off saying it’s her “favorite†tradition, which is why she wants to keep it alive during the coronavirus pandemic. She then goes on to make an astonishingly large Cosmopolitan, dumping cups of Grey Goose (“good vodkaâ€), triple sec, cranberry-juice cocktail, and freshly squeezed lime juice into a pitcher bigger than her head, which she gleefully shakes and then pours into a hulking martini glass.
“Now doesn’t that look fabulous, nice and cold,†Garten says to her drink as much as she does to her viewers, letting out an endearing chuckle before carefully lifting the glass to her lips for a sip.
Here’s what Garten is saying, based on our interpretation: Time is meaningless. Pick your own cocktail hour, any hour. Go forth and shake yourself a Cosmo; show complete disregard to whatever the clock says.