which does wonders for improvising the absence of just about ANY ingreedient other than mix/vodka/ice, pepper, and lime...

vietnamese spicy garlic sauce. it's red, with i assume little yellow spicy pepper seeds in it. it can probably be purchased at any asian market in sf, but i found it by accident in north beach at a middle eastern liquor store when looking to improv a desparately needed friday morning bloma for a coworker. it really does the trick. not sure what the trick is, but it does it.

just thought i'd share.

oh yeah, and pepperoncini juice works REALLY well for olive juice in a pinch. not that one would be more accessible than the other, in general circumstances, but ya never know.