Tie One On Tuesday!

The roaring 20's. Ladies were loose, the drinks were stiff and the time was high. What better way to spend a night than with a powerful drink while dancing the Charleston. Prohibition may have started but it definitely didn't stop us.


Contrary to popular belief not all Southerners sit on our verandas drinking Mint Julips. Most of us drank out of the jug with XXX on it, but I'll include this interesting drink cause I'm a Southern lady (quit snickering). This concoction is mainly sipped around the time of the Kentucky Derby but it is great for any of those hot summer nights.

Mint Julip
Ingredients
4 to 6 leaves of mint
1/2 oz. of Bourbon Whiskey
1 tsp. powdered sugar
2 tsp. water
Muddle mint leaves, powdered sugar, and water in a Collins glass.
Fill the glass with shaved or crushed ice and add bourbon.
Top with more ice and garnish with a mint sprig.

Oh my goodness! I do love a Margarita! I have no idea how such simple ingredients can cause such a riot, but give a few of these to a some sassy girls and  watch the dancing begin! This drink began in Tijuana when it was a popular vacation spot.

Margarita
2 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Cointreau
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
ice cubes
Kosher salt
Rub a cut lime wedge around the rim of your glass then dip into a dish of kosher salt.
Pour ingredients into shaker, add ice, shake well and pour into your salt rimmed glass. Please-do not blend, not this time.

The Last Word, invented at the Detroit Athletic Club during the early 1920's was, up until recently, a "lost" cocktail. Revived thanks to the resurgence of interest in vintage cocktail, this drink takes a delicate balance to mix correctly. If you master it, you will have the last word and it will be, "Now you're on the trolley!"

Last Word
3/4 oz dry Gin
3/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
Ice cubes
Combine all the ingredients into a shaker with ice, and shake well for EXACTLY 10 seconds. Pour into a chilled glass.

The 1920's brought us excess and downfall (sound familiar?). Women got the right to vote, Speakeasies replaced saloons for social gatherings and The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. Being the pioneers that we are, we learned to make a great cocktails even in the face of banned alcohol. It was truly a time of change.

Thank You

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. It is a day that we honor and give thanks to those who have served in the military. I would love to honor my father who was a Drill Sargent in the Marines. If you knew my father, you could see it. He served in the Korean war. My father-in-law was in the Navy during the Korean war and was one of the youngest salvage deep sea bell divers and at the time was the youngest Lieutenant Commanders in the service. Now my nephew is in the Army and although I worry about him-I know that he comes from strong stock and will come back even more of a cuss than when he left.

To honor our men and women who so dutifully served and gave their lives for freedom, I have decided to pick a few of my favorite war time or military movies and none of them have John Wayne in them!

Mash came out in 1970 and addressed the Korean war through the eyes of a wacky medical unit. This black comedy chronicles the daily lives of civilians drafted into military service. It's a serving of nurses, doctors and their patients with  a side of hot lips and martinis. Robert Altman's classic allows us to laugh at a tragedy of war and know that being human is okay.
Robert Duvall as Major Frank Burns is a sight not to be missed.

You KNOW I love a good 1940's musical. I can NOT resist them! Betty Grable in Pin Up Girl is just too much for me to handle. She is absolutely adorable in this musical comedy romp. Her imagination is much more vivid than her real life but it does lead her to a true love who happens to be a naval hero. Will she get the guy and the USO? You have to watch to find out.

One thing I love about military movies in the 1940's is that they were supportive and knew of the sacrifices that everyone was making. At the end of most movies during the 40's, they reminded us to buy war bonds at the concession stand, and they told us that, "we know you're suffering for freedom, but let us entertain you". One movie that celebrates (in it's own way) the women of the war is Rosie the Riveter. During the war, Rosie and her friend Vera have to share the last room with a slightly dysfunctional family. Although the movie doesn't spend a lot of time on the importance of Rosie and her fellow workers' role in the war, it does allow us to see the history of what women went through. Jane Frazee is wonderful and the musical numbers are catchy. Plus, how can you be upset at a movie that has a Conga line in it.

Again, I want to thank the men and women who have given their life for their country. Their sacrifice of the one thing so precious should be honored.  We should learn from our history and hope that there is more peace than war, more laughter than heartache and more love than hate.

Sweet Saturday

Memorial day kicks off the summer season and keeping with tradition there will be tons of BBQ to celebrate the holiday.I have the perfect way to impress your friends and cool down than with this absolutely easy yet beyond belief delicious frozen lemon cream cupcake. 

Lemon Cream
1 cup sugar
Juice and finely grated rind of one lemon
2 cups whipping cream

Crust
1/4 cup salted butter (you can use unsalted but the salt in the butter gives a little savory to the tart and sweet of the cream)
1/2 cup crushed graham crackers
1/2 cup crushed corn flakes
2 tablespoons sugar

Fruit, mint or candied lemon for garnish

To make the lemon cream:
Combine sugar, lemon juice and rind into a large bowl. Gradually beat in the cream. You do not want the cream to be stiff, just enough to mix everything and to have a heavy texture but not a full stuff whipped cream texture.

To make the crust:
Melt butter in a pan over low heat and stir in crushed graham crackers, corn flakes and sugar. Take off of the heat and mix together.

Line cupcake/muffin pan with cupcake liners and spoon crust mixture into the bottom to make a crust. Next scoop in the lemon cream-have it reach just about to the top

Place cupcake pan in the freezer for at least 3 hours for small bite size cupcakes and over 4 for jumbo size. Take out and garnish with fruit, lemon candy or mint.

I took the cream out of the wrapper so you could see what it looks like but serving at a BBQ or party, I could leave them in the wrapper. You can eat them in a single bite or with a spoon and just like ice cream they will melt in the heat so take them out at the last minute.

I can't believe how easy something this decadent is! The combo of the graham cracker with the lemon cream is to die for! Make these for your next get together and you will be the life of the party! People will bow at your feet. I promise!

Crazy Lazy Daises

Whenever I come across patterns that say "Yours" and "Mine", I instantly think of someone looking at their partner and saying, " Ummmm, honey, that's mine, THAT'S yours" and then mumbling how much of a butthead they are under their breath. LOL! These patterns are too sweet to think ill thoughts of your sweetie, but they will bring a tear to your eye having to do all those lazy daises and french knots.

Wild Card Wednesday Give Away!

It's Wednesday and Anything goes! Why? Cause I say so! Summer is almost here for most of us, that is, unless you live in Portland Oregon right now-which it hasn't stopped raining. So, to kick off Memorial day weekend I thought I would give you-my happy reader-a chance to win embroidery from me-the happy writer. What do you win-well, I'll show ya! You get a chance to win this adorable hand stitched apron and because I'm feeling extra generous, I might throw in a few more goodies into the box. Cause, I'm nice like that.

How do you enter? You have to leave a comment-that's it, nothing more, nothing less. If you Facebook about the give away, you get another entry and if someone else decides to follow my blog and says you sent them here, it's another entry.See, easy peasy! The drawing will be next Wednesday so get going on those entries! Good luck!

Tie One On Tuesday!

I know, I know, I missed last week. I had a good excuse. I was enjoying dinner and some of the best syrups from one of the best bartenders in the Pacific Northwest and his lovely wife. I was going to continue my history lesson but I have to put that on the back burner for a week to introduce to you the best cocktail I have ever had in my entire life.

Here's a little back story about the best cocktail in the world. OMP and I were invited over to see our friend, Miles, new house (remember Muntiki-well, that's him). While we were admiring probably one of the coolest mid-century houses I have ever seen, Miles mixed us up a great cocktail in the coolest mugs. I took one sip, then another and pretty soon I was sucking it down. I wanted more! I needed to stay somewhat sober so I could be respectable(STOP LAUGHING!) around his parents. So, I drank my fluid from the gods and when we left, I looked at OMP and demanded that I get the recipe and that he has one of these waiting for me everyday when I got home from work. Well, I got the recipe but alas, no OMP waiting for me in a towel and a smile with my cocktail.

SOOOOOOO...without further ado, I give you the best cocktail known to man. It is brought to you by Beachbum Berry's Grog Log. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you....

 Photo courtesy of Craig Lee

The Sidewinder's Fang
1 1/2 ounces fresh lime juice
1 1/2 ounces orange juice
1 1/2 ounces passion fruit syrup (you can get this from my friend Trader Tiki-ORDER IT NOW!)
3 ounces club soda
1 ounce Jamaican Rum
1 ounce Demerara Rum

Blend with 1/2 cup crushed ice for 10 seconds. Pour into a large snifter filled with ice cubes. Garnish with length of spiral-cut orange peel (Miles garnished with pineapple and mint)

I know usually I give you three drinks but this one stands alone. Maybe it was the person making it, maybe it the passion fruit syrup-I'm not sure but what I do know is that this drink makes me very happy and it's can be made into a great non alcoholic version for  those who prefer it that way. Now go out, spread the word about this drink and Trader Tiki's syrups! Preach the gospel!

Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive

I absolutely love old musicals. The glamor, the costumes, the over the top productions just make me so giddy! One of my favorite composers not only in movieland but also on Broadway is Johnny Mercer. He could write a song that could melt a prison matron's heart.

Probably one of my favorite Mercer songs is in the film, The Harvey Girls. Not only is a great musical but it has one of my favorite actresses-Judy Garland. I had no idea that The Harvey Girls were real women who worked as waitresses in the Famous Harvey Houses. Judy plays a mail order bride who goes out west Once she sees her future husband, she decides to become a Harvey Girl. The opening scene has Garland singing On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe ( I get happy just thinking about this song). This song sets the tone of the movie and thus begins a great singing ride in the wild west. Mercer won the Oscar for that song, and it justly deserved.

Another movie that is a timeless classic is Breakfast At Tiffany's. I had no idea that Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics to Moon River. I always credited Henry Macini for the song but he wrote the music while Mercer wrote the lyrics. AMAZING! I like to think  that he wrote that song about his hometown of Savannah Georgia and how he missed that rich southern culture. Now, if you haven't seen Breakfast At Tiffany's then stop reading this blog and go out right now, rent it, study it, enjoy it. It is THE Audrey Hepburn movie. Ms. Hepburn plays Holly Golightly( LOVE that name!) an outgoing socialite who is fascinated by her neighbor. One minute she is an outgoing bubbly flirt but the next she is as vulnerable as a child. Moon River won Mercer another Oscar.

One of the greatest torch songs every written is One For My Baby. Although Frank Sinatra sang it later and made it popular it was first introduced in the movie The Sky's the Limit staring Fred Astaire.  Playing as a Fying Tiger, Astaire decides to sneak away from his squadron and goes AWOL for a few days. During that time, he meets and falls for a photographer who thinks that he is a drifter. Mercer was nominated for an Oscar but did not win. The song, however, has stood the test of time.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as Mercer tunes are concerned. Some of my favorites are I'm an Old Cowhand, Glow worm, Fools Rush In, Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (one of my theme songs), and That Old Black Magic.His songs shaped the world we live in. I truly believe that his down home charm mixed with his ability to know the exact feeling at that perfect time made him a master of words.