Monthly Archives: December 2015

Happy New Year… Old School Style!

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This post was 40 years in the making…straight from the pages of the 1976 edition of Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook handed down from Heather’s Grandma. (Thanks Betty!) We decided to celebrate New Year’s Eve by making a few retro recipes. What better way to ring in 2016 than to party like it’s 1976?

The elusive cherry. Do you remember being so excited? So excited that there was a cherry in your bowl of fruit cocktail? Current cans seem to have way more cherries than I recall from my youth. At 6 years of age, I certainly wasn’t asking mine to be served in ginger ale with a dash of bitters over it, but we ate this Ginger Fruit Cocktail and it was a nice trip down memory lane.

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What’s a party without a log? A Salmon Party Log to be specific. Laugh all you want, but this is remarkably good! We both thought it would be disgusting, but dared each other to try it. It turned out to be our favorite recipe of the day. This might be due to the high quality canned salmon used, Bumble Bee Prime Fillet Atlantic Salmon. Or it might be due to my impressive log-rolling skills.

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For our final course, we went with the Broiled Grapefruit. Heather wasn’t a fan (too bitter). The broiling didn’t add as much flavor to it as I anticipated. But we like the picture.

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This was so much fun, we’d like to do it again some time. Do you have any retro recipes that you dare us to try?

We had a great 2015 (thanks for the 15,000+ views!) and look forward to 2016. Hope you all have a great new year. Cheers!

Broiled Grapefruit
Ginger Fruit Cocktail
Salmon Party Log
NEW cook book

Cool Bob deserves a tiki drink!

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One of our days in NOLA we took the Ferry over to Algiers. I highly recommend this if you have a couple hours to spend. It’s a beautiful little residential area with lots of character. It was nice to walk around and check out all of the architectural styles. Plus, you may get to meet Cool Bob (from Buffalo of all places) at the Old Point Bar! We chatted with him for a while before we had to head back out into the heat, and across the river.

Heather under the vintage Schlitz sign.
In the cool air conditioning of the Old Point Bar.
The dart board in the Old Point Bar.
Old Point Bar sign.
Cool Bob…was cool!
Old Point Bar from the Levee…at about river level. Yikes!

After the ferry ride back, we meandered our way over to Latitude 29, again. We weren’t aware that famed rum collector Professor Remsberg was going to be in the bar for a meeting. I wish we could have said hello, but didn’t want to interrupt.

Professor Remsberg’s Punch and the Kea Colada.
Heather being nonchalant, with the Professor in the background.
Latitude 29’s Lapu Lapu.
The bar at latitude 29.

Professor’s Remsberg’s Punch is the inspiration for my version of Planter’s Punch. Most versions of this punch are different, so feel free to make it your own!

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2eat2drink Punch

  • 3 oz El Dorado 12 year demerara rum
  • 1 1/2 oz demerara simple syrup
  • 1/2 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 2 dashes Fee Brother’s Cherry bitters

Shake with ice and serve in a well garnished glass. Or you can always mix up a pitcher and stir!

The Lapu Lapu I created is based on the Disney version from The Tambu Lounge at the Polynesian Resort. I altered the recipe slightly from what I found only because I wanted to use a better rum for the float than 151. Plus, I can’t bring myself to use sour mix.

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The Lapu Lapu

  • 2 oz Myers’s Dark Rum
  • 3 oz fresh pineapple juice
  • 2 oz fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • 1/2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
  • float 1 1/2 oz Clément V.S.O.P. Rhum Agricole Vieux on top before serving

Mix all ingredients except float and stir well. Pour into a hollowed out a fresh pineapple filled with ice. Gently pour additional rhum to float on top. Garnish with orchids and mint and serve with a straw.

What is your favorite tiki drink? I’d love to know so I can do another series. Cheers!

Get your tiki on!

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First, I hope you all had a marvelous holiday! Mele Kalikimaka! Happy Christmakuh! Etc.

The rest of this post is long overdue. Heather and I went to New Orleans in July. It was a marvelous get away, despite being all too quick. But it had a purpose, besides going to one of the most fun cities that we’ve been so far: I wanted to shoot some new pictures for the RAF On The Side Expo. As the incoming president (current president, given it’s December!) of the board of the RAF, I was super excited about our first partnership with the Rochester Contemporary Art Center, and I wanted to have some new work to highlight. It was a show for RAF members to share the artwork they do “on the side”, or those things that aren’t paid work.

What does that have to do with tiki drinks? Latitude 29 is one of the coolest places in NOLA, and we went there. Twice. It served as great inspiration, even 5 months later, to create this post (and tomorrow’s, where you can see more).

Here are a few pictures from the On The Side show.

These are the 4 pieces that were in the show along with 2 others in the series. Reflections of Abe and Spirits of the Bar sold during the show!

Reflections of Abe Lincoln
A Beer with Jean Lafitte
St Louis Cathedral
Time Worn Tuba
Spirits of the Bar
Jackson Square Jazz

Here are a few other highlights from our trip.

Anita beer. Drink local!
The sign at the Cornstalk hotel.
Our room at the Cornstalk.
The view from Stanley
Bottles at So Bou
breakfast at Stanley
Dinner at the Green Goddess
US on the balcony at the Cornstalk.
St Louis Cathedral-wide
The Rillette at Latitude 29

 

And last but not least, your tiki inspiration! This is my take on the huge variation of Mai Tai recipes that are out there.

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  • The Mai Tai
  • 2 ounces Don Q Cristal or other light rum
  • 2 ounces Blackwell rum
  • 2 ounces Myers’s Dark rum
  • 1 ounce Grand Mariner
  • 1 ounce fresh pineapple juice
  • 1 ounce fresh orange juice
  • 1 ounce fresh lime juice
  • splash of grenadine

Mix all ingredients well (except grenadine) and pour over crushed ice in a  hurricane glass. Top with a splash of grenadine. Playfully garnish and serve with a straw. Cheers!

Thankful for Leftovers

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Hope you all had a marvelous Thanksgiving, with lots of friends and family time!  It’s been a busy week, but sharing leftovers with you seemed like the right thing to do. After all, what are friends for!

2eat2drink-thanksgiving-2015-sized

Believe it or not, I ate this sandwich. Maybe I have a big mouth…or maybe half of the meal ended up outside the delicious rosemary olive oil roll. You decide. Either way, I was super hungry and it was awesome!

Please stay tuned, I have lots of good things to post coming up soon! In the meantime, have a great start to your holiday season. Cheers!