Happy Valentine’s Day from the Tiki Bar!

To The Tiki Lovers, Pirates, Retro Hipsters and Swingers…

Have a Happy & Fun Valentine’s Day!

Here’s a very romantic recipe for a Chocolate Martini…

And here’s a few old-fashioned Valentine’s to remind you of the good old days…

Brrrr…Chilly at the Tiki Bar, Time for a Warm Rum Drink!

With the snow in the north and a little chilly weather (50’s at night) down here in Sunny South Florida, I thought it might be nice to throw a couple of Hot Rum Drinks your way.

(Drink recicpes from Drink of the Week)

Tom & Jerry

1 oz. Dark Rum
1 oz. Brandy
1 Egg
1 tsp. Sugar
6 oz. Hot water milk, or coffee
Seperate egg in two bowls. Add Rum & Brandy to the yolk and beat together until frothy. In th other bowl beat the egg white until it peaks then add sugar and bet until stiff. Fold into the liqour mixture. Pour into a coffee mug and top with the water, milk or coffee. (Ready made batter can be store bought - for this simply add alcohol and water, milk or coffee.)

Very Merry Cocoa

Cocoa
1 oz. Vodka
1 oz. Kahlua
1 oz. Creme de Menthe (white or green, your choice, I like green)
1 oz Bailey’s, or a hazelnut creme is also tasty.
Mini-marshmallows (optional)

Mix the liquors together in a glass or shaker first. Make cocoa as you normally would (leaving out some of the water/milk), then dump the liquor mix in on top, and stir. It’s cocoa with a pretty strong kick, but the mini-marshmallows can make you feel like a kid again (just don’t let the kids confuse the drinks!).

Living and Loving the Tiki Lifestyle

Sometimes you just have lay back and enjoy the good life. Yesterday, my buddy Mark (aka Tiki Tender) twittered a recipe for a drink called the Tiki Girl. A nice combo of rum and amaretto, this drink was very, very enjoyable, not sweet and sugary like you might think, but more complex like a real exotic cocktail should be.

So here’s what I did…Last night, with the parrots squwaking in the background and some Martin Denny on the hi-fi, I took his recipe (find it here at tikitender.com) and built it in a vintage glass at my Tiki Bar. (I still have the Christmas lights up on the bar so the whole thing was sort of surreal). The only ingredient I didn’t have was the garnish, but I did have a paper umbrella, so it was A-OK.

It’s the little things in life that can really make you smile. After a long couple of weeks at work, crazy money stuff, and dealing with a haunted Cadillac (long story), it was nice to sit down and relax with a kool Tiki Cocktail. After the second one, I didn’t have a care in the world!

Those who follow me on twitter can attest to the fact that these are pretty strong drinks, as can be seen from my twitter stream last night. Make sure you check out Mark’s site at tikitender.com, he’s got lots of fun stuff and great Tiki drink recipes!

Thanks again to all of you for tuning in to my little Tiki Blog. I really do dig writing about this stuff, and hope my goofy rants from the Tiki Bar give you a laugh, or at least a smile!

-Tiki Chris, AKA Mack, AKA Mr. Loving the Tiki Life!

Celebrate Repeal Day! Have a drink!

Al Capone

On December 5, 1933, the United States came to its senses and ratified the 21st Amendment, repealing the most ridiculous laws ever enacted in America…Prohibition. Yes, in case you missed that little tidbit in History class, from 1919 to 1933, it was illegal to make, sell, import, export, drink, look at or dream about alcohol. These laws were pushed through by a small but loud group of extremists who kinda thought making liquor illegal would stop people from drinking it, thus ending all problems of crime, mental illness and poverty in the US.

Boy, were they wrong.

In walks Al Capone, and a whole lot of other smart guys like him. Up starts bootlegging. Crime shoots up, innocent people are killed (or jailed for having a slug), distilleries go out of business and moonshiners rake in the bucks. Yea, that worked really well, huh?

So in 1933, in the height of the Great Depression, the government ratified the repeal of these silly laws. YAY! Depression lessened immediately, gangsters went legit, and even though the economy was still bad nobody cared because they could get tanked on Jack while digging the tunes of Benny Goodman and Cab Calloway. If it weren’t for Hitler, the 30’s would have turned out all right.

So celebrate today with a swig of your favorite booze, a shot of hooch, a teacup of gin, a pull of beer or a refined cocktail in a highball glass. Whatever your pleasure, imbibe…for today marks the milestone when the US Government decided they should stick to governing and leave individual freedoms alone:)

Cheers, baby!

Note: If Prohibition had actually worked, this would not be Tiki Lounge Conversations. It would be “Tiki Juice Stand Talk” and the conversations would be about playing Lawrence Welk tunes on my C-melody sax while drinking lemonade and driving my 1984 Chevy Citation. YUCK-OLA

Learn a little more about Repeal Day at http://www.repealday.org/

New Tiki Drink Recipe! Cap’n Mack’s Pirate Grog

Thanksgiving for most people means a day spent with family, eating and watching football. Well, as we are displaced 1200+ miles from any family, my wife and usually have an intimate Thanksgiving dinner at home, just the two of us. This year was no exception, and we had a great day with a smoked turkey and the Wizard of Oz. If I have anything to be thankful for, it’s my wonderful wife Colleen.

Of course when you have a few days off in a row without needing to tend to guests, you start experimenting at the Tiki bar, right? Well, I sure as hell do. And I came up with something pretty decent.

I love rum. I love Coke. I love rum and Coke. Cuba Libre, as it’s know when you add lime. What I really like is to screw around with the basic recipe, and see what happens. That’s how I invented the Pirate’s Wench (click to see post). This little number is a spin-off of the Wench. It starts out the same, then takes a very islandy, Tiki-y twist. And it’s reeeeealy, reeeeally kickin’, kids! Try it out, it won’t disappoint.

1 oz Sailor Jerry Rum
1 oz Malibu Coconut Rum
1 oz Dark Rum (I prefer Meyer’s)
3 drops bitters
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
sprinkle of nutmeg
Coke
Lime

Start with a shaker of ice, add the three rums, bitter, and vanilla. Shake it up, baby. Strain into a large Tiki mug filled with ice. Liquor should fill mug about half way. Fill with Coke, squeeze in juice of 1/4 lime, and two shakes of nutmeg, stir. Top with a little more nutmeg and lime wedge. Damned good grog! IF you like it sweet, add a little pineapple juice to taste. Avast! And May Ye Enjoy The Captain’s Private Stock!