TIKI CULTURE

Happy New Year from the Tiki Lounge! Banana Banshee and Shirley Temple Recipes for your NYE Party!

Happy New Year!

It seems like just yesterday I was writing a Happy New Year post here under the swaying palms. 2011 went by pretty fast…maybe not fast enough for some of us kats! But it’s over now, just a few hours left as I write this post. This is definitely one of those years that needs to end with a big BANG and you can bet your bottom buck we’ll be doing just that.

Swingin’ in the New Year should be fun and full of music, dancing and booze. Just remember to play it safe, kids. You know I’m always hawking drinks on this page, as cocktails are part of what make living the Tiki good life so good. Drink up, enjoy ‘em all ’til you’re as happy as a clam…just remember to do it right, and don’t do anything stupid like trying to drive, or ask your boss for a raise, or operate a steam-shovel while loaded!

Here’s a couple of my favorite New Year’s cocktails. One is full of wonderful booze, the other is the world’s greatest non-alcoholic cocktail for any aged partyer.

The Frozen Banana Banshee

Banana Banshee

I’ve featured this krazy cocktail a few times already here at Tiki Lounge Talk, but I can’t get enough of it. I had my first Banana Banshee at a New Year’s Eve Party in 1977. It was all the rage in the mid 70s in Philly, and it just seemed to fit perfectly with the disco music and white polyester suits. Later I found out it was a much older recipe, having a good run in the 1940s and 50s but without the ice cream. Either way, anything with bananas in it is OK with me for the TIKI BAR!

Ok, I wasn’t old enough to drink in 1977, but it was my Uncle’s house, at his swingin’ basement bar, and he made one with less alcohol in it just for me. I’m old enough to enjoy the full hit of booze now, so here it is:

2 oz Creme de Banana
2 oz Dark Creme de Cacao
4 oz Meyers Dark Rum
2 oz Coconut Milk
1 Large Banana
5 Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream
1 Cup Ice

Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend on high, in 5 second bursts, until the ice is crushed and the drink is thick and drinkable (don’t liquefy it trying to make it smooth). Garnish with a pineapple wedge, a cherry and if available, chopped fresh coconut. Don’t forget the umbrella. Makes about two tall servings.

The Original Shirley Temple Cocktial

Like everything else in the world, good old fashioned drink recipes get changed and updated until they are unrecognizable. I’ve seen some kookie variations on this non-booze drink, but the original is still the best…for any age.

Ginger Ale
Grenadine
Maraschino Cherries

Fill a highball glass half-way with ice cubes, and add the ginger ale until almost full. Add about two tablespoons of grenadine, drop in a couple of cherries and stir. If you don’t have grenadine the cherry juice is just as good, maybe better. Everyone has their own taste when it comes to how much cherry flavor to add, so start with the two tablespoons and add a teaspoon at a time until you dig it. That’s it!

New Year’s in South Florida

While the rest of the country is enjoying the freezing cold, bundled up in heavy coats and scarfs as they swing down to their NYE party, we in SoFla will probably be wearing Aloha shirts and short skirts as the temperature today is already in the high 70s. This means there will be a lot of outdoor fun, including fireworks, concerts on the beach, booze cruises, and lots of bar hopping in Fort Lauderdale and Miami. There’s nothing quite like toasting the new year in 70° weather, on the beach, under a palm tree.

This year the little lady and I will be celebrating with some friends at a good old fashioned house party, one of our favorite ways of swingin’ in the New Year. One thing we haven’t done, which is on the list, is celebrating New Year’s Eve in Key West. I have a feeling that Duval Street would be more fun than barrel of monkeys at the turn of the year!

Happy New Year from Tiki Chris, and the whole Tiki Lounge bunch - Colleen, our pooch Cookie, the cats, the birds, the ‘53 Chevy and lizards that live on the lanai.
Here are some last minute ideas for an Atomic New Year’s Eve Party!

Cary Grant: Sophisticated Style for Retro Lovers

Cary Grant

This isn’t going to be a particularly original post, but a fun one nonetheless. Today’s post at the Tiki Lounge is dedicated to that debonair man,

Mr. Cary Grant.

Equally at ease in a wool suit playing a heavy, or goofing around in a tennis sweater, Cary Grant played every part with the sophistication and charm just not found in today’s movie scene.

Known for about a thousand great movies, Cary Grant’s career spanned over five decades and included such notables as The Awful Truth (1937), Bringing Up Baby (1938), Gunga Din (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), His Girl Friday (1940), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), Notorious (1946), To Catch A Thief (1955), An Affair to Remember (1957), Houseboat (1958) North by Northwest (1959) and Charade (1963).

Six of his films are on AMI’s list of top 100 romantic films. He gave his entire salary for both Arsenic and Old Lace and The Philadelphia Story to the war effort. He turned down the role of James Bond in Dr. No because he felt at 58, he was too old to play the part (of course he was mistaken). He had his face on an American postal stamp and did almost all of his own stunts.

And he looked damned good in a suit.

Even in those days when men wore suits the way people wear ripped jeans and corny t-shirts today, the man had a way of letting those threads drape down, that set him off in some kind of mid-century GQ hipsterland.

Just dig this kat standing in front of that 1930s roadster. Sharp lapels, pinned collar, tilted pork pie. Now that’s how a man should dress, right?

Still lookin’ sharp as a tack, even as he got older. I think that old saying “men look more distinguished with age” originated with this picture. Dig those cuff links. Real men wear cuff links.

“A hat’s not a hat ’til it’s tilted”, the old song goes. Mr. Grant proves that point quite succinctly here. I wonder what color that tie was.

Even as the bad guy he looked good. Check out the dimple in the tie. I wonder if anyone but me and a few of you reading this even know how to do that with a tie.

This one almost makes me want to take up smoking.

Sure, these were publicity shots and clips from movies. The man was made up by the wardrobe and make up departments to look the part. Sure, it’s just a part, but it’s the part he played and made us believe.

This guy was the original Mr. Smooth; suave, funny and smart, tough when he needed to be and sweet when the ladies wanted it. Throw in the English accent and you’ve got the one and only Cary Grant.

-Tiki Chris P. reporting from the wardrobe department at Tiki Lounge Studios, Miami Beach

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Painkiller Cocktail Recipe - Your Weekend Tiki Drink

The Painkiller

As far as exotic cocktails go, The Painkiller ranks as one of the most famous…and most ordered…at the Tiki Bar. Along with the Navy Grog, Zombie, and of course the Mai Tai, The Painkiller has become one of the drinks most closely associated with Tiki. Kind of funny, when you realize the drink wasn’t concocted until the early 1970s…a time when the Tiki Bar craze was already beginning to fade.

Before the recipe I have to make a note that Pusser’s Rum, a brand that’s only been around for about 30 years, claimed and trademarked the cocktail “Painkiller”, claiming it was originally created using their rum. Uh…well, the Tiki community takes issue with that claim, but Pusser’s does own the trademark. Whatever…use any rum you want at home. I prefer Meyers for this blend.

The Painkiller Cocktail Recipe

2 oz dark rum
1 oz cream of coconut
4 oz pineapple juice
1 oz orange juice

Shake all ingredients in a shaker until nice and frothy. Strain over crushed ice in a Tiki mug or Collins glass and garnish with a chunk of fresh pineapple…an orange wheel and cherry are nice with it, too.

Painkiller Tiki Bar, NYC

Many of have probably heard of this drink in the last year as it, and an NYC Tiki Bar that went by the same name, made minor headlines when Pusser’s sued the New York City Tiki bar “Painkiller” over rights to the name. It seems what Pusser’s was really pussed-off about was that they weren’t using their brand of rum…again, whatever. The bar had to comply with Pusser’s demands, and is now called PKNY. The REAL news to this story is that…hey! Another Tiki Bar opened in New York City! From what I’ve read it’s not a traditional Tiki Bar, but is still keeping the spirit alive.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Tiki Bar! Hess Trucks & Charlie Brown

The first Hess truck, 1963

Thanksgiving in the subtropics is a little different than it is for most people. For instance, today I put the top down on the convertible and drove down to the Hess station to buy a toy Hess Truck.

When I was a kid, we’d get up extra early on Thanksgiving, drive down to the Log Cabin Diner in West Atlantic City and have breakfast (they were one of the few places open). It was right next to the Hess Station…and we’d have breakfast there because the Hess Trucks came out on Thanksgiving Day. The Hess station opened at 8am, and there was always a line of about 50 people waiting in line to get a truck. We waited in this line for several years in a row, until we realized that line fizzled out around 9. So we’d go to the diner, have breakfast and wait for the line to slow down. Once it was down to about 5 people, one of us would go get in line, buy a truck, and return to breakfast.

If you didn’t get a Hess Truck on opening day, chances are you wouldn’t get one at all that year.

Things are a little different now…they trucks come out on November 11, and you can always get one online. Oh…and I remember when they were $4.95. Now they’re 28 clams.

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

One thing that never changes is Charlie Brown…We’ve been watching the “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” since it came out in 1973. Of course back then you had to get the TV Guide and bookmark the page for the date and time. In the 80’s we video taped it, so we didn’t have to worry about missing it. In the 90s we bought the video tape, and that’s what we still watch every year.

What a masterpiece of mangling holiday traditions! What kid wouldn’t want a dinner of popcorn, toast and jellybeans, prepared and served by his dog? I have to admit, at least twice over the years we’ve had a similar Thanksgiving dinner…once on purpose, for fun.

If you haven’t seen CB’s Thanksgiving, you’re missing out on a real treat. You can catch the whole episode of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on YouTube.

The house smells like turkey. We’ve got the air conditioning on because it’s 78° outside. We’ll have our traditional little turkey dinner in the dining room, then have drinks at the Tiki Bar on the lanai.

From us here in the sunny land of South Florida, we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Murder on Tiki Island by Tiki Chris Pinto: Great Review on LetsTiki.com

The great reviews keep coming in for Murder on Tiki Island by yours truly, Tiki Chris!

Recently Darrin Vindiola of Dads Dish wrote a spectacular review of the book, siting it’s great imagery, fun characters and original plot line.

This week, Damon of Let’s Tiki wrote (and put on video) his great review of this Tiki-lover’s tome:

“Aloha,
I want to tell you about a great book I recently read, Murder on Tiki Island.  I really enjoyed the book. It made me feel like I was on a tropical vacation when, in reality, I never left Wisconsin.  Murder on Tiki Island was written by Tiki Chris Pinto.  The book takes place in October, 1956, and follows the story of New York City detective Bill Riggins…” You can read the rest of the review here at LetsTiki.com.

Damon is a long-time connoisseur of Tiki cocktails, culture and decor. His Let’s Tiki website has a ton of great info, exotic cocktail recipes and much more for the Tiki lover.

Mahalos for that glowing review, Damon! It’s kats like you that the book is written for!

-Tiki Chris P., author of Murder on Tiki Island.