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!

Dark City, 1996 for Noir Movie Monday

Jennifer Connelly in Dark City. Wowsa.

Here’s a very stylish, very cool flick…a movie that has “Dark” in the title, and it doesn’t get much more ‘noir’ than that.

Dark City, 1996

starring Rufus Sewell, William Hurt, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly and Richard O’Brien.

What the hell is going on in this movie? is what you’ll be asking yourself in the first 15 minutes. Very strange imagery throughout, the viewer is thrown into a state of surreal chaos from the opening seconds. Written and directed by Alex Proyas (The Crow, I, Robot) this sci-fi mystery combines visual styles from steampunk (real steampunk, not that plastic gears on blue jeans crap) to art deco to industrial to nautical, blending everything together in a crazy mash-up (and for good reason, which I will not divulge here…remember, no spoilers at the Tiki bar).

Kiefer Sutherland plays a very, very strange character in this movie, so far removed from Jack Bauer or the Lost Boys it’s hard to believe it’s him. Jennifer Connelly has a smaller part, but still manages to be one of my favorite chicks of all time. Rufus Sewell does a great job as a guy with amnesia who has no idea what the hell is going on (that phrase will pass through your mind several times, but don’t worry, it will all be clear by the end).

The story: Can’t say too much, because I don’t want to give anything away. The best thing about this movie is that it’s so far out there, literally far out there. Watching the ‘truth’ unfold is half the fun. Basically a guy wakes up in a bathtub, remembers nearly nothing, not even who he is, and finds he is being chased for a murder he doesn’t remember committing. Sound normal? Forget about it. It all goes crazy from there. Especially when he sees the city (which seems to exist only at night) change. I mean, like buildings coming down and new ones popping up. ‘nough said.

The reason this crazy flick makes it to the Noir Movie Monday spot is that the city, cars, clothes, everything…is all a combination of our recent past, mixing styles of 1920s art nuevo, 1930s art deco, mid century modern, doo wop, you name it. From a Horne and Hardart-style automat to 1950’s cars mixed with 70s cars and 30s clothes, the whole look and feel of the movie is vintage (which, as I said, is explained later in the flick). Add to that some very kreepy undertaker-looking kats, and Jen Conelley performing the steamiest version of “Sway” I’ve ever heard (it should have been longer) and a very original story, and you’ve got a winner.

What I really like about this flick is that it takes you to places you’d never expect, both physically and plot-wise. Everything is constantly changing, with the main character’s quest to find his identity (and what the hell is going on) the only constant.

Food & Booze: Hard to pull anything from the flick as nobody ever seems to actually eat or drink anything. But…just for fun, I’d go with the theme of the different eras, maybe homemade baked bread with a TV dinner and Kraft macaroni and cheese. Wash it down with an old fashioned followed by a slippery nipple. Catch my drift?

By the way…Richard O’Brien was Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Proyas wrote the part in this movie especially for him.

Watch this one with the lights off for the best effect.

Here’s the scene with Connelly singing “Sway”. Actually not sure if it is really her singing or not…according to the info on the video it is her, not the voiceover that was done in the released version of the movie.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the screening room at Pirate’s Cove Tiki Lounge

Do you like noir mysteries? Do you like what you read here? Then you should check out Stardust Mysteries, with my novels Murder Behind the Closet Door and Murder on Tiki Island!

Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail: My Blue Heaven

My Blue Heaven

Here’s a easy one to mix up quick at the Tiki bar. It looks pretty and the chicks really dig it.

My Blue Heaven

1 oz Silver Rum
1 oz Blue Curacao
1 oz Coconut Creme
2 oz Pineapple Juice

Easy method:
Put everything in a shaker and shake it up real nice with ice, until the shaker gets frosty. Pour it over the rocks in a Tiki mug and garnish with a piece of pineapple, and if you have it, a blueberry.

Difficult method:
Go to the music shop and buy a book on how to play saxophone. Learn to play the saxophone. Buy sheet music to My Blue Heaven, and record it with a couple of jazzing’ cats to a swing beat. Set up a record deal with a major jazz label and have the recording distributed. When it reaches the top of the charts, have it pressed in vinyl as a collector’s piece.

Buy a high end hi-fi turntable. Set it up at your Tiki Bar and put the record on. Follow directions above.

MMM, good stuff.

-Tiki Chris reporting from the bar at Tiki Lounge Talk

A day off, and your weekend Tiki Cocktail: The Tropical Sunrise

Tropical Sunrise

It’s been a rough week, kids…no doubt you saw there was no Mod Movie Monday this week. Been crazy-bizy with work (good), writing (better), and of course, drinking exotic cocktails (best). I’m racing to get Murder on Tiki Island finished for the April 30th debut, and it’s taking a lot out of me. So I took the day off from work, have been doing some writing, and will begin drinking those exotic cocktails any minute!

Here’s a fun and easy on that tastes great at any Tiki bar or poolside cabana. The Islanders’ answer to the Tequila Sunrise, here’s…

The Tropical Sunrise

In a shaker, combine:
crushed ice
2 shots spiced rum
1 shot triple sec
2 shots orange juice
2 shots pineapple juice
Grenadine

And shake, baby, shake! Strain into a tall glass filled with ice, drizzle with grenadine and garnish with orange slices, a pineapple wedge and a cherry. Preferably on one of those little plastic swords. You ever see the drink swords at the Mai Kai? They’re HUGE! I think they must have them special-made, cuz I ain’t seem em anyplace else that big. Anyway, there’s you drink…cheers!

-Tiki Chris P reporting from behind the bar at Tiki Lounge Talk, the Blounge for Tiki and Retro Lovers around the world. Come and visit me and my lovely wife Colleen at The Hukilau 2011, here in fabulous Fort Lauderdale, June 9-12!

Your Weekend Tiki Cocktail: The Bela Lugosi, via Kahuna Kevin!

The Bela Lugosi by Kahuna Kevin

There’s a new book of Tiki drink recipes on the market, kids…Kahuna Kevin’s “Why is the Rum Gone”. Wow, dig it, it’s got 40 NEW recipes the cat dreamed up himself, all rum-based and as he says, Tiki-licious. Now, I haven’t gotten the book yet so I haven’t tried any recipes, but this one on his Facebook page really caught my eye…and as a tease, he tells us the ingredients, but not the concoction…

The Bela Lugosi (© Kahuna Kevin)

(great name, huh?) Kahuna Kevin’s description on the FB page is as such:

“A dark, blood-red muddled raspberry sweet cocktail containing 3 strong rums, including Lemon Hart 151 Demerara and 94 Proof Blue Cane Agricole, tropical fruit juices, 3 bitters and 2 cane syrups. A perfect aperitif to compliment your raven haired midnight snack!”

Kahuna Kevin's Tiki Drinks

Holy cats! If that doesn’t sound like something that would swing at the Tiki Bar, I don’t know what does. And believe me kids, I know what does. You can buy the book (info at http://kahunakevin.com) for 25 clams plus shipping. Looks like a very kool tome, and something Tikiphiles will be squacking about for years to come. Good luck Kevin!

Ok, since that was a sort of a cheat, I suppose the Tiki thing to do would be to slide you a recipe you can make tonight. So here’s your second Exotic Cocktail for the weekend…

Coco-Nut Cocktail in a Coconut

The Coco-Nut Cocktail

From one of my favorite books on Tiki drinks, The Tiki Drink Book by Jennifer Trainer Thompson, this is an easy to make cocktail is very sophisticated (because it has vermouth in it)

1 1/2 oz Spiced Rum
1 oz Kahlua
1 oz Dry Vermouth

Pour everything into a shaker with ice and shake it up until frost appears on the outside of the shaker. Strain into a martini glass and serve it up. Garnish with a white tropical flower, or shaved chocolate. You can dust the rim with powdered chocolate, too. Very kool drink. Of course you can serve it in a coconut, too.

Have a nice weekend swingers! - Tiki Chris reporting from lounge.