Popocatépetl's Hot-buttered Coffee Grog

Hot Zombie

Baby, it's cold outside, and nothing says "Wintertime" to me quite like a hot-rum toddy or coffee grog served up in a ceramic skull. Here are two fine examples for your dipsomaniacal delectation.

I whipped up the coffee grog using the basic recipe for the Volcano House Hot-buttered Rum drink in Beachbum Berry's Grog Log, but I subbed Cruzan Blackstrap rum for the Myer's Dark called for in the recipe, and added 3/4 oz. of Patrón XO Café (a surprisingly delicious coffee-flavored tequila). I dubbed the resulting beverage the "Popocatépetl", after a 17,000-foot volcano in Mexico.

The Hot Zombie recipe is from Sippin' Safari. It contains lime and pineapple juice, passionfruit syrup, gold Jamaican rum, brown sugar, hot water, a pat of butter, and a cinnamon stick. Delicious, easy to make, and even though it's served hot, it still tastes much like the Speviak Zombie, which is also in Sippin' Safari.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 7:01 PM | Permalink

I've found some mighty odd cocktail ephemera in my many years of puttering around antique stores and thrift sales, but this box of 50 cocktail napkins, juxtaposing quotations from Shakespeare with mildly-risqué cartoons of dames and drunkards, really takes the martini olive. Seldom have the words of the immortal Bard been used to less salubrious effect.

I've scanned the best ones, and uploaded them to a gallery for your viewing pleasure.

Bottoms up!

[Link: Shakespeare Howls Cocktail Napkins]

Posted by MrBaliHai at 4:12 PM | Permalink

Click images to embiggen

While poking around in a local antique store this morning, I found a fantastic Hawaiian Ku carving. It stands about 18-inches tall, and is carved from Monkeypod wood. There's no artist signature, and the hole in the bottom suggests that it was turned on a lathe, but that's all I know about it. Like most Hawaiian art, it probably was made for the tourist trade. Still, a nice find.

In other news, I received a most pleasant surprise in the mail the other day. Kevin, the head bartender at the Tiki Bar and Lounge in Melbourne, Australia, sent me a copy of their new menu, beautifully illustrated in classic mid-century Polynesian Pop style by local artist, Fiona Palmer. The drinks sound great. I'm particularly intrigued by the "Get Smart"-inspired Cone of Silence, which features a shaved-ice cone.

As they were closed for remodeling, I unfortunately missed out on the Tiki Bar when I was in Melbourne last January. However, I'm (very tentatively) scheduled to go there again this March, and Kevin assures me they'll be open for all of my tropical refreshment needs this time. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Chief Lapu-Lapu

Dr. Wong with Homemade Grenadine

It's been a cold, wet, and miserable weekend 'round these parts, an appropriate ending for a really crappy week at work that ushered in our umpteenth layoff, and a promise of future pay-cuts for those of us who remain. I feel lucky to still be employed, but my job just keeps getting less and less enjoyable. On the bright side, I just consolidated all of our mortgage debt, and refinanced at a ridiculously low rate, so any potential salary reductions hopefully won't have much of a deleterious effect on our financial status.

Needless to say, I've been too busy digesting these delicious sh*t sandwiches to blog much, but I have managed to escape downstairs to the Hai'deaway for a couple of exotic libations recently, so I'll tell you about them.

The Chief Lapu-Lapu is named after the Filipino Chieftain who whacked the famous world-circumnavigating Portuguese sailor, Ferdinand Magellan, during a battle in 1521. I drank my first one at the Royal Hawaiian Restaurant in Laguna Beach a couple of years back. The restaurant is still around, and they continue to serve this fine potable, although a change of ownership and a poorly-conceived remodel have stripped it of much of its vintage charm.

Like its namesake, this drink packs quite a wallop, and thanks to my use of homemade sweet and sour mix, along with some good-quality Passionfruit-pulp syrup, it was far tastier than the one I had in Laguna.

3 oz. Sweet and sour mix (homemade: 1 part lime juice, 1 part lemon juice, 1 part sugar syrup)
3 oz. Fresh-squeezed orange juice
1 oz. Passionfruit syrup (Finest Call)
1 1/2 oz. Dark Rum (Cruzan Blackstrap)
1 1/2 oz. Light Rum (Appleton Gold)

Shake with ice cubes and pour into large snifter filled with more ice cubes.

I made some Grenadine syrup from fresh pomegranates a while back, and I've been itching to try it out, so I whipped up a Dr. Wong last night, it's a variation on the Dr. Funk cocktail I blogged about a while back. Wong and Funk clearly graduated from the same med school, but Dr. Wong advises his patients to cut back on the rum, and take a healthy dose of Passionfruit juice before bedtime. This drink was served at the old Luau of Beverly Hills. A new 90210 Luau just opened up in the past month or so, and although they've "updated" the decor with the typical pan-Asian crap you find all over LA these days, they've kept much of the old Luau's original drink menu intact. However, I'm not sure if Dr. Wong has been resurrected along with them.

1/2 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Tonga Mix (4 parts grenadine, 1 part Passionfruit juice)
1 Tsp. Pernod or Absinthe
1 oz. White Rum (I used Rhum Agricole Blanc)

Blend at high speed for 5 seconds with 3 oz. of crushed ice. Pour into a pilsner glass.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

From Trader Vic's Tiki Party:

Juice of 1/2 Lemon
Juice of 1/2 Orange
1/4 oz. Orgeat Syrup
1/4 oz. Demerara Cane Sugar Syrup
2 oz. Bourbon or Rye Whisky (I used 1 oz. Sazerac Rye and 1 oz. of Knob Creek Bourbon to cut down on the sweetness of the bourbon a bit).

Shake with 1 1/2 cups of crushed ice and pour into a double old-fashioned glass. Garnish with mint and a fruit spear.

I used a specialty mug from a Thai restaurant, and garnished with a skewered orange, lime, and lemon shell. A crouton soaked with lemon extract provided the flame.

Posted by MrBaliHai at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)