July 3, 2008

Mojito Criollo and Rhum Agricole Blanc

P1010010.JPG Yeah, they're trendy as hell right now, but a well-made Mojito is still a thing of beauty. This variation adds lemon rind to the classic recipe, and a dash of aromatic bitters, which I've seen Cuban bartenders do when I've had Mojitos in Spain. The Agricole Blanc is very funky and earthy, similar to Cachaça.

Ingredients:

12 mint leaves
Rind of 1 small lemon (without the white pith)
Juice of 1 small lime (about 1 1/2 oz.)
1 teaspoon sugar or simple syrup
1/2 cup crushed ice
2 ounces Rhum Agricole Blanc (I used Neissen from Martinique)
Dash of aromatic bitters (I used Fee Bros)
Club soda to taste

Directions:

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the mint leaves, lemon rind, and lime juice. Combine with the sugar, rum and ice, then stir. Pour into a tall glass, then top with sparkling mineral water and crushed ice to fill. Add a dash of aromatic bitters on top. Garnish with mint sprig.

1st Rule Is: The Laws of Germany


2nd Rule Is: Be Nice to Mommy
3rd Rule Is: Don't Talk to Commies
4th Rule Is: Eat Kosher Salami
5th Rule Is: Post Animated Ramones Vids to MeFi

July 1, 2008

Corndog-grabbing Gone Awry

backfire.jpg Derrick Bostrom shares from his collection of humorous, yet oddly-disturbing newpaper clippings and cartoons from the 1980s.

[Link: Things I Should Throw Out: Clippings From The Eighties]

The Hai'deaway Headhunter

Haideaway_Headhunter.jpg After months of late-night research and seemingly endless experiments in basement mixology, I'm proud to announce the Official Cocktail of my home Tiki bar, The Hai'deaway Headhunter, always on the menu, and always made with the freshest and finest ingredients. Bring this 'blog post with you, and receive a dollar off the regular price, or use the following recipe to make one at home:

2 oz. Pineapple Juice
2 oz. Freshly-squeezed Orange Juice
1 oz. Freshly-squeezed Lime Juice
1/2 oz. Freshly-squeezed Grapefruit Juice
1/2 oz. Kalani Coconut Liqueur
1/2 oz. Señor de Curaçao Curaçao Liqueur
1/4 oz. Trader Vic's Macadamia Nut Liqueur
1 oz. 10 Cane Rum
1/2 oz. Cruzan Blackstrap Rum
1/2 oz. Appleton Estate V/X
1/2 oz. Ron Matusalem Gran Reserva
1/8 oz. Absinthe
1/2 oz. Lemon Hart Demerara 151 Rum
1/4oz. Trader Vic's Maraschino Syrup.

Combine all ingredients, except the Lemon Hart 151 and Maraschino syrup, in a blender with 1 cup of crushed ice, and blend for exactly 5 seconds. Pour into a Hurricane glass, and fill with more crushed ice. Float 151 and Maraschino syrup on top. Garnish with the biggest mint sprig you can find.

Suck 'Em Up!

June 30, 2008

Japanese ET Kleenex Pack

ET_KLEENEX.jpg

Because Junkyard Clubhouse's commenters demand it (well, only one commenter, actually).

June 29, 2008

Cochina Cubano-Wisconsino

P1010004 (2).JPG Dinner this evening comprised a delicious tri-tip beef roast, rubbed with a Cuban marinade of garlic, lime juice, olive oil, roasted jalepeno peppers, sherry, cilantro, oregano, parsley, and cumin, then slow-cooked in the smoker for 5 hours over hickory chips. In addition, we whipped up a batch of Cuban-style Frijoles Negros with bacon, white rice, and a fresh green salad, then toasted our culinary masterpieces with a big, bold, and beautiful 2003 Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon that I picked up at a local wine-tasting last year.

Since the marinade was extremely spicy, I also tossed a couple of traditional Wisconsin bratwurst into the smoker for family members with less-developed palates (Mrs. BH and daughter, I'm lookin' at you!) and served them on rye buns with horseradish mustard.

Now it's time for the Simpsons and the Venture Bros. Life is good.

Weekend Project

P1010004 (3).JPG I built a shelf yesterday to hold some of my recent Tiki finds. As the Hai'deaway is getting a bit full, it took me quite a while to find a spot on the wall to mount it. Mrs. BH says that I may have to expand my collection out into the basement hallway.

I'll be working on that.

June 25, 2008

It's A Family Game


From the always delightfully potted mind of the Booberry Alarm Clock comes this awesome bit of 70's nostalgia: the TV commercial for Mego's horrifically named board game, Ball Buster.

What the hell was their marketing department thinking?

[Link: 1975 Ball Buster Game!][via Junkyard Clubhouse]

June 24, 2008

Tiki Bar In A Suitcase

Tikibar_suitcase.jpg
Click to Embiggen

[via bighappyfunhouse]

June 22, 2008

M-I-SS-I-SS-I-PP-I-T-I-K-I

P1010002.JPG
Click to Embiggen

In two-zero-zero-eight I took an anniversary trip
Along with Mrs. BH down the mighty Mississip.
We ate a walnut burger and we had some Smørrebrød
And we caught the bloody Cheeseheads in the town of Trempealeau.*

We've just returned from a 3-day trip down the Great River Road to pick up our daughter from orchestra camp in Decorah, Iowa. We stayed at a couple of bed-and-breakfasts along the Mississippi River, antiqued and thrifted 'til we dropped, ate odd local delicacies, and generally had a very fun time. The weather was absolutely picture-perfect.

As you can see, my tiki-scoring mojo endured my return from California, as I managed to find cool PolyPop tschotkes just about everywhere I went, and at very reasonable prices too, although I did have to pass up a couple of fairly common Trader Vic's fog-cutter mugs which some jackass dealer had marked up to $95 each! Good luck selling those, buddy.

Larger images and item descriptions are located once again in the mug gallery, and some photographs of our trip can be viewed at my Flickr account. I even saw a Tiki bar along the muddy Mississipp, but unfortunately, there wasn't a single thing tiki about it besides the name.

[Link: Tiki Mug Gallery]
[Link: Great River Road Photos]

*-No actual foam Cheeseheads were harmed in the making of this truly awful song parody.

June 18, 2008

It's the Future...So Where's My Rocket-powered Tiki Arm?

tiki_arm.jpg
Click to Embiggen

Mrs. BH bought me a Waring Pro Professional Ice Crusher for our 27th anniversary. It's fabulous, but it's got a really big chute, so I know it's only a matter of time until I get my paw chewed off sticking it in there to dislodge a stuck ice cube.

In anticipation of that tragic day, I've decided that I wish to be fitted with a rocket-propelled prosthetic arm, holding a tiki mug.

That is all.

Bay Area Tiki Booty

P10100071.jpg Behold, my Tiki-mug scores from in and around the Bay Area:

Left-to-Right: Stockton Islander 3-face Bucket mug, Trader Dick's Sparks, Nevada Moai mug, Tiki Bob's San Francisco Skull mug, Orchids R-72 Moai mug, small Harvey's Lake Tahoe Hula Girl bowl.

Larger images viewable in my mug gallery [Link]

June 15, 2008

DotDotDotDashDashDashDotDotDot

3DAAD.jpg Aloha.

I'm back. Normal posting will resume when Mrs. Bali Hai and I return from a belated anniversary trip down the Mississippi to enjoy the hospitality of a couple of quaint, and hopefully-not flooded bed and breakfasts, before picking up our daughter from orchestra camp in Northeastern Iowa. In the meantime, please enjoy a virtual Three Dots and a Dash cocktail, as served at the Las Vegas Don the Beachcomber's, circa 1965.

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. orange juice
1/2 oz. honey mix (1 part melted honey to 1 part water)
1/4 oz. Fee Bros. Falernum syrup
1/4 oz. Pimento liqueur (Berry Hill)
1 1/2 oz. amber Martinique rum
1/2 oz. Demerara rum (80 proof)

Put all ingredients in a blender. Add 3/4 cup of ice and blend for 5 seconds. Pour into a specialty glass, and garnish with 3 Maraschino cherries and a pineapple spear (3 dots and a dash). Add more ice to fill.

Aloha.

Mr. BH

May 30, 2008

A Fortnight Without Me

I'm off to the SF Bay Area for the next two weeks on bidness. Blogging will probably not occur here in the interim, so the 5 or 6 of you who're still reading this blog will just have to go find something else to do.

Previous 10 entries...

Hollywood Forever? Maybe Not May 30, 2008
My Animated Pal Foot Foot May 29, 2008
The Most Wanted and Unwanted Music May 27, 2008
Drop a Coin in the Bimbo Box May 24, 2008
The Curse of Tezcatlipoca May 22, 2008
Nixon Ist Der Mann! May 21, 2008
Kon-Tiki Paper Model May 19, 2008
Sweatin' To The Zombies May 18, 2008
Howazabout A Nice Hawaiian Submachine Gun? May 17, 2008
Handmade Mood Music For Worrisome Souls May 17, 2008
The Man of Bronze Reprinted May 14, 2008
Mixology Monday: Rum May 13, 2008
Bring On the Walking Fish and Tiny Elephants May 12, 2008
The Great Airplane Strike May 11, 2008