Road Trip: Tiki TNT in Washington, DC!

Our recent road trip/tiki tour in Washington, DC was fab! Here's our visit to Tiki TNT and Potomac Distilling Company. What a great afternoon!

A Fabulous Phoenix Home Bar

Road trip! Join us for a visit to a fabulous home tiki bar in sunny Phoenix, Arizona!

Surf Music in Connecticut and a Fabulous Home Tiki Bar!

This week we have a visit to a fabulous home tiki bar and music from three incredible surf bands! Shake up a tropical libation and join us!

Go Go Flamingo Tiki Cocktail and Boozy Cherries

Here's the recipe for the drink we served in our crawl room at Ohana Luau at the Lake last weekend! Huge thank yous to all who attended - can't wait to do it again next year!

Bad Day? Visit Your Local Tiki Bar!

Having a bad day? Sometimes all you can do is visit your local tiki bar. We have another episode coming next week from Lun Wah, featuring some suspicious characters, so stay tuned!

Girls Movie Night with Dark Chocolate Rum

It's Girls Night here and my favorite cousin and I are drinking a large tropical bowl and watching the tube!

Porco Lounge & Tiki Room in Cleveland - Painkiller Recipe!

Are you ready for happy hour? Me, too! Today we're visiting Cleveland's fabulous Porco Lounge & Tiki Room for their delicious Painkiller! The title is apt - any pain you're feeling will evaporate after a couple of these little miracles. Cheers!

Road Trip to Tiki Underground in Akron - Mai Tai on the Menu!

Are you ready for a happy hour cocktail? Me, too! Today I'm enjoying the fabulous Mai Tai from Tiki Underground in Akron, Ohio. The recipe is in the video and highly (no pun intended) recommended. Be sure to drop in when you're driving through Ohio. Their decor is beautiful, their food is great and their drinks are spot on!

Hidden Harbor Pittsburgh Tiki Bar - Road Trip!

Today we're excited to bring you along on our recent to Hidden Harbor, Pittsburgh's fabulous tiki hot spot! Head bartender Max Stein makes three drinks, all of which are delicious, and their decor and ambiance are to die for! I wish I was there right now!

Mocktail Monday: Peaches & Kitsch

It's Mocktail Monday and today we're in a tiki mood, with a little something you can enjoy right now, without fear of being fired or thrown out of school, Peaches & Kitsch!

Peaches & Kitsch

2 oz Ocean Spray 100% Juice Cranberry-Mango

3/4 oz fresh lime juice

2 dashes Angostura bitters

4 oz IZZE Sparkling Peach soda

Combine all ingredients in a small tiki mug or double old-fashioned glass and stir gently.

Have a fabulous week!

Oh, Tiki Tree!

Here's another of our many, many Christmas trees, the Tiki Tree! The actual tree is the one my parents bought at Sears in Oklahoma City when I was a tiny child. The ornaments are a combination of handmade, picked up on our travels and given to us by wonderful friends and family, with any bare spots filled in with cocktail umbrellas and flowers. You know my motto: anything can be an ornament!

The Tiki Tree

The Mai-Kai: one of the happiest places on earth!

Tiki Bob ornament by our talented friend Brigitte

Before I had any tiki ornaments I made my own.

Of course we have to have cocktails!

This one was given to us by a dear friend.

More trees on the way!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our 18th anniversary! We've been celebrating for a couple of days at our favorite spot in New York - home! Between being in California recently for Tiki Oasis, being in NYC a lot and heading to California again at the end of September, there's been a lot of "outness" lately, so we both just really wanted to stay home.  Paul prepared a special breakfast this morning - Waffle Benedict - and last night we had my favorite thing on earth, lobsters!

Waffle Benedict a la Paul

Sorry, food police, but I cannot resist

I made Bongo Bongo Soup and Lime Mousse from the Trader Vic's Tiki Party book to go with the lobsters and made a sauce to have with pasta out of some of the leftover broth.

Lime Mousse

Bubbly cocktails have been and will continue to be consumed and we're thinking of more seafood for the grill tonight.

I can't imagine a better anniversary!

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE BAR!

Are you attending Tiki Oasis? If so, don't you DARE miss our symposium! The hideous freak from the sea DEMANDS that you attend! Candy and cocktails will be served! Click here to purchase your ticket and click here to see what you're in for!

IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE BAR!

Hawaii Five-O Happy Hour

Friday night was the end of an era, as we watched the series finale of the original Hawaii Five-O. We started in 2008 and it became a Friday night happy hour tradition. Any time we were home on a Friday night we watched, in order, from the very beginning through season 12. I'm a little sad to see it end, but Columbo awaits! I've been thinking about it and I don't have a particular favorite episode. My favorite thing to do during Hawaii Five-O is to still frame on an extra's fabulous frock or a tiki in a bar or an especially fancy cocktail. I'm geeky that way. I will also confess to loving the entire series, even after Danno left for greener pastures, and including the paranormal episodes (though I was incensed when Chin Ho Kelly got killed in the line of duty). The good episodes are great, but the bad ones are pretty entertaining, too!

Here's to Hawaii Five-O! Steve McGarrett may not have touched alcohol (a point he made repeatedly), but that doesn't stop us from drinking copious amounts of rum out of his mug!

The McGarrett 2

(Serves 2)

2 oz dark Jamaican rum

2 oz amber rum

1 oz guanabana liqueur

1 oz pineapple juice

1 oz black cherry juice

1/2 fresh lemon juice

Four dashes lemon bitters

Combine all ingredients in a McGarrett mug with ice and stir.

So long, Steve!

Whirlwind Washington, DC Trip & AIDS Walk New York

The past four days are a blur, but they certainly were fun! Thursday morning we hit the road for the Washington, DC area, where we shot an episode at Tiki Thirstday at House of Foong Lin, in Bethesda, then another the next day at Archipelago, in Washington, DC.  Tiki Thirstday was an absolute blast. If you're ever in the area on Thursday evening, definitely go! Chef Fu, who has won all kinds of "Best of Bethesda" awards for his fabulous food, and Miss Ling, the general manager and mixologist, are so sweet and the food and drinks are out of this world! And the tikiphiles who attend were incredibly friendly and welcoming. I wish we lived closer and could go more often!

The first of many cocktails at House of Foong Lin

Huge soft shell crabs at House of Foong Lin - heavenly!

The next day we did what we called the "45 minute tour" of monuments, then arrived at Archipelago, the new tiki bar in town. They were super nice as well and have a great place! The drinks and food were both fabulous, but the garnishes were really transcendent. I forgot to get a shot of the one that looked like two exotic dancers on a pole, but they were all pretty special. And they have a Tom Selleck shrine! It's a great place!

The Tiki Thirstday episode will be online May 24 and the Washington, DC episode on May 31!

Tom Selleck shrine at Archipelago

Is it a hat or an island? Or just a fabulous garnish?

Sunday was AIDS Walk New York, our 20th walk! The weather mostly held out (a little rain, but nothing awful) and they changed the route this year, which was so much better than previous years. There was much more space on most of the route, so you didn't feel like you were uncomfortably close to 30,000 strangers - always a plus. And we stopped for a celebratory lunch at Chan's Dragon Inn on the way home - the perfect way to end the weekend!

AIDS Walk New York Star Walker Breakfast

They even had a throne!

Flaming Virgin at Chan's Dragon Inn

I've only been home for two days, but I'm ready to hit the road again! If you have a location you'd like to see in an upcoming episode, please let us know!

Ready To Hit The Road!

If there's one thing I love as much as having a few lovely libations, it's traveling! In my ideal world at least half of our episodes would be done on the road and we're working to make that a reality. In fact, we're hitting the road next week, for our first road trip episode of the season! We'll be visiting Washington, DC and environs, starting with Tiki Thirstday, a weekly event at the House of Foong Lin in Chevy Chase, Maryland! If you're in the area we'd love to see you for tropical libations and fabulous food! Here's a link to the Facebook event page with all the particulars. We can't wait!

It's Tiki Time!

We're having an unseasonably warm day, which means that, for the first time since last fall, we can enjoy a lovely libation in the Velvetiki Room without freezing our keisters off! I'm so inspired I created a new drink, which I call Early Spring!

Early Spring

1 oz dark Jamaican rum (I used Coruba)

1 oz brandy (I used E&J)

1/2 oz orange liqueur (I used O3)

1/2 oz ginger liqueur (I used Domaine de Canton)

3/4 fresh lime juice

1 oz orange juice

1 oz pear nectar

Shake with ice and pour into a tiki mug or highball glass with ice. 

Let's hope this fabulous weather keeps up!

A Visit to Philadelphia

Over the weekend we took a desperately needed overnight trip to Philadelphia and it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered! It sounded like a lot of fun when we originally signed on for it, but as we got busier and busier and the nightmare of our powder room redo got worse and worse we began to have second thoughts. However, we'd arranged to shoot our next episode there, so we pulled ourselves together and made the trip and were really glad we did!

We began at Reading Terminal Market, which is chock full of fabulous little eateries and merchants. It can be overwhelming, due to the crowds, but we gamely got in line at DiNic's, which we'd seen on TV was named as having the best sandwich in America - their roast pork.  We got one with hot peppers and broccoli rabe and it was really great.  We followed that up with a Whoopie Pie from the Flying Monkey Bakery, which was also fabulous.  We were even ushered into seats by our friend Jeff, who'd organized the trip, which was nice after a long car ride.  We shot some video and headed off the The Yachtsman, the tiki "dive bar" which was the centerpiece of the day.

The Yachtsman is celebrating their first anniversary and we were fortunate to be able to shoot there. They've done a lot with their little space, including a fabulous hidden space called the Pineapple Room, whose lighting scheme I plan to steal. The drinks I tried were amazing and I'm happy that we'll be sharing one tomorrow on our new episode! A huge thank you to our friend Jeff Westlake for organizing the event! If you're in the DC area, be sure to check out his Tiki Thirstday nights for great drinks, food and company!

After that we walked over to Joe's Steaks & Soda Shop for cheesesteaks and pizza fries, which were perfect after a few tropical libations.  It was a very meaty day, but so good!

We spent the night with our friends Beth (a.k.a. Mod Betty, from the fabulous Retro Roadmap blog) and Cliff in their adorable home about a half hour outside the city.  We also got to see their fantastic, newly restored vintage travel trailer, which made me very envious!  They were wonderful hosts and can't thank them enough for their hospitality.  We capped off the visit with breakfast Sunday at The Fisherman, a local eatery/time capsule that we've now been to twice and highly enjoyed both times. Order the scrapple!

Here are a few shots from the weekend. Can't wait to return!

The Yachtsman, Philadelphia

Two yachtsmen at The Yachtsman. I'm not sure I trust them at the helm!

The Fisherman, Phoenixville, PA

The Fisherman is ready for Christmas!