We Have A New Store!

Have you ever wondered where you could purchase the bitters and other items that we use on the show? How about in our brand new Amazon affiliate store (click here to visit)?! We're excited to be able to offer many of the items we use on a daily basis (though not actual liquor, unfortunately) and we get a small commission every time we make a sale, even though the prices are Amazon's regular prices. Everyone wins! We won't place anything in the store that we don't own ourselves or haven't personally tried, so rest assured that anything in the store has been personally vetted by the Kitsch-en. I hope you'll visit and come back when you're looking for cocktail-related products! And, if you have any items you'd like to see us carry in the store, let us know!

Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en Cocktail Emporium

Super Bowl Sunday Is Coming!

Are you a football fan? We're not, but we won't let that stop us from enjoying all that lovely food and booze that comes along with game day! Next Tuesday's episode will have recipes for enjoying Super Bowl Sunday, regardless of whether or not you actually plan to watch the game. In the meantime, here's some inspiration from Dole, via their booklet Three Wiki Wiki Parties For Teens. Enjoy!

Tip: that punch will be a lot better with the addition of some dark rum!

Food For Fitness, 1942-Style

When contemporary life seems a trifle strange it helps to look to the past and see that life has always been strange. Today's example comes from the Pet Milk Company, in the form of their 1942 booklet, Food for "Fitness" (the quotes are theirs) for 2 or 4 or 6. This World War II cookbook and nutrition guide is densely stocked with recipes and advice that bear little resemblance to any fitness advice one might receive now, but is fascinating nonetheless. Some examples:

Everything is better when it's molded.

You have to love a fitness regimen that features sundaes!

This booklet was published before canned milk became a rationed food, which accounts for the lack of points mentioned for each recipe - a typical feature of wartime cookbooks. And so many mid-century recipes call for molding. I'd love to know how many homemakers actually molded their meals. 

Let's meet the woman responsible for these recipes - a media star in her day - Mary Lee Taylor, host of the twice-weekly radio broadcast from the Pet Milk Experimental Kitchen:

I have so many questions for Gordon Ellis, "Official Taster" of these recipes!

You have to hand it to Ms. Taylor: she was committed to creating recipes that provided low-cost nutrition and that were accessible to everyone. They may seem bizarre now, but she was fighting the good fight. If you're curious about any of these recipes, pick up a can of Pet Milk today and give them a spin! I'd love to hear how they turn out!

Flower Arranging: A Fascinating Hobby

Who doesn't want to add a little beauty to their home or dinner table? This 1941 tome from the Coca-Cola Company aims to help you do just that, with some ideas that are, indeed, fascinating. Here are a few of my favorites:

If Volume 2 is this amazing I can only dream of what Volume 1 contains!

The elegant arrangements are all well and good, but this book was published by Coca-Cola. Therefore, things take a turn for the decidedly Coke-y by the end. Take it from Laura Lee Burroughs: whether you're entertaining the Garden Club, hosting bridge night or a badminton tournament, the teens or the Boy Scouts, "Pause and relax with Coca-Cola. Eventually your success will be assured." In fact, who needs flowers at all? Park some bottles of Coke on the table and you're all set! Don't forget the hooch (well, don't put it out on Scout or teen night)! 

Wednesday Happy Hour - Three for One Cocktails!

It may be a short week, but it's feeling long to me! Good thing we're running a special - three lovely libations for the price of one, each created for a subscriber to our YouTube channel! Without further ado, here's what we're offering today:

The Straw Boater

The Straw Boater (created for Lucas)

2 oz gin

1/2 oz Ancho Reyes Verde liqueur

1/2 oz pineapple juice

1/4 oz fresh lime juice

1 stopper of Boy Drinks World passion fruit bitters (click here to locate)

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

The Layover

The Layover (created for Jenny)

2 oz bourbon

1/2 oz Aperol

1/4 oz pomegranate liqueur

1/4 oz fresh lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Ocean Voyage

Ocean Voyage (created for Lee)

2 oz tequila

1/2 oz hibiscus liqueur

1/2 oz ginger syrup

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

2 dashes of orange bitters

2 dashes of Angostura bitters.

Shake all ingredients with ice and pour into a tiki mug or tall glass.

Thank you so much to our subscribers and hang in there - the weekend is just around the corner!

Easiest Brunch Suggestions EVER

Everyone knows that brunch is so popular because it means you can have booze with breakfast and no one will look askance. It's not like it's actually breakfast, even if you're eating an omelet or bowl of Cheerios at 9:00 AM. If it's the weekend, it's brunch! This little vintage pamphlet from Seagram's 7 Crown has suggestions so easy that you may just want to host brunch every weekend. Liquor in your coffee? It's okay if it's brunch!

After dinner...yeah, right. ;)

Grapefruit is a classic way to start brunch, particularly when you've added a shot of whiskey.

Brunch is easy and casual. If cocktails feel like too much work, enjoy your hooch on ice.

Or, if even ice is too much of an effort, offer it straight up!

Throw in some bagels and lox and your brunch will be the hit of the season!

Cocktails for Subscribers!

We offered to make custom cocktails for folks who subscribe to our YouTube channel and here are the first couple that we've come up with, in order of when people replied to our post. More coming soon! And, if you haven't subscribed to our channel yet, what are you waiting for? Another fabulous episode is going online tomorrow!

Low Tide

Low Tide (created for Lei Patrick)

1 oz vodka

1 oz Art in the Age sage liqueur

1/2 oz Grand Marnier

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

1/2 oz strong black tea

1 dash of Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Pink & Naughty

Pink & Naughty (created for Jenn Marie)

2 oz silver tequila

1/2 oz Benedictine

1/2 oz Ancho Reyes ancho chile liqueur

1/2 oz fresh lime juice

A dash of cayenne pepper IF you like it hot (you can omit this step)

Pink cherries for garnish

Shake all ingredients except the cherries with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherries.

More subscriber cocktails coming soon, with our thanks! 

Meet Me In The Rendezvous Room

I recently came into possession of three large boxes of my aunt's belongings. She was a flight attendant for 39 years (I know this because her retirement plaque was in one of the boxes) for Continental Airlines and she saves everything, so there was some great stuff in there, including this photo of her in Hawaii (that was her route for years) and this Continental brochure from 1963. Don't you wish flying was still like this?

I still look for crew competence when I fly.

Yes, please!

Sigh.

It will take me eons to get through everything in those boxes, but there are also Continental annual reports for 1967 and 1968, more Continental literature, vintage clothing, tons of jewelry and lots more. It's like Christmas all over again!

Pink Drink for Sunday

Here's a lovely libation we created for the lovely Loni, a generous donor to our Feeding America fundraising campaign! It's perfect for Sunday brunch (or any other day of the week!)

Sweet Pink Bubbles

Sweet Pink Bubbles (created for Loni)

3/4 oz strawberry liqueur (Click here for the recipe we used to make our own!)

2 dashes cherry bitters

Chilled pink sparkling wine

A pink cherry (red is okay, too)

Combine all ingredients in a champagne flute and stir gently.

Thank you so much, Loni!

In other news, our first attempt at doing a live video on YouTube fell apart when we realized that we had to use the webcam in our computer. No bar shots? No mixing drinks? No thank you! We did our video on Facebook instead and it was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the comment that said that we're "destroying tiki" and that young people don't care about this stuff. Where would anyone get the idea that we're trying to appeal to young people?! :D We make drinks, so that lets out anyone under 21, plus I'm pretty sure anyone under the age of 35 has their own shows to watch, starring people young enough to be our children. But I'm glad he watched - thanks for the view!

More live video coming soon and, if you have an idea for a live broadcast, let us know!

Coming Soon: More Live Video!

I hope the first week of the year has treated you right! Whether it has or it hasn't, we have a cocktail to help start the weekend on a lovely note - click here to watch today's new episode!

While you're there, be sure to subscribe to our channel, if you haven't already, because we're planning to start doing more live videos, on both YouTube and Facebook! Facebook is great, but YouTube is where we really need to grow for sponsorships and such (that liquor doesn't buy itself!). We asked for and got some hilarious ideas for live videos and we're excited to try those out. Plus, you never know what live video will bring, which often leads to unintentional hilarity, such as New Year's Eve, when a bottle of prosecco spewed forth over our bar like Old Faithful. So we hope to see you on both Facebook and YouTube. I have no doubt that a great deal of unintended hilarity is in our future!

New Year's Eve, live from the Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en!

Winter Drinks and Appetizers, 1937-Style

Are you still in entertaining mode after the holidays? Do you simply need a drink? In either case, Through the Seasons with Seagrams (1937) is full of inspiration! Whether you seek a Hot Whiskey Toddy for one or a Tom and Jerry recipe "sufficient for 30," this charming booklet has your needs covered. And a four-ingredient appetizer in which one of the ingredients is whiskey? Yes, please!

Cheers!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2017! I know many of you are happy to have 2016 in the rear view mirror. While there were events in 2016 I could have done without (and that's putting it mildly), it wasn't a bad year for me personally. We took many trips on behalf of the show, signed with a multi-channel network and had some amazing experiences. However, I'm ready for a clean slate! I'm not one for resolutions per se, but I do like to set goals at the beginning of the year. One of mine is incredibly ambitious, which is to get our YouTube channel to 10,000 subscribers this year, without paying for them. If you're reading this, could you please do us a personal favor and subscribe to our channel if you haven't already? And please ask your booze-loving friends - word of mouth is everything with a show like this. You have no idea how much we appreciate it. In fact, to let you know how much we DO appreciate it, feel free to let us know that you subscribed and we'll create a cocktail for you! If many of you do this (which I hope you will), it may take a few weeks, but we'll make sure everyone is served a lovely libation of their choice! Thank you!! Here's the link to our channel - look for the red "subscribe" button: Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en on YouTube

In other news, 45 of our 47 Christmas trees have been put away for the next 10 1/2 months or so, but the Elvis tree will stay up through his January 8 birthday and our "classic TV" tree has been converted into a Valentine's Day tree through February 14. We need something to brighten these gray January days!

Happy 2017!