Mocktail Monday: Christmas Orange Soda

It's Mocktail Monday and today we have a festive holiday highball! Bottoms up!

Our Christmas Record Has Arrived!

Our Christmas record has arrived in our store and we have a pretty pink cocktail to celebrate! Here's the link to secure your OWN copy! Merry Christmas to all!

Mocktail Monday: Weekday Party + Our Record is HERE!

It's Mocktail Monday, but today's drink feels like a weekday party in a glass! And, speaking of parties, our Christmas record is here! Two boozy Christmas songs, destined to become holiday classics, along with a digital download code for the vinyl challenged! Find it here!

A Little Something for Giving Tuesday

It's #GivingTuesday, but remember that charity begins at home - reward yourself for you generosity with this lovely libation!

Mocktail Monday: Walking in a Winter Wonderland

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink is like walking in a winter wonderland, but with none of the encounter with nature! Have a fabulous week!

Glendora's Awkward Thanksgiving

Glendora is preparing herself for an awkward family Thanksgiving with a little wine. Okay, a lot of wine. Happy Thanksgiving!

Mocktail Monday: Coconut Cranberry Highball

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink goes perfectly with Thanksgiving dinner! Happy Thanksgiving!

O Thanksgiving Tree

Move over video fireplace - it's the Thanksgiving tree! 80 minutes of rotating Thanksgiving delight! Sure to add that little something to your Thanksgiving celebration.

Mocktail Monday: Working Vacation

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink has the caffeine you need to get through the day!

Mocktail Monday: Bitter Apple Brew

It's Mocktail Monday and today's warm drink is like autumn in a mug!

Mocktail Monday: Slumber Party of Horror

It's Mocktail Monday and you're invited to a slumber party...OF HORROR! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Cocktail: A Bucket of Blood

Hey, man, today's drink is for all you Halloween hipsters. Don't be a square - pick up some Campari, wine and black cherry juice and make the scene with this beatnik brew.

Mocktail Monday: The Grady Twins

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink really wants you to come and play... Have a fabulous week!

Mocktail Monday: Teenage Zombie

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink is positively undead! If you haven't seen the movie "Teenage Zombies" you're missing a true masterpiece of slow pacing and dimwitted characters. And it's available cheaply! Happy Monday!

Mocktail Monday: Mocktail Please

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink is a viewer submission! Let us know if you have a drink you'd like us to make and have a fabulous week!

Glendora's Halloween Date and New Wine Cocktail

We're in the Halloween spirit with a visit from our favorite cousin and plenty of wine! She'll be back soon to let us know how her date went...

Mocktail Monday: Rosey Squash

It's that time again - Mocktail Monday! Today we're taking another trip back in time for a tart and easy-to-prepare drink that you can sip all day and still go about your business. Have a fabulous week!

Mocktail Monday: Queen Charlotte Fruit Punch

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink is fit for royalty! Have a fabulous week!

Lunch-Box Favorites, 1963-Style

Now that everyone is safely back to school and work are you already bored with your lunches? Take a trip back in time for some inspiration, courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens Lunches and Brunches (1963)! The cover alone makes me feel like I need to up my lunchtime table-setting game. And that plaid lunchbox and matching thermos! Like I need more things to tote around the city - but I'd make an exception for those. Note that the menu for first graders sounds a lot better than the one for executives on diets. Just one of the many things to love here! Bon appetit!

Mocktail Monday: Nutty Monday

It's Mocktail Monday, but today's drink will have you swearing it's still the weekend! I may have to look into some warm beverages for upcoming episodes - it's downright chilly here today! Fall certainly arrived with a vengeance. Time for all things pumpkin and apple!

Pieathalon 2018!

It's time once again for the Pieathalon, where bloggers from all over simultaneously make the world a better place through the magic of pie! We all submit a recipe that is assigned to someone else and we have a pie assigned to us. This year I got Cheese Pie, from 1973's Woman's Own 365 Menu Cookbook.

Turns out Woman's Own, which bills itself as "The best women's weekly magazine in the UK!" is still being published and even still has recipes. This one stands the test of time, although I'm not sure I consider it a pie per se - more of a casserole, really. No matter, it was perfect for me right now, since I'm swamped this week and can't wrap my mind around the idea of baking. If you like veggies and cheese (And who doesn't like cheese?), here's an easy comfort food dinner that requires no skill whatsoever!

The most labor intensive part of this recipe is the chopping of the vegetables. I added the peas at the last minute, since mine were frozen, and I didn't add the corn to the water at all, since they were from a can.

Next comes the fun part: cream and cheese. I added some spices to mine, too - salt (which is a mineral, but you get it), pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper. Mid-century recipes tend to be pretty bland for our tastes.

Then, into the pie plate! 

I had to make a couple of adjustments to my version. The recipe says to separate out some vegetables to use on top, but the plate was so full I couldn't even use them (they'll be used for something else). Also, it says to "brown under a hot grill," which I assume means a broiler, but our broiler is useless so I put it in the oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees, which worked like a charm!

We paired it with a lovely Malbec and have lots left over for lunches! It may not be much of a "pie," but it's a great inexpensive vegetarian dinner. What's not to love?

Be sure to visit these fabulous blogs for even more Pieathalon goodness!

• Aloha Meringue Pie by Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook
• Apricot Meringue Pie by Eliot's Eats
• Chocolate Mousse Pie by Kelli's Kitchen
• Cool Mint Cookie Pie by The Book of Cookrye
• Dutch Peaches and Cream Pie by Vintage Recipe Cards
• French Raspberry Pie by Tortillas and Honey
• Frosty Vanilla Pie by Battenberg Belle
• Kate's Pie by Dinner is Served 1972
• Lemon Beer Sponge Pie by Homicidal Homemaker
• Marguerite Patten's Cheese Pie by Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en
• Mock Pecan Pie by MyCustardPie.com
• Olde English Eggnog Pie by HeritageRecipeBox.com
• Peaches and Cream Tart by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Puddin n' Pie by The Sound of Vincent Price & Vincent Price Legacy UK
• Ritz Cracker Mock Apple Pie by Dr. Bobb's Kitschen
• Seafoam Cantaloupe Pie by Recipes4Rebels
• Strawberry Ginger Pie by Granny Pantries
• Sweet Onion Pie by Silver Screen Suppers - The Wonderful World of Film Star Eating and Drinking
• Tansey by The Nostalgic Cook
• The Millionaire by Once Upon a Salad
• Tyler Pie by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Vincent Price Pineapple Meringue by Retro Food for Modern Times
• Weight Watchers "Almost a Pie" by BookClub CookBook
• Yul Brenner's Walnut Pie by Vintage Cookbookery

Happy Birthday, Paul! Join us for a cocktail!

It's Paul's birthday and we're celebrating with one of our favorite movie monsters! Join us for a lovely libation and toast to the birthday boy!

Mocktail Monday: Banana Cooler

It's Mocktail Monday and today's drink is positively bananas! Grab your blender and join us!

Mocktail Monday: Swimmer's Punch

It's Mocktail Monday and today's lovely libation is perfect for summertime pool parties! I hope you'll be attending at least one this week. ;) Cheers!

Hawaiian Hop Party Prep

There are just certain cookbooks that keep on giving and one of my favorites is 1964's The Seventeen Cookbook. This particular volume was published before I was born, but I loved Seventeen Magazine as a teenager. This was before there were approximately 85 gajillion YouTube channels and websites aimed at teens, so Seventeen was where I learned about things like clothes and makeup and read about teen models like Whitney Houston, whose lives seemed a lot more glamorous than mine. 

No, I'm not sure I CAN deal with jealousy

The Seventeen Cookbook features not just recipes, but tips for parties, dates, family get-togethers and so much more. The nation was a little Hawaii-obsessed at the time, so that theme features prominently, including plans for a Hawaiian prom. The Hawaiian Hop looks like a lot of work, but they do instruct young prom planners to enlist a lot of help. I would love to see this actualized. Maybe we'll rent a gym and try it one day. If you'd like to in the meantime, here's all you need to know to create the Polynesian prom of your dreams!

Fill that punch bowl with Islander's Punch. If you're not serving it to actual teens you can switch out that lemon-lime for chilled prosecco and throw in a little amber rum.

Take it from Seventeen - "It's going to be a marvelous evening!"

Mocktail Monday: Hot Spicy Grog

It's Mocktail Monday and today's "flavor sparkling recipe," straight out of 1965, features Tang! I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Have a fabulous week!

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!

Mocktail Monday: Prohibition Highball

We're headed back to 1950 for today's Mocktail Monday highball. It's positively historic!

Home Bar Inspiration?

On tomorrow (Thursday) night's live Facebook broadcast we'll be sharing some of our cheap and easy ideas for home bar decor, a subject I adore because it invites all kinds of creativity. Many of our friends have home bars and I love seeing what they've done - they're all so fun, unique and different! I also love perusing my mid-century decorating books for ideas. I enjoy thinking about what must have been going through some of these designers' heads as they came up with these ideas. Some are fabulous, some are hideous, but I love them all! Let's explore some home bar ideas you'd probably never thought of...

You say you don't have room for a home bar? What about knocking a hole in a wall? Some may call it "foolish" or "destroying your resale value." I call it commitment!

If you're truly not up for major construction you can always grab a couple of closet shelves at the big box store and knock together a bar in the time it takes so mix a Martini:

Or can the idea of one bar altogether and create a series of little bars for each person. You don't have to fight for a barstool at this bar - just pull up a pillow and have a seat!

The electronics restorers out there will shudder to see this bar, but it does go to show you that a determined individual will make a bar out of pretty much anything.

"But I don't have money for a project of this scope!," you might think. This table gives lie to that idea. Find a box that's a little taller and you've got a bar for the price of a sheet of glass! You may have to wait a little longer - until your town's oversized trash day - to find that sofa, though.

I've shared this masterpiece before, but if cardboard isn't your thing you can always employ beer cans for your structure. It's both recycling and proof that you put away A LOT of beer!

See you tomorrow at 7:00 PM EDT on Facebook for more home bar hijinx!

Mysterious Rum: A Boozy Music Video

Our new music video, "Mysterious Rum," is now online! I can't believe it! This has been about a year in the making. Most of our music videos don't take quite that long but, due to the beach location, the fact that we had to contend with winter after our initial recording session, and the need to re-record a section of the song, it was a drawn-out process.

I remember sitting in Washington Square Park in NYC last July, writing the first draft of the lyrics on my phone. From that day to our first recording session was over three months, filled with writing and arranging. We got the song recorded then, boom, it was the holiday season, then winter. No beach shooting for us. Actually, at that point we didn't even know where we'd shoot. It wasn't until May that we learned our wonderful friends, Alissa and Toby, had beach access and were only a couple of hours away. They opened their home to us and, thanks to them and Chris - another fabulous friend - we had access to a boat and some other amazing props. We couldn't have done it without them, along with our composer, arranger and musicians. Teamwork makes the dream work and we had a dream team for this one. Now, on to the next one!

7:30ish in the morning. We'd already been at it for a while!

Toby makes sure we're actually in the shot.

Recording at Benny's Wash 'n Dry in Brooklyn.

Mocktail Monday: Edith Bunker's Party Punch

Summer means parties, so today we have a classic from one of TV's favorite wives! No liquor, of course, though you could certainly add some rum or substitute prosecco for the ginger ale for a boozy version. Cheers!

How to Plan a Happy Barbecue

On last night's live Facebook broadcast we made several drinks from Seagram's Week End Barbecue Book, which contains a wealth of ideas for boozy barbecues. Here are are a few more pages from this tiny tome, which feature Seagram's (bizarrely booze-free) All-Purpose Barbecue Sauce and my favorite, the Gallon-of-Martinis (makes 50!). That's going to be some clambake!

They're all impressed by the size of that drink.

Cookouts like this are why we have Uber. Cheers and bon appetit!

Mocktail Monday: Lemon, Lime and Bitters - House of Angostura

We're phoning it in this Mocktail Monday with a pre-mixed delight from the House of Angostura, Lemon, Lime & Bitters! If you can't find it in the store we DO have it available in our Amazon affiliate store. ;) Have a fabulous week!

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!

Mocktail Monday: Consolation Prize

It's Mocktail Monday once again! It can be a real challenge easing back into the work week after a fun weekend, so let this easy treat help you make the transition. The weekend will be here before you know it!

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!

Mocktail Monday: Raspberry Cooler

It's Mocktail Monday and today's treat is designed for teatime, but contains no tea whatsoever. It has plenty of ice cream and soda, though!

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!

Mocktail Monday: Hawaiian Lemonade

It's Mocktail Monday and today we're traveling back to 1963 for a tropical treat that's perfect for a patio party, day at the beach or sitting at your desk, dreaming of the beach!

Mocktail Monday: Buffy's Apple Ice Cream Soda

It's Mocktail Monday again (and how does it always come so quickly?) and today we have an ice cream soda treat from one of classic TV's brightest young stars, Buffy, of "Family Affair!" Yes, even young Buffy had her own cookbook which, happily for us, has an entire chapter on beverages. Look for more Buffy soon! Have a fabulous week!

Glendora's Showbiz Update & Wine Cocktail with Pizzazz

Our favorite cousin is back with an update about her acting career and date with Lenny, of Lenny's Liquors, along with a new wine cocktail. She needs it and you will, too! Cheers!

Mocktail Monday: Sunny Virgin

We're marking the unofficial start of summer with an easy tropical libation with only two ingredients! Have a fabulous week!

Mocktail Monday: Trigger's Favorite

It's Mocktail Monday again (it seems to happen earlier and earlier every week!) and today we have a twist on another classic, the Roy Rogers! We'll be back tomorrow with a cocktail that will save you money when you travel! Have a fabulous week!

A Tropical Shortcut Feast, 1969-Style

Today's menu comes to us from 1969's Shortcut Cooking, and I'm 99.9% certain the "Irene" who wrote her name of the cover of this book was my mother-in-law. I would love to be able to ask her if she ever made Easy Perfection Salad and, if she did, how she felt about sauerkraut in lemon Jell-O and whether or not she topped it with the Horseradish Mayonnaise. I'm pretty sure the answers would be no and no, but who's to say? She was an adventurous cook. Fix yourself a Mai Tai and get ready for a speedy dinner straight from "the tropics!"

Bon appetit!

Glendora's Star Turn: Wine Cocktail and Her Big Commercial Break

Glendora makes her commercial debut as "wine shopper" on a commercial for Lenny's Liquors. She's even dating the executive producer, Lenny himself. Could this lead anywhere good? Stay tuned!

Mocktail Monday: Spicy Coffee

It's Mocktail Monday and this spicy coffee has plenty of caffeine to get you through the day. Have a fabulous week!

Aunt Sammy's May Menu

Are you looking to mix things up for your May menus? Travel back to May of 1931, publication date of Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised. Aunt Sammy, as you may have guessed, was the wife of Uncle Sam (why they had the same name is a question for another time) and, beginning in 1926, "she" (in truth there were many Aunt Sammys at radio stations throughout the nation) began offering household tips, including recipes, on her "Housekeepers' Chats" radio program. Here are her Dinner Menus for May. Some of these dishes may sound downright unappealing by today's standards, but it was the Great Depression and there was food on the table. And dessert! So, without further ado:

Bon appetit!

Mocktail Monday: Roots & Fruits

It's Mocktail Monday again (How does it get here so quickly?) and we have an easy, alcohol-free drink to sip during business hours. 5:00 will be here before you know it!

Creative Cooking with Aluminum Foil

Are you in the mood to do some creative cooking? Do you have a roll of aluminum foil? You're all set! These recipes, from 1967's Reynolds Wrap Creative Cooking with aluminum foil, will provide a jumping off point for endless foil-wrapped possibilities! If you find yourself troubled by the waste created by said foil, wash it and reuse it - I won't tell!

"To begin with" (the name of the section in the book), we have appetizers. Eleanor Lynch, Director of Home Economics for the Reynolds Metal Company, instructs that you can prepare these ahead of time, "arrange them on a foil-covered cookie sheet, cover with foil and refrigerate." It's imperative that lots of foil is involved.

Planning a girl's night? Afraid your dunce of a husband or other inept family members might starve? Here are some foil wrapped meals they can't screw up! I hope none of them are vegetarians - they'd be out of luck.

You don't think Eleanor would dream of skipping dessert, do you? Here we have Tell-Your-Neighbor Cake, topped with Beat 'n' Eat Frosting. It says the silver dragees are optional, but only if you're a slacker who shirks cake decorating duty. Otherwise they're mandatory!

Bon appetit!