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!