Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Da Dun, Da Dun, Da Dun Dun Dun Dun ....

September 6
Happy Birthday to the Coolest Cat I Know... Literallly

The Pink Panther Show first aired on September 6, 1969. The series of cartoon shorts ran from 1969-1978 on NBC. and from 1978-1980 on ABC. It had a short lived revival in 2003. The suave kitty brought forth one of the most popular theme songs of all times, you know the one (don't act like you didn't sing the title of this blog!) Reruns of the cartoon can be found on the Hub, and it's still funny, my six year old loves the debonair cat! Who are your favorite characters? The Inspector, The Blue Aardvark, perhaps Misterjaw or Charlie Ant? So many great characters!

 There's no way I'd miss a chance to celebrate with this guy!
Happy Birthday Pink Panther...Pink is the new black!
Cheers!

The Pink Panther
There are many variations of this drink,  but this is my favorite. I feel the actual Pink Panther would probably drink martinis, but with this fun cocktail we are bringing him into the modern day and age! Enjoy
Ingredients:
2oz Fruit flavored tequila
(Voodoo Tiki has several flavors, and Tanteo tropical is great as well)
1/2 cup Pink Grapefruit juice
1/3 cup Pink Lemonade
2 sprigs Fresh mint

Directions:
In a cocktail shaker (no ice) add tequila and mint
Muddle with either a muddler or the back of a spoon
Add ice and grapefruit juice
Shake ya drink, but watch ya self
(don't want to spill)
Strain into a Collins or tall glass filled with ice
Top with pink lemonade
garnish with a lime and a mint sprig
De-Li-Cious!


What happened when the Pink Panther stepped on an ant?
Dead Ant, Dead Ant, Dead Ant Dead...
(Que laugh track)

Death Once Had a Chuck Norris Experience!

September 5


Beard Day
This wacky day is brought to us by way of Russia. On September 5, 1698, Peter the Great, in an effort to look more like the western society, ordered all his courtiers and military personnel to shave their beards.  He also required them to dress more modern, hmm could you imagine that today? Those who refused were required to pay a beard tax. Bet he wouldn't make Chuck Norris Pay!
So this one goes out to all the bearded gentlemen,and ladies (We don't discriminate)! To ZZ Top, Santa, Lincoln, Jerry, Che, Uncle Jessie, Grizzly Adams, 2/3 of the Bee Gees and of course Chuck Norris! You my fine bearded friends ROCK!


Tolstoy Tang
Those wacky and wonderful Russians know how to do one thing for sure, Vodka! 
Ingredients:
2oz. Favorite Russian Vodka
( Stoli or Russian Stand, perhaps)
2oz. Lemon Juice
Splash of Simple Syrup
(Secret: If you don't want to go through the hassle of lemon juice and simple syrup, use lemonade)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker and pour in to a tumbler!
It's that easy!
Garnish with a lemon slice!


You can Find even more fun Russian Toast at Learn Russian the Fun Way!

За любовь! [za lyo-BOF’] to love!
За удачу! [za oo-DA-choo] to luck!
За успех! [za oos-PYEH] to success!
За счастье! [za SHAST’-ye] to happiness!
За дружбу! [za DROOZH-boo] to friendship!
За наших мам! [za NA-sheeh MAM] to our Moms!
За новую работу! [za NO-voo-yoo ra-BO-too] to your new job!
За наших милых дам! [za NA-sheeh MEE-lih DAM] to our lovely ladies!
За нашу слабую половину! [za NA-shoo SLA-boo-yoo pa-la-VEE-noo] to our weaker half!
За нашу сильную половину! [za NA-shoo SEEL’-noo-yoo pa-la-VEE-noo] to our stronger half!

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Silence is a True Friend Who Never Betrays - Confucius

September 4 -

It's official! The children have all gone back to school! Summer was grand, and I will surely miss lazy days at the lake, but not as much as I missed moments of quiet at my house! The days get more hectic, and some how as the daylight gets shorter our days get longer, but its worth it. It is worth the quiet homework hour, and the calm in the evening as all the kids have gone to bed.
 Back to school time brings joy to many; crisp autumn smells, football, apples, and hearty meals that welcome the impending winter. The town livens up with float buildings, homecomings and community spirit at its highest. Halloween and pumpkin pie are only moments behind. I am never ready to say good bye to the summer sun, but I am always ready to say hello to the school year. 

Here's to peaceful moments for adults and to the joy a new year brings to our children - new friends and new memories! Cheers!



Spiced Apple Martini
Apples aren't just for teachers!

Ingredients:
2.5oz Spiced Rum
2oz. Apple Juice
Splash of Amaretto
2 pinches of Cinnamon
Cinnamon and Sugar Blend 
(Glass Rim)

Directions:
Prepare martini glass, by rubbing honey thinly around rim of martini glass
Dip the glass in the cinnamon sugar blend, coating the entire rim
Mix remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice
You Shake It All Night Long!
(Really just enough to mix it is fine)
Gently strain into your martini glass!

That's what kids should bring teachers if they want A's!


If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.  ~Edgar W. Howe

Monday, September 3, 2012

Noone Ever Died From Sleeping in an Unmade Bed - Erma Bombeck


September 3-
Working Mothers Day

Everyone knows today is Labor Day, but I bet you didn't know today was Working Mothers Day as well. On August 17, 1978 Rep. Martha Keys introduced the H.J.Res. 1125 (95th), which provided for the designation of September 3, 1978 as Working Mother's Day. So as a working mom, I don't feel so bad that this blog was a little late, I was enjoying my day! Like most working mom's I spent the day leisurely making breakfast for kids, cleaning rooms, and prepping lunches for school tomorrow. All the more reasons to enjoy a cocktail after the kids are asleep!
Cheers ladies, this one's for us!


Stork Club 
Named after the legendary New York club in which it was created. From 1929 - 1965 the Stork Club was the symbol of cafe society, with movie stars celebrities, New York money and aristocrats.
I just liked the name, I am a member of the Stork Club, just a different one!


Ingredients:
1.5oz Gin
1oz Orange Liqueur (Triple Sec or Grand Marnier)
1oz Orange Juice
1/4oz Lime Juice
1 Dash Angostura Bitters

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice
Shake it like a salt shaker
Strain into your favorite cocktail glass
(Your day, Your way!)
Garnish with an orange twist


Enjoy while remembering school starts tomorrow! :)


I know how to do anything - I'm a mom! - Rosanne Barr

Sunday, September 2, 2012

That's the Thing with Magic, You've got to Know it's all around us, It's Still Here, or it Just Stays Invisible to You- ,Charles De Lint

September 2
 Papa the Magnificent Day

On Saturday, September 2, 1950, in a the small town of Ypsilanti magic would be created. Papa the Magnificent, a precocious kid, would bounce in an out of trouble, mostly petty stuff, till the his twenties when he would fall in love, and marry his assistant in life and  magic.

A few years later they would have two daughters and doves, and dogs, and cats, and fish, and birds, and whatever other  animal the little girls wished for. The two girls would prove his greatest and most treasured accomplishment. Papa worked hard at his craft, bring much joy to children across the town. He would inspire his own children to believe in magic and to hold on to it as they grew into women. He left, slight imbecilic children waiting for the rest of the quarters to come out of their ears for life. Perhaps his greatest magic was in his ability to inspire, and to give strength. To date Papa has never revealed his secret, so it may never be known how, but Papa gave his daughter the ability to believe in themselves, and gave them strength; creating slightly (maybe more than slightly) amazing women! This is a trick that even master wizards cannot perform, it only comes from the heart.
Papa would retire as a magician around the late 1990's. He spent time with his wife and kids, raising the animals the daughters left in the house as they moved out. He would build his assistant her dream home, after years of being sawed in two he figured she deserved it. Life was perfect for P.M.
In 2006 magic once again sparked in his heart. In June of 2006 Papa, became a papa! With the birth of his grandson Papa once again had magic running in his blood. He would spend countless hours with the young lad, who much like his papa would prove quite precocious as well. They shared a bond, and Papa new this is the boy he would eventually pass all his secrets too; how to make things float, where the coins go to once they disappear, how to woo the ladies, how to spit the farthest, and most of all, how to love. 
In 2012, inspired by the lad, Papa the magnificent came out of retirement. Performing with his new assistant by his side, Papa the Magnificent and his Amazing Little Buddy, would wow a crowd of , about 50, at the hottest party the small town of Ypsilanti has ever seen!

Today we toast the man who has brought magic to so many, but especially his family!
Happy Birthday Papa the Magnificent!


Abracadabra!
(Now you see it now you don't)
Papa revealed one of his secrets to me, and allowed me to pass it on to you, thanks Papa!
This his drink of choice, it is portable, and nearly invisible to the naked eye.
(SS does not condone drinking and driving. Leave this for festivals, parades, beaches, camping, events where discretion is needed, like family dinners!)
Ingredients:
3oz. Gin
16oz. Plastic bottle of Squirt

Directions:
Open the bottle of Squirt, CAUTION: this drink should NOT be shaken! 
(Don't believe me, try it :) ... See!)
Pour 3 oz. of soda into a separate cup
Using a small funnel, add the gin to the bottle
Put the lid on the bottle and put it into your cooler!
Walla! No mixed drink...this? It's a soda duh?!
That Papa truly is magnificent!


They say that from the instant he lays eyes on her, a father adores his daughter. Whoever she grows up to be, she is always to him that little girl in pigtails. She makes him feel like Christmas. In exchange, he makes a secret promise not to see the awkwardness of her teenage years, the mistakes she makes or the secrets she keeps.



I love you Daddy! Happy Birthday!



Saturday, September 1, 2012

Hail to the Victors!

September 1

Football season is here my friends! The biggest game this weekend is the Cowboy Classic. The eighth ranked University of Michigan Wolverines will take on the number two ranked Alabama Crimson Tide for the first time ever, under the big lights of Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
I am born and raised in Wolverine country, yet my family ties run Crimson pride...What to do?! Solution...Two blogs. Choose your poison fans and let the games begin!





Go "Big Blue" Meanie
Ann Arbor definitely knows how to party!
Ingredients:
2oz. Vodka
1oz. Blue Curacao
4oz. Sweet and Sour 

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a cocktail shaker
Shake it up, oh yeah, Shake it up
Pour into a Collins or highball glass and add ice
Garnish with a lemon for the true Maize and Blue!

Hail to the Victors!
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan,
   the leaders and best
Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan
   the champions of the West.



I Was Raised on Southern Pride, My Blood Runs Crimson Tide!


September 1

Football season is here my friends! The biggest game this weekend is the Cowboy Classic. The eighth ranked University of Michigan Wolverines will take on the number two ranked Alabama Crimson Tide for the first time ever, under the big lights of Cowboy Stadium, in Arlington, Texas.
I am born and raised in Wolverine country, yet my family ties run Crimson pride...What to do?! Solution...Two blogs. Choose your poison fans and let the games begin!

Crimson Tide
A tasty drink, with southern pride!
Ingredients:
1/4oz. Southern Comfort
1/4oz. Vodka
1/4oz. Coconut Rum
1/4oz. Raspberry Liqueur (Razzmatazz or Chambord)
1/4oz. Blue Maui Schnapps
1oz Sprite
1oz Cranberry

Directions:
Mix all ingredients into a shaker filled with ice
Shake..Rattle and Roll Tide
Gently strain in to a glass filled with ice
Keep the southern vibe and serve in a mason jar

Hey Blue, Hey Blue, We're Going to Beat the Hell Out of You!
Rammer Jammer, Yellow Hammer Give'em Hell ALABAMA!

Yea, Alabama
Yea, Alabama! Drown'em Tide!
Every 'Bama man's behind you;
Hit your stride!
Go teach the Bulldogs to behave,
Send the Yellow Jackets to a watery grave!
And if a man starts to weaken,
That's a shame!
For 'Bama's pluck and grit
Have writ her name in crimson flame!
Fight on, fight on, fight on men!
Remember the Rose Bowl we'll win then!
Go, roll to victory,
Hit your stride,
You're Dixie's football pride, Crimson Tide!