Happy Halloween!

Well, this week flew by with precious little to show for it. Poor DS the younger got the flu (I suspect seasonal, not H1N1, since the rest of us got seasonal flu shots and none of us have shown symptoms). He's fine now, but it meant that I didn't get much done on my dress. I have adjusted the pattern to raise the sleeve and I'll put another muslin together and post about it today. The good news about doing multiple muslins is that once I start on the final dress, it goes together really quickly. I'm hoping, now that everyone is healthy for Halloween, to get some work done on it.

Speaking of spooks, Happy Halloween! Every year we hand out candy for the kids and Witches' Brew for the grownups. It's essentially rum punch with green food coloring. Here's the recipe if you want to make your own:

1 part lemon/lime juice
2 parts simple syrup*
2 1/2 parts white or gold rum
1/2 part coconut rum
4 parts orange-pineapple juice (or to taste)
Dash (or to taste) Angostura Bitters
Green food coloring
Fresh nutmeg

*To make simple syrup, boil equal parts sugar and water together. Cool completely. Can be kept refrigerated for up to 2 weeks


Mix all ingredients but food coloring and nutmeg together. Add food coloring until you get just the right shade of green. Pour over ice, garnish with grated nutmeg and a lime wedge. Enjoy (responsibly, of course)!

Invasion of the Party Snatchers

We held our annual "We're Sick of Winter Party" on Saturday night. It's a world famous event (really - there are folks from Germany, Austria and Australia who have attended and still rave about it). We put the 7 foot lighted palm tree out on the deck, crank the heat in the house to 80 degrees (Fahrenheit), set the Ipod to play Buffett, MerryMen, Soca and other Caribbean music, make my infamous Jamaican Rum Punch and serve tropical appetizers. It is a great hit, and everyone wears tropical attire under their winter coats. So for 5 or 6 hours, we party in Boston like we were in St. Thomas. We have a great mix of guests at the party - some from sewing, some from church, everyone in our neighborhood, some from our old swing dancing days, some work buddies. It's such fun.

But this party there was a twist. One of our friends brought a guitar.

Now, being the all around Diva that I am, you would think that I would have a "no instruments unless it's mine" policy. But policies don't generally get formed until the offending situation presents itself. And boy, did this situation offend.

At about 10:30, once everyone was pretty well lubricated, said guest pulled out his guitar. It was a beaut. Your classic six string, it has all sorts of jeweling on the neck, and it does make a lovely sound. He started off with a lot of fun stuff that got the whole crowd singing along: "Under the Boardwalk", "My Girl", Beach Boys, stuff like that.

So after about 20 minutes, the singalong stopped, there was a lull and we turned the Ipod back on. All was good. So I thought. Then Guitar Guest turned off the music and started his second set.

The Eagles.

And more Eagles.

And yet more Eagles. And two of my friends decided to start singing "Take It Easy". Guitar Boy, being the true musician that he is, had found an audience and was not going to give it up. There was a stampede for the door. "Oh gee, I better get home and relieve the babysitter," was the common refrain. We never have a We're Sick of Winter Party clear out before about 2 in the morning. The exodus started at 11. So I walked over past Guitar Guy and turned on the stereo. He turned it off and kept playing! I decided that was that, and walked over, turned the stereo back on, cranked it to 11 and gave him a rather pointed look that said, "You start playing Hotel California and I am going to go all Pete Townsend on your guitar's ass." He put the guitar back in its case.

Alas, the damage was done. The 'hood folks all left by 11:30. I guess it was okay, since the house wasn't too terribly trashed, and no one got too plastered. But from now on, leave the instruments at home folks.

Oh yes, just in time for Mardi Gras, here's my Jamaican Rum Punch recipe:

Ann's World-Famous Jamaican Rum Punch (recite this poem with me)

1 part sour
2 parts sweet
3 parts strong
4 parts weak

translation for a crowd of partiers:
1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon and/or lime juice (I like to use both)
2 cups simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water boiled together for 5 minutes, then cooled)
3 cups rum (or 2 1/2 cups rum and 1/2 cup coconut rum)
4 cups ice (you can also put 2 cups orange and pineapple juices in and 2 cups of ice)

Stir all ingredients together, add bitters to taste, and garnish with a scrape of nutmeg. Enjoy!

Happy partying!

Sparkling Snark

My friend and fellow Sewing Diva, Mary Beth, recently sent an email referring to my blogging as "Sparkling Snark". Well, that title just tickled me. Usually, when we hear something like that, DH and I turn to each other and say, "Gee, that would be a great name for a band!" But Sewing Diva Phyllis and I both agreed that it was more of a cocktail name than a band name. So we put our heads together and came up with some ideas.

We went back and forth for a couple of days (thinking, not drinking). Dessert drink, or aperatif? I don't like really sweet drinks, so we nixed the Godiva and other sugary cordials. I do like fruit, and we kept rounding back to the champagne. It is sparkling snark, after all. Grenadine? Ewww, tastes awful with champagne. Peach liqueur? Too sweet. Besides, the Bellini has been around for years. I went downstairs to my liquor shelf to see what I had. Eureka! Passion Fruit liqueur that someone brought over two Christmases ago! It's exotic, it's relatively obscure, and it has just a little sweetness! What else? Snark is definitely red. but cranberry juice is hackneyed (Cosmos, anyone?). Pomegranate! Trendy, red, and definitely snarky.

So my friends, just in time for Christmas and New Years, I give you The Original Gorgeous Things Blogtail,

The Sparkling Snark

1 teaspoon Passion Fruit Liqueur
1 ounce Pomegranate Juice
Champagne
Carambola fruit (also called star fruit) for garnish (optional)

Pour the Passion Fruit Liqueur and the Pomegranate juice into a champagne flute. Fill to the top with champagne. Garnish with a slice of carambola. Drink and enjoy!

Notice that my sample is missing the carambola? Turns out my kids really like it. I started slicing, and the slices disappeared. Sigh. Well, you can also garnish by floating a couple of pomegranate seeds on top.

In the words of my two favorite bloggers, Tom and Lorenzo:
MERRY CHRISTMAS, Poodles!