Happy New Year - Twenty Ten

Gingerbread Cookie Martini

Stolen from Outback:

(minus the measurements)


Monin Gingerbread syrup,
Absolute Vodka,
Kahlua & Bailey's Irish Cream,
Crushed Cookie along rim of glass,
topped with a gingerbread cookie.

Sounds yummy!

Merry Christmas

Here's a cute Christmas website for children -http://northpole.com/

Tracking Santa: http://noradsanta.org/

Midori Sour

2 oz. Midori liqueur

1 oz. lemon juice

1 tsp. sugar syrup

2 dashes grenadine


Combine all ingredients, except for grenadine, shake with ice and strain over ice in a chilled sour glass. Add grenadine

Midori is a green liqeur with melon flavoring. Enthusiasts often mix it with juices and white (clear) spirits. Midori came to the United States in 1978 and was launched worldwide in the 1980s.

Veterans Day

Happy Halloween

Some facts about Halloween:

The Fantasy and Folklore of All Hallows From the American Folklife Center

Jack Santino

Halloween had its beginnings in an ancient, pre-Christian Celtic festival of the dead. The Celtic peoples, who were once found all over Europe, divided the year by four major holidays. According to their calendar, the year began on a day corresponding to November 1st on our present calendar. The date marked the beginning of winter. Since they were pastoral people, it was a time when cattle and sheep had to be moved to closer pastures and all livestock had to be secured for the winter months. Crops were harvested and stored. The date marked both an ending and a beginning in an eternal cycle.

http://www.loc.gov/folklife/halloween.html

Message found in a bottle

A nice and light piece of news.


September 10, 2009

Bottle message found after 5 years

A British man who discovered a message in a bottle on a beach said he tracked down the U.S. teenager who dropped it from a cruise ship five years ago.

Tony Hoskings, a retired electrician, said he found the bottle in July while walking his dog in Goonhavern and discovered a message inside from cruise ship passenger Daniel Knopp.

"I noticed paper and could just see that it said Grandeur of the Seas, which I recognized as a cruise ship belonging to the company that my wife and I took a cruise with on their liner Song of America," Hoskings said.The message, which bore the date June 21, 2004, reads: "Hello, my name is Daniel Knopp. I am on a cruise ship. I hope whoever reads this finds great joy. God bless."

The note also identified Knopp's home as Baltimore, Md. Hoskings said his local paper, The West Briton, contacted the Baltimore Sun for help in locating Knopp. He was found after a seven-week search and discovered to be a 19-year-old political science student at the University of Maryland."

I was 14 when I threw the message off the ship in Freeport, in the Bahamas," Knopp said. "I thought it would be unreal if it were ever to be found, and I figured it would be destroyed by the ocean environment.""I was astounded by it not only being found, but the message still being legible -- it's almost story-like that it was located," he said.

Bottle_message_found_after_five_years

Ellie's drink

This is a great summer drink.

1/4 part Rico Bay (or other Caribbean made dark rum)
1/2 part Triple Sec
1/4 part lemon/sour mix

Mix three ingredients with ice in blender.

Simple as that. Tastes delicious too!

US obesity rates ballooning

US obesity rates ballooning, says report

American obesity rates have increased in 23 states over the past year and decreased in none, according to a new report from the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

US_obesity_rates_ballooning

The fox and the shoes

This is a funny news story. I like shoes too!

Fox steals more than 100 shoes-

BERLIN (Reuters) - A fox has been unmasked as the mystery thief of more than 100 shoes in the small western German town of Foehren, authorities said Friday.

A forest worker stumbled upon shoes strewn near the fox's den and found a trove of footwear down the hole which had recently been stolen overnight from outside locals' front doors.

"There was everything from ladies' shoes to trainers," said a local police spokesman. "We've found between 110 and 120 so far. It seems a vixen stole them for her cubs to play with."

Although many were missing laces, the shoes were in good condition and their owners were delighted to reclaim them, he said, adding that no reprisals were planned against the culprit.

(Reporting by Dave Graham; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE55B3KL20090612

Perfect Martini

3 oz. gin or vodka
1/2 tsp. of dry vermouth
1/2 tsp. sweet vermouth
cocktail olive

Combine all liquid ingredients with ice cubes in a mixing glass and stir well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with the olive.

Enjoy!

Did you know....
Vermouth is a fortified wine enhanced with herbs and spices. Its name was inspired by a German wine fortified with wormwood, an herb used in distilling absinthe. Today vermouth is used in many coctails, including the martini.

hoax

Gift certificate hoax

I did receive this e-mail back in December and am glad I ignored it. I usually do ignore these types.

Claim: Applebee's Restaurant is giving away $50 gift certificates to customers who forward an e-mail message.

False

This is how the letter goes:

My name is Bill Palmer, founder of Applebee's. In an attempt to get our name out to more people in the rural communities where we are not currently located, we are offering a! $50 gift certificate to anyone who forwards this email to 9 of their friends. Just send this email to them and you will receive an email back with a confirmation number to claim your gift certificate.

Sincerely Bill Palmer Founder of Applebee's Visit us at: http://www.applebees.com/Hey guys, It really works, I tried it and got my Gift certificate confirmation number in 3 minutes.

http://snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/applebees.asp

Sorry, it's already off the sidebar as a top search on Snopes and has been replaced by Muslims in Australia.

Groundhog Day

Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow again. He always sees his shadow.
Love the movie with Bill Murray and Andie Macdowell

"The legend of Groundhog Day is based on an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year."
Every February 2, people gather at Gobbler's Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

Residents contend that the groundhog has never been wrong.

The ceremony in Punxsutawney was held in secret until 1966, and only Phil's prediction was revealed to the public. Since then, Phil's fearless forecast has been a national media event.

The groundhog comes out of his electrically heated burrow, looks for his shadow and utters his prediction to a Groundhog Club representative in "groundhogese." The representative then translates the prediction for the general public.

If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, it means spring is just around the corner.

Approximately 90% of the time, Phil sees his shadow.

Phil started making predictions in 1887 and has become an American institution."

http://www.gojp.com/groundhog/

Some claim it to be a Pennsylvania German custom.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day

http://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm