Holiday Hiatus!

Well, with the onset of the holidays it appears I've fallen down on the blog here -- so busy hosting and partying I've not had time to write about hosting and partying. Horrors!

Its been a great season. Moving into the New Year, I have one observation. Having, on one end of the spectrum, wished a coworker I'd just met a Merry Christmas -- and having them pause, then effusively thank me for my words because, as they'd put it, political correctness has all but eliminated it from our lexicon ... and having, on the other end of the spectrum, attended a party where playing music was encouraged, but I was asked not to play any non-secular Christmas songs because last year some of the guests were offended ...

The observation is this: Altogether too long, mainstream Americans have been bowing and scraping to everyone else's culture and beliefs, while being slammed for any evidence of their own. (The whole ridiculous uproar over SeaTac airport's entirely secular Christmas decorations that one year, anyone?) Being aware and sensitive to another's culture is plain common courtesy, and necessary of course -- but folks, its supposed to cut both ways. A guest who shows up at a Christmas party, then complains that they heard Christmas music there, is a ... yeah, insert colorful term of choice here. If Christmas festivities at a Christmas parties upsets them, they could leave ... or better yet, not taint the event with their presence at all. Though ideally, what they should really be doing if they choose to attend is to learn a bit about someone else's culture in a nonjudgemental manner, and have a good time doing so -- is that too much to ask?

'Nuff said. In 2014, I'll be doing a lot more wishing people a "Merry Christmas" and a whole lot less wishing them a sterile, neutered "Happy Holidays". Let's hear it for real holidays, and being tolerant of other points of view!


Dark and Stormy (from Valerie Petersen's "Petersen's Holiday Helper"
2 oz dark rum (Gosling's Black Seal or Cruzan's Blackstrap Navy rum are good here}
2 oz half and half
1 oz ginger syrup

Shake it up with ice, pour into an Old Fashioned Glass.

Invitations - Devising Your Guest List - Rule 4

Rule 4: Consider using new blood to energize old groups.

Sounds contradictory with some of the advice in previous posts, but isn’t really. If the same group of people parties over and over together over a period of time, they are going to get stuck in a rut, and no matter how good the parties are – the social dynamics will stagnate.

The way around this is to mix things up by every so often inviting a few new faces to things – not an entirely different group, as the two groups might just take up separate positions in the house and look at each other funny, but some well-chosen, reasonably social individuals whom you already know from elsewhere and think will mix well with your existing group of friends. Not only are the new people likely to enjoy your event, there is a good chance they will shake up the ‘old guard’ at your parties and help energize things.

One good way to expand a guest list is to encourage old friends to extend the invitation to friends of theirs not known to rest of group – that way, you know the new faces at the party will at least know and get along well with someone there, and if they mix well with the friends that invited them, odds could be better that they’ll also get along with the friends of their friends. As with all such moves, a little luck is involved, but this tactic does shift the odds in favor of a successful introduction.

There are some risks with experimenting with your guest list – no matter how good your judgement, we all occasionally make mistakes about people – but in the long haul, if you host many events for more or less the same group of people, the effect of shaking up your guest list now and again can be the difference between another good but humdrum party, and a party that really cooks.

Invitations - Devising Your Guest List - Rule 3

Rule 3: Use some discretion when mixing groups of friends who don’t know each other well.

Same idea as the mixed office group/friends group scenario mentioned in Rule 1, but without the concern about setting you back professionally -- though, there are a few different wrinkles.

Mixing groups of friends can sometimes work out very well; you just have to be able to gauge the personalities involved and the ‘culture’ of the groups being mixed … and make that judgement call. Depending on personalities and group social dynamics, two very different groups can not only do well together, but may even complement each other – for instance, combining a group of crazy partiers and a more sedate group may result in a party that is neither too laid back, nor so nuts that it trashes your place and you’re cleaning for weeks – and if most everyone enjoys the blend, you have a winner.

Common interests help, of course, as it gives everyone, whether they know each other or not, something to talk about. For instance, inviting a couple of different friend groups you know that share an interest in fine wine, for an evening of dinner and wine-tasting, is likely to be a pleasant and interesting evening for concerned.

But of course, mixing different groups of people can misfire horribly as well – consider the bachelor party where the groom-to-be’s list includes both his old wild college friends and a newer group of super-religious people from his new church. This is a heated team argument, and a stressful evening for the host, just waiting to happen. In this instance the host is pretty much screwed, as the guest list was made by the Guest of Honor himself and you have some obligation to follow their wishes. However, there may be a few ways to mitigate the mess:

Negotiate with groom to have two different parties is one option. Or, if it has to be a single event, perhaps arrange the event in two parts – a more mellow, tasteful early-evening party at your own home, followed by a rowdy night out on the town, complete with a party van and designated driver. If you make the format clear in the invitation, the individuals who have objections to the boozy venue-hopping, but still want to pay their respects to the groom, will probably simply plan to bow out on the second half of the party. If so – problem solved.

If, on the other hand,  you end up with a couple militants who decide to argue with everyone heading  for the party van, instead of graciously bowing out for the rowdy portion of the evening -- if this situation occurs, quickly take the troublemakers aside before the argument escalates too much, and politely but firmly encourage them to depart, if they are truly that uncomfortable.

No matter how it turns out, if you have taken your best shot at showing the guest of honor a good time, the above steps, you at least can rest after the even in the knowledge that you did could to head the trouble off, and aren’t personally responsible when others choose to act poorly. Perversely, over the years we have typically had way more offensive, difficult, and outright unacceptable behavior at parties from those professing to be straight-laced and religious than we have had from the party-hearty crowd -- the latter generally have more social skills, are less pent-up (and therefore less likely to cross the line when they cut loose), and more tolerant of people different from themselves. Who'd have thunk it?

Invitations - Devising Your Guest List ... Rule 2

OK, another hiatus there - something about being taken over by the Halloween season. Now that I have 2 big buffet parties behind me -- my son's Trick-or-Treat party with his friends (and us with their parents) .... and my wife's Dia de los Muertos-themed birthday party -- time for another blog. we were discussing composing guest lists, and here's the next biggie --

Rule 2: When possible, don’t invite people who dislike each other to the same event

Sometimes you may not be able to get around it, but if you have some choice in the matter, inviting people who actively dislike each other is almost always a bad idea. This is very much a judgement call – there are people who don’t really care for each other’s company, and at a large-enough event can easily avoid each other, or get by with polite conversational nothings if they find themselves in the same space – this is probably OK (though at the other end of the spectrum, in an intimate dinner party mixing these two could be quite uncomfortable).

However, if they really do despise each other, putting them together at even a large gathering is often a recipe for trouble, especially if one of more of the individuals in question have a problem behaving like an adult when under pressure. It is a disservice to everyone present – to you as the host, because you’ll be busy enough without having to manage others’ personal problems; to the other guests, who came anticipating getting to relax and have a good time, and will instead experience tension whenever the combatants are in the room, and even to the combatants themselves. They may rightly wonder why you chose to make them so uncomfortable, and confront you directly or leave in a flurry, making for a potentially embarrassing scene.

Broken marriages or long-term relationships are a case-by-case basis. If two of your friends who were married or as good as, then broke up, are on your usual list of invitees, this is a special situation. You cannot invite one and not the other (unless you really want to anger the one not invited), and oftentimes just inviting both can turn out badly, for obvious reasons. On the other hand, if the break-up was friendly and/or the separated couple can both be relied on to behave like adults, there may be no issue inviting both. When in doubt, call them both individually, comment that you are a friend to them both and would like to invite them both, but don’t want to put them in uncomfortable circumstances either. Most reasonable, honest people will appreciate your concern for their feelings – and the warning that they may encounter the other person at your party -- and may even work an arrangement out between themselves without you having to get much more involved.

Invitations - Devising Your Guest List

We've talked a bit about physical inviations versus e-invitations ... but all that is sort of window dressing. By far more important is the question, "Who do I invite?"

Its October, so let's think about it in Ghostbuster terms. Remember the Keymaster - Rick Moranis' character - who threw a party, pre-possession, in his apartment? An incredibly useful example of how NOT to construct a list of guests for a party ... any party. If you don't remember it, its instructive, and the movie is fun in any case. Meanwhile, let's begin:

Rule 1: Be careful of mixing your office friends with outside-or-work friends

Consider this scenario. A hosting couple is considering having a group of work acquaintances, and a group of close, comfortable, and sporadically wild friends over for a big party. The friend group, by the way, has a long-standing invitation to ‘go commando’ (i.e. buck-naked) in the hottub at the hosts’ home, though this, of course, is not mentioned at all in the current invitation.

Question: The two groups above are invited to the same large, well-executed event. The music, décor, party food and drinks are absolutely fabulous … many dozens of margaritas later in the evening, what happens?

I bet you can guess. Needless to say, mixing work friends and outside-of-work friends can often be a recipe for embarrassment and trouble in the workplace that has nothing to do with that picture of you someone posted to Facebook. Unless you know your work companions really, really well, and are certain they will mix well with your regulars – don’t do it, or you could be looking at months of damage control at the office. And even if you are sure it’ll be fine, think it over at least a couple times before making the call! 

Party Blog Redivivus

Greetings! After a month-long hiatus brought on by a succession of computing issues - which ended with me being locked entirely out of my system - I'm back. The last posts in September were on the topic of invitations. I'm not going to dive immediately back into those; its been too long; what we really need now is probably just a drink. 

Something seasonal, perhaps ... looking at the back of a Hiram Walker bottle of spiced pumpkin liqueur I picked up to play around with, they have there, probably inevitably, a Pumpkin-tini recipe that uses so much liqueur relative to the vodka that guarantees it will not only be boring, but gum-achingly sweet into the bargain. Balance, people, balance!

Here's a reformulation that pairs the bright orange color of the liqueur with a float of black vodka for nicely photogenic Halloween tipple.

Halloween Tree

2 oz Sailor Jerry's spiced rum

3/4 oz Hiram Walker's Pumpkin Spice Liqueur

4 dashes Fee Bros. Cranberry Bitters

1/4-1/2 oz Blavod

Shake rum, liqueur, and bitters with ice, strain into cocktail glass. Pour the Blavod carefully over the back of a spoon to float the vodka on top of the drink, and serve immediately.

Invitations Cont'd - more invitation ideas

To pick up from where we left off in the last post, an amazing invitation is a party project where you can really give your creativity full rein. If you’re planning a Gilligan’s Island, castaway-type theme – a ragged scrap of stained paper with your message (aka invitation) sealed in a bottle is again an excellent choice. For fun you could even add a tiny quantity of sand and a few small shells to each bottle for atmosphere – and so a little beach ends up wherever your guests happen to open them, be it the front seat of their car, or living room.

Or, for a secret agent party, what could be better than a large manila envelope stamped TOP SECRET containing an invitation made out to look like a mission assignment? Perhaps the “mission” will be to infiltrate a villains’ soiree held in some evil scientist’s secret lair, aka your home. Secret Decoder ring optional.

If your inclinations are towards something with a bit darker theme, you could make and send out voodoo dolls with your guest’s names on them – as well as the salient details for your event. A memorable, if creepy, way to grab your guests’ attention, that would be the perfect introduction to a New Orleans-themed, October dinner party or a summertime Caribbean-themed blowout involving multiple punchbowls of Zombies! Lord knows we got some entertaining calls after guests actually read the note and concluded that someone wasn't actually gunning for them ...

The final benefit of sending out 3D invitations is this: Many of us have way too much paper in our homes – junk mail, neighborhood flyers, what have you. When your invitation of choice is a real, hand-crafted object, it will not easily be lost in the normal, helter-skelter of your guests’ lives. It will be memorable. It will be exciting. It will stand out!

Below: The text of an online invitation we used as a detailed follow-up to our initial hand-delivered, shock-value voodoo doll invites:

House of Voodoo

Where: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX, Seattle, WA

When:

August 5: Pig prep night

August 6, 5:00 PM – main event!

August 7 -- recovery

Contact: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Calling all party houngans and mambos, it's time to come on down to the shadowman's hut and get your movementation on for an evening of crazy voodoo antics!

... of course, anything resembling an actual voodoo ceremony would make our chickens nervous; so this party is a mere flight of fancy through the backwaters of Haiti and New Orleans. Our secret midnight rite: To have fun!

Attire: Theme-appropriate costume strongly encouraged, but not required. Costume prizes for the female and male guests who's costume/persona proves most popular, based on the subjective vote of your peers. The host and hostess (Marie Laveau) are not eligible for costume votes.

Entertainment: Vie with other Bokor to gather components for your spells! (Details in a follow-on email) Also, we suggest you work on your wukking and whining, to better grind the night away at our Zombie Jamboree.

Food and Drink:
A Caribbean feast featuring a whole roast pig and some Haitian staples like red beans and rice and plantains. From the Voodoo Bar, a Zombie Apocalypse!

If you would like to contribute to the food, Caribbean appetizers or tropical fruit would be ideal; please contact us to coordinate. Or, if you want to bring something for the bar, please use the attached 'Bring Something' list in this Evite to see what's needed to complete the exotic potions brewing at our magic hut.

If you enjoy grilling and can show up early to help with the pig cookout, please drop us a line - we could really use the help, both the day before and the day of the party -- 2-3 extra sets of hands, minimum, starting early Friday and right on into partytime Saturday.

If during the party you would like to help in the kitchen or with bartending, it would be much appreciated - let us know and we'll work out the details; both are  needed.

The Walking Dead: Zombies are powerful juju, and not to be trifled with ("Come and get it! Its a running buffet!") If you think your brain might be devoured by zombies, please plan on spending the night unless you have a driver who has not been infected with the zombie virus. We have good  accomodations for sleepovers, and the hostess makes a post-party breakfast you won't want to miss.

Young Ones: With open flames, grisly relics, spirits, and crazy Caribbean dancing, this will not be a safe place for kids! Please find alternatives for them.

RSVP: A lot of effort goes into making an event on this scale go smoothly. Please get back to us promptly so we have enough wanga for everyone - and hey, we know where your voodoo doll is.

We look forward to seeing you for a little ... Voodoo!

Invitations Cont'd

Benefits of Physical Invitations

Picking up from last time with a specific example ... 

For instance, say you want a summertime pirate-themed party. Its probably easy enough to find paper invitations for this party theme – as long as you don’t mind them being geared towards kids – and even these will give your guests something they can stick to their refrigerator.

 But what if you hand-draw your own pirate map, with the party details on it? Draft a master copy – as authentic-looking or zany as you like – then take it to a copy place like Kinko’s Copies and have them run off however many you need on parchment-colored paper, one per guest or household, depending on how you’re doing things.

At this point, you already have a party teaser that is several cuts above getting an online invitation, and certainly usable as-is. However, as it is said, “the Devil is in the details” – and so, it turns out, is the Delight. To make your invitation even cooler, you could:

Singe the edges of each map invitation to give it a tattered, ‘olde’ look

Tightly roll it up, seal it with a skull and crossbones sticker, and stick it in an empty, dry bottle (de-labeled rum and scotch bottles look the best for this application)

Pin it with a dagger to each guest’s front door when they’re not home (OK, just kidding … but you get the idea)

Of course, the invitation needs to match the event – you don’t want an Oh-My-God invitation for a Cheeze-Whiz and Boone’s Farm social; that would only serve to build anticipation that would not be fulfilled, and frustrate everyone. However, if you’re planning to pull all the stops out, it is in your best interest if your invitation pulls the stops out as well – so in this case, go for that map-in-a-bottle, seal it with a cork (and if you have candle-making supplies, a final seal of wax over the cork is a nice touch) and hand-deliver or mail each bottle to your guests. They will be blown away, and your upcoming event -- if its up to the promise of your invitation --  will be the talk of your social circle.

Party Invitations

And here we are, a month after our largest party of the year. Still cleaning up? A little. Planning our next shindig? Absolutely. I’m currently working on a) A Halloween party for my son and his friends (at which the adults will be well-served as well, of course), b) Christmas, and c) … next years huge, mid-summer tropical bash!

The bar list is mostly done, the music is underway – arranged as described in my previous blog entries, for a 7+ hour mp3 playlist, to be plugged into a big amp and stadium Peavey’s, and I’m designing the template for the party’s invitation in pencil as I work out the details.

What?!? Hand-drafting a party invitation in this age of electronic, instant invitation gratification? Have I lost my senses?

Invitations that Hum

There are any number of easy online options for issuing party invitations nowadays, such as that offered by services such as Punchbowl.com. While the functionality of such sites does occasionally leave a bit to be desired, they are generally free services, and as such more than adequate for shooting out an impromptu party invitation.  One of their greatest perks is the visibility they provide regarding who’s attending, who’s not, and who has not responded. Another useful utility in many is also letting you suggest what you’d like guests to bring to help out with the event, and then tracking what is being brought when guests respond. You can build saved lists of the people you normally invite to your place, allow or disallow guests to extend the invitation to other people, even build a prototype party soundtrack that guests can suggest songs for --  which is pretty much fluff, but fun.

While their convenience should not be underestimated, online invitations do have their limitations, and we aren’t talking only technical here. Since they are email-based, online invitations are almost as easy as any other email to get lost on someone’s desktop, or to miscarry altogether. And, while they are pretty slick, they also tend to be somewhat generic, and are even more convenient to ignore than they are to send. More on that thorny little topic later.

Benefits of Physical Invitations

The thing is, a physical invitation you can hold in your hand still has a lot of attention-getting power -- perhaps even more so in this digital age, as physical invitations become increasingly rare, save perhaps at weddings. A real invitation represents a greater investment on the host’s part to invite their guests, and as such, has an edge over its electronic counterparts in getting your invitees’ attention and making them feel special to have been invited.

The return you often receive for your investment is extra ‘buzz’. In addition to making your guests feel special, your real invitations are far likelier to build anticipation for your event and get guests talking with each other about the event, if they already know each other. As the event nears, the anticipation increases – producing (hopefully) better turnout and building the party’s energy level even before the party has begun. The greater your investment in your party, the more you benefit from the enhanced return of sending out truly memorable, personal invitations.

As a means to the end of creating buzz, the usual handwritten paper invitations are of course serviceable and appreciated, but they are really only the beginning;  if you really want to heighten your guests’ anticipation of the event, party invitations that are creative or unexpected are what you’re probably looking for.

We’ll get into some specific examples of these next time.

Yours truly, as retro host this July

Miscellaneous Party Arcana

With our biggest party of the year now over, I have a few comments and observations regarding throwing parties in general - little bits of info that, depending on what you are doing, may smooth some ruffles. Random in content, and in no particular order:

• 1 64 oz container tiki torch oil completely fills about 4-5 tiki torches.
• 1 12-pack of TP serves a party of 50-60. Don’t run out, or guests may inadvertently experience the freshness of your Vick’s-impregnated Kleenex when they get desperate.
• 1 80-90 lb pig handily serves a party of 50-60.
• People eat less bean dishes on the buffet line than other starch dishes. Usually multiplying the recipe by 3-4 times is too much, double for a large party (30-40 guests) is usually sufficient unless you plan to personally eat a lot of bean leftovers the week after the party -- and then tie a tether to your ankles and float yourself over your house until you recover.
• Keep appetizer-heavy spreads for small dinner groups of no more than 12 people -- otherwise, unless you have personal staff, assembling all that finger-food is going to drive you crazy. For big parties, go with big dishes, and if guests ask what they can bring, request them to contribute appetizers that arrive ready to serve – so no final prep in kitchen, not even any plating left to do – otherwise it will tie up valuable space in your kitchen while you’re trying to roll out the main course.
• Choose recipes that allow you to make some or all of them in advance. Know your recipes, and know how far in advance of your event you can start them. Push as much food prep as you can off of the actual day of the party, so you can relax at your own event.
• If you don’t have a kitchen staff rivaling Martha Stewart’s, for large events that are not formal, don’t even try to use your own dishes, or you are dooming yourself, your significant other, or some large hearted helper/s to spending most of the party doing dishes. Use disposable plates, utensils, and glasses whenever possible.

Party Lab - Homemade Grenadine

Well, there was a reason I was initially reluctant to dive into the subject of party music … whew.

Anyway, with our large summer party now over and its fallout under analysis, there’ll be a bit more variation in this blog’s content in the not-too-distant future.

For instance, its been ages since we’ve discussed that marvelous social lubricant at any large event, the mixed drink, so let’s take a hiatus from theory and discuss making better drinks.

As a preamble to our summer party, I experimented with recipes for grenadine. Why? Well, finding real grenadine, that isn’t just some artificially flavored and colored corn syrup concoction, can be challenging, and the most readily available grenadine – Rose’s – doesn’t deserve that label (pomegranate people, where’s the pomegranate?!?), and will ruin most any real drink its used in. I’d put it in our hummingbird feeder, but I actually kind of like the hummingbirds in our yard.

Trader Vic’s Grenadine used to be good-tasting, if artificial, but since poor Vic’s estate has decided to save a few dollars by utterly debasing a brand name that for half a century stood for fine-quality comestibles, I’m not much inclined to use it anymore.  Though, in a pinch it will do, which is more than I can say for Trader Vic brand rum these days – just don’t; Vic himself wouldn’t have touched the stuff with the proverbial 10-foot pole, and but would have certainly said something pithy and far less delicate about it than I’m going to here.

That said, there is more choice appearing on the market as late when it comes to grenadine, which is a welcome thing – I’ve tried Stirring’s offering recently, and it was a step up. Also good was the Italian Toschi brand grenadine, though its worth noting that Toschi’s has a pronounced raspberry flavor on the finish that, if you expect your grenadine to be predominantly pomegranate flavored, will come as a surprise, and will noticeably alter the flavor of your beverage – whether for better or worse is a  matter of individual taste.

At any rate, I found three recipes on the web. I also tried the simple measure (I can hardly call it a recipe) of mixing Torani Pomegranate syrup 50/50 with Chateau Pomari pomegranate liqueur, to see what that yielded.

For the web recipes, I first I tried the David Wondrich cold-processed grenadine – again, so simple it barely constitutes a recipe. Containing just sugar and real pomegranate juice, it has a clean, fresh, natural taste, and is certainly worthy of use in any cocktail you happen to be making. Since it is just colored by the juice and lacks Red Dye #40, it is notably less red than its artificial competition, but this is not necessarily a bad aesthetic, and even if you feel the appearance of the drink is wanting, the difference in flavor should more than make up for this.

Cold-Process Grenadine

Take one cup of pomegranate juice, and place it in a jar with one cup of granulated sugar. Seal tightly and shake like hell until all of the sugar is dissolved. Add another ounce or two of sugar and repeat.

Clarke suggests: Adding an ounce of high-proof vodka or grain alcohol as a preservative, and storing in a plastic container in the freezer: “the high volume of sugar keeps it from freezing, you can just tip out a little frigid syrup each time you need it.

http://lupecboston.com/category/david-wondrich/

I add: Incorporating 100-proof vodka (Smirnoff makes one; don't use high-end stuff here) in any grenadine or homemade drink syrup you make is just a good idea, for the same reasons it is here.

The second recipe tried relies on gently heating the pomegranate juice to facilitate dissolving the sugar, then adding a small amount of lemon and orange flower water towards the end to add a little floral interest and depth to the finished product – and again, this yielded worthy results.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup pomegranate juice, no sugar added
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 to 3 drops orange-flower water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat pomegranate juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until steam rises from the surface and a few bubbles have formed around the perimeter of the pan, about 5 minutes. (Do not boil.) Remove from heat.
2. Add sugar and stir until it has dissolved and the liquid is no longer cloudy, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in lemon juice and orange-flower water and let the syrup cool to room temperature, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a container with a tightfitting lid and refrigerate for up to 1 month.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/28428-homemade-grenadine

The third recipe was similar to the second, in terms of its heating process and the addition of orange flower water – with the added ingredient of Middle Easter pomegranate molasses. This ingredient can be a bit challenging to find, but its addition really deepened both the flavor and color of the finished product.

Grenadine
2 cups fresh pomegranate juice (approximately two large pomegranates) or POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice
2 cups unbleached sugar
2 oz pomegranate molasses
1 tsp orange blossom water
Heat juice slightly, just enough to allow other ingredients to dissolve easily. Stir in remaining ingredients, allow to cool, and bottle.

http://www.jeffreymorgenthaler.com/2009/how-to-make-your-own-grenadine/

Of the three recipes where you start with real pomegranate juice, the third one noted above with the pomegranate molasses is the one we consistently like best, whether it was tasted by itself, in a mixed drink, or in one of our son’s Shirley Temples (and yes, the 10-year old preferred the pomegranate molasses recipe too, interestingly enough).

Regarding the very first one I noted – the 50/50 blend of pomegranate liqueur and Torani pomegranate syrup: It gives you a spendy, very good (and mildly alcoholic) grenadine – and one that’s shelf-stable into the bargain, unlike any of those made from fresh juice - so its worth it particularly if you use grenadine so slowly that the freshmade ones would turn into petri dishes before you made it through your bottle, as this one is quite durable, and without the refrigeration I'd recommend for all the others at that.

And here, for your imbibing pleasure, is a simple, old-time cocktail that makes good use of grenadine:

Jack Rose

2 oz apple brandy (I like Carriage House or Laird’s Bottled in Bond here)

½ oz fresh lime juice

½ oz real grenadine

Shake with ice, strain, into cocktail glass. Depending on your grenadine, you may have to make a tiny adjustment to it in the drink depending on your tastes, and the overall sweet-tart balance. If this experimenting taught us anything, its that grenadines can vary widely in sweetness … and most anything else.

Party Theming 101, Music Part VIII

Finally - on the subject of DJing your own party music sets, I'd be remiss if I didn't include a couple examples, so this post is just that.

As noted somewhere earlier, you really don't want to pound away on a single artist, or even genre, no matter what your party theme. The key is variety, and variety requires a bit more time and thought.

However, the payoff is worth it. Here are two excerpts from themed party music playlists. I've broken up the songs by genre, but of course, were this a real party you'd want to mix them all up -- and, of course, both these lists would be alot longer.


Cross-Genre Tiki party song sampler:

Swing

I’ve Got a Feeling – Lavay

Trapped in a Web of Love – Royal Crown Revue

Mambo Swing –BBVD

I Wanna Be Like You – BBVD

Opihi Man --  Kau’a Crater Brothers

Popular '80's Rock

Island of Lost Soul – Blondie

The Tide is High -- Blondie

Hawaiian Chance – Yello

Isla Bonita – Madonna

Let it Go – Luba

Every Little Thing She Does is Magic – The Police

Exotica:

The Natives are Restless Tonight – Don Tiki

Pinkabet – Don Tiki

Casbah Club – The AquaVelvets

Banana Rum – Cabaret Diosa

Surf Rock

Flesh and Soul – The Blue Hawaiians

Trouble Bay – The Blue Hawaiians

Pipeline/Endless Sleep -- The Blue Hawaiians

Nitro – Dick Dale

The Island of Lost Soul-- The Tikitones

Riptide – The Fathoms

Caribbean

Jump in the Line – Harry Belafonte

The Banana Boat Song - Harry Belafonte

Stir it Up – Bob Marley

Cross-Genre Voodoo Halloween song sampler:

Popular '90's Rock

Voodoo – Godsmack

Swing

Man with the Hex – Atomic Fireballs

Trapped in the Web of Love – Royal Crown Revue

Hell – Squirrel Nut Zippers

Blues

Blue Drag – Jazz Vipers

St. James Infirmary Blues – New Orleans Brass

Folk

Zombie Jamboree – Kingston Trio

Popular '80's Rock

Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo

Fear – Siouxsie Sue and the Banshees

World Music

Shadowman – Afrocelt Sound System

Exotica

That Hypnotizing Man – Don Tiki

Funk

The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans – Redbone

Latin Pop

Livin’ la Vida Loca – Ricky Martin

Soundtrack

Rattlebone -- Robbie Robertson