SPY COCKTAILS!

SPYTails!

  

Our spy-themed cocktail night started out on the perfect foot when this strange, unidentified woman appeared at our door. 

 Soon the known agents gathered - including the youngest (double agent T. Bearskins) seen here slyly leaking information to David while appearing NOT to move his lips. Cunning.

Now Agent S.Goose is being incriminated. He appears to be the feared 'Puppetman' if this picture's any proof. Double-agent T. Bearskins is either the intended puppet or an unwitting participant in a ventriloquist act.  

 First drink of the evening- a creation of Agent Specs. 'Moonraker' has a planetary feel (partly do to the color and the satellite-shaped ice cubes). He wanted to do a James Bondish gin and tonic - which is just what this is. A great tip in making opaque ice cubes (when you're using a fancy tray) is to use flat tonic instead of regular water. The contrast when this hit the drink is spectacular-- and when they melt they don't water down the drink.

 Moonraker:
- splash of black vodka
- splash blue curacao
- double splash of gin
- pour tonic to taste
- add spacey ice cubes

When we returned from orbit it was time for my drink...

 The drink in question being prepped. But until the agents solved the cipher-- there was no dispensing of booze.

 Agent Ginger with her assignment

 Agent Fro -- prematurely cocky.

 Agent Specs

 Agent S.Goose looking very suspicious indeed.

 Agent Ham and Cheese accepting her assignment....

AGENT 000000007,

TOP SECRET. CONSEQUENCES COULD BE FATAL. THE FAT MAN MAY SING. THE EAGLE MAY CRAP THE NEST. TRUST NO ONE. THE PARTRIDGE HAS LEFT THE PERCH. THE TURKEY IS WEARING GAUCHOS. THE INDIAN IS DRUNK (BUT WHAT ELSE IS NEW).

DESTROY AFTER READING.

 The message was followed by a cipher. It was a substitution cipher--meaning they needed to KNOW the code word to re-order the alphabet and crack the code. It was in their hands-- but very hard to find.

 Agent Ginger went straight for it-- noticing immediately that there was a totally useless postage stamp on the corner of their assignment envelope-- she peeled it off and found the code word underneath (dumbwaiter). Luckily, no one else saw this stroke of genius-- many toiling on for agonizing hours (kidding-- minutes).

 Here's Agent S.Goose deep into his vortex.

 Once cracked the message read: Order a Honey Trap--- brilliant!

 Here come the Honey Traps to a roomful of thirsty agents.

 The Honey Trap:
- teaspoon honey
- 2 mandarin parts (and a little syrup)
- 3/4 ounce Benedictine
- sprig of thyme
- stir
- ice cubes
- top with orange juice

 Agent Ginger relaxing (or is she???) with T. Bearskins.

 Agent S.Goose entering the arena with his mind-erasing concoction-- the Bereshit-- inspired by the first word of the Torah (meaning 'In the Beginning'). Deciphering the Kabbalah will give greater meaning to the Torah. This potent delight has the strange ability to both enlightening and knock you out. Deliciously deep.

 Bereshit:
- 1 prune
- 2 dashes of Pechaud bitters
- 1/2 ounce of Hemel op Aarde
- 3/4 ounce Grasovka
- add club soda to taste

 The delicious forbidden prune

 And here comes the formidable Agent Ginger with her tray of mind-bending shots. The drinks came with a small wire hanger containing a mysterious scroll of text. Once unwound, the 6 text clippings each had certain letters circled in pencil. Baffling. We soon found that the letters were a red herring. Then where to start? We were given the clue that the presentation was a HUGE hint. Hmmm....

 Lovely drinks on a tray encircling a flame!

 So where is the clue?

 Here are some of the agents frantically trying to make sense of their fragment of script. No dice.

 Sadly, my scroll immediately fell into my drink. I suppose I was masquerading as Agent Butterfingers.
Arjen heated it over the flame....

 But nothing. The clues on my scroll were lost-- washed away!

 But wait a minute-- after MUCH thinking, many dead-ends, and more clues... WAS there something written on the scrolls. That could only be brought out over the flame????

 Ho ho! Here comes the message... the name of Agent Ginger's drink....
The Ginger Honey Trap!
Apparently great minds REALLY DO think alike-- both Agent Ginger and Agent Butterfingers coming up with an almost identical name! Holy moonballs!

Spelled out in lemon juice--- The Ginger Honey Trap

The Ginger Honey Trap:
-500 ml orange juice
-1 table spoon of pureed ginger
-Juice of 1 lime
-1 table spoon of honey
-2 ounces of gin









 

And here comes Agent Plaid with the last drink of the evening!

 The Casino Royale-- with a lovely, lemony Italian twist! And here is Agent Brown Paper Bag enjoying it with him. 

The Casino Royale:
- 1 ounce Limencello
- 2 ounces cranberry/blueberry juice
- shake over ice
- top up with sparkling lemonade

 My, how things have changed in the top-secret spy den in the last year.

   AND... and impromptu cipher Agent Plaid sprang on us-- way too complicated for Agent Butterfinger's feeble (pickled) brain.











Next Week:
Amazing Voyages and Intrepid Explorers!

MAGIC COCKTAILS

Cocktail Night this Friday had a MAGIC theme! There were drinks, tricks, bluffs, challenges... and a lot of (real) magic!

Look here-- Arjen pulling a white rabbit from a hat!









Never did I think I'd have occasion to wear a turban, a gym top, and a pair of purple underpants (together) in public-- but here it was!

The evening started off with my drink, called 'The Year of the Rat'. My Chinese zodiac symbol is the rat, hence the name.

The drink came garnished with a Chinese fortune cookie.

Ah, but was it an ordinary fortune cookie?

The Year of the Rat:
- a cup of strong jasmine tea
- 1/2 ounce ginger liqueur
- 1/2 ounce white rum

I went to each person's cocktail and made a pass over each cup-- magically transforming the message inside the fortune cookie from a generic one about friendship or money to a truly personalized message-- without ever touching the cup!

David: You will run many marathons.
Astrid: You will spend many moons in Sweden.
Arjen: You have a stunning wife.
Judith: Fluffy will come to life and mate with Jinx.
Reinout: You will build a great online shop for your music.
Deana: You are a genius and have the sex appeal of a tiger woman.

Well-- if the fates say so!

In between cocktails we discussed Houdini's most famous tricks and tried to guess how they were done (the answers are in this book I'm holding)
That employment of the little grey cells took us up to the next drink... David's 'Black Magic'.

Black Magic:
5 parts vodka
2/3 parts Tia Maria
- in a tall glass
- fill up with cola
- add ice

Delicious! And it has the power to transform you into a slobbering drunk person in less time than it takes to wave a wand or blow your nose into a rainbow handkerchief. 

Cats! Cats! Everywhere!

Astrid was next with her cocktail. Called, 'The Prestige' it was inspired by the film of that name.
If you've seen the film, you'll remember the significance of the many many many cats. Astrid brought us a bowl of HUNDREDS of cats to snack on.

And here it is... the Prestige.
The performer is standing on top of a water tank...

And here is David pulling the trap our from under him...
















And splash! Oh holy hell! He's in the tank and there's ANOTHER guy in there with him!?!?!?

Here is Judith chomping on a surprise cupcake. The real surprise was that I cook bake something that was edible.

Astrid with The Prestige

The Prestige:
- 1 part blue curacao
- 1 part vodka
- 4 parts lemonade
- and a splash of duppelganger!

And here comes Judith, carrying her concoction!

and... presto!

The Disappearing Dessert!
In a small bowl or glass put:
- 1 layer of custardpudding, allow to cool and set, then add
- 1 layer of strawberryjello, also allow to cool and set. Just before serving you add:
- 1 layer of advocaat
- Top with whipped cream.

And soon it will not only magically disappear.. the next time you see it, it will have changed color!

More mysterious still.. the moment Judith left the room Madame Infinity appeared!

Hold on (distraction) while Teddy levitates....

Here is Madame Infinity making an ordinary pen float in mid-air. You can look closely-- Madame Infinity has nothing to hide!

And here is the audience, agog with excitement. They are in such a wonderment of confusion, their facial expressions cannot possibly convey the emotion.

Madame Infinity doing one of the card tricks in her repertoire...

And here is David picking a card while M. Infinity's back is turned. (no mirror involved)

And M. Infinity is back... and she identifies the very card that David chose! HOW DID SHE DO IT???

The Great Tedini getting dressed for his act (and having his diaper changed) in his Dressing Room.

And The Great Tedini appears! The room breaks into wild, frenzied applause.

Now, if this is not the face of an artiste who is about to perform a mentalist feat--  then I don't know what is.

The Great Tedini and his assistant

BUT WAIT! The Great Tedini erupts.... first the COCKTAIL!

The Great Tedini prepared a drink called 'The Eye of Isis', in honor of his substantial powers.

The Eye of Isis:
- 1 ounce vodka
- Gazozu (Turkish soda flavored of bubble-gum)
- an ice cube with a magical all-seeing eye

Inside the ice cube is the EYE. Or rather an ice cube containing a date with a jelly bean for a pupil stuffed into it.

WHOA.. The Great Tedini approves! All is well.

He is ready to perform.
I will hold up a hermetically-sealed envelope to the head of The Great Tedini. He will (magically) glean the contents of the sealed envelope. An answer. He will then whisper the question into my ear:
Q: What prison got its name from the Spanish work for pelican?
Q: What was Wilhelm Rontgen's most important discovery?
Q: What was the 1st toy advertised on American TV in 1952?
Q: On what holiday do people much on chocolate coffins and sugar skulls?
Q: What was the 1st planet discovered by telescope in 1781?
Q: What branch of the U.S. military only had 50 soldiers when WWI broke out?

Do you know?
The Great Tedini does...
A: Alcatraz
A: X-rays
A: Mr. Potato Head
A: The Day of the Dead
A: Uranus
A: The Air Force

And were they right????
Mostly right.

Q: Who was the author of The Lost World?
Q: What game was created by French mathematician Blaise Pascal while experimenting with perpetual motion?
Q: What's the more commonly used name for Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Great?
Q: Where was the 2nd atom bomb dropped?

Do you know? The Great Tedini did.

A: Arthur Conan Doyle
A: roulette
A: Charlemagne
A: Nagasaki

It turned into a family act. Here is The Great Tedini demonstrating that he didn't need his turban to do magic (which he communicated by screaming it OFF his head).

Sandwich having a lick of The Disappearing Dessert

And last but not at all least...what is this? Two rabbit ears emerging from the hat? Great Heavens!

Oh, no! It's Arjen's drink 'The White Rabbit'.
It was warm and white AND fuzzy. Also delicious, and it certainly has the ability to hop around in your stomach if you drink enough f it. It may also make your mouth fuzzy in the morning.

The White Rabbit:
- 1/2 ounce Bols yogurt
- 1/2 ounce vanilla vodka
- shake over ice in a shot glass
- spray Bols white chocolate foam on top

Cheers m'dears! Happy Magic-making!