Daquiri Dick's Mix Off

I am officially entered into Daiquiri Dick's Mix Off, a contest at Daiquiri Dick's restaurant to see who can make the best daiquiri. There is both a professional and an amateur category and I, of course, am merely an amateur.

I spent a good part, a very good part, of today perfecting, or attempting to perfect, the recipe that I will enter: A bananna, coconut cream, lime, and rum mixture. The rums will be Bacardi white and Appleton gold.

It took me three tries to get exactly the right mixture, and I recruited a group of friends to try them out. I might have nailed it.

I Think They Liked It


And They Seemed To As Well


Wayne, Well, You Are Never Sure With Wayne


I Know I Liked It


And The Recipe Is All Up Here


The contest is Wednesday afternoon so it will be interesting to see how I do. I blend all of the ingredients except for the ice and then shake them with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. That way it isn't a frozen drink, has a bit of a bite to it, but is still kind of tropical fruit tasting. A traditional daiquiri, one of John F. Kennedy's favorite drinks, is fairly potent. Just rum, lime juice and a bit of sugar. I wanted to keep it strong but with a little more of a tropical flavor. We shall see how people resond.

Sadly, daiquiris, like martinis and margaritas, have lost their original high alcohol potency and have sunk to syrupy things like chocolate martinis and strawberry margaritas. Even my daiquiri recipe has moved in that direction, but it still has a kick.

I will publish my recipe after the contest. If I win I get a the cocktail put on Daiquiri Dick's menu and it will be named after me. I am hoping they will call it Bananna Dan's Daiquiri.

St. Patrick's Day Revisited

Oooh!! What a day. Bar Man and St. Patrick's Day go together like, well, like Bar Man and St. Patrick's Day.

You saw some of the preparations for our party, mostly consisting of my tasting and refining the Green Apple Margaritas. But there is more to a St. Patrick's Day party than drinking, I think.

More Party Stuff


The cake and jello-shots were Marcie's contribution and, I must say, the jello-shots were the best I have ever had. Definetly not for the kids.

Early Arrivals, Bill, Marcie And The Mysterious Chinese Woman


Bar Man And Marcie Taking Our Medicine


Over The Lips


Through The Gums


Next to arrive were Wayne and Marge. Well, they arrived physically. Wayne, well, we are never sure about Wayne.

Wayne, It's Not Kansas


Wayne always comes around once he has had his medication, though.

Everything Is Better Now


Next To Show Up Were Paul And Sharon.


This next sequence of shots is best viewed in rapid succession or, better yet, not at all.

Bar Man Dances








Marge Was Less Than Impressed


Next to arrive at the party were Jim and Carol. Marge, of course, had to demonstrate my dance for them.

And Then, Carol, He Did This


Jim Had Seen It All Before


And, of course, what is a St. Patrick's Day Party without tattoos? Marcie, of course, came fully prepared.

Jim had the perfect canvas for our artwork.

It Won't Hurt A Bit


Well, Except For Your Dignity


Just Perfect


A Little Bit Of Medicine For The Pain


And then we all had to show off our tattoos.









This was a pre-Sweeny's party though so, eventually, we all had to roll out the door and on up to Sweeny's.

Heading On Up


Now, as many as you know, Sweeny's is one of my favorite drinking and eating places in Puerto Vallarta. Yeah, I know, it isn't even Mexican. But they do have good food at reasonable prices. Their pork chops are fantastic and I like their shrimp bowl. Not a shrimp cocktail, a whole lot of shrimp in a warm spicy clear liquid.

But Today Was Corned Beef And Cabbage


And Bar Man Was Pleased


Of course not everyone likes corned beef and cabbage, but Sweeny's had more to offer than just that.

Fantastic Shrimp


And, as you would expect, we all had a great time.

Party Hardy


We were having such a great time that a couple at the next table, Bob and Martha, decided to come over and join us. Marcie was quick to pounce with her tattoos.

Marie's Artwork On Martha


And Bob Too


Of course Marcie's heavy partying eventually caught up to her and Sweeny had her take a breath-test which, I am proud to say, she failed miserably.

Is It Supposed To Float When I Blow It Up?


Actually, we were all kind of floating at this time. But we finished up our meal and headed back to the beach where Kim Kuzma was giving another free concert. Marcie, hell-bent on tattooing everyone, could not be restrained.

Marcie Is A Party Pro


I just relaxed on the beach with my friend Gary and a bucket of beers (that I needed like a hole in my head) and took in the show.

Relaxing, Or Passing Out


After the concert I headed up to freshen up for our sunset finale on the pool deck. Luckily it was dark and I forgot my camera. Marcie probably has some pictures though and maybe I will get some from her.

The last several nights Venus (calm down, the planet) pops out right after the sun sets and then it too sets in about an hour or so. Quite a nice encore to the setting of the sun itself.

Today a bunch of us are heading to Bucerias, a little town to the north of Puerto Vallarta. The fun just never stops. I should have pictures of our trip tomorrow, so stay tuned.

My Work Is Never Done

Ah, one of my favorite days of the year. St. Patrick's Day. I love getting up early in the morning and going to mass to celebrate the..., Oh, wait a minute, What am I thinking? I had to get up early and do advance preparation of the green frozen margaritas for our pre-visit to Sweeny's for corn beef and cabbage party.

There will, of course, be more on this later, but I thought I would give you an advance peek at my day.

Got up early and prepared the basic pre-mixture ingredients for my green frozen margaritas.


A Mess For The Mysterious Chinese Woman


After fiddling a bit I got it down to a pitcher of my secret mix. Two parts of that with one part of tequila and an equal amount of ice in the blender and away we go. I have to make the margaritas easy to whip up because I will have to make a bunch of them in a hurry when people begin to show up around 11:00 AM.

And then, the most difficult part of the job:

The Taste Test - Green Apple Margaritas


They tasted good to me so now all I have to do is queue up The Pogues and wait for the party to begin.

Everyone have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day and I will post more about mine tomorrow.

And remember, the Beer Party™ is going green today (I will change my shirt later).

A Plank In The Platform

The Beer Party™ is proudly announcing its first plank in our platform. A plank we can all feel proud to walk

The repeal of all taxes, Federal, State and Local, on beer. This would also include all sales taxes which, hold onto your hat, run almost 9% in New York City.

The benefits of this are obvious. Of course, the most obvious benefit is cheaper beer. But think of the trickle-down effect. No, not that trickle-down effect, the economic trickle down effect

First, more money available to tip your friendly bartender who will, in turn have more money to tip his friendly bartender, who will, in turn..., well, you get the idea. Eventually there will be a bartender who won't go to a bar and will have more money to spend on other things, thereby stimulating the economy. This last part is strictly hypothetical, I must admit.

Second, How many of us make poor economic decisions after we have been drinking beer all day and/or all night. You know, like Hey, let's take a cab to Atlantic City, or something like that. Again, more money introduced into the economy can only spur its growth.

It has been estimated* that if prohibition were re-introduced to the United States the annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would actually be negative. Therefore, it stands to reason that if more drinking were to take place the annual GDP would be even higher than it is now. Sometimes it is the simple solutions to a problem that are often over-looked.

My next plank may have to do with reducing the legal age at which you can drink beer. Did you know that only the United States, Fiji, Pakistan (non-Muslims) Palau and Sri Lanka have a minimum drinking age of 21? Far and away, most of the world sets it at 18. In places like Germany, Portugual and Barbados it is only 16. Some countries, like Jamaica, have no minimum drinking age. Why should the United States, land of the free, have the most oppressive drinking laws.

We should all stand up, if we can, and be counted in our fight to..., well, whatever it was we were fighting for. As a proud member of the Beer Party™ rest assured that your voice will be heard. Perhaps not understood, but heard.

*That was Bar Man's estimate, made while drinking beer.

Omelet Party

Now don't get excited, this is not another grass-roots political party. This is just a party where everyone makes and eats omelets. We have one of these every year here in Puerto Vallarta when Sandy and Rico come to visit. It was Sandy who originally showed me how to make these ometlet-in-a-bag thingies so it is only right to have one of these partys while she is here.

Sandy Explaining The Basic Theory


Not everyone was quite as enthralled as Paul and Sharon.

Just Give Me My Meds


The Mysterious Chinese Woman gave a demonstration on proper bag management.

This Is A Bag


And, of course, it is extremely important that you mark your bag so you can identify your own, custom-designed omelet.

And This Is A Marker


Now, lest you think these are trivial topics, try using the wrong kind of bag and a non-permanent magic marker and see what happens. Be sure to make sure you use the bags that do not melt in boiling water.

Okay, We Got It


Of course an integral part of any omelet party are the Mimosas. They have great freshly squeezed orange juice here in Puerto Vallarta and there is a little stand just down the block from us. They also have some decent and inexpensive bubbly that is just perfect.

Bar Man In His Omelet Shirt


The Mysterious Chinese Woman Pouring One


Then you have to have a bunch of ingredients that you can put into your omelets. Chopped onions, crumbled bacon, fried up chorizo, chopped cheese, salsa and chopped green peppers are always good.

Your Basic Ingredients


Note the nicely formed finished omelet in the forground. That was for display purposes only, it was left-over from last year.

Some side dishes are always nice too. In this case we had fried potatoes.

Are They Done Yet?


Now, back to the omelets. You simply put two eggs into a bag (marked with your name) add whatever mix of ingredients you want, and gently squeeze until everything is mixed up.

Ooh, Squishy


Then you plop the bags into boiling water for about 12 minutes, take them out, open them, and roll the omelet out onto a plate.

It's A Miracle, Marge Exclaimed Eggcitedly


Well, not a miracle, but pretty darned neat.

Yum And Sharon Were Proud Of Their's As Well


And then you can soup it up with any additional condiments that you might like. My favorite is Martha's Original Recipe Chopotle Sauce. We also had a nice salsa.

Applying The Finishing Touches




As you can see, Wayne did manage to recover.

Of course a big part of any party is taking pictures. At our age it is the only way we can remember we were at a party. Come to think of it, it was kind of that way when I was younger, too.

Smile Everyone


Keep Smiling


Marcie is the best for taking pictures. I don't think she is ever without her camera. I should have had her along when I hit my 1000 bars. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't even start taking pictures until around bar 500.

And then, after everyone made their omelets we just basically settled down and partied a bit.

Our Partying Is Mostly Done Sitting Down


Or Standing Around


Hey, you take your fun where you find it. We all had a good time and vowed to do it again next year. If we can remember.