Saturday 9 with Mimi: Son Of A Preacher Man (It's On Fire)

Today Crazy Sam wants to talk about summer thinking and summer drinking. I'm a pro at the former and an amateur at the latter. From someone who gets sleepy taking a Tylenol and can't drink more than a half glass of Chardonnay without serious silliness ensuing this will be a stretch. But I learned. A lot.
Saturday 9: The Lazy Days of Summer

1. What is your favorite summer drink?

I thought a flaming cocktail might be nice. "How to pour 5 martinis at once while on fire"... What I've been missing in my life!

2. What is the best summer sport to play?

Put out the flaming martini?

3. What’s the best summer sport to watch?

Jerry Thomas making Blue Blazers. Back in the day, President Ulysses S. Grant was so impressed by his bar tending and cocktail making skills that he gave him a cigar.
Blue Blazers are simply whiskey and water heated up in separate silver cups. The whiskey was lit on fire (I guess Grant's cigar came in handy) and the 2 cups poured back and forth without extinguishing the flames - which created a "blue blaze". Thomas reportedly wouldn't make the concoction unless it was below 50 degrees outside and someone had a cold. It was said to be a great date trick cure-all for what ailed you.

(I know this to be true because my grandfather made me drink whiskey and sugar to cure my colds when I was a little girl. I hated it but it worked.)

Click here for a recipe and flaming instructions. Take 2 aspirin and call me - or the fire department - in the morning.
4. Do you like the ocean, the pool or the lake?

A pool would be lovely if the bar is serving up Backdrafts. Especially those idiots drunk daredevils who choose to extinguish the flames with the palm of their hand. Why anyone would do this is beyond me. Burning Cointreau is poured into Sambuca who is just sitting there minding her own business until she's on fire too. Who told her this would be a fun date? You have to keep the pint glass upside down at all time to catch the vapors. (I think I saw this done in the back of 7th grade science class once.)

But I did learn that sprinkling cinnamon from afar into the flaming alcohol will light up the spices too. This explains my recent kitchen catastrophes.

My cinnamon frolicking has to stop.

5. Some folks drink whiskey in the winter and gin, tequila (margaritas) or rum drinks in the summer. Does you alcohol of choice change?

Constantly.

I drink hot tea in the winter. Iced tea in the summer. And the occasional marvelous Godiva chocolate. My favorite. No kidding.
6. What is your favorite summer song?

Sugar Loafs Soaked in Rum by the Flamborghinis. (I thought they were marshmallows at first.) The Feuerzangenbowle (that's a German alcoholic beverage for all you lightweights in blogland) is quite lovely, don't you think? Just add a blanket and a dreamy date. I'm so there.

That is the point...right?

Which reminds me of 1968. Son Of A Preacher Man by Dusty Springfield. See Question 7 for further disgrace.

7. What was your best summer growing up? How old were you and why was it best?

I've had grownup summers that rank right up there with a good growing pains but I guess I'll tell you about my crush on Stevie the First Baseman (boy). Night after night I held his glove by the fence while he was in the dugout. He was twelve. I was twelve. His daddy was a preacher who yelled a lot but I didn't hold that against him. He had blue eyes and we saw the back of the bleachers a lot that summer at the ballfield.

I thought I was going to marry him. I didn't. I wonder what happened to Stevie?

"Being good isn't always easy...."

8. Have you ever had a summer romance that you knew would end?

I once had a love affair with a Flaming B-52 Bomber. Once being the operative word. I hear it is a "layered drink" and that bartenders have to have a special college degree to make it. Bailey's Irish Cream is involved (I've heard of it) and then Grand Marnier (I've heard of it) is poured on top of the Irish Cream.
Here's the trick. The cream must be poured very sloooooowwwwllllyy over the back of a cold bar spoon.

That sounds so literary and sensuous.....

9. How old were you when you first went skinny-dipping? Who were you with?

I can't remember. Ahem.

But I think it happened before Texas banned Flaming Dr. Peppers. You see, I love Dr. Pepper. When my date showed me the square bottle I thought it was pretty. And square. Like me. Perfect! What could be better than a sweet almond drink with an Italian name? Sort of like my date....but I digress. And besides, I thought it was a subliminal message to me that he really really really liked me (you know how analytical and foolish I am) so I drank it.

Nobody told me that Amaretto is an alcoholic beverage disguised as Dr. Pepper. It tasted just the same so I drank a lot.

Hence the skinny dipping.

Texas will never be the same.

And that's it for Saturday 9. You should try it!

There were no Queens hurt in the making of this post and I crossed my fingers the whole time.

Truth be told? I'm one heck of a designated driver.

Hiccup.