Article: There's More to Classic Tiki Than Just Kitsch

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/theres-more-to-classic-tiki-than-just-kitsch-180964473/

Click on the above link for article.

Winding Down On A Friday Night

Friday, March 23, 2018

Ryan joins Mitch and Josh at the altar of the Hula Hula Cocktail.

Long week but Dale and I survived. We vegged while watching Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Dale had a salad and I had a pizza. And, oh, yeah, I had another Hula Hula Cocktail.

Coasters

Friday, March 23, 2018

The tiki bar coasters I order from the Tiki Bar T-Shirt Club came a couple days ago and they are all most fabulous, however, the one for the Waikiki Room is my favorite. These are my own photographs and not from the website. 

More Hula Hula

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Mitch joins Josh at the altar of the Hula Hula Cocktail.

Hula Hula Cocktail

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Josh worships at the altar of the Hula Hula Cocktail

Dinner in with Dale tonight. I made myself ANOTHER Hula Hula Cocktail. 

Psycho Suzi's Visit

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Meeting at the union hall after work yesterday evening so I made a quick stop at Psycho Suzi's in between. Have never had the Psycho Zombie before so I rectified that. It's a very tangy slush and quite enjoyable. It came with a fun swizzle stick too. 

Round two was a Fu Manchu which I've had many times before. 

Gloomy first day of spring today. My pit stop here helped brighten it up.

By the way I bought the mug the Zombie came in. I'm starting to realize the extent of my tiki mug addiction. When I got home I discovered I already had one. The more the merrier, I guess. 

P.S. The Psycho Suzi's drink menu describes the Psycho Zombie as follows:
"A zombie walks into a bar...that’s it, he just does, cause he’s not too smart. Drink a few rum soaked cherry, cola, & lime slushies and become completely brainless too. Circa 2010"

The Hula Hula Cocktail

Sunday, March 18, 2018

Ending the weekend with a Hula Hula Cocktail. A tiki drink so easy even I can make it!

Happy St. Patrick's Day - Tiki Edition

Saturday, March 17, 2018

The Minneapolis Waikiki Room and the Tiki Bar T-Shirt Club

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

I ordered these coasters today from the Tiki Bar T-Shirt Club. I was drawn to them because of the inclusion of the old Waikiki Room that was a Minneapolis institution.

According the the website: 

"In the ’50s the Polynesian fad found a home in Hotel Nicollet's new Waikiki Room, complete with black velvet paintings of 'Polynesians', squat statues of grimacing gods, bamboo awnings and everything to remind Pacific war vets of places they’d rather forget. "

Tiki Tuesday - Lego Tiki? I Guess It's a Thing.

Lego Moai

Dale's Take On Psycho Brunch

The Crummy Scoundrel. The tiki drink, not me.

On Sunday Dale posted the above two photos on his blog with the text, "Doing a little day drinking with Joe at Psycho Suzi's. Well, he's day drinking. I'm sticking to the calorie free Cinnamon Chenille." I responded by saying, "Day drinking? It's called brunch!"

Psycho Brunch

Sunday, March 11, 2018

Dale and I had planned on visiting Psycho Suzi's last night with Maggie and Cindi but some unforseen circumstances got in the way.

Dale felt bad about it since he knew I'd been looking forward to it all week so he took me there for brunch today.

I was up for trying a tiki drink I've never had before so I went with the Crummy Scoundrel. The drink menu describes it as "An absurd blend of amusing flavors and pirate-like fun...but with no pirates. Blackberry, hibiscus, banana, fresh lime. Circa 1972."

It was awesome and I loved it. It even had a little fizz to it.  Dale's having a dry March and so didn't order anything to drink beside coffee. 

For brunch I ordered The Samoan which the menu described as "Seasoned roasted pork, jalapeños & cheddar, topped with two fried eggs, and Cholula sour cream on a bed of Suzi's breakfast potatoes." Also awesome.

I managed to get a bathroom selfie and...

...stopped by the gift shop afterward for some tiki shot glasses. 

Pretty awesome visit. Just what I need to alleviate the mood brought on by a very gloomy Minneapolis March day.

Silver Hour

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

I had a lovely and relaxing evening with Dale tonight. Work was, as always, exhausting but particularly so today. We had stuff that needed to get done but we ending up socializing on the couch. I made my newly favorite Hula Hula cocktail and we listened to newly downloaded Duke Kamoku and His Islanders album.

During dinner we watched some episodes of the most recent season of Grace and Frankie starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.

Mermaid Monday

Monday, March 5, 2018

According to his web page, "El Gato Gomez is a fluffy white housecoat who plays drums in a Rock N Roll Band. I am also a professional artist with a mad passion for Mid Century Modern design. All things retro totally float my boat! Some of my favorite themes include; vintage pulp style sci-fi art with lots of rockets, robots, and flying saucers, retro pinup girls, Eames era interior design, kitsch classic TV, campy 1950s 'B' horror monster movies, funky Googie architecture, Tiki bar idols, mod abstracts, and cool cool beatnik kitty cats!"

Well, there you have it. All I can say is that I have an appreciation for anyone with this much dedication to kitsch. I follow on Instagram but be sure to check out Facebook and the website.

Sippin' Safari

Saturday, March 3, 2018

As if getting my Shag tiki pendant yesterday weren't enough, today Sippin' Safari by Jeff "Beachbum" Berry was delivered. Yay! 

I globbed on to one recipe pretty quickly while previewing the book because it looked so easy even I could do it. The Hula Hula Cocktail is one part gin, one part orange curacoa, and one part orange juice shaken on ice and strained. No 1/4 ounces of 4 different kinds of freshly squeezed fruit juices. No three different kinds of rum. No drink mixers with shaved ice and agitator cubes. I'm too impatient for all of that. I mean I love a well made craft tiki cocktail it's just that I'd rather have someone else make the hardcore stuff for me. 

Music tonight included a couple of mixes I downloaded from iTunes (see above and below).

Shag Tiki Pendant

Friday, March 2, 2018

I recently ordered a Shag tiki pendant and it came in the mail today. I couldn't be more pleased. It looked good with the martini I made tonight. Brad and Josh were intrigued. 

Dale and I ate blue corn chips and greasy pizza tonight while we watched Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and Grace and Frankie.

Psycho Suzi's

Recently Psycho Suzi's posted the above photo on Instagram with the following text: "When Psycho Suzi's first opened in 2003, it was located at 2501 Marshall St NE - the same location where Betty Danger's Country Club is today! A few years later, Suzi outgrew the corner spot and thought, 'what's a tiki bar without a river front patio?!' - picking up her things, she made the move a few blocks down to 1900 Marshall St NE." She'll have been around in one location or another for 15 years this year. Wow. Happy anniversary!