Making Mojitos With Key Westie

Fresh, Limey, Minty, Cold

How would you describe the taste of a Mojito?

Or should we just forget describing them and make one and drink it?  Yeah, I vote for that! 

Being the Hemingway fans that we are, and knowing that Papa loved his mojitos, we had to try one when we were in the Keys last month.  In fact, we tried several.  The best we had was at the Sunset Grill and Raw Bar--the big Tiki Hut on Marathon.  Yum!  Many bars couldn't serve them because they didn't keep fresh mint around (we just planted a bunch so we'll have home-grown fresh mint all summer).  On the way home, our flight was seriously delayed out of Miami, so we spent our time wisely . . . we found the Cuban bar there and researched a few mojitos.  The girl who was making them for us gave us a quick lesson in how to make them, and we couldn't wait.  First, we had to get a muddler, an essential tool for crushing fresh mint, citrus and ice for Mojitos. We found one on Amazon.  We selected the VIVA! Stick Black Muddler by Liquid Revolutionist Mixology.  It was the biggest, meanest one I could find and you have to pretty much put some musles behind sumshing all those lime slices and mint leaves, and I knew I needed all the help I could get because I wanted to make a lot.

Key Westie's Mojito Recipe

10 Mint Leaves

3 Slices of Lime

1 Tablespoon sugar or other sweetner

1 1/2 oz Light Rum

6 oz soda

And how do you combine these wonderful, zesty, fresh ingredients to make a Mojito? 

Watch here and I'll show you how!

A Tropical Night in Key West

We had a fantastic time in Key West in February.  One day we had lunch at Margartiaville (It WAS National Margarita Day!) ,played around town and shopped, then snacked on lobster  quesadillas  while we watched the sun go down.

Next, we wandered over to the Schooner Warf we've heard so much about.  Then we strolled back through Key West to where our car was parked on Angela Street, listening to the music that spilled out into the night.

We put the top down and enjoyed the ocean air all the way out to Big Torch Key, where we were staying.  All in all, we had a wonderful day!

My Journey to Trop Rock . . . and a Scott Kirby video . . .

The band  playing in Captain Tonys in Feb when we were in the Keys asked for requests, and Capt'n Dan and I surprised ourselves by groaning in unison when someone requested Margaritaville.  We really do love Jimmy Buffet, and we've listened to him for a long time.  We even enjoy some of his "popular" songs, although we've collected many of his lesser-known songs and appreciate some of them much more.  But recently we've discovered the genre of Trop Rock and our horizons have broadened.

First, I was just searching for songs to play on our boat, and knew that there had to be more "out there" than just Jimmy Buffet.  I'd never heard of "Trop Rock" a year ago.  One of the first artists I found was Howard Livingston, but I also searched out many more, including The Boat Drunks, Gene Mitchell, Mike Aiken, Brent Burns, Jimmy and the Parrots, The Caribbean Cowboys, Hanna's Reef, Bertie Higgins, Coconut Radio, Rob Mehl, The Yard Dogs, and Scott Kirby.  We  even started appreciating some of Kenny Chesney and Zac Brown . . . 

Now, we still love Jimmy, and we're going to our first Buffet Concert in Kansas City next month, but we were determined to try to see any of our favorties who might be playing in Key West when we were there, and two were.  We saw Howard Livingston and Scott Kirby.  We got to meet both of them.  I guess one thing we enjoy about Trop Rock is that the artists are so approachable, and are often near our own age. Both Howard and Scott agreed to have their pictures taken with me and didn't seem to mind that I took pictures and video at their performances. I respect these two artists and will try to be responsible with their images.  I hope they approve of how I use them.

I'm just now downloading my videos from the trip, but I am totally excited to have captured Scott Kirby singing a song of his that I really love, "This is the USA?"  Another artist was playing with Scott,  Dave Edmisten, and I now intend to find out more about him and add some of his songs to my playlist.  But for today, here's Scott singing "This is the USA?" which I was delighted to discover, is a true story.  Scott knew these people!

A couple of my other favorite songs of Scott's are

Blow Me Down to Cayo Hueso

and

Out Here Near the Edge

 

You can find out more about Scott Kirby at  http://www.scottkirby.com/

Coming Home to Iguana Isle

When we arrived home from Key West a little over a week ago, we had a package waiting for us.  Inside were wonderful spices and sauces from Iguana Isle.  Last night, I used some of the Key Lime Margarita Chicken & Seafood Rub on grilled shrimp, and everyone agreed that it was some of the best shrimp they've ever tasted.  It at least equaled any shrimp I had in the Keys!  As I experiment with the other products they included, I'll post the results, but, for now,  the Key Lime Margarita Chicken & Seafood Rub is a unanimous thumbs up!

See what was in our goodies box

I Love this Bling!!

I just found the most wonderful Amazon shop for some unique bling!  What fun! Sparkly and decadant . . .  just like me!  Capt'n Dan was telling my son the other day that the gift of jewelry always worked, and, of course, I heartily agreed, but also added (for my son's education) that girls like to buy their own bling, but expect the good stuff from their men.  This store is totally BLING!!

Here's my story.  I am attending a party with a "Nautical" theme . . .  so I have the blouse pictured below and I need jewelry to accent it.  Probably just earrings and maybe bracelet?  The neckline kind of stands on its own, I think . . .

Here are a few more of the very cool pices I found by this vendor.  Mouse over a piece below find out more about it.   What fun!!

Hemingway's "The Garden of Eden"

Capt'n Dan and I have been intrigued by the movie created from Hemingway's "Garden of Eden" for some time.  We love to read and research Hemingway, and caught wind of the movie online, but could never discover where it was playing or how to purchase a copy.  I have read the book, but just today I found out that the movie is on pre-sale, and we've ordered our copy and will finally get to see it before the end of March!

I will review the movie after I've seen it, but if you'd like to watch it as soon as possible, you can purchase the movie here  or if you want to read the book first, you can purchase it here.

Jack K. Huston plays a twenty-something Hemingway-ish writer living a splendidly bohemian low rent ex-pat existence in Paris until he meets a wealthy American (Mena Suvari) on a kind of art buying holiday.*

Once these two meet, the young "Hemingway" is introduced to the finer things in life (new sports car, new clothes, expensive restaurants & chalets) but also to a more decadent side of life (as it turns out that his new bride is a bi-sexual gender-bending adventurer). *

At first the young writer goes along with his flirty new brides games and even dyes his hair blonde to match hers (which gets shorter & shorter & more boyish as the film progresses). But when these platinum blonde twins invite a third to play in their love games, a struggle for creative control over the relationship ensues.*

The struggle over sexual/gender identity & over the authorship or direction of the relationship is fascinating to watch, and the couple's beautiful Spanish companion is really something to see as she sheds her suit & bathes au natural in the cool Mediterannean sea that provides the stunning backdrop to this impossibly lush & lascivious "eden".*

*Excerpts from Amazon review by

Doug Anderson

Reflections of Duval Windows . . .

I love walking along Duval and capturing the reflections in the shop windows.   Merchants on Duval are so creative and out-of-the box, and their work, merged with the reflections of people, architecure and palm trees, create a unique art form.  Well, some is art and some is just fun, like the picture below.

 

Click here to purchase this tee-shirt

This picture was taken in February 2011 on a trip to the Keys.

You can see work from my previous visits to the Keys here:

My Gallery

Key Westie in Islamorada

Here's my first video from my recent trip to the Florida Keys!