Cocktail Of The Week: "P" Is For Pearl Necklace Polynesian Cocktail And...Porn Star

I've been going to bars for my cocktail of the week entries, relying on dim lights and bar tops to be my backdrop for the image of the drink. Not the best way to take a picture, especially if the people sitting around you are half slid off their stools in the first place. It tends to skew your perceptions. I decided to play a little this week, and I gathered up a bunch of props to dump into the photographs. Last night, I was talking to a friend online, describing some of the things I might use, and he said, "You have to use the long gloves that go up over the arm." I told him those were called opera length gloves, and I would think of something to do with them. I also decided to shoot outdoors at a veranda bar for better lighting.

Luckily, I know a bartender that is game for anything. For example, one of the cocktails, the Pearl Necklace, requires that drops of cream be dotted around the rim of the glass. I brought my own dropper from home, and despite repeated tries, the drops kept sliding down into the glass and not giving the required effect, so we tossed that step aside and went for something else. My companion thought it was "gratuitous vulgarity," anyway. Funny. I've never thought of semen that way before.

While the bartender was back inside messing with the intricacies of the dropper, and I sat alone at this point on the veranda, a waiter came out and walked over to me. He had this look on his face. Troubled. "Here we go," I thought. He started with, "I just heard some interesting comments in there, and I had to leave. Have you ever had people say things to you, and you wonder what planet they came from, or if they are even human? I've been working here two years, and I am always polite to the customers who come here, no matter how rude they are to me, but today I just couldn't help myself." Naturally, I asked him what had happened. He continued, "We have CNN on in the bar, and they are showing scenes from New Orleans." This one customer said to me, "I am so sick of listening to these people whine about what's going on down there. First of all, I am sure they are exaggerating the number of deaths that have occurred, and it's nowhere near as bad as that tsunami was in terms of the death count, and people just need to shut up about it and get things done, instead of complaining all the time. The tsunami killed thousands of people, and they are talking about maybe a hundred, and they are going to exaggerate the numbers just to get relief money." The waiter turned to the customer and said, "You are way off base." That's when he gave himself a time out and joined me.

I thought he behaved very professionally, as I am sure he easily could have said something stronger. I told him a story I had read this morning online: where someone posted about how their favorite place in New Orleans to get beignets probably had been wiped out, so they would never be able to get beignets there anymore. I shared this with him as an example of the type of alien planet things people will say, and I suppose a reflection to some degree of the population in terms of how self-absorbed people can be. For those who don't know, a beignet is a New Orleans speciality: a form of fried dough akin to a doughnut or a fritter and coated with powdered sugar. The waiter collected himself, literally adjusted his frame to brace himself for going back inside, apologized for going off on me (fine, no problem), and back to work for him. I figured better he vent on me than some bar beanie.

The first drink to make an appearance was the Pearl Necklace:

1/2 ounce vanilla vodka
1/2 ounce Godiva White Chocolate liqueur
Tortuga rum cream

Pour vodka into a chilled martini glass and add the Godiva. Stir. Using a dropper, add rum cream drop by drop on the outside edge of the glass to form a ring, or the "pearl necklace."


The Pearl Necklace.....


By then, my friend had joined me, and their "P" drink of the evening was the Polynesian Cocktail:

1 1/2 ounces vodka
1/4 ounce cherry-flavored brandy
Juice of one lime.

Rub the rim of the cocktail glass with lime and dip into sugar. Shake ingredients with ice and strain into the prepared glass.



Polynesian Cocktail....Good with Spam

There was a hibiscus shrub right next to our table, so we robbed the plant of one of it's blossoms to add a little touch of Pacifica to the photograph. I also have photographs taken later where said bloom is behind someone's ear and being held in their teeth. Which reminds me: while I was talking with Mr. Long Glove Requester last night, somehow the subject of Guam came up, and I noted that Guam has one of the largest Spam consuming populations in the world. Just thought I'd pass that along to you, while I'm thinking of it.

As for the sexy gloves? I ordered up one other "P" drink, and that would be Porn Star:

1/2 ounce Blue Curacao liqueur
1/2 ounce Sour Puss Raspberry liqueur

Pour both ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a champagne flute and serve.


Porn Star Cocktail.....Oh. Yeah. Your next scene involves a pearl necklace....