Sweet!

I've started Christmas baking.

The fruit mince is mascerating, gingerbread is done.

The brambrack cake is next as will be the macaroons, almond crescents, Christmas biscuits and fudge.

I might take a little break with a Candy Cane Martini

To make one candy cane martini, mix:
1 1/2 ounces of vanilla vodka
1/2 ounce of peppermint schnapps
1 ounce of club soda
crushed candy canes for garnish

Dip the rim of a martini glass with water, then the crushed candy canes. Mix the vodka, schnapps, and club soda with ice in a cocktail shaker; strain into your prepared glass.

-- Nora

Cocktails By Request

This is especially for our blog friend Kae, by special request:

Bombay Sapphire Collins
60ml Bombay Sapphire Gin
Fresh squeezed juice from 1 lemon
2 heaped tsp of castor sugar
soda water

Serve with ice in a high ball

This version of a Tom Collins is one of mine and Nicky's favourite cocktails. It's a light and tangy alternative to a gin and tonic and always goes down well during summer.

-- Nora

Cool Breeze

After a warm summer day, it's nice to be experiencing a cool breeze.

And a drink.

Cool Breeze
2 oz vodka
6 1/2 oz lemon soda
1 oz fresh lemon juice

Pour the vodka into a highball glass over 5 ice cubes. Fill with Lemon Perrier, and add the juice extracted from half a lemon. Stir and serve.

-- Nora

Have Yourselves A Merry Little Christmas

Being financially straitened this year, Nick and I are having an austerity Christmas which means no bought gifts and accepting Christmas dinner at the home of some generous friends.

I'm getting my shopping thrills vicariously by taking my elderly grandmother to do her Christmas shopping which I've done for the past three years (which has given me the opportunity to guide gift purchases for members of the family much to their relief).

Nicky and I have pulled out Christmas decorations for the first time in three years and have started watching our Christmas themed viewing:

The Thin Man (naturally!)
It's A Wonderful Life
Meet John Doe
Holiday Inn
How The Ghosts Stole Christmas (episode of The X-Files)
The Big Little Jesus (episode of Dragnet)
of course, no Christmas would be complete without watching Die Hard, which Nicky is delighted has made the cut at number 8 in a list of Britain's favourite Christmas films.

While I wrap my grandmother's Christmas presents for the family, enjoy this cocktail:

Angel's Delight
* 1 oz cream
* 3/4 oz triple sec
* 3/4 oz gin
* 2-3 dashes grenadine

1. Pour the ingredients into a shaker with ice cubes.
2. Shake well.
3. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

-- Nora

UPDATE: Well said Mr Bailey!

Winding Up

Britain was battered by gales of up to 165mph yesterday, leaving a trail of destruction across the country.

In one spectacular incident a 300ft wind turbine exploded in flames as it was buffeted by the high winds.

Another wind turbine was completely blown down on Wednesday, raising questions about whether wind farms were simply unable to cope with the weather.

Oops, not a reliable form of power generation, eh?

Tim Blair rightly mocks.

::checks watch:: It's time for a cocktail. In a Hurricane Glass:

WINDY MILLER

2 Parts ABSOLUT CITRON
1 Part Absinthe
2 Parts Mandarines Liqueur
Lemon-Lime Soda
1 Slice Mandarin

Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add absinthe, ABSOLUT Citron and mandarines liqueur. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass filled with ice cubes. Topup with lemon-lime soda. Garnish with mandarin.

-- Nora

Festive Cheer

Nicky and I are off to a Christmas Party this afternoon.

I think one of these is in order - yes, just the one ;-):

Cosmopolitan Champagne
* 250ml (1 cup) cranberry juice
* 2 tbs Cointreau liqueur
* 2 tbs fresh lime juice
* 6 sugar cubes
* 1 x 750ml btl chilled pink Champagne or sparkling wine

Place cranberry juice in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until reduced by two-thirds. Remove from heat and set aside for 30 minutes to cool.

Combine the cranberry juice, Cointreau and lime juice in a small jug. Place a sugar cube in each serving glass. Pour the cranberry mixture over the sugar. Top with Champagne or sparkling wine and serve immediately.

-- Nora

Monday Cocktails

Oh look!

A cocktail in my honour:

Norina

* 1 oz Cinzano Extra Dry Vermouth
* 1 oz peach liqueur
* lemon twist for garnish

1. Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
2. Shake well.
3. Serve in a martini glass.
4. Add a lemon twist for a garnish.

-- Nora

Many Happy Returns

Nicky and I speak very rarely of private family matters.

The focus of our blog is 'exploring the mysteries of human behaviour as revealed in politics, media and entertainment (and whatever else catches our fancy)'.

Over the past three years our blog has stuttered along with infrequent posting, marked particularly by the illness and death of my mother, which I wrote about here.

As has mentioned to friends, one would think that the loss of relationship would be the most difficult aspect of losing a significant person, but it is not.

The most difficult aspect is picking up the pieces afterwards and that is what Nicky and I have had to do - managing the on-going emotional and physical welfare of my grandmother (my mother's mother), dealing with the shocking betrayal of my stepfather as well as the ramifactions his actions have had on our family.

And there is the other things thrown in front of you to challenge, to stretch, to deepen - in our case it has been the financial struggles of business ownership combined with the threat to our home due to a confluence of natural disasters.

Such growth has to be done offline, distilled internally, processed and evaluated.

2011 has been a watershed year.

Nicky and I have emerged from the other side focused on new opportunities, more in love than ever and more determined to raise our voice in expressing what is right.

So, to celebrate, a cocktail!

HAPPY RETURN
6 Parts Gin
3 Parts Triple Sec
2 Parts Cherry Brandy
1 Part Lemon Juice
1 Whole Maraschino Cherry

Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

-- Nora

Pyjama Party

It's been a long time between sharing cocktails recipes at the Charles' household.

Believe it or not, there are other pleasures than just sipping cocktails:

Between The Sheets
1 oz Bacardi rum
1/2 oz Cognac
3 oz passionfruit juice
1/2 oz lime juice
Combine in shaker with ice. Serve in rocks glass with lime and cherry

-- Nora

Zero Sum Game

ANNA Bligh has received a stunning reception from Queenslanders, with one in three voters believing she will be a better Premier than her predecessor, Peter Beattie.

Well, that's not hard when you're starting from a base line of zero.

Ground Zero
3/4 oz Vodka
3/4 oz Bourbon
3/4 oz Peppermint Schnapps
1/2 oz Kahlua Coffee Liqueur
Layer each liqueur in a shot glass.

-- Nora

A Rose By Any Other Name...

... would still be a rose in English:

A Czech speedway driver knocked unconscious in a crash in the UK stunned ambulance drivers when he woke up speaking perfect English.

Peter Waite, the promoter for Kus's team, the Berwick Bandits, told the Daily Mail: "I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"It was in a really clear English accent, no dialect or anything. Whatever happened in the crash must have rearranged things in his head.

"Before his crash Matej's use of the English language was broken, to put it mildly...

But, alas:

Unfortunately, the speedway driver's new found skills didn’t last and he remembers nothing of the accident or the following two days. He is now keen pursue studies in English.

Quel dommage!

English Rose
3/4 oz apricot brandy
1 1/2 oz gin
3/4 oz dry vermouth
1 tsp grenadine syrup
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1 cherry
Rub rim of cocktail glass with lemon juice and dip rim of glass in powdered sugar. Shake all ingredients (except cherry) with ice and strain into sugar-rimmed glass. Top with the cherry and serve.

-- Nora

Spring Sprung; Grass Riz

Spring is here, the sun is out after a few days of welcome rain, so Nicky and I are spending the weekend in the garden making over a few old gardens and remulching the beds.

We'll celebrate our hard work afterwards with a glass or two of:

Spring Feeling
1 oz gin
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1 tbsp lemon juice
Shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve.

-- Nora

It's Pouring

Hey, look at that.

It's raining.

Frosty Rain
2/3 oz. Vodka
2/3 oz. Triple Sec
2/3 oz. Parfait d'amour
Dash Creme de Banana
Lemonade
Add ingredients and fill up with Lemonade.

-- Nora

The Shameless Self-Promotion Post

It's Friday and if you're looking for a little relaxing reading, the head on over to Nick and Nora's Nifty Knick Knacks where we cover important things like comic books, cigarette cards and 1960s and 1970s kitsch.

And if that's not enough to keep you entertained during a TV commercial break, then check out some of the fabulous stuff on Nick and Nora's Lovely Link List.

Stick Neil Diamond on the turntable, prepare yourself a drink and set yourself in a comfy orange and olive velour rocker recliner.

Harvey Wallbanger
1 1/2 ounces vodka
6 ounces fresh orange juice
1/2 ounce Galliano
Pour vodka and orange juice over ice in a chilled highball glass. Float Galliano on top.

-- Nora

Friends, Romans, Countrymen

THE National Gallery of Victoria says its only artwork by Van Gogh is a fake.

Gallery director Gerard Vaughan said today that a specialist team in Amsterdam tested the painting Head Of A Man and concluded it was not by the Dutch Master.

However, they said it was not a forgery either.

The painting was acquired by the gallery in 1940 for £2196 and was said to be worth $25 million now.

Oops

Van Gogh's Ear
2 oz Absinthe
1 oz Grenadine
1 can(s) Grapefruit Soda
1 slice(s) Lemon(s)

Dribble Absinthe over a tall glass of ice, toss in lemon, dribble with Grenadine and serve with soda.

-- Nora

Sloshed In Space

A PANEL has found that astronauts were allowed to fly on at least two occasions despite warnings they were so drunk they posed a flight risk, Aviation Week reported today on its website.

The publication said the panel set up by NASA to study astronaut health issues reported “heavy use of alcohol” within 12 hours of launch.

It said flight surgeons and other astronauts warned that the drunken astronauts posed a flight risk when they flew on the two known occasions.

Countdown: 3..hic...2...hic...1...

Blue Star Cocktail Recipe
1 oz gin
3/4 oz white wine
1/3 oz blue curacao liqueur
1 oz orange juice
Shake and strain into an ice-filled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a cherry and a slice of orange. Serve in "Old-Fashioned Glass"

-- Nora

Cold, But Not Frosty

Blogging has been light on because I've had the flu and Nicky's been taking on some of my workload too.

Might have something to do with the near sub-zero temperatures in the area.

And in spite of all of that he has time to create a special cold buster cocktail just for me!

Baby It's Cold Outside
1 measure vodka
1 measure dark rum
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tbs lemon juice
top off with fruit juice
Mix together well and serve in a highball glass.

-- Nora

Tree Leaves

The Labor Party's Tree of Knowledge memorial in Barcaldine faces the axe - literally:

QUEENSLAND'S historic Tree of Knowledge will stand for just two more weeks until it is cut down to prepare for a striking new memorial to the Australian Labor Party.

Mayor Rob Chandler said the tree, in the central western Queensland town of Barcaldine, would be felled on July 29 during a special ceremony to which past and current political heavyweights had been invited.

Any thoughts on what would be a suitable monument to the Australian Labor Party? Leave your views in comments.

To get the party started, have a glass of this punch - it's delicious comrade:

Tree Smacker
600ml peach schnapps
600ml apple schnapps
600ml rum
1/2 cup apple juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup sweet and sour mix
1/2 cup grenadine syrup
1 splash high proof rum
Add spirits then add juices. Color red with grenadine. Float the overproof rum.

-- Nora

Better Make It A Double

A man was lucky not be sucked out of a plane when a hosptial emergency flight he was aboard suffered an explosive decompression:

...the flight nurse was transporting a patient to a Seattle hospital aboard a twin-engine piper turboprop. As the plane was cruising at 20,000 feet, the window adjacent to Fogg's right shoulder exploded, causing a drastic change in pressure that sucked him out of the window, headfirst.

It's reminiscent of the dramatic British Airway's flight in 1990 when the jet's cockpit window blew out sucking out the captain. The captain was saved by his quick thinking flight crew who, not knowing whether he was dead or alive, held on to his ankle. He was alive AND conscious.

Suck a lucky escape deserves a drink:

Lucky Double
- 1/2 lemon
- 1/2 oz Cointreau
- 2 oz vodka (mandrin)
Slice the lemon half further into four quarters, and drop into to a mixing glass. Add triple sec and muddle well. Add mandrin vodka and ice, shake well, and pour out into an old-fashioned glass.

-- Nora

Nick and Nora's Nifty Celebration

Tomorrow marks the second anniversary of The Thin Man Returns Blog.

Thank you everyone who's read, left a passing comment, heck, even disagreed with us.

To mark the occasion, Nick and I have started a second blog, Nick and Nora's Nifty Knick-Knacks to share our collection of interesting odds and ends.

We intend to update this regularly, so please check back if all things retro appeal to you.

Cheers!

Champagne Celebration
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/2 oz brandy
1 sugar cube
Angostura bitters
4 oz Champagne
Add Cointreau, Brandy and a sugar cube saturated with Bitters to a champagne flute. Fill with your favorite champagne. Garnish with an orange twist.

-- Nora