Headed for a Hearse

The Drink

Jonathan Latimer…states that his Headed for a Hearse Cocktail is quite as deadly as it sounds.

The equipment necessary are a water tumbler, some crushed ice, and a stout heart; also Pernod and some very old Bourbon. Place the ice in a strainer and pour into the tumbler two jiggers of the Bourbon. Similarly drip through the ice an equal quantity of Pernod. Add a quarter of a tumbler of cold water.

– From So Red the Nose

And here we have another authorly drink in which absinthe is the first and strongest flavor. Although maybe that won’t be true if you actually use “very old brandy” as instructed, but for me, very old = very expensive. I guess my brandy counts as old to you if you’re eight.

Sing Sing Nights

The Drink

We can almost see the warden, the captain of the guards, and a couple of gentlemen in striped coveralls singing “Sweet Adeline” and imbibing the Sing Sing Nights Cocktail devised by Harry Stephen Keeler.

1 PONY* OF PURE GRAIN ALCOHOL
1 1/2 TEASPOONS OF SUGAR SYRUP
1 1/2 TEASPOONS PURE ORANGE JUICE
Shake with 3 Ice Cubes till at least Half of the bulk of the Cubes has dissolved.

-From So Red the Nose

* =shot

For the grain alcohol I used Everclear because, well, you know. It’s what’s at the store, and I’m not quite to the point of raiding the medicine cabinet yet. Simple syrup can be made easily enough, and the juice was squeezed right from the fruit into my cocktail shaker, as per Keeler’s instructions. If you do make this drink, take that part about the ice cubes seriously; grain alcohol of any brand isn’t something to mess around with.

Favorite Books of 2015

Believe or not, I do, in fact, read things published after 1935. The last week of December, for example, I spent burning through the wonderful, weird world of Archie AU* in a desperate attempt to meet my Goodreads Reading Challenge (Comic books count as books right? Shut up. I read Anthony Adverse this year.).

Actually I read many amazing books this year, some of them capital-“G” Great Books. I even had to narrow my list down this time, to the ones I was truly passionate about. And it is that carefully curated list which I present to you now. Ladies and gentlemen, my top four most-loved books discovered in 2015 are:

Movie Review: The Canary Murder Case

Original Book and Cocktail Review

Well now we’re really getting down to the dregs of early Hollywood. If you’ve stuck it out with me so far, today will be the real test of your dedication to midcentury ephemera.

Fantastic books from 2014

….not including the books I read for this blog. You already know how how I feel about those.

To be clear, these are not my favorite books that were published in 2014, but books that I read in 2014, from any era.

So, counting down, my favorite books in 2014 were: