M is for the many things you gave me...

This week Mimi and Pink Lady hosted the lovely ladies of LUPEC Boston as we saluted mothers. We shared stories about the important ladies in our lives and discussed some famous mothers as we enjoyed the following delicious cocktails!

The Mother Cocktail
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Cherry Heering
.5 oz Orange Juice
Shake and strain into your favorite vintage drinking vessel.

The Daiquiri
(The favorite cocktail of the famous mother, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis)
2 oz White Rum
.5 oz Fresh Lime Juice
.5 oz Simple Syrup
Shake and strain into a coupe.

The Diana
(Served in honor of the famous mother, Princess Diana)
1.5 oz Gin
.75 oz Dry Vermouth
.25 oz Sweet Vermouth
.25 oz Pastis
Stir and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.



The Mimi
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Apricot Brandy
2 drops Cognac
1 tsp Lemon Juice
2 dashes Grenadine
1 Egg White
Shake vigorously. Strain into a powdered sugar rimmed cocktail glass.

The Pink Lady
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Applejack
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Grenadine
1 Egg White
Shake vigorously. Strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass.

Thank you Pink Lady and Mimi for being wonderful hostesses!

Cheers!

The Speed Queen

On this day in 1953, Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier. Piloting a Canadair F-86 Sabre that she had borrowed from the Royal Canadian Air Force, Jacqueline took off from Rogers Dry Lake, California and flew at an average speed of 652.337 miles per hour.

Cochran's career in aviation began in the 1930's after a friend offered her a ride in an aircraft. While she ran a cosmetics business, Jacqueline began flying lessons at Roosevelt Airfield in Long Island and learned to fly in three weeks. A natural, she earned her commercial pilot's license in two years. Her husband, Floyd Bostwick Odium, was a savvy businessman and saw the commercial opportunities for her and her cosmetics company. Jacqueline named her company "Wings" and began flying around the country in her aircraft promoting her products.

Cochran flew in her first major race in 1934. From that point on she worked with Amelia Earhart in opening races and the field of aviation to women. In 1937 Cochran was the only woman to compete in the prestigious Bendix race. By 1938 she was the preeminent woman pilot in the United States having won the Bendix and set new altitude and transcontinental speed records.

After America entered WWII in 1942, Jacqueline became head of the women's flight training program for the States. As director of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), Cochran trained over 1000 female pilots. For her efforts in WWII she received the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Jacqueline Cochran died in 1980 at her home in Indio, California. At the time of her death, Cochran held the most speed, distance and altitude records of any pilot, man or woman, in aviation history.

And now a toast to Jacqueline Cochran!

BLUE SKIES
1 oz Applejack
1 oz Gin
.5 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
1 or dashes grenadine
Shake with cracked ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!

Sky Girls

On this day in 1930 Ellen (Marshall) Church became the world's first airline stewardess. In 1928 she approached Boeing Air Transport hoping to become their first female pilot. She was denied the job, but Boeing liked her idea of placing nurses on the planes to help ease the fear of flying among passengers. In 1930 they hired 8 nurses, known as the Sky Girls, for a three month trial. Church was chosen to be the world's first flight attendant serving passengers aboard a 12 hour flight from Chicago to Oakland, CA.
The presence of nurses on flights quelled the fear of flying in the public and air travel became more popular. Soon other airlines followed the lead of BAT and hired nurses as flight attendants. In addition to being a nurse, flight attendants had to be single and under the age of 25. Cabins were small so the flight attendants could be no taller than 5 feet 4 inches and no heavier than 115 pounds. In addition to attending to the needs of passengers, flight attendants hauled luggage, fueled planes and pushed planes into hangars.

After jump-starting the flight attendant profession, Church returned to clinical nursing. During World War II she returned to the air, this time as a captain in the army nurse corps. She was awarded the Air Medal for her wartime heroics. She returned to the states and continued her nursing career in Terre Haute, IN until the time of her death in 1965.

In honor of Ellen Church and all the Sky Girls past and present, cheers!

Aviation
1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Maraschino Liqueur
.75 oz Fresh Lemon Juice
Shake with ice and strain into your favorite vintage cocktail glass!

World Cocktail Day!

Ah, the most refreshingly delicious day of the year! World Cocktail Day!

World Cocktail Day occurs annually on the day the Balance and Columbian Repository, a Hudson, New York newspaper, printed a wonderful exchange in which the editors defined the word cocktail. During the previous week, the loser of a political race had created a witty account of their gains and losses during the race. One of the losses listed was "25 do. cock-tail." A confused reader wrote in asking what a cock-tail was. Here is the letter to the editor and the editor's response:


To the Editor of the Balance.
Sir,
I observe in your paper of the 6th instant, in the account of a democratic candidate for a seat in the legislature, marked under the head of Loss, 25 do. cock-tail. Will you be so obliging as to inform me what is meant by this species of refreshment? Though a stranger to you, I believe, from your general character, you will not suppose this request to be impertinent.
I have heard of a forum, of phlegm-cutter and fog driver, of wetting the whistle, of moistening the clay, of a fillip, a spur in the head, quenching a spark in the throat, of flip & c, but never in my life, though have lived a good many years, did I hear of cock tail before. Is it peculiar to a part of this country? Or is it a late invention? Is the name expressive of the effect which the drink has on a particular part of the body? Or does it signify that the democrats who take the potion are turned topsycurvy, and have their heads where their tails should be? I should think the latter to be the real solution; but am unwilling to determine finally until I receive all the information in my power.
At the beginning of the revolution, a physician publicly recommended the moss which grew on a tree as a substitute for tea. He found on experiment, that it had more of a stimulating quality then he approved; and therefore, he afterward as publicly denounced it. Whatever cock tail is, it may be properly administered only at certain times and to certain constitutions. A few years ago, when the democrats were bawling for Jefferson and Clinton, one of the polls was held in the city of New York at a place where ice cream was sold. Their temperament then was remarkably adust and bilious. Something was necessary to cool them. Now when they are sunk into rigidity, it might be equally necessary, by cock-tail to warm and rouse them.
I hope you will construe nothing that I have said as disrespectful. I read your paper with great pleasure and wish it the most extensive circulation. Whether you answer my inquiry or not, I shall still remain,
Yours,
A SUBSCRIBER

[As I make it a point, never to publish anything (under my editorial head) but which I can explain, I shall not hesitate to gratify the curiosity of my inquisitive correspondent: Cock tail, then is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters it is vulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head. It is said also, to be of great use to a democratic candidate: because, a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow any thing else.
Edit. Bal.]

To us it sounds like it's time for a good Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail!

In an Old-Fashioned glass place a sugar cube.
Saturate the sugar cube with 2 or 3 dashes of bitters and a splash of water.
Crush the cube with a muddler.
Rotate the glass so the sugar and bitters line the glass.
Add ice and 2.5 oz rye or bourbon.
Squeeze a lemon twist over it, decorate with your favorite stirring rod and serve!

Cheers!

Mother's Day Proclamation

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...

- Julia Ward Howe
1870

Mother Cocktail
1.5 oz Dry Gin
.5 oz Cherry Heering
.5 oz Orange Juice
Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Kentucky Derby Dames

From the official Kentucky Derby Web site:

Women have played an active role in Kentucky Derby history since the turn of the century. In 1904, Mrs. Laska Durnell nominated Elwood to the Kentucky Derby, unbeknownst to her husband, trainer Charles Durnell. The decision was a shrewd one and Elwood won as the longest price in the field of five. Elwood was the first starter and winner owned by a woman, and also the first winner bred by a woman, Mrs. J.B. Prather.

By the 1940s, women owners in the Derby were almost commonplace. In 1942, seven of the first eight finishers in the Kentucky Derby were owned by women. The exception was Valdina Orphan, who finished third.

Besides the role of owner, a total of 10 women trainers have sent 11 starters postward in the Kentucky Derby, and four women have ridden in the famed "Run for the Roses".

Perhaps we should toast the Kentucky Derby Dames with a delicious Mint Julep! Here is our favorite recipe taken from a letter dated March 30, 1937 from Lt Gen SB Buckner, Jr to General Connor:

So far as the mere mechanics of the operation are concerned, the procedure, stripped of its ceremonial embellishments, can be described as follows:

Go to a spring where cool, crystal-clear water bubbles from under a bank of dew-washed ferns. In a consecrated vessel, dip up a little water at the source. Follow the stream through its banks of green moss and wildflowers until it broadens and trickles through beds of mint growing in aromatic profusion and waving softly in the summer breezes. Gather the sweetest and tenderest shoots and gently carry them home. Go to the sideboard and select a decanter of Kentucky Bourbon, distilled by a master hand, mellowed with age yet still vigorous and inspiring. An ancestral sugar bowl, a row of silver goblets, some spoons and some ice and you are ready to start.

In a canvas bag, pound twice as much ice as you think you will need. Make it fine as snow, keep it dry and do not allow it to degenerate into slush.

In each goblet, put a slightly heaping teaspoonful of granulated sugar, barely cover this with spring water and slightly bruise one mint leaf into this, leaving the spoon in the goblet. Then pour elixir from the decanter until the goblets are about one-fourth full. Fill the goblets with snowy ice, sprinkling in a small amount of sugar as you fill. Wipe the outsides of the goblets dry and embellish copiously with mint.

Then comes the important and delicate operation of frosting. By proper manipulation of the spoon, the ingredients are circulated and blended until Nature, wishing to take a further hand and add another of its beautiful phenomena, encrusts the whole in a glittering coat of white frost. Thus harmoniously blended by the deft touches of a skilled hand, you have a beverage eminently appropriate for honorable men and beautiful women.

When all is ready, assemble your guests on the porch or in the garden, where the aroma of the juleps will rise Heavenward and make the birds sing. Propose a worthy toast, raise the goblet to your lips, bury your nose in the mint, inhale a deep breath of its fragrance and sip the nectar of the gods.

Being overcome by thirst, I can write no further.

Sincerely,
S.B. Buckner, Jr.