Today the L.A. Times featured a recipe for one of my favorite cocktails, Trader Vic's Scorpion . This is in honor of the Golden Globes tonight, that takes place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Trader Vic's used to have a restaurant on the corner of Wilshire and Santa Monica outside the hotel, but that has closed, and now it has moved inside the hotel poolside, where the coffee shop used to be.
My love of Trader Vic's goes way back, and I come by it honestly. My grandfather sailed the South Seas in the 1930's, around the world in the 1950's, and lived in Oakland. He knew Trader Vic, when he opened his first bar and restaurant, known as Hinky Dink's.
Trader Vic is off course famous for inventing the Mai Tai, though others such as Don the Beachcomber, have also laid claim to its creation.
There are Trader Vic's restaurants all over (they have made a resurgence in recent years), but the best one that is closest to the original vision of 'Trader' Vic Bergeron, Jr. is waterfront in Emeryville, California.
Trader Vic authored 8 drinkbooks and cookbooks in his day, with such colorful titles as "Kitchen Kibitzer", and "Helluva Man's Cookbook", their website pays homage to the man and his outsized hospitality.
To make a Scorpion true to recipe, you need Orgeat Syrup, orange juice, lemon juice, light rum, shaved ice, and a gardenia for a garnish. I don't have all that stuff, but I do have some dollar store items that should do the trick. I'm out of orange juice, but I do have a jar a mandarin oranges I bought at the 99 Cent Only Store, and something tells me the juice in the jar, will suffice beautifully. I also have some lemons, pineapple juice, rum I bought last year, and club soda. I do like my drinks to sparkle, so I'm set to mix up a festive drink.
I also decided to clean out the fridge and cupboard, and made up some Lemon Dump Cupcakes. Dump cake traditionally, is just a bunch of whatever you've got thrown together, and I had lemon cake mix, pineapple, banana pudding, and coconut. So in the spirit of Trader Vic I went tropical, and got a little creative.
I dug out some tiki stuff, and am ready to throw a little Trader Vic's themed Golden Globe party. I've stayed at the Beverly Hilton a few times, and have attended the "Golden Boot" awards, which are the Western version of the Oscars, that used to be held in the Universal Ballroom, same as the Golden Globes. Yes, I have used the powder room of the stars, and as the Golden Globes is a sit down dinner with copious amounts of alcohol, I'm sure the loo will get lots of use tonight.
So here is to Trader Vic, the Golden Globes, Hollywood, the Scorpion, and Lemon Dump Cupcakes!
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