National Cocktail Day - Video Recipes

Belly up to the bar and raise a glass to National Cocktail Day!

This Cheap$kate Mixologist enjoys a Happy Hour at home these days after a long YouTube video-making and blogging day. I haven't had many Cocktails published on the internet, but I have a few so read on and click on any intoxicant name to get all the boozy details from my original blog post.

 While a fifth or pint of booze is expensive, most of my Cocktail Recipes can be made with a cheap single-serving airline bottle of liquor. I get them for a buck or more - still much cheaper than drinking at a bar.

While bottles of liquor do not show up at the Dollar Tree, they carry happy hour garnishes like pickled green olives and small cocktail onions.

Click on any photo to see larger.

After a hectic workweek, if you need a Bloody Mary weekend morning, dollar stores have all the ingredients...except vodka (crunchy celery is easy enough to find cheaply at your local grocer.)

I like to cook with alcohol, and my first Cocktail, a Loaded Egg Nog, uses a lot of eggs. And the Egg Nog can be finished with an airline bottle of Brandy, Rum, Scotch, or Whiskey. 

I still can get milk or milk substitutes for a Loaded Egg Nog for around a buck a piece...not bad. Half a dozen of eggs for a buck have disappeared, but I hear prices are dropping?

This was originally a Christmas holiday drink recipe, plus at the end of the video is a Tree Trimming that goes off the rails...oh, boy, you are in for a wild ride so watch it below.

My next Cocktail is a classic called an Old Fashioned. It's typically made with Rye Whiskey, a couple of shakes of Bitters, sugar, a splash of water, a bit of orange zest, and sometimes garnished with a cocktail cherry. I've had them that way, and they are in my Cocktail Top Ten. 

I came up with a meaty spin, an Old Fashioned with a sweet and savory Candied Maple Bacon garnish. 

I guess you could say my version is on the trendy side of specialty garnishes and something you would not serve every day.

I went out on a limb and served my tweaked classic hootch to my friends, whom I invited over for an evening of Film Noir that shows on regular TV in Los Angeles. (If you have an antenna, you can get it, too, so look it up in your local TV guide - the channel is also on local cable.) 

The channel is called Movies! and it's on channel 13.3 in the home of  Film Noir, Los Angeles. Click here for their broadcast schedule, and "arrow forward or backward" to Thursday and Sunday night to see what they are showing. My version of an Old Fashion was a hit, and everyone had seconds and thirds, whew! 

Film Noir is still big in Los Angeles, and every year there is a movie festival that celebrates these crime thrillers from the 1940s and 1950s called Noir City. Check out my slide show below to see the scene on opening night.

I made my own Maple Bacon, so my recipe video is worth the price of admission.

Check out my Old Fashioned with a Maple Bacon Garnish video below, it's best served on a cold and stormy night to your roguish friends and favorite femme fatale.

Along with garnishes, Cocktail mixes like fruit juices and bubbly water show up at dollar stores. 

Even if you're "on the wagon," just pour this beverage over ice with a Maraschino cherry for a non-alcoholic Shirley Temple.

Have you had a Mojito? It's a refreshing tropical drink made with rum, club soda, sugar cane juice, and garnished with mint leaves. This concoction comes all the way from Cuba. 

Hey, can we end this embargo of Cuba already? Geeze, you may not agree with my politics, but do join me and hoist a glass in solidarity to my Homemade Mojito!

Keep checking back every year for new CheapSkate Cocktails. 

Happy Hour Lobster at Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar

OMG, right off the bat, my $10 Lobster Sliders for Happy Hour at Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar in Newtown, Pennsylvania, were fantastic!

My wife, Linda, took me to Harvest Grill when we visited Carol, her 98-year-old mother, in Newtown, Pa., at her assisted living facility. Her mother still likes to dine out, and since it was the afternoon, we sat on the patio for an early Happy Hour. I am always on the lookout for East Coast seafood...at the right price.

If you are familiar with my family food blog stories, I was raised on the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana, where seafood is king. Jumbo shrimp, catfish, blue crabs, and oysters are in abundance, but one thing we do not have there is lobster (unless it is brought from out of state). Here are a couple of food blog examples: I made a slideshow video of Linda's visit to my Mom in Louisiana, and a couple of months ago Linda and I dined cheaply at Under The Pier seafood restaurant in her hometown of Levittown, Pa. (Click on any highlighted names to see my tasty blog posts.)

I never had the local East Coast specialty, Lobster Roll, until Linda brought me to see her family and friends in Pennsylvania (Levittown), New Jersey (Cape May), and New York (Fire Island and NYC).

A Lobster Roll filling is like a minimal Tuna Salad, but made with steamed, chopped lobster meat. The lobster is simply served on a hot dog bun. The lobster is plain, with butter, or mixed with mayo. 

At Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar, the chopped Lobster Salad has barely any mayo; it is all lobster chunks. I detected a mix of claw and tail meat. The Lobster Sliders for Happy Hour were loaded, and two Sliders for $10 is a great deal. 

I think the Lobster Salad was served in Brioche mini-buns (instead of a hot dog bun). A slab of Bibb (Butter) Lettuce completed the Slider.

The lobster flesh was tender and moist - the buns were light and fluffy. Nothing to the Lobster Sliders, really, and that's fine. And each bun was stuffed and stacked with Lobster meat - I think these two Lobster Sliders held as much as a normally priced $20 to $30 Lobster Roll.

With such cheap Lobster Sliders, I indulged in a full-priced mixed drink called Harvest Peach Old Fashioned, comprised of Basil Hayden Kentucky Straight Bourbon, Peach Puree, Organic Agave, Angostura Bitters, Soda, and Fresh Peach. The drink was a tasty mix of fruity, plus oak, caramel, and spiced flavored bourbon, and it went down smooth. I did finish the meal with a Happy Hour-priced beer.

Here is a photo of the Happy Hour menu from last month. Since the restaurant has a seasonal menu, some food specials come and go. Check with the restaurant before going to see what's for Happy Hour.

                                 Click on any photo to see it larger.

Linda and I have gone here a couple of times already, and all the food we have tried is delicious, plus the wine and fruit Sangrias are quite flavorful. Click here to see Harvest Grill info and full menu. They have several locations - we went to the Newtown, Pa., one.

So, on the 99 Cent Chef's Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar Happy Hour of two Lobster Sliders a...perfect 9.

On our next visit to Linda's mom, we are definitely hitting the Harvest Happy Hour to see what they are serving next. And, I hope $10 Lobster Sliders are still on the menu?

99 thanks, Linda, for turning me on to a cheap$kate Lobster Slider Happy Hour!!

Harvest Seasonal Grill & Wine Bar

2865 S Eagle Rd, Newtown, PA 18940 

Phone: (215) 944-8469

Website: harvestseasonal.com

Hours of Operation

Monday-Thursday: 11:30 AM – 9:00 PM

Friday + Saturday: 11:30 AM – 10:00 PM

Sunday: 11:00 AM – 8:00 PM

Happy Hour: Monday-Friday from 3pm-6pm in the bar area + outdoor patio.

National Cocktail Day - Video Recipes

Belly up to the bar and raise a glass to National Cocktail Day!

This Cheap$kate Mixologist enjoys a Happy Hour at home these days after a long YouTube video-making and blogging day. I haven't had many Cocktails published on the internet, but I have a few, so read on and click on any intoxicant name to get all the boozy details from my original blog post.

 While a fifth or pint of booze is expensive, most of my Cocktail Recipes can be made with a cheap single-serving airline bottle of liquor. I get them for a buck or more - still much cheaper than drinking at a bar.

While bottles of liquor do not show up at the Dollar Tree, they carry happy hour garnishes like pickled green olives and small cocktail onions.

Click on any photo to see larger.

After a hectic workweek, if you need a Bloody Mary weekend morning, dollar stores have all the ingredients...except vodka (crunchy celery is easy enough to find cheaply at your local grocer.)

I like to cook with alcohol, and my first Cocktail, a Loaded Egg Nog, uses a lot of eggs. And the Egg Nog can be finished with an airline bottle of Brandy, Rum, Scotch, or Whiskey. 

I still can get milk or milk substitutes for a Loaded Egg Nog for around a buck a piece...not bad. Half a dozen of eggs for a buck have disappeared, but I hear prices are dropping?

This was originally a Christmas holiday drink recipe, plus at the end of the video is a Tree Trimming that goes off the rails...oh, boy, you are in for a wild ride, so watch it below.

My next Cocktail is a classic called an Old Fashioned. It's typically made with Rye Whiskey, a couple of shakes of Bitters, sugar, a splash of water, a bit of orange zest, and sometimes garnished with a cocktail cherry. I've had them that way, and they are in my Cocktail Top Ten. 

I came up with a meaty spin, an Old Fashioned with a sweet and savory Candied Maple Bacon garnish. 

I guess you could say my version is on the trendy side of specialty garnishes and something you would not serve every day.

I went out on a limb and served my tweaked classic hootch to my friends, whom I invited over for an evening of Film Noir that shows on regular TV in Los Angeles. (If you have an antenna, you can get it, too, so look it up in your local TV guide - the channel is also on local cable.) 

The channel is called Movies! and it's on channel 13.3 in the home of  Film Noir, Los Angeles. Click here for their broadcast schedule, and "arrow forward or backward" to Thursday and Sunday night to see what they are showing. My version of an Old Fashion was a hit, and everyone had seconds and thirds, whew! 

Film Noir is still big in Los Angeles, and every year there is a movie festival that celebrates these crime thrillers from the 1940s and 1950s called Noir City. Check out my slide show below to see the scene on opening night.

I made my own Maple Bacon, so my recipe video is worth the price of admission.

Check out my Old Fashioned with a Maple Bacon Garnish video below, it's best served on a cold and stormy night to your roguish friends and favorite femme fatale.

Along with garnishes, Cocktail mixes like fruit juices and bubbly water show up at dollar stores. 

Even if you're "on the wagon," just pour this beverage over ice with a Maraschino cherry for a non-alcoholic Shirley Temple.

Have you had a Mojito? It's a refreshing tropical drink made with rum, club soda, sugar cane juice, and garnished with mint leaves. This concoction comes all the way from Cuba. 

Hey, can we end this embargo of Cuba already? Geeze, you may not agree with my politics, but do join me and hoist a glass in solidarity to my Homemade Mojito!

Keep checking back every year for new CheapSkate Cocktails.