Margarita Monday Leap Year

This isn't totally appropriate since the 29th isn't until Friday, but for your Margarita Monday treat, I found some Leap Year suggestions.

First of all, if you are feeling daring, you can try to make this Leap Year Cake. The recipe came from a 1906 cookbook. I think the frosting sounds kind of disgusting, but the cake is probably fine. I may even try to make the cake this afternoon. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Leap Year Cake

Take 1 cup of white sugar, 1/2 cup of butter, whites of 3 eggs, 1/2 cup of sweet milk, 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and 1 teaspoonful of vanilla.

Frosting: Beat the yolks with 15 teaspoons of pulverized sugar. Ice while the cake is hot.



Leap Year must have been a big deal in the early part of the 20th century because I also found a drink recipe from that era.

To wash down your cake, you can mix this traditional Leap Year Cocktail, which was supposedly invented in 1928 by a bartender at the Savoy Bar in London.

2 ounces gin
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
Twist of lemon peel

Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with the lemon twist.

Finally, tradition has it that Leap Year is the one day on which women are allowed to propose to men. Supposedly, St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait too long for men to propose. St Patty fixed this by stating that women were allowed to propose on Feb. 29. This was even made into law in Scotland, along with the addition that any man who refused the marriage proposal had to pay a fine. What do you want to bet that Scottish men were nowhere to be found on Feb. 29?

So, ladies, if you aren't married and want to be, Friday's your chance!

Margarita Monday

Back in the days when I was a pretty young thing with a taut stomach and no responsibilites other than getting myself home from the bar/apartment/car/riverbank/parking garage floor/Metairie bus where I had spent the night, I used to wait tables at a Mexican joint called Molly's La Casita. I have a post waiting in the wings about Molly's and promise to deliver it soon. (And no, that's not where the nom de plume, "Molly," came from.)

Anyway, the big night at Molly's was Margarita Monday. We were filled to the brim with folks thristy for a discounted buzz. And I do mean filled. People didn't just sit at tables. They perched on rails, clogged the stairs and aisles, and even drank in the bathrooms.

To add to the carnival atmosphere was the diverse clientele we drew on Margarita Mondays. Just behind Molly's was a popular gay bar so we became the pre-party locale for all the boys headed to karoke night.

I spent my time sloshing margaritas hither and yon, delivering drinks bought for the stud at table 41, or slipping table 11's phone number to the drag queen at the bar. The most exciting night was the night a 6'3" man in a leopard print dress, pink heels, and a bad weave almost punched me. I was saved by our bartender and a baseball bat. Oh, those were the days.

These days, I don't get to many Margarita Mondays, which is too bad since it was a fun way to usher in the work week.

In honor of Margarita Monday, I have decided to throw a little love your way each Monday and post an idea or two to make your slide into the week a little more fun.

Since today is President's Day, I have some patriotic suggestions.

First, for dinner, you can make President Bush's Mexican Mound. (His name for it, not mine!) It's easy and kid-friendly.

For cocktail hour, you can mix up:

The Patriot

1/3 oz. vodka

1/3 oz. Blue Curacoa

1/3 oz grenadine

Pour grenadine slowly into a shot glass. Slowly pour the Blue Curacoa on top of it, making a layer (some people like to pour it over the back of a spoon to disperse it and insure it layers properly). Slowly add the vodka on top.

Warning: Remember that time in college when you did 6 lemondrops in a row at the ATO house, made out with a guy in the bushes while his girlfriend was inside and then passed out in the dorm social room at 10 pm?
You are not in college anymore. It is a known fact that your shooter tolerance decreases by 75% when you hit thirty and is down to nil if you have given birth. Be careful.

While enjoying your drink(s), you and your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/dog can take this Presidents Quiz to see how much you remember from the 5th grade. On second thought, you might want to take this before the shot.

Finally, if you really want to shake things up and start an arguement with your significant other and then reap the rewards of making up (bow chica bow bow), you can go to this quiz to see what political party you belong in.

Enjoy!