Monday, October 23rd - A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum...I Mean Bus Stop.
Where were we? Let me think a moment...
takes sip of cafe mocha liberally doused with napoleon brandy and sugar...thinks longingly of whipped cream of which there is none in the house...wait a second - I've got something! Cream...Amarula...Africa...the Animal Kingdom!!!!
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Alcoholic Exploration with Brenda, Lesson #28: Amarula Cream
Amarula Cream is a South African liqueur made with the fruit of the African Marula tree, which only grows in the frost-free, sub-equatorial regions of Africa. Interestingly enough, the trees themselves cannot be cultivated so the fruit must be harvested in the wild. Because of the Marula tree's association with elephants, the distiller has made them its symbol and supports elephant conservation efforts.
It has the taste of slightly fruity caramel, but like many cream liqueurs it can taste too sweet to some people. Supposedly Amarula has become the second largest seller in the cream liqueur category behind our good friend
Bailey's.
We have a bottle of it here at the house - surprise, surprise! And it is a little more sweet on its own than even I prefer; however, there are some very tasty drink recipes that call for Amarula. I'll share one with you because I'm just that kind of person:
Saharan Martini
1 oz Amarula Cream
1 oz Frangelico
1/2 oz vodka
Ice
Add all ingredients into cocktail shaker. Shake and then strain into a martini glass. Bring glass to mouth and sip - savor the flavor!
**Tune in next week for Lesson #51:
Guavaberry, No Sharing!**
And now, back to our regularly scheduled nonsense:
That's right - we were talking about our family fun-time at the Animal Kingdom! When last we were together, the four of us were on our way out of the Animal Kingdom. It didn't need to be that way; I had suggested that the parents might want to remain at the AK, exploring the park at their own geriatric pace. But Grimace was ready for something new.
On our way to the bus stop I meant to ask them where they wanted to go, but to my horror, and Jay's, what actually came out of my mouth was, "We're going to do some sampling over at Epcot on our way to the Grand Floridian to meet Linda and her husband; would you like to come with us?"
....
Fortunately Grimace wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom - bad for Jon but good for us; we were just lucky that my momentary lapse of reason (not a bad effort for post-Waters Pink Floyd) didn't result in more family togetherness, of which we had all apparently already had enough.
Jay and I recommended that they take a bus to the GF or the Poly and then catch the monorail over to the MK. Take a look at this little gem which we call:
The Longer I Wait, The More My Lips Disappear.
In case I forgot to mention it previously, Grimace is not a patient person. The longer she must wait for something the thinner her lips get. When she crosses the threshold from impatience to anger her lips completely compress and her eyes narrow to the thinnest of slits - you don't want to be on the receiving end of that glare, trust me.
Once, shortly after Jay and I first started dating, I warned him about this phenomena. He thought I was exaggerating because Grimace had always been on her good behavior around him. And then one holiday he witnessed it for himself when Grimmie turned it full blast on my brother's two sons.
Shortly thereafter Jay said to me, "Your mom is scary."
The best part about the whole bus stop scene is that our ride to the Beach Club arrived immediately after Jay snapped this picture...the poor parents waited another fifteen minutes for an MK resort bus to make an appearance. I shouldn't laugh, but I'm not really a very nice person so I will.
Jay and I feel the pressure ease as the bus pulls away. Ahhhh...it's time for some fun
our way!
First stop: the villa where I must pick up my gift for Linda. The weather today has been cool and overcast which is good for my gift - a one pound box of Bissinger's gourmet chocolate. We've been guarding it like a secret treasure ever since we arrived at WDW last week. I hope it's traveled well and I hope she enjoys it because it's supposed to be a "thank you" to someone I've never actually met but who's done me a tremendous personal favor.
What's this great favor she's performed out of the goodness of her British heart? Well, let me tell you...
**
DORK ALERT! DORK ALERT! DORK ALERT!**
I know you might be surprised by this admission, but Jason and I are absolute and total dorks...geeks...nerds...
insert synonym of choice here. Between the two of us we've probably covered almost every stereotypical dork-interest known to America: Star Wars; Star Trek (in all its forms); Astronomy; Tolkien; Living History; Art-House Movies...I could go on but I think you get the general idea.
My weakness is books - we have 1,600 square-feet of finished living space in our house and spread out among our various rooms are seven completely full bookcases. Those volumes unlucky enough not to have designated shelving space are crammed into areas that the cat can't access because he's decided that he likes to chew on my books. I've tried explaining to the hairy little punk that wanton destruction of the written word is a terrible crime but he refuses to listen.
Jay's weakness is collecting stuff. One of the things he collects is Hard Rock Cafe pins, preferably guitar pins. Don't misunderstand, I enjoy the Hard Rock and I love to hunt for the pins too, but the collection is really his. And that's where my dear DIS-friend Linda enters the picture.
Back in the summer of 2006, Jay and I decided that we wanted to take one more
Disney Cruise. Among our varied reasons for picking the Western itinerary was our sudden realization that at each port of call, aside from
Castaway Cay, there was a Hard Rock Cafe beckoning. If we were to include the HRC in Orlando that single trip would knock out four Hard Rocks in one week! On the dork measurement rating scale this kind of vacation planning knocks us both right off the chart into the undiscovered territory peopled by eggheads and poindexters.
TBC...
)
pardon me. i'm a court reporter and i just had to throw that in. 
And I've tried Amarula cream at
You know, before we had to cancel the cruise she and Jon were going to come with us on the 10/20 sailing...can you just imagine how that would have turned out?
