Cuban Cocktail Number Two

Subtitle: Recollections.

Nothing to do with anything.

I had, for years, a very faint scar on one elbow, as a result of a bicycle, the Old Church, and more than two or three of the those Cuban Cocktails #2. When I got around to looking for a drink recipe, near as I can recall, it was the shot of rum, preferably anejo, either peach brandy or maybe just a half-shot of brandy, and then a short pull of bar mixer (sweet and sour, aka, Margarita mix).(1)

Originally, it was shaken. The various recipes I looked for, there was a large degree of disagreement and obvious discrepancy across the ingredients. The recipes I seem to recall, it was at least two shots of liquor, maybe more, and that came across as deceptively smooth. Maybe there was something oddly fruity about it.

Shaken, strained, over ice. Sugar and alcohol, what could be wrong with that? It’s a holiday thing, no?

(1) “Sweet and Sour mix” was a bar staple, mostly sugar, water, and citrus, probably ascorbic acid. Used it for Margaritas and Whisky Sours, Texas Teas, all of that. My “secret” recipe was to use two-pint size packets of powder for every quart of water.

Spurious Notes:

Year in Review, 2012 that wasn’t

Publishing and technology, as imagined by a novelist. Old-school meets high-tech?

I’ve been on the forefront of electronic publishing — since I stumbled into the career of writing horoscopes. While I wasn’t the first, I was an early adopter, and I was certainly one of the very first of Austin’s “psychics” (as my ilk is often referred to) to have a voice mail and an e-mail. Back when the term e-mail was hyphenated all the time.

I think my fax died, even before Y2K.

For more than 14 years, kramerwetzel.com has been my experimental home. In some cases, I’ve run short fiction in it. Odd, that material has a fifty-fifty reception.

I’m still looking for a searchable, linkable archive. Just not sure.

All of 2012? Just the horoscopes. In book form.