Six Flags Hurricane Harbor NJ

Lauren and I visited this water park after lunch on Sunday. It’s less than 45 minutes away (provided you beat the traffic and head in during off hours.) We might need to explore a season pass!

Geocaching Kid

Lauren and I did 3 Geocaches this weekend:

One for the Kids
Your dog will love it !!!
West New Jersey Lookout Station

Temperature was in the 90′s but it wasn’t bad at all in the woods where the sun couldn’t reach us. Lauren found 2 of the caches on her own without any help!

Long Trail Division 2 GPS Track

Track from our June 18-20 trip.

View Long Trail Division 2 in a larger map

Blue Hawaiian

The Blue Hawaiian, at Wikipedia.

“The Blue Hawaii was invented in 1957 by Harry Yee, legendary head bartender of the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki, Hawaii when a sales representative of Dutch distiller Bols asked him to design a drink that featured their blue color of Curaçao liqueur. After experimenting with several variations he settled on a version somewhat different than the most popular version today, but with the signature blue color, pineapple wedge, and cocktail umbrella.”

Here’s the recipe we used.

1oz Malibu Rum
1/2 oz blue curacao
3 oz pineapple juice
1 oz lime juice
Pineapple, Maraschino cherry garnish w/umbrella

Other resources:

Mai Tai

The Mai Tai, at Wikipedia.

“The Mai Tai is an alcoholic cocktail purportedly invented at the Trader Vic’s “Polynesian-style” restaurant in Oakland, California in 1944. Trader Vic’s rival, Don the Beachcomber, claimed to have created it in 1933 at his then-new eponymous bar (later a famous restaurant) in Hollywood. Don the Beachcomber’s recipe is more complex than that of Vic and tastes quite different.”

In researching the Mai Tai, I found literally dozens of different recipes. Common elements include rum (usually both light and dark) combined with almond, and another sweet (often pineapple juice or simple sugar) and a sour (sour mix or lime juice.)

Here’s the recipe we used.

1/2 oz light rum
1/2 oz Grand Marnier
1/2 oz amaretto
3 oz pineapple juice
1 oz lime juice
pineapple garnish

Shake the mixture vigorously with ice for 5-10 seconds, and pour the drink over ice. Garnish with pineapple.

If you like your drinks a little less sour, maybe go 1/2 or 3/4oz on the lime juice.

Other resources:

Mai Tai Recipe – Drinksmixer
Kevdo’s Collection of Mai Tai recipes
The Perfect Mai Tai – All Recipes
Mai Tai – About.com

Video:

Boston Creme Pie

Boston Creme Pie, originally uploaded by Squidly.

It actually was just “ok”. If we do it again, I’ll change up the cake recipe (too dry) and the glaze.

Topo Maps for iPad

This is a really cool app that allows you to explore USGS topographical maps. Pinch-n-zoom, place waypoints, and export to your computer – this is an excellent tool that will get a lot of work as I prepare for our June Long Trail hike.

Cost is $7.99 for the app, but you can download as many topos as you want for free. Only downside is that many trails don’t appear on the map – (although the Long Trail does.)

Here’s a link to the iPad version: