When I was young, just a couple years ago, one of the biggest highlights of my Christmases was to drive around and scope out all the awesomely decorated houses and Christmas lights. Anyone remember the entire BLOCK of houses near the turnpike overpass and Taft Street in Hollywood in the 80’s or 90’s? Every single house on this street would get together to create one elaborate Christmas display- they even had postcards! Sadly, it seems each year it becomes harder and harder to find such holiday enthusiasm. Thankfully, Sun-Sentinel put together this little gem which maps out all the houses in your area for your viewing pleasure. It even includes pics and descriptions. Here are a few addresses to get you started. Happy hunting and Merry Christmas.
Davie– 9904 W Tree Tops Court- Thousands of lights, Santas, Frostys, trains, elves
Ft Lauderdale– 1131 SW 9th Ave- 200,000 lights, helicopter on roof
Hollywood– 5200 Thomas St- A show every half hour, lights synchronized to music
A word of advice to the weekend warrior — don’t over indulge on Friday night, lest you might miss the slew of great events on Saturday evening. Here are 3 events that we hand selected:
Santa-Con: FTL
Judging from the enthusiastic barrage of Facebook messages, 3 different event pages with numerous attendees, and multiple online write-ups, this heavily anticipated Santa Con FTL Beach bar crawl sounds like a blast. The FREE party starts at 5:00pm on FTL Beach by the volleyball courts, then progresses to Parrot Lounge around 6:30pm. Make sure to don some kind of Santa gear to take advantage of the drink specials. For more info on the charity connected to event or list of participating bars and drink specials, go to Santa Con FTL’s official website or read What Lauderdale’s event preview.
Anyone want to take photos of people’s costumes for the blog (or let us steal photos off your online photo album)? mig@ftlcollective.com
Our favorite warehouse The Bubble is throwing a holiday bash. I’ve seenTravulous perform before, and let’s just say, it’s as eccentric and entertaining as the event’s lenghty moniker. In addition to the usual antics of all-you-can-drink keg beer ($10 a cup) and art on display, there will also be a holiday craft market (perfect timing for Christmas), vegan egg nog, and live performances by Chris Horgan of local band Sweet Bronco, The Green Mantles, Radar, Retrocities, and The Intergalactic Band. For more details, read the New Times’ event preview.
Toy Drive @ Radio-Active Records
Unfortunately, I could not find a proper link for this charity event; however, I was able to scrounge up some details via DJ Skidmark’s Facebook profile. Live music by Scrap Kids (ska/dub/punk from PA) at 6pm, the Rat Opera at 7pm, local punk band To Be Hated at 8pm, and Boise Bob and His Backyard Band at 9pm. DJ Skidmark will be spinning in between the bands sets. Bring toys to give to Kids In Distress
I’ll leave you with an excellent local music post by Miami super blog Beached Miami, The Top 15 songs by South Florida . Have a stellar weekend.
We reported last week that long-time downtown favorite Creolina’s is returning to 2nd Street, taking Porterhouse’s old spot. Today we appear to have received official confirmation via Facebook and Twitter that this is true. Although the new restaurant will not be named Creolina’s (it will be named Bourbon on 2nd), it will be run by Creolina’s owner Mark Sulzinski and promises “Favorites-Creolina Style!” It will be very interesting to see how Bourbon on 2nd differs from Creolina’s. I expect it will have similar food to Creolina’s, but because the space is so much larger than Creolina’s old space and one would think they would keep Porterhouse’s huge bar intact, I predict more of a New Orleans-themed party atmosphere rather than the small purely food-focused establishment that was Creolina’s. That sounds great, as long as the food does not suffer. Because when the food suffers, we all suffer. And indeed we have been suffering since the old Creolina’s closed shop. Facebook says the soft-opening will be December 17 (tomorrow!) and encourages people to stop in and say hello. This FTLC correspondent will do just that.
Porterhouse fans … come find us totally REBORN just like our favorite city … Porterhouse is now BOURBON ON… http://fb.me/vEqefCnj
While you may be thinking “once is enough” when it comes to watching boat parades, there are actually several good reasons for you to change it up this weekend and drag your butt to the water to partake in the annual event this Saturday. While the $200 Grand Marshal Showboat tickets and $21 Birch State Park Grandstand tickets are both sold out, lucky for you you can view the parade for FREE along the intracoastal anywhere from the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to Lake Santa Barbara, South of Atlantic Blvd. According to the Winterfest website, East of the Stranahan House is supposed prime-time viewing space.
This years theme of “Dancing Through the Decades” will appropriately feature everyone’s favorite overly-exposed Dancing With the Stars’ co-host Brooke Burke. If you’re lucky, maybe you can catch a glimpse of her dazzling shadowy figure from the shore. Make it a little more interesting by bringing a flask and taking a swig every time you hear her name in the crowd, double duty if it’s paired with any adjectives pertaining to her “hot” or otherwise described body or its parts. (Drink responsibly, there will most likely be kids on every side of you)
Though it’s expected to warm up slightly by the weekend, a slightly cooler night will still offer two bonuses: an excuse to snuggle up to your paramour and an opportunity to practice your adult version of hot chocolate. If you need some pointers check out some of these drink recipes; or simply add a shot of Bailey’s, Kahlua, or Peppermint Schnapps to your thermos of Swiss Miss.
It may be somewhat of a family affair, but it’s still an anticipated yearly event for the young and old and it’s never too old to start your own traditions whether by yourself or with your SO. If anything, it’s a decent opportunity to get your fix of increasingly diminishing Christmas lights. The 39th annual Winterfest Boat Parade is to take place this Saturday, December 11th at 6:30 pm. Get there early to get a good view. Check out the mapped route here. Also, read Miami Bike Scene’s post about the Red Bull Barge Spin, a floating BMX park that will be making an appearance in this year’s parade.
A couple of months ago we griped about the “Fort Lauderdale”, a drink featured via video on eHow which oddly enough has yet to be found elsewhere on the web. Consisting of a couple of light alcohols and the juices of a couple of orange and lime wedges, we were simply not satisfied. Enter Jamaican ginger beer, the tropical carbonated beverage with a punch, and one of Florida’s major exported citrus: the grapefruit (Florida produces 54% of the entire country’s grapefruit), and we have the FTL Mule.
In the 1940’s, a little thing called The Moscow Mule happened to America, tripling the sales of vodka production which was previously only available here or there by way of Polish and Russian immigrants. It simply consists of ginger beer, vodka, and lime juice. It rose to popularity in the 1950’s and has since produced several variations. There is the Three Legged Mule which substitutes vodka for Jameson Irish Whiskey, the Old Grove Mule which subs the vodka for rum, and numerous others. So why not an FTL Mule? After several attempts in our alcotory, the FTL Mule was born. Try it out and let us know what you think. PS- don’t forget your copper cup.
The FTL Mule:
1 part vodka
1 part fresh grapefruit juice
4 parts ginger beer soda
Here’s a video tutorial on how to make Fort Lauderdale’s newest drink. The intro and outro music is REBEL – Stampede and The Jameses – Rat People, respectively.
“The nicest thing about the mule is that it doesn’t make you noisy and argumentative, or quiet and sullen, but congenial and in love with the world. One wag of its tail and life grows rosy.” -Clementine Paddleford, New York Herald Tribune’s food critic, 1948
