Since you all can't seem to stop stealing the ashtrays from the outdoor benches, galldarnit,we discovered a solution for these financially frugal times. For just five cents, we can make our ashtrays out of empty PBR cans, endlessly supplied by our $1 PBR Recession Wednesdays.
My design is the PBR pinwheel, taking a mere one minute and eight seconds to make, and requiring no skill or power tools, thank goodness, because I would probably cut off one of my fingers. A pair of dull scissors does the trick. (For the ashtray, not to cut off a finger.)
Leah, not to be outdone by my brief and rare display of craftiness, took much longer to design her PBR ashtray which resulted in a more classic retro look. After her initial creative time investment, she, too, was able to complete each ashtray in under two minutes.
Now if you steal an ashtray, at least it will be a fashionably cool one.
85 people, 37 candles, three brave bartenders and one confused dog: Drink in the Dark for Earth Hour 2009 was a success at Felicia's Atomic Lounge! On March 28, 2009, people all around the world turned off their lights and electrical appliances for one hour, 8:30pm-9:30pm, to show support for our Earth and a commitment to stop global warming.
As the lights were turned off one by one, the crowd cheered and the bartenders lit candles so they could see the cocktails they were making. One bartender donned a headlamp. Staff placed multiple candles in the bathrooms, in the kitchen and on the tables. Off went the music. Eesah the Lounge dog ran around with an LED light attached to his collar. "We should do this more often," said virtually every patron we talked to, as their eyes adjusted from the non-participatory glowing streetlights to the darkness of the bar. Co-owner Amelia Sauter's response as she paced around, checking in with patrons and nervously peeking into the candlelit bathrooms? "Not too often. Drunk people and fire is a slightly worrisome combination." She added that she checked all of the fire extinguishers before the event started.
Did any other Ithaca businesses participate? If they did, no one seemed to know about it. Makes you stop and wonder how people in Kuwait, South Korea, Hong Kong and Australia could have unified, mass de-lighting events, but Ithaca, a hub of enlightened do-gooders, did little to publicize and encourage Earth Hour. Yes, the Tompkins County Legislature proclaimed that Ithaca would participate in Earth Hour and the Ithaca Journal published a paragraph about it on the morning of March 28, but we expected more from our eco-sensitive community. The peaceful darkness of Felicia's was surrounded by the light of the glaring streetlights and garish business signs like one at the infamous State Street Diner.
Let's start planning now for 2009 so we can make Earth Hour a meaningful event in Ithaca and all over our electricity-addicted country.
What does it look like to Drink in the Dark? See the candlelight cocktail videos below:
This Saturday, March 28, people and businesses around the world will be turning off their lights from 8:30pm-9:30pm for Earth Hour, to show support of the Earth over global warming. Felicia's Atomic Lounge will be participating in this worldwide event. Drink in the Dark with like-minded Ithacans, and show your commitment to the Earth.
Who needs electricity to make and drink cocktails? Drinking cocktails by candlelight is sexy. Loving our Earth is sexy. Maybe we should be doing this more than once a year. Flashlights will be available for the bathrooms. Get your flatbread orders in before 8:30pm so we can turn off the oven, too.
Register your vote by signing up to participate in Earth Hour online at www.earthhour.org. See you (in the dark) at the Lounge on Saturday!
Update: Are you a food or drink blogger? Participate in the cook-in-the-dark challenge this Saturday at the blog Morsels and Musings.
About a month ago during a brief thaw, a big rain and windstorm and came through Trumansburg and swept someone's cast iron lawn furniture into our creek. We have since been staring at it stuck in the ice. Leah took advantage of the current respite from the cold weather by donning a pair of muck boots, braving the rapids and rescuing the lawn furniture, which will likely end up in Felicia's alley. In her words, "It's ours now."
Felicia believes in reusing, recycling, composting, and anything else that is going to help save our planet earth. Now, thanks to Felicia Fred, there is a creative way to reuse all those Bookers boxes. Just remember, you saw it here first.
As Felicia dragged a 50-lb five gallon bucket out of the lounge on Saturday night, a patron asked her with polite curiosity, “What the hell is in that?” The answer, dear patron, is compost. Yes, all of those limes that you don’t eat, your squeezed-out lemon wedges, the vodka-soaked cucumbers from the infusions, the fresh grated ginger-lime pulp that has been pressed through a sieve, the stray olives, and the occasional toothpick that sneaks in, all of these lovely items are brought home to be added to the compost that nurtures Felicia’s garden. Today’s uneaten pizza crust = tomorrow’s homegrown mint in your mojito. Felicia’s compost is also known in her neighborhood as the Wildlife Bar & Restaurant. Many a bird has picked at Felicia’s pie crusts, squirrels have chased each other friskily through her deteriorating carved pumpkins while nibbling on olives saturated with vodka, and the woodchucks…well let’s just say they have a little addiction problem. All summer long they would come get drunk on gin-soaked cucumbers and those bright red cherries you left at the bottom of your manhattan glass. Occasionally one of the woodchucks would disappear, most likely due to cirrhosis of the liver or a wife at home nagging him, “You reek like whiskey, Chucky! And is this some other gal’s fur on your collar? You’ve been at that dang compost bar again, haven’t you!” And then Felicia wouldn’t see him for a few weeks, until he’d stop by to visit his old friends at the compost, saying, “I’ll just have one,” and, well, you know the rest of the story. Rest assured, your unconsumed cocktail scraps will not go to waste.
Since you all can't seem to stop stealing the ashtrays from the outdoor benches, galldarnit,we discovered a solution for these financially frugal times. For just five cents, we can make our ashtrays out of empty PBR cans, endlessly supplied by our $1 PBR Recession Wednesdays.
