How To: Shop at an Outlet Mall

We will start with a tragic story...



It is 10:30 pm on Thanksgiving, my family is laying around various sofa's trying to let our digestive system do its thing, while I was looking for some good sales on the famous Black Friday. I came across a Midnight Madness Outlet shopping in NY state, the next semester I was going to be working full time  at an internship which required a category of clothing I had none of, professional suits. What a perfect time to get a deal! They boasted 50%-75% off at hundreds of stores all located in one outdoor mall.



My mother was up for the adventure, ensuring me I would not have to worry about receiving any christmas gifts that year. Oh boy, we did not know what we were getting ourselves into...

Standing in line; to raid stores like Guess and Calvin Klein. Don't get me wrong, we had a blast, and I still use some of the items I purchased that night/morning. We went berserk, suits, sweaters, button down shirts, shoes, for both my mother and myself; presents for family, my sister some new shirts. 

You will never truly understand the term "Shop till you Drop" unless you non-stop shop from midnight until 10am. This was the wrong way to go to am Outlet Mall....

Now for the To Do List:

 - Before you get to the mall, make a list of things you need so you don't get enchanted by the big discounts on something you might wear based on the discounted amount... 75% off of $600 skirt is a good deal but it is still more money than you would normally spend on a skirt.

- Try to fill your list with things that out of season a.k.a. in the summer shop for coats and boots.

- Before you get to the mall leave most of your credit cards at home. You can get shop drunk and not even realize, and once the receipt hangover sets in, you have used your backup credit card as well as your backup-only-emergency credit card too.

- When you do get to the mall, make a game plan.  Put the places where you will spend the most money at the top, maybe after the first sticker shock it might slow down your ambition to pull the trigger on something you don't like as much later on your shopping adventure.

- Come to terms that you are going to spend more than you plan on. It's not like a regular mall that you have set prices, this place is going to make your eyes bounce like a cartoon coyote, where else are you going to find 90% off of Coach bags. There is going to be at least one point that you are going to buy something you know you will regret years later that you did not purchase. Really, I mean haunt your nightmares.

Example of creature in its natural habitat. I went to return a pair of broken pants and left with this. But its ok because I learned these lessons I can pass of to you and I like Rammen.

The making of the HeatBeet... Infusion and all round dazzling but earthy cocktail.

A contest is always something enjoyable to participate in, a cocktail competition is something that made me excited and invigorated, the project was to make an original liqour infusion and then a complimenting cocktail.

I drew my inspiration from a new passion at the time, a cordial called Pimm's #1.

Pimm's #1 is originally from London was first sold as a tonic in 1851 made from herbs and spices meant to aid digestion. It later became part of the official cocktail, Pimm's Cup, during British polo matches as well as the Wimbelton tennis tournament. 

Pimm's is predominantly derived from Gin with Orange peel and spices. My infusion also started with gin but then took a 180 degree turn around from the formality and distinguished part to British history into an American unpretentious trendsetting cocktail.

Ingredients for infusion included:

- roasted beets

- orange peel

- cilantro

- star anise

- lemon basil

- coriander

I scientifically tested at least five different batches between variations between different amounts of spices and herbs, beet preparation, and gin bases. The best outcome I got was a medium juniper flavored gin with home roasted beets.

Not that I want this to turn into a cooking post; canned sliced beets worked for beet infusion. Per herbs, minced beets left too little of the original beet dimensions, earthy and candy quality. The best were beets I rubbed in salt and wrapped in tin foil and baked. Then hand peeled to get the pieces of beet that had different dimensions of flavors.

Bleeding with color and flavor I layered beet, orange peel, spices, beet, orange peel, spices; ect. until I filled the entire jar. Next unloaded a 750ml of gin on my final balanced ingredients.

I left this jar covered in foil for a week, and every couple of days I stirred the mixture (like a Yoo-hoo). After filtering I uncovered a beautiful blood red gin (which I neglected to take a picture of).

The final product was a martini called the Heartbeet (pun-intended):

- 3 ounces beet gin infusion

- large splash of fresh lemon juice

- shake vigorously

- rim martini glass with brown sugar and sea salt

- Pour in gin shaken

- top with splash sprite

Other competitors I remember had Cognac infused with hazelnuts, Gin infused with lychee, Bourbon with brown sugar. The judges were inspired enough to deem my cocktail the winner. And it was requested often at my bar.

Do you Love all Burgers Equally?

This looks like the most juicy burger.. however.. it's made of snake.. Cobra to be exact.

If you are ever in Indonesia you can buy one of these for $1.20; add a little Pepper Jack, to zest the patty, a curry aoli and I would eat 2.

Found in Mexico

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property.

Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings.

(sand graffiti at the Chruch of the Virgin de Guadalupe)

(plants growing on the side of the building create a texture like graffiti)

(personalized buses use graffiti to distinguish one from another)

marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime.

(nature creates a decorative graffiti, growing moss between sidewalk bricks)

Graffiti may also express underlying social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression.

To be a fly in their daiquiri.. The Tropicana

In the 1950's the Hamptons went by the name of Havana, it was also located 1,300 miles south on the beautiful country of Cuba.

There was a club called the Tropicana, it was all the rage in the US. They had a private airline that would take US citizens on a dance and cocktail full flight straight to the clubs back door.

Full bar as well as full bands played on the planes. That's how famous people, like Nat King Cole, would come back and forth from America to the club.

Famous people like, Marlon Brando (pictured above), would come to dance and drink the night away. No dance was too cheeky, no costume to over the top. This is was the hight of the social scene, where there was never enough champange and a celebrity at every table.

The Tropicana attracted socialites of the day as much as celebrities. The energy must have been electric and zintrickty (my word) as lights and libations were flug around the room.

The choreographer, Roderico Neyra, who was known as Rodney, was crazy, and they let him get away with whatever he wanted because he was brilliant and he drew in such huge crowds. For one show, he filled Arcos de Cristal with ice and created an ice-skating rink.

Another show would be live animals, lions and elephants, and a giant goblet of champagne girls would dance in. The Tropicana was the first venue to feature a showgirl entrance by zeppelin.

Above is a picture of the overall club with stage where the zeppelin entered, where he fit the first onstage ice rink is beyond me. The white noise much have been absolutey astounding, I could picture myself is a haltered fitted red velvet dress drinking a crushed ice daiquiri in the at the bar listening to the waves of laughter and banter like waves on a beach, or monkeys and birds calling out in a jungle of beautiful people enjoying the scene of dancing and music making.

Puppies!

I love puppies, lovelovelovelovelovelovelove them.

These puppies were 2 month old mutts on the beaches of Mexico, transported in that box, they could not walk or bark yet, crawling around for shade.

They just don't make things like they used too..

Here in Morristown, NJ, they are home to the Morris Museum. It's not the worlds biggest museum but it has some interesting things.. Here are some photo's of an exhibit of mechanical toys and music boxes from the 1800's..

Cute little piggies.. They still work too.. The craftsmanship is amazing, the hand painting. The materials used are not just molded plastic like most toys are made these days, these museum items are composed of materials like velvet, porcelain, clay, and hand blown beads.

The mechanics, amazing! This alligator almost looks real. I think toys like this would inspire any child (or child-like adult) to play and imagine and create.

Does this toy look familiar? Mechanical Bear built in 1872, and my dog-godson Mowgli built in 1999.

This was one of my favorites; it is a music box with a mechanical doll lounging on a day bed, she could be viewed on either side of the frame, as well as viewed from different angle in the mirror placed above the lounging mechanical doll.