Kona Mai Tai Recipe

I realized last weekend when we had Bruce's Mai Tai recipe that I've never posted it on my blog.  After 5 years of blogging, I have almost all my favorite recipes posted.  This is by far the best Mai Tai recipe you'll ever need.  It is from a bartender at one our favorite Hawaiian hangouts back in the 80's called Tom Bombadil, a pizza joint in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.  Their Mai Tai's were killer!  Over the years, someone in Bruce's family got the recipe.  His family went to Kailua-Kona regularly because his parents had a condo there.  His parents finally sold it 2005 after many decades of enjoying this spot in paradise. Tom Bombadil was replaced with another restaurant long ago but their Mai Tai recipe lives on.  You need a lot of ingredients for this recipe.

It's like a special occasion drink and takes some thought to make one.

Thank goodness you can only drink one of these since they have 5 different types of alcohol in them.  You can't tell when you drink one, though, because it is so good.  And the strongest alcohol, the 151 rum, is the last alcohol you taste so by that time, you aren't feeling much anyway!  This is a "no stir" drink.  You're suppose to drink it in layers with a straw.  It is topped off with 151 rum which is why you drink it last.  The orange juice and grenadine are on the bottom which is what you drink first.  It's so sweet and delicious when you first start drinking it that it can be deceiving...such a cute, little innocent drink.

Makes 1 drink

1.  Fill glass half full of ice.

2.  Layer the glass with the following ingredients in this order:

1/3 oz. grenedine
1 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. white rum
1 oz. Meyer's rum (or dark rum)
1/2 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. orange curacoa
1/2 oz. sweet & sour
1/3 oz. (lace) 151 rum

3.  Garnish with pineapple/cherry.

4.  Do not stir and drink with a straw. 



Our special occasion last weekend was a visit from our friends, Barry and Alda from Idaho. They lived two houses down from us and our kids played together in the neighborhood.  Now they were eager to come see us in our new Seattle home. 

They have only been to Seattle once which was about 5 years ago for their son's wedding. We wanted to give them a nice, un-rushed orientation visit.  It included touring the town on Saturday and having a barbecue on Saturday night (sort of a Father's Day barbecue since Bruce was leaving for a convention on Sunday).  We had the most delicious dinner celebration with  chicken satay with peanut sauce,

asian pasta salad and couscous and black bean salad.

Lauren and Ari provided dessert from our favorite Bakery Nouveau.

We had worked up an appetite after touring Seattle all day.  I decided this is going to be "the tour" I give new visitors when they come to Seattle, just like I had "the tour" in Idaho. (In Idaho, it included a trip out to Hidden Springs - where Barry and Alda now live - which is an ultimate planned community.  It was always a big hit with visitors during our tour because it is such a perfect little pre-planned community, sort of like Disneyland; then we'd go to Simplot's hill, where "the potato dude" used to live and people still slide down his hill; the North End, drive down Harrison Blvd, a stop at Goody's, our favorite ice cream parlor, then pass the oldest house in Boise that is a log cabin-type structure by Fort Boise; then we'd take a drive up to Table Rock with a great view of Boise; then to downtown/Capitol building; drive down Warm Springs to see more historic homes, a stop at the Oregon Trail monument overlooking where the trail was; then to the Shakespare Festival outdoor theater and end the tour with nice stroll through their picnic grounds. That pretty much took the whole day and everyone always loved "the tour".) Now that we live in Seattle and we have our first visitors new to town, we started our tour with the Seattle Underground Tour.  This tour is very entertaining and a nice history of Seattle (a good way to start a tour). I hadn't been on this tour since the '70s and Bruce had never been on it so we all thoroughly enjoyed it. (The the tourist-y photo didn't turn out half bad!)

After the Underground Tour, we headed north to the Ballard Locks. The cruise ships were in port today so on our way to the Locks, we stopped at the Elliot Bay Marina for a beautiful view of the ships and also a gorgeous marina and yacht club.

One thing about Seattle, there are soooo many places for photo ops. The views are beautiful here so you must take advantage when you have guests visiting, right?  Saturday had thunder showers so we made it to the Ballard Locks just before they hit.  We even had time to get lunch at Red Mill Burgers - one of the best burgers in Seattle -which just happens to be across the street from the Locks.

The thunder showers hit as we drove passed Golden Gardens where Barry and Alda's son had his wedding reception. From Golden Gardens we drove to Green Lake for dessert at Chocolati, my favorite chocolate cafe here in Seattle. We all got hot drinks on this day which is fine since they have the best hot chocolate drinks in the world along with their hot weather drinks called "Chills". So, then we decided to walk around Green Lake since it was turning into a beautiful day.

Green Lake is 2.8 miles around so it was a perfect walk.  We were tired after that so the rest of the tour was in the car.  We drove to our old neighborhood and around Magnuson Park, then by Husky Stadium, the UW campus and across Montake.  I had told them to read The Boys in the Boat before they came so they could relate to a lot of what we were seeing, a good move.  Then it was home for Mai Tai's and a barbecue.  A perfect day.  Bruce left for his convention Sunday morning so after that we walked up to the Junction where the Farmers Market was going on.  I had to take them to Bakery Nouveau, of course.  It's always so hard to decide what to order.

I got a triple salami sandwich on a parisian baguette (one of my favorites) and my friends got a ham and cheese croissant.

This was the first of many eating experiences on this day.  It was a nicer day today but still breezy so we planned to go down to Alki.  We timed it to hit Happy Hour at 3:00 pm and first went to our favorite, Cactus.  We ordered nachos which were the best that Barry said he'd ever tasted.

Of course, the Baja Margaritas are the best margaritas I've ever tasted and it's what I always order.  Alda followed in my footsteps with no regrets.

It was hard to leave Cactus because the food and views are so perfect but Barry and Alda wanted clam chowder during their visit and we were running out of time. This was their last chance so we then walked down to Duke's Chowder House.  All the views are beautiful at Alki and we enjoyed more scenic photo ops.  

Barry and Alda got their clam chowder at Duke's with warm sourdough bread as we gazed out at the lovely view of Puget Sound once again.  Their Seattle experience was complete.