November, 2015 - Lady Stahope - Mexico Martini

Lady Stanhope

Charming and witty, Lady Stanhope was an admired socialite in English high society.  But after a string of messy romances, she left England forever at the age of 33, and went on to become the first Biblical archaeologist.  She journeyed to Greece, Turkey, France, and Germany.

En route to Egypt, Stanhope discarded her feminine and European attire for menswear of most common in Tunisia, a look that would prove her signature the rest of her days.  She traversed through Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.  Later, she'd tell tales of how she so impressed the Bedouin tribes that they named her Queen of the Desert, successor to Zenobia.  But her greatest success came in 1815, when she convinced Ottoman authorities to allow her to excavate the ruins of Ashkelon. Stanhope went looking for gold, but instead found a seven-foot headless marble statue.  Her reputation as an archaeologist takes a hit here, as she ordered the artifact smashed to bits.

The Drink

Mexico Martini
1 1/2 oz tequila
1 spt extra dry vermouth
2-3 drops vanilla extract

Drinkability:  2
Drunkability:  5
Taxic Diversity:  4
Accessibility:  4
Priority for Conservation:  2

Comments:  "Very strange - vanilla, water, vermouth, frosting - it smells sweet but isn't"

From Women Who Traveled, hosted by Bandit Queen

November, 2015 - Aimee Crocker - Blue Lagoon

Aimee Crocker

An American railroad heiress born in 1864, Aimee Crocker was infamous for her lavish parties and long list of lovers and husbands.  She was a frequent subject of society gossip and a proud friend of Oscar Wilde.  But when the public attention became too much, Crocker took off on a tour of the Far East.

On route, she detoured to Hawaii, where she met King Kalakaua, who -- according to her memoir And I'd Do It Again -- was so enchanted with her that he gave her an island and the title Princess Palaikalani (which is said to translate to "Bliss of Heaven").  Crocker's book offers a slew of other outrageous encounters, including run-ins with headhunters in Borneo, a would-be murderer in Shanghai, and a sultry boa constrictor in India.  After ten years abroad, Crocker returned with wild tales, tattoos, a devotion ot Buddhism, and a whole new allure for the high society of America.

The Drink

Blue Lagoon

50ml vodka
20ml blue curacao
100ml lemonade
1 orange slice

Drinkability:  5
Drunkability:  2
Taxic Diversity:  2
Accessibility:  3
Priority for Conservation:  4

Comments:  Alabazam was throwing off the curve in rating.

From Women Who Traveled, hosted by Bandit Queen

November, 2015 - Gertrude Bell - Sex on the Beach

Gertrude Bell 

A contemporary and colleague of T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a Lawrence of Arabia), Gertrude Bell was a writer and archaeologist who traveled all around the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.  Her books gave the people of Great Britain a clear concept of the empire's outer territories and are still studied today.

An Oxford graduate who was fluent in Persian and Arabic, she met Lawrence while working in the Arab Bureau in Cairo during World War I.  She's best known for her contribution to the Conference in Cairo in 1921, where the beginnings of Iraq as a nation were forged.  She'd later pioneer the school of thought that relics and antiquities should be preserved in their home national.  The National Museum of Iraq was born from her efforts.

The Drink:

Sex on the Beach

4 cl vodka
4 cl Peach schnapps
4 cl orange juice
4 cl cranberry juice

Drinkability: 4
Drunkability:  3
Taxic Diversity:  3.5
Accessibility:  4
Priority for Conservation:  4

Comments:  BallBuster was enthusiastic about this one

From "Women Who Traveled" hosted by Bandit Queen

February, 2015 - Eileen Collins - Queen Mary

Eileen Collins

Daughter of Irish immigrants, Eileen was born in Elmira, NY in 1956.  Starting off with an associate's degree from a community college, Eileen went on to get two Masters degrees and then to become the second woman to be admitted to the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School.  Twenty years ago, Eileen broke through the glass ceiling (or literally the atmosphere in this instance), becoming the first female pilot of the Space Shuttle.  Four years later, she was the first female commander of a Space Shuttle Mission.  Eileen has spent 38 days, 8 hours, and 10 minutes in space.  Eileen is an inductee to the national Women's Hall of Fame and has been recognized by Encyclopedia Britannica as one of the top 300 women in history who have changed the world.

The Drink:

Queen Mary

3 cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 oz gin or vodka
1/2 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 oz dill pickle brine
1-2 dashes hot sauce
1 pinch kosher salt (for rim)

Drinkability:  2
Drunkability:  3
Taxic Diversity:  4.5
Accessibility:  3
Priority for Conservation:  2

Comments:  "good with either voka or gin, maybe better with gin as long as its a good gin"

From the inaugural meeting, themed "Newbies" of our newest member, Irish Knockout

November, 2008 - Molly Ocket - May Flower Cocktail

Molly Ocket

Her Indian name was Singing Bird. Her Christian name was Marie Agatha. She probably pronounced it Mali Agget which sounded like Molly Ockett to the English settlers.  A major focal point of Molly's world was Pigwacket, the ancient Indian enclave at present-day Fryeburg, Maine, a short distance east of the present border between Maine and New Hampshire.  Throughout her childhood, Molly Ockett and her family moved constantly to avoid the perils of the French and British colonial wars that were taking place around them. During 1759, while taking refuge at the St. Francis Mission at Odanak near the St. Lawrence River, Molly reportedly witnessed the death of her parents and many other Abenakis during the famous Roger's Raid.  By 1764, Molly had married a Native hunter named Piel Susup (Peter Joseph). That year, the couple visited the rebuilt mission at Odanak to have their marriage consecrated and their new daughter baptized. By 1772, Piel had died and records show Molly living with a Pigwacket Abenaki named Sabattis near Fryeburg, Maine. In time, she quit that stormy relationship, but always maintained her link with Fryeburg and numerous other Maine towns.

Molly became an Abenaki medicine woman, and was well known in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Vermont, and western Maine, where she assisted the sick, and delivered the babies. She wandered throughout the Upper Androscoggin and Connecticut Rivers in a traditional Abenaki manner, collecting healing medicines and providing for herself as she had been taught by her ancestors.  Molly was an itinerant healer and herbalist for both natives and colonists. She administered her remedies to the settlers whenever and wherever there was a need, never accepting more than one copper penny for her services. Molly provided the only medical attention available to most of these early settlers.

In 1781, during the American Revolution, she saved the life of a Colonel Clark by warning him of a raid. When Clark tried to reward her, she refused. Years later, after an especially difficult winter, she accepted his offer to stay with his family in Boston, where she learned about European medicine. Missing the woods and her independence, she did not stay there long.  After leaving Boston, Molly resumed her itinerant life in Maine and Vermont, walking long distances and setting up camp near one town or another. Refusing to leave her ancient homelands, she continued to practice the ways of her people, despite the many cultural changes that were taking place around her.

Molly Ockett died in 1816 at Andover, Maine, and was buried in the town cemetery there. Sometime later, a head stone was placed on her grave. It reads, "MOLL OCKET Baptized Mary Agatha, died in the Christian Faith, August 2, A.D., 1816. The Last of the Pigwackets."  Since her death, Molly Ockett has become a legendary figure. Renowned as "the last of the Pigwackets," she is honored annually at Bethel's "Molly Ockett Day" celebration, and her name is connected with numerous geographic landmarks, business ventures, and community organizations. It's difficult to sort out truth from fantasy.

The Drink:

May Flower Cocktail:

Stir in mixing glass with ice & strain

1 3/4 oz Red Dubonnet 

3/4 oz brandy 

Drinkability: 3 1/2
Drunkability:  4

Taxic Diversity:  2
Accessibility: 3

Priority of Conservation:  1

Comments: "Not Good"(with frowny face drawing), "Tastes like alcoholic nothing" and "a little lettucey"

From Pilgrims and Indians hosted by FluffyRuffle

November, 2008 - Mary Musgrove - Allegheny

Mary Musgrove Bosomworth

Mary Musgrove was born Coosaponakesee sometime around 1700, at Coweta Town on the Ockmulgee River in northern Georgia. Her father was an English trader from the South Carolina Colony and her mother was a Creek Indian of royal blood. Mary spent her first 10 years among her mother's people; despite her mixed heritage Musgrove was considered a full member of Creek society and the Wind Clan.  Colonel John Musgrove was commissioned by the Governor of South Carolina in 1716 to visit the Creeks and negotiate a peace treaty between the English and the Creek Nation. Young John Musgrove accompanied his father, fell madly in love with Mary, and immediately married her. The two of them set out to build a trading enterprise in the Georgia territory. Mary's knowledge of the Creek language and customs was an invaluable aid to their success. By 1730, the Musgroves had a prosperous trading post on the Yamacraw Bluff overlooking the Savannah River, near the place where General James Oglethorpe brought the first English colonists to Savannah in 1733. Oglethorpe employed Mary as a negotiator to secure the peaceful cooperation of the Creeks in land settlements and trade. Mary's plantation on the Savannah comprised the fairest and broadest acres in Georgia, and it supplied the struggling colonists with meat, bread, and liquor.  In 1739, John Musgrove died after contracting malaria, leaving his wife a 500-acre plantation, a large number of cattle and horses, ten indentured servants, and a deerskin trade. She was one of the wealthiest women in the colony. 

In that same year, Mary married Jacob Matthews, who had been a servant of her former husband. Jacob was a colorful figure known as a critic of English authority, a successful planter, and a heavy drinker. Apparently, he worked hard but he also set himself up as the leader of the malcontents in Georgia and the chief critic of the authorities.  In 1744, Mary married Thomas Bosomworth, a figure even more controversial than Matthews. He had come to Georgia in 1741 to clerk for William Stevens, the man who would later be governor of Georgia Colony. He decided instead to join Oglethorpe's troops on a mission to help defeat the Spanish. He soon tired of camp life and returned to England in 1743 to be ordained.  Bosomworth and Mary established a trading post at “The Forks," the confluence of the Ockmulgee and Oconee Rivers.  Bosomworth convinced Mary's brother Malatchee to have himself proclaimed Emperor of the Creek Nation, who then gave Thomas and Mary a deed to the Sea Islands of Ossabaw, Sapelo, and St. Catherine. Thomas purchased vast herds of cattle on credit in South Carolina and turned them loose on St. Catherine Island.  Thomas also talked the Creek Nation into making Mary Queen of the Creeks.  In August 1749, Mary and Thomas were arrested due to debts Thomas owed in South Carolina for the cattle. The Indian Chiefs and the council president met on several occasions to negotiate the return of lands to the Indians. Bosomworth repented of his folly, and wrote to the council president apologizing for his wanton conduct.  During this time, Thomas continually fought to secure the money owed Mary for her services when she was working for General Oglethorpe. Mary resorted to the courts in London, and in June 1760, settled her claims for 2100 pounds sterling and clear title to St. Catherine Island.  Mary Musgrove Bosomworth spent the remainder of her life on St. Catherines Island, and died there sometime after 1763.

The Drink:

Allegheny:

Stir in mixing glass with ice & strain

1 oz bourbon (3 cl, 1/4 gills)

1 oz dry vermouth (3 cl, 1/4 gills)

1/4 oz blackberry flavored brandy (6 dashes, 1/16 gills)

1/4 oz fresh lemon juice (6 dashes, 1/16 gills)

1 dash aromatic bitters

Drinkability:  3
Drunkability:  4 2/3

Taxic Diversity:   4
Accessibility:  3
Priority of Conservation:  4

Comments: "good at the start, not so good at the finish"

From Pilgrims and Indians hosted by FluffyRuffle

Pre-2008 - Amelia Earhart - The Aviation

The Aviation 
2 1/2 oz. gin
1/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
2-3 dashes maraschino liquer

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker and strain into cocktail glass

comments: … and we’ve definitely have made this one too. 

from drinking around the world hosted by WER

*** Archivist Note:  No information on Amelia Earhart was included.  Please see WIKI. 

Pre-2008 - Isabella Bird - Blood & Sand

Blood and Sand
1 oz. Scotch
1 oz. orange juice
3/4 oz. cherry flavoured brandy
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth

Shake in an iced cocktail shaker, and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

comments: We definitely have made this since that party.

from drinking around the world hosted by WER

***ARCHIVIST NOTE:  No information reported on Isabella Bird - see WIKI. 

2008 - Annie Peck

Annie Peck was born into a wealthy family, which made it possible for her to get a good education. She attended the Rhode Island Normal School, graduating in 1872. She enrolled at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1878 with a major in Greek and Classical Languages, after which she went to Europe, where she continued her schooling at Hannover and Athens. In 1885, she discovered her enthusiasm for mountaineering. From 1881 to 1892 she was a pioneering professor in the field of archaeology and Latin at Purdue and Smith Colleges. She began to make money on the lecture circuit and by 1892 she gave up teaching and made her living by lecturing and writing about archeology, mountaineering and her travels. She scaled a number of moderate-sized mountains in Europe and in the United States, including Mount Shasta. In 1895, she climbed the Matterhorn and was suddenly quite well-known.

She began to climb, lecture and explore in Latin America. She promoted pan-Americanism (peace between the Americas) and geographic education through her lectures, articles and books. She was fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and French.

She climbed Mount Orizaba and Mount Popocatepetl in Mexico in 1897. Although already over 50 years old, Peck wanted to make a very special climb. She travelled to South America in 1903, looking for a mountain taller than Aconcagua in Argentina (6960 m). She climbed in Bolivia and Peru and in 1908 she was the first person to climb Mount Nevado Huascarán (6768 m) accompanied by two Swiss mountain guides. She wrote a book about her experiences called ‘The Search for the Apex of America: High Mountain Climbing in Peru and Bolivia, including the Conquest of Huascaran, with Some Observations on the Country and People Below”. Due to a severe snowstorm, Peck misjudged the measuring altitude by about 600 m, calculating it as 7300 m high. She was later shown incorrect from a recalculation done by Fanny Bullock Workman.

The 6648 m northern peak of the Huascarán was named Cumbre Aña Peck in her honor in 1928. Peck scaled mountains into her old age, including a first accent of one of the peaks on the five peaked Mount Coropuna in Peru in 1908. After her return she wrote two books, ‘Industrial and Commercial South America’ and ‘The South American Tour: A Descriptive Guide.’ Both books were quite popular with diplomats, business-men, corporations, politicians and tourists.

In 1929-30, Peck travelled by air around South America in order to show how easy and safe it was for tourists. Her journey was the longest by air by a North American traveler at the time. She published her fourth and last book after her return ‘Flying Over South America: Twenty Thousand Miles by Air’.

Peck started a world tour in 1935 but after visiting Greece she became ill and returned home to New York City. She died in 1935 and is buried in Providence, Rhode Island.

text taken from Wikipedia

featured at Going West! hosted by Morning Glory