The first Beats post with a bonus cocktail recipe!

So here’s the first Beats post for the secret4mula Blog. It’s from a genre of music called Moobahton; an electronica/reggaeton/latin hybrid and it’s absolutely amazing. This track in particular is “Paris Luanda” by DJ Gregory and Gregor Salto, remixed by DJ Sabo from New York City.

Imagine this rumbling through the sound system of a dark club at 2AM, with a Caipirinha in your hand, and you with your dance partner moving to the beat. Sounds good right? What’s a Caipirinha you say? It’s a tasty cocktail originating from Brazil that is refreshing, and easy to make. It may be Labor Day Weekend, but you can still squeeze in a few summertime cocktails before the temperature drops…

Caipirinha

• Cachaça (Brazilian sugar cane rum)
• Half a lime
• Two teaspoons of sugar
• Crushed ice

Chop the 1/2 lime into four or five pieces.  Place the lime pieces along with the sugar into a rocks glass and muddle the two ingredients with a pestle.  As you bruise the limes, the juices and oils from the peel will mix with the sugar giving off a fantastic citrus aroma. Once it’s nice and muddled, fill the glass with the crushed ice, and top off with the Cachaça.  Stir it a bit with a straw, and add a lime wheel and/or piece of sugar cane as an optional garnish.  It’s that simple!

Credit to http://vejasp.abril.com.br for their beautiful photo of a perfect Caipirinha. Notice the slight green tint. That's when you know you've muddled it well.

I hope you enjoy the music, and the cocktail as well. What’s your favorite summer cocktail? Let me know in the comments.

- E.J.

Yup, this is actually happening.

Here I am with a blog.  Writing a blog is a narcissistic act in my humble opinion (see the irony there).  When you have a blog, you’re saying, “I’ve got something so awesome to say, that the ENTIRE world needs to know.”  It’s no different than walking down Times Square with a bullhorn, rambling to strangers about  your feelings.  There are four common responses to such behavior:

• Nod and agree, maybe even add a statement of approval
• Argue, sometimes with your own bullhorn
• Point and laugh
• Ignore, and go about your day (which is what I do most of the time).

With this blog, I hope I get one or possibly all three of the first responses from you.  Otherwise, I’m no better than the Naked Cowboy (google him).  So what the hell am I going to be writing about?

• Beats: I love learning about new music, and sharing it with people I know and love.  I’ll give anything a listen before I give an opinion.  I will say that I lean more towards hip-hop, R&B, and house music, but I do have an eclectic music collection at home.  I could have Bebel Gilberto playing while enjoying a bottle of wine one evening, and Tyler the Creator blasting through my speakers the next. I’m an on-again, off-again DJ, and I still have old cassettes and 45′s stored in my parents’ attic. I’m always asking friends for recommendations, and I visit tons of internet radio websites seeking that new potential anthem.
• Eats:  Cooking relaxes me.  I have a stressful job, and there’s nothing like a home cooked meal after a long day of work, or an awesome Sunday dinner.  I’ll share family recipes, my own creations, and tasty discoveries I find online.  To me, cooking is one of the ultimate acts of love (not necessarily on a romantic level) you can show for someone.  Think about it…how does it feel when someone cooks for you? Sometimes it’s not perfect, but you know the intent of caring is there.
• Tees: secret4mula is the name of the t-shirt company that I have on the side.  I’ll post the occasional plug for you to check it out. If I find something cool that I didn’t design, I’ll show it here too.  Just make sure you buy two of mine when you buy one of theirs

I’m not a writer by nature, and at times I have difficulty putting pen to paper (or in this case text to screen), so I ask of you to be patient with me if my thoughts are a little unorganized.  I hope we can learn from each other during this experience. What’s the point of doing this, if I don’t learn as well? I think I’ll start off with a simple recipe to get things rolling this weekend.   I’ll talk to and with you very soon. Now, where is that bullhorn…

E.J.