Banamarama

Not to be confused with Barack Obama.

I was out desperately looking for Rose's lime juice this afternoon (more on the reason for that tomorrow), and while I was in my neighborhood liquor emporium - which had it in 2 sizes; shame on you, WalMart, who didn't have it at all - I spied a bottle of Bols creme de banana. I'd looked ahead in my calendar and knew I had a drink upcoming that calls for that, so I bought that too. Banana liqueur and lime juice; the clerk must have thought I was screwy. The bottle is so big it'll last me till I'm 80. But I'm betting I can make a great banana split with vanilla ice cream, this, my strawberry liqueur, and creme de cacao.

Anyway, over the last couple months when I've been buying a new alcoholic distillation that I've never had before, or not in the last 20 years (yes, since at my mother's breast) (21 years, that's right), I've slugged a wee bit to see what it tastes like straight up. Creme de banana tastes like, well, like something that's had banana flavoring added. I don't really get the soul of the banana when I suck it down. But I'm sure it'll be great mixed with other soulless liqueurs.

Looking at the ingredients on the side of the bottle (caramel, coloring, no bananas listed), I found a recipe for a Slippery Banana. I won't make any questionable comments about that except to cock an eyebrow. It's easy and calls for large quantities of the ingredients, none of this 3/4 ounce stuff: 2 ounces tequila, 2 ounces banana liqueur, 2 ounces Rose's (lucky me to have bought both at the same time), blended with ice.

Verdict: it tastes like sort of a banana margarita, minus the salt on the rim of the glass. I'm not a big alcohol and crushed ice fan, but now I know that my blender does a good job of manhandling a slippery banana. It's a right-handed blender. And, since Starbux is closed for 3 hours tonight to teach their staff how to push the buttons on the coffee machines, I'll need this to make it through to bedtime.