Pele Pops Up on a Popcorn Bucket at Disneyland

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Other Tiki Topics and tagged with , , , ,

As you may have noticed, I sometimes tend to have an issue with timeliness when it comes to this blog. Hence, a quick Christmas post from our visit to Disneyland/California Adventure last month.

Apparently, elaborately designed popcorn buckets have been a hit for Disney in Tokyo, so they’ve started making holiday-themed buckets for the stateside parks. (Mr. Hockey is a popcorn fiend so that has given me an excuse to get them…)

And when I went up to take a look at the snowman-style Mickey, i spotted Pele from the Enchanted Tiki Room peeking out from the bucket next to it. More tiki updates from The Happiest Place on Earth to come…

Home With The Beachcomber – Simi Valley, CA

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki Sites and Stores and tagged with , , , ,

As previously mentioned, I love Anthropologie, but not crowds. So whenever we feel the need to shop, my cohort Curious Laydee and I head out to the Simi Valley Town Center, an outdoor mall that’s usually all but deserted.

And a few months ago as we were about to enter our beloved faux-bohemian bazaar, she spotted Home With The Beachcomber just across the way. I hadn’t noticed a tiki store there before!

It’s a rather large space and it’s mostly filled with Hawaiiana stuff, like Hilo Hattie-type Aloha wear, prints of vintage air travel ads, and anything you can possibly imagine being printed with a hibiscus flower, palm tree or pineapple.

Not pictured here, but I did notice some nods to the modern tiki art scene—like framed Doug Horne prints. (You might recognize his art if you’ve ever been in our downstairs bathroom… ;))

There’s also a section devoted to the kinds of goodies you might bring back from a trip to the Islands, like coconut M&Ms, Waialua soda, Kona coffee, and chocolate covered macadamia nuts.

The name tipped me off that maybe the store is related to Don the Beachcomber, and they do actually stock their signature rum barrels, along with some hula girl mugs and the still ubiquitous Pink Panther themed ceramics designed by Shag.

I found further support of this possible connection in these Don the Beachcomber-branded mini tiki huts on display.

It was fun to browse, but most of the wares were a bit touristy for my taste. This would be the perfect spot to hit up, though, if you didn’t bring back enough souvenir gifts for people after your Hawaiian vacation. They’ll never know!


Home with the Beachcomber
1555 Simi Town Center Wy.
Simi Valley, CA 93065
805-584-3667

First Foray into Mixing Cocktails – Trader Tiki’s Wailani

Posted by The Tiki Chick in Tiki Sites and Stores and tagged with , , , ,

Happy New Year! One of my resolutions this year is to start mixing tiki drinks. I’ve had Beachbum Berry’s books for awhile, but I was always daunted by the logistics of where to begin. You can make or break a cocktail by not using the best ingredients or quality rums (which can also be frustrating to find, not to mention pricey).

I tried to make this as foolproof an endeavor as possible, so I started by tracking down Trader Tiki‘s mixing syrups at Barkeeper in Silverlake. These syrups just went on the market about a year ago, but they’ve already earned quite a reputation. (They’re also available online, but I was in an instant gratification kind of mood.)

The number of tiki drinks one can make is positively dizzying, so I just picked the recipe on the back of the orgeat bottle: Wailani. Of course, I then had to stop at BevMo for rum (Don Q Gold, $10) and the grocery store for limes, pineapple juice and ice.

Clearly I need to step it up in the garnish department, but I was pretty pleased with these first attempts. (This is a double, by the way.) Cheers!