Derby Drinking

The Kentucky Derby, one of America's greatest sporting events, is this weekend and at least one household in suburban D.C. is planning on celebrating with a mint julep or six. I came across a recipe on Slashfood for a unique way of preparing this classic southern drink. The recipe that follows will be for a handle (1.5 L) of whiskey since we will be imbibing quite a bit:

1.5 L bourbon
4 C fresh mint
2 C sugar
2 C water
1 big mason jar

Combine bourbon and mint leaves in mason jar and let sit until the big event Saturday afternoon. If you have limited time, add an additional cup of mint and let sit overnight.

In a saucepan, combine sugar and water and simmer until it develops a syrupy consistency.

To make a mint julep, add simple syrup and mint infused whiskey and garnish with a few mint leaves! Simple enough, right?

I've had a few mint juleps in my day and am looking forward to making this recipe tonight. Comment below and let me know how it turns out.

Why a Recession Isn't Necessarily Bad

All we've heard for the past year is how we are in trouble. "Dow Jones Industrial Average down 50% from its all-time high." "Worst financial crisis since the Great Depression." "Housing prices at an all-time low." Recessions have a negative connotation but its not all doom and gloom. In this post, I will give five reasons why recessions can have a positive impact too.

1.) Businesses are trying to retain customers

Recessions limit discretionary spending for most people. Because of this, companies are looking for ways to keep customers coming into their stores. What does that mean? Sales! Everywhere you go, stores are having sales trying to unload stock and keep people spending money. It also naturally forces companies to pay attention to what matters most, their customers. Making the customer happy may help you score a deal on some products. An increase in quality and value often happens.

2.) Personal finances realign

Recessions force people to re-examine their personal spending. This allows people to "trim the fat" and allocate for necessities and less for wants. Less spending means more saving and an increased overall cash flow for individuals.

3.) Stocks are cheap

The stock market is down almost half of its all-time high set in 2007. With stocks plunging during 2008, a lot of stocks were oversold and are now cheap, cheap, cheap. The economy is cyclical and, believe it or not, it will recover. When individuals get more and more money to invest, these stocks will steadily rise. Buy them while they are cheap!

4.) Interest rates get lowered

This may not be good news for everyone but interest rates being lowered makes big ticket items more attractive. Mortgage rates are at an all-time low. If people are in a position to refinance their loans, they could possibly see a rate lowered by a couple percentage points and monthly payments drop by hundreds of dollars. People may also be able to afford houses as housing prices fall. Car financing can also be attractive during a recession because of lowered interest rates. It also lowers interest rates on student loans.

5.) It brings everyone back down to Earth

During economic growth, spending can get out of control everywhere. A recession can make people remember that you can not take everything for granted. It can force individuals to realize what truly is important in life and be thankful for what you have. Concentration isn't focused on items but more on the intangible things in life.

There you have it. Five reasons a recession isn't necessarily bad. What do you think? What would you add? What do you disagree with?

Would You Eat Here?

I want to start a sandwich shoppe. Not just any sandwich shoppe, I want to open a place that only serves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. How awesome would that be!? Bobby was quick to shut it down but I think it could be a hit if it was in the right city.

The options could be limitless. Wheat bread, white bread, maybe cinnamon raisin. Chunky, smooth, maybe chocolate. Besides that, who doesn't love a good old-fashioned peanut butter and jelly sandwich? It is something everyone has eaten since they can remember and I'm sure people would pay a few bucks for a crappy sandwich.

What do you think?

P.S. Thank God no one is really reading this crap.

Here's to Low Expectations

About 6 months ago my buddy Dan and I thought it would be a good idea, check that, a great idea to start our own website. Not knowing exactly what our site would be, we decided to brainstorm a little about what we could do with our own site: vintage t-shirts, social networking, college review site, ins and outs of marine biology, etc. Needless to say, nothing brilliant came to mind.

So for now this blog will simply be a way of posting things that may or may not seem interesting. One of our mutual strengths is the amount of time we spend online. Both at work and in our personal lives (I'm rarely seen without my MacBook Pro at my side). So a lot of what you'll see on NoBigShake.com is discussion of recent posts on other blogs or some random article that I read in the Wall Street Journal.

For those of my 5 friends that are actually reading this, feel free to post a comment with your thoughts/questions/ideas of what you would like to see on this blog.