The 50 Plus Male

On October 17th, in our News You Can Use post, I promised you a special upcoming treat–an introduction to the art of crafting the perfect cocktail–a practice held near and dear by many 50 plus males as a prerequisite for enjoying one of our favorite social activities, the cocktail hour. While imbibing our favorite beer still (happily) remains a cornerstone of the “happy hour” past-time, entry into the 50 plus age category is often accompanied by an inclination to quench our thirst with more cosmopolitan offerings.

We are privileged to have Josh H., the author of his own blog, Spirited Cocktails, and very good friend of The 50 Plus Male, serve as guest contributor for this post. Spirited Cocktails is ”dedicated to the craft of the perfect cocktail” through introducing you to some of the country’s most renowned  mixologists, along with Josh’s own expertise gained through completion of comprehensive course work in the field, such as BarSmarts Live and classes/seminars at the International Culinary Center.

As Josh states in his blog, “what reason is there to drink if not for your own enjoyment?” Beer, wine, and the basics (ex. gin & tonic) deservedly serve as the “standard bearers” of cocktail hour, but your palate may be missing out on a world of creative experimentation that can only heighten that enjoyment. Josh makes all of this accessible without the slightest hint of pretension, aptly underpinning his motto, “there are drinks, and then there are cocktails.” Resulting from my  discussions with Josh, we thought it best to begin with The 50 Plus Male readers learning how to perfectly concoct one of our more stalwart cocktails, the Martini; without further adieu, here’s Josh…

One of the best parts of writing about cocktails and spirits is that the audience is nearly universal. I actually come from a technology background where, with a few exceptions, there wasn’t much diversity in the crowd. But writing about spirits on Spirited Cocktails, I’ve met so many people from so many different backgrounds and walks of life, and it truly enriches my experience.

All of that being said, there are a few mainstay groups of the cocktail world, and one of them includes men of the baby-boomer generation. When I meet these guys at various bars and events around New York City, they’re generally the type that appreciate the classic cocktails – Manhattans, Old Fashioneds, Gimlets and so on. And of all the cocktails that the 50 plus male seem to appreciate, none comes up more frequently than the Martini.

There’s a folk lore surrounding martini. It’s probably something we should blame on James Bond, but it seems that everyone has their own recipe for the perfect martini. To be clear, though, in my mind, a martini is not any cocktail served in a martini glass (Appletinis are most certainly not martinis). Again, in my mind, a martini is a cocktail made with gin, not vodka. Many of you may prefer vodka, and that is certainly your choice, but if you’ve never prepared a classic gin martini with a quality gin, I strongly urge you to give it a try.

So for those of you who may not be used to preparing your own martini, I wanted to share two variations that might help you get started.

The first is the classic dry martini. This recipe dates back to around 1895, and is my preferred method when preparing martinis for my guests. The recipe is as follows:

1.5oz gin (I prefer a London Dry gin, such as Beefeater 24)
1.5oz French dry vermouth
1-2 dashes orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with fresh ice, stir well to chill, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a peel of orange or lemon.

Those that prefer the extra dry variety may prefer this more modern recipe:

3 oz gin
1/8oz French dry vermouth

To make this extra dry, add ice and the vermouth to your mixing glass. Swirl to coat the ice with vermouth, and strain off the excess. Add your gin, stir well to chill, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. The traditional garnish for this variation is a pitted Spanish olive.

A few notes:

-Yes, I said stirred. The general rule of thumb is that any cocktail made with only spirits (no citrus juice, sugar, etc.) should be stirred. A shaken martini is a cloudy martini, and probably a bit too watered down as well.
-The orange bitters in the classic recipe may be unfamiliar to you, but trust me – it’s a worthy addition. A dash or two of bitters in any cocktail can go a long way towards providing the depth and character that makes a good cocktail great. If you can’t find orange bitters in your local grocery or liquor store, you can order them online from my friend Greg at Cocktail Kingdom. 
-As with any cocktail (just as in cooking), the quality of ingredients matters. Use a cheap gin, and you’ll get what you paid for. Gin has seen a wonderful resurgence in the past decade, and there are some wonderful, high quality gins for you to chose from. For a martini, a classic London Dry like Beefeater or Tanqueray probably works best. But some other brands worth trying for your home bar include Plymouth, Hendricks, and my favorite hometown gin, Blue Coat (distilled in Philadelphia!)

If you’ve got a favorite recipe for a classic martini, I’d love to hear it. You can reach me anytime via my blog (Neal has provided links above and in his Blogroll).

Cheers!

-Josh

I’d like to sincerely extend a “toast” to Josh for sharing his wisdom and enthusiasm with The 50 Plus Male. We eagerly look forward to future visits with Josh to gain expertise on a variety of basic and exotic cocktails!

-Neal

I recently heard an announcer on one of our local sports talk radio stations initiate a new call-in segment with the listening audience called “I Just Don’t Get It.” He limited his list to sports personalities and storylines and kept his listeners within the same parameters. This got me to thinking about news items and personalities “I just don’t get,” while confining my choices to topics and people revolving around 50 plus males. 

These are some items that make me scratch my head in wonderment; please feel encouraged to submit any that you think of to The 50 Plus Male by clicking on the “Leave a Comment” link at the top of this post…

1. How has the Geezer Bandit (as I compose this post) alluded the FBI?

2. How anyone, let alone a 73 year-old, has run 400 marathons?

3. How did Tom DeLay last more than one week on “Dancing With The Stars?”

4. How Clint Eastwood continues to make movies that are qualitatively better than 99% of anything else currently playing AND composes his own movie soundtracks?

5. How does a 73 year old (must be some kind of magic number) Japanese guy become a leading porn star in his country?

6. How does Jack LaLanne keep going…it can’t be the Power Juicer?

7. How has Senator Byrd (D-WV) kept his seat in Congress all these years?

8. Whenever we think of Michael Douglas being married to a much younger Catherine Zeta-Jones, a rakish smile crosses our faces while a “not so small” tinge of jealousy emotes from our gut; whereas thoughts of Madonna and Jesus Luz produce outright laughter and guttural disgust.

9. Why some graybeard rock bands (Rolling Stones, Aerosmith et. al.) still carry on like they are in their twenties?

10. How ex-President George H. W. Bush (aka 41) still has the cajones to skydive every five years or so on his birthday? (Tip of the hat to him…)

11. Why guys over 50 are generally thought to lack technical prowess by the younger set, yet many of the kings of Computerland, USA (Silicon Valley, Redmond, etc.) like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, and Larry Ellison are over 50 years of age?

12. Now I’m reading that we may begin losing our financial smarts after the age of 53…anyone ever hear of Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, Paul Volcker, Paul Krugman, Jamie Dimon?

This list could stretch on ad infinitum; the point is…“I just don’t get it.”

-Neal

The topic for this post was prompted by one of my recent tweets on Twitter–Sad sign of the times represented by the new oxymoron in financial markets: “jobless recovery;” explain that to the unemployed. No doubt many of you have heard this phrase uttered by various financial pundits, and have read newspaper articles on this subject matter. My hometown paper, The Philadelphia Inquirer, had the following quote from the chief economic strategist of an investment firm in the Business Section of a recent Sunday edition: “What we’re seeing is a validation of the idea that a jobless recovery is perfectly on track.”

If you’re thinking that’s only one example, a locally circulated newspaper in my county, The Intelligencer, in the November 10th edition, lead the Business Section with an article entitled “Dow  jumps 204 to high for year.” Immediately to the left of this headline in the Money Wrap column, the first article was “J&J to lay off 174 in Lower Gwynedd” referring to Johnson & Johnson letting go of 174 employees at its research and development center in Lower Gwynedd, PA as part of its layoff of 8000 workers worldwide.

For the millions of people unemployed or employed but seeking new jobs/careers, this thinking has to hit you in the gut on many levels. If you’re a 50 plus year old male, it’s almost incomprehensible to conceive of a rising stock market while the unemployment levels reach highs not seen in over twenty years, especially considering that the approximate 10% figure currently reported does not include those  of us who are only working part-time or have given up looking for work altogether. Include these economic segments and the 10% unemployment figure almost doubles…

• Now I don’t mean to appear naive in a strict financial sense; obviously it’s all about the dollars. Joel Naroff, a well-known economist, said "…survival meant cutting costs as rapidly as possible and fulfilling orders with the fewest number of workers” in another recent  article on rising productivity and falling employment. It’s a given that controlling the cost-side of the ledger is an integral function of both nascent and well-established employers; but our economy is kidding itself if growth is to continue resulting from only exercising a sharp pencil or through M&A activity…what about organic growth, that is increasing actual sales. This is a surer sign of real growth that can lead to decreased unemployment levels, as companies would hopefully have the basis to expand and hire.

If you’re of that certain age (50 plus), a healthy economy and low unemployment levels always went hand-in-hand. It’s a new world out there that requires a new (not necessarily better in a moral sense) way of thinking.  I alluded to this in my September 24th post “Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks.” Finding work and/or changing careers is particularly challenging for our age group and one of the more demeaning hazards so puzzling to us is the utter lack of courtesy encountered during the job application and interview process.

How many times have any of you dealt with one or all of the following roadblocks:

1. You get an email about a position from a recruiter who has come across your online resume/you reply stating your interest/the recruiter never gets back in touch with you.

2. You reach the first interview stage (now generally done via telephone)/are told you’ll hear from the company re: scheduling a second interview/you never hear from them again even though you’ve appropriately followed-up to the initial interview.

3. You have an in-person interview and come fully prepared, through conducting research on the prospective employer, with a list of pertinent questions that you hope will highlight your appeal/you’re not given a chance to ask all of your items because the interviewer has too many other people to see that day.

4. You just completed what you felt was a terrific initial in-person interview and your interviewer obviously responded in kind because he/she says" “I’ll call you in a couple of days to schedule the next interview so you can also meet (insert other employees of the prospective firm here)”/you again follow-up appropriately, but don’t receive the call or an email, so you continue to follow-up and the interviewer continues to pull a disappearing act…

What has happened to basic common courtesy?! I understand the sheer volume of applicants for a given position may preclude a prospective employer from responding the way they should, but sometimes even an automated response is better than none at all. To all employers I would simply state “try putting yourself on the other side of the equation.” Lack of decency and empathy are sadly the new order of the day, and while reflecting poorly on the prospective employer, I would extrapolate this to society at-large.

George Carlin had an extremely funny, witty routine on oxymorons; I would have loved to heard him riff on “jobless recovery”…

-Neal

This posting is a follow-up to my August 3rd post in The 50 Plus Male, “Refining The Physically Fit Male—Surviving The Urban Jungle.” I regard that as one of my more important editorial pieces since it revolves around improving our health, specifically in the “newly” recognized area of functional fitness.

While the August post dealt with the MovNat fitness philosophy, today I want to introduce two specific pieces of fitness equipment that many 50 plus males may prefer to utilize as an addition to or in lieu of use of free weights. First we will discuss TRX suspension training, followed by a brief discourse on working out with bands.

The TRX (total resistance exercise) system was invented by ex-Navy SEAL squadron commander, Randy Hetrick,  when he was seeking a way to keep his men in shape with an apparatus they could use in any type of environment. The TRX is basically two industrial-grade nylon straps with cam buckles sewn to rubber handles (for your hands) and foot cradles, attached to an additional anchor strap/carabiner that you can connect to a beam, tree limb or any other type of firm anchor . The entire piece only weighs a couple of pounds and can be kept in a companion mesh storage bag.

  The result is a highly efficient suspension system that uses your own body weight for resistance. When your feet are suspended, you are forced to engage your core muscles. You can adjust the straps and the position of your body to develop your own personalized workout because these actions will  increase or decrease the level of difficulty for a given exercise. Don’t worry if the idea of even minimal suspension seems too daunting; you can just grip the handles and lean back to perform multiple exercises that cover the major muscle groups. By enabling you to increase your strength, flexibility and balance simultaneously, you are provided with a well-rounded functional fitness routine that allows you to better handle life’s daily mundane requirements such as lifting and climbing. For more information you can visit the TRX web site, www.fitnessanywhere.com.

Many of us, especially when we were “south” of 50 years old, only equated strength training with free weights. Nothing else was considered other than grunting and sweating while we pumped iron.  Well, I’d like to remind you of another type of strength-training apparatus, elastic bands; basically  surgical-grade elastic latex tubing (found in premium band systems) of varying lengths and colors attached to plastic handles encased in foam, with a door anchor component at the other end.  Length and color denote the varying amounts of tension when the tubing is stretched. The handles will have carabiners attached (once again, only in high-quality kits) that enable you to instantly click on various combinations of the tubing to enlist a multitude of resistance-level choices. 

The bands allow you to mimic almost any type of sports movement and can provide many benefits:   increasing your strength/boosting your aerobic conditioning/adding muscle/reducing your chance of sports-related injury. You’ll find yourself burning calories much more efficiently while improving cardiovascular fitness. As with suspension training, band training can pretty much be done anywhere. This is particularly beneficial for those of us 50 plus males who travel extensively for business.

I can recommend two band systems for you. The first is made by Bodylastics, found at www.bodylastics.com. (For full disclosure purposes, I must note  this system is also offered through The 50 Plus Male Store, but I’m not pushing this system over any other; it’s ultimately up to you to decide). The second system is the SuperBand system (www.ihpfit.com), developed by J.C. Santana, M.Ed., C.S.C.S., of the Institute of Human Performance in Florida. Mr. Santana is one of the country’s leading authorities on band training, and has been written about in Men’s Health magazine. One final note of caution: care must be taken when exercising with bands in combination with the door anchor component.  Please make sure the bands are securely anchored in the door; if not and the bands break free from the door, they can snap back and hit you—possibly resulting in significantly painful injury anywhere in your lower extremities (guys, I’m talking about a major ouch and discoloration; you won’t have any “spring to your step” for a couple of days).

Folks, I don’t presume to present myself as a fitness expert…my sole intention is to educate you on proven functional exercise alternatives to your current regime. Both the TRX system and exercise bands are used in many fitness facilities throughout the U.S., which provide utilization and safety guidance. For use at home, premium-grade systems will offer an instruction book supplemented with a training DVD.

-Neal