By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

Summer is here and now comes the time to try different drinks that are exotic and frozen.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I always say my father got on me on the road to bartending. He had me and my sister making him his “I just got home drink” when he came back from the office. Back in the day, this was standard practice to have a drink to unwind from the day. My stepmother usually joined him. They would have one drink before dinner and sometimes a nightcap. The nightcaps were usually his domain. 

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

Sometimes I find myself missing the food I experienced when I lived overseas. I think I miss the food from Australia the most.

It was the place where I learned how delicious lamb was.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

The word Schnapps is rather inclusive of several types of liquors that are actually a bit different depending on what flavor is being drunk. It is a type of alcoholic beverage that may take several forms, including distilled fruit brandies, herbal liqueurs, infusions, and flavored liqueurs made by adding fruit syrups, spices, or artificial flavorings to neutral grain spirits. 

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

If I have not made clear in my younger years I was a picky eater, I will do so now.

Press Release

North Platte Valley Medical Center

I know I am a decent cook. 

I remember when my cooking took a step up.

It all started in Macau before it was turned over to the Chinese. There  I saw many styles of food fused before it became popular in the USA. Macau was turned to the Chinese in 1999, a couple of years after Hong Kong went back to China.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I won’t say fruity cocktails started in the 1980s because the Tiki drinks of the late 1940s and 1950s began a trend toward tropical drinks like the Pina Colada, Scorpion and Mai Tai.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

When I was working for Jim Beam in Taiwan as their brand ambassador some years back, one of my jobs was to find drinks that would please the local population. If ex-pats liked it, that was a bonus.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

When I decided to do brunch on Sundays at my restaurant in Taichung, Taiwan, I knew I would have drinkers. 

The drinking culture in Taiwan is fairly intense. My bar shut on Fridays and Saturdays supposedly at 2 a.m. but it was not uncommon for me to stay open until 3 a.m. 

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

I have always been a fan of brunch partly because it reminds me of growing up in my father’s household.

Breakfast in the morning during school days was orange juice, milk, pop tarts or cereal. Weekends were a little different depending on which family I was with. 

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

The Lunch Lady Corner

CJ Lindsay

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

When I first started bartending, I was lucky that the bars I worked at had a huge variety of brands of spirits. A lot of flavored spirits were coming out, but a lot of the brands people were drinking were not quite the top sellers they were then. 

Vodka was not the top spirit then, but the revolution was starting.

By Mike Armstrong

Reporter, Carbon County Comet

The first time I had Drunken Noodles was in Taichung, Taiwan in a small restaurant. It was good as I remember, but one thing I learned traveling in Asia, there are a lot of different recipes that call dishes Drunken Noodle. 

My favorite recipe is a Southeast Asian version and it is the dish that comes to mind for many when eating Drunken Noodles.