Good Idea Friday - How To Open A Bottle Of Wine With A Shoe

"Open a Bottle of Wine with Your Shoe Maybe the most useful thing anyone needs to know, ever."

This is a trick I found on pinterest a while back that I was really excited to try. I watched the original video posted, and it looked easy. But if it's so easy why isn't this a common party trick? So I decided to test it out myself and film the results: 

I decided to skip the idea of hitting it on a wall because A: I didn't want to damage my walls and B: I figured this is best used when away from home and without a corkscrew handy, so chances are you won't have a wall to hit. Despite hitting it on various things, my husband was unable to get the cork to even budge slightly.  However once it was opened, and recorked, we tried again with far easier success.

I've since watched a couple more videos on youtube of people trying this, and it seems those who did succeed were hitting the bottle for quite some time before it started to budge. So I'm going to go ahead and say this will work, but it would be easier all around if you opened the bottle, recorked it, and then did the tree/wall method like we showed. 

So has anyone tried this yet? What were your results? Do you have any other tricks and tips to opening a bottle without a corkscrew? 

Galaxy or Aurora Cocktail

"This cocktail isn't Photoshopped. With a blacklight and the right ingredients, you can actually make your own at home."

I'm honestly flabbergasted at the amount of times I have seen this pinned by people who honestly believe if they follow the drink recipe, it will come out looking like this. This is pure photoshop people. In fact, the original artist of the image is Melody, who was so sick of seeing her image stolen and used without permission she's covered the original on her page with about a dozen different watermarks. 

But is it a real drink? It sure is! I can't vouch for the flavor as I haven't tried it yet, but this is the recipe via Campus Companion : 

• 9 liters of tonic water
• 3-4 bottles of rose mojito passions OR 3-4 cans of pink lemonade concentrate
• Ice 

And the results? It looks something like this: 

As cool as that is, it's not a galaxy in a glass. It's because the tonic water contains quinine, which glows under a blacklight. You can make a lot of different cocktails and drinks that glow, as long as you use tonic water and have a black light handy. 

Garlic to Repel Mosquitoes

"Swarms of Mosquitoes on my patio led me to an old home remedy - Did you know that chopped up garlic makes mosquitoes disappear? I buy minced, dried garlic at local Fiesta grocery stores and sprinkle it around on my patio. I have to stand back as I am using it - mosquitoes will literally swarm out of your plants and bushes to get away from the smell. Works like a charm!!"

Thanks to a fan who submitted this pin on our facebook page. So can something as simple as a jar of garlic save your outdoor time from bloodsuckers?

Not really. You see mosquitoes sense of smell isn't as strong as we tend to think it is. The scent of garlic DOES offer some protection from mosquitoes, but it only lasts about 30 minutes before the scent fades enough to no longer deter them. But to people, who sense of smell is stronger, we'll be smelling the garlic far longer than they would. Not exactly a smell anyone wants to spend their evenings on the patio smelling ether. 

The same goes for eating garlic.  Studies have been done on this and it's been proven to not be an effective means of putting off mosquitoes.  You can read a great New York Times article about it here. 

So what are you to do when you want to spend the evenings outside? Well you can go the chemical route with a DEET-laced bug spray, which can last hours. But if you're looking for a more natural alternative route you're best bet is a time tested classic: citronella. It's made from the oils of lemongrass and has been proven to work as a bug deterrent. Plus it comes in so many different forms, ranging from candles to sprays and oils, so a quick application to your skin, and then light a candle or oil burner and you should have a relatively pest free evening.

Oh, and in case you had planned to spend the evening outside sipping on a refreshing beer or crisp riesling, a word to the wise: mosquitoes are actually MORE attracted to people with alcohol in their system than they are to those without. So light a citronella candle if you plan to be enjoying your wine outside.