If you don’t have a ham tub, a 6 qt. covered dutch oven makes a good substitute. From amazon.com. Intrigued? Read on…..)

How has your week of living more elegantly been? I hope you’ve adopted a few of the suggestions anyway. At any rate, it’s time to celebrate another end to another week.

In the event that you have more of the Keylimes left over after making the smoothies and the Papa Dobles, here is another very refreshing summer cocktail. These would be very nice to sip as sundowners, tomorrow.

The Gin Rickey.

4 parts Gin
2 parts Fresh lime juice
Top up with sparkling water (soda water, Perrier, seltzer)

Build in a highball glass over ice.

But what about today? It’s Friday. I hope that you started off the day with a song in your heart.

When I worked in the District, Fridays were always occasions for happy hours after work. At lunch, I would saunter down to the flower shop and buy a boutonniere and some flowers for Mrs. E. . We would arrange to meet (with or without friends), have a couple of drinks, and with any luck, make it to dinner.

You can’t do that too often. It’s wearing (and horridly expensive.) Why don’t you arrange for an impromptu drinks party at your place, instead?

Send around an instant message, or twitter, or call a dozen of your closest. Make it easy on yourself, serve red, white and sparkling wines, and beer. Or really go to town and serve these:

Mrs. E.’s Grandfather’s Hamtub Martinis
(Serves too many or not enough)

In a large tub that you use to cook a ham add:

1 large block of ice. (Allow a bag of ice to melt a bit and refreeze into one big chunk. Or add the bag and poke a hole in it so that a little water mixes in as the ice melts.)

Mix in 2 half gallon bottles of dry gin (Gordon’s works well) and 1/2 bottle of Dry Vermouth (or more to taste.) Stir with a soup ladle.

For the garnishes:
1 jar of queen sized, cracked green olives

Twists cut from the rinds of 3-4 extra large lemons

1 jar of cocktail onions

Take one onion, a twist and an olive, spear them with a cocktail pick. Repeat until you run out of ingredients. Float them in the tub of martinis.

Ladle out to passersby as needed.

Hide the lampshades. Happy weekend.

©istockphoto/Olga Lyubkina

Today’s prescription is based on the old joke of the two aging pensioners who can barely communicate with each other as each is a bit deaf. That’s the punchline, above, in the title of this post.

But it’s not what you think.

I find that one of my greatest joys is the anticipation that comes from planning for the weekend, or a date with the always game Mrs. E., or the journey to come. Getting there is half the fun. Well, maybe not with workday travel of any kind, but hear me out. Today, we are going to start tomorrow out right.

On your way home tonight, stop by a local farmer’s market or your grocer and buy two large oranges, a banana, some ground flaxseed, several Keylimes (or regular limes if you can’t find the small, tart Keylime), a tub of strawberries, some organic vanilla yoghurt, and a small jug of protein powder (vanilla, again.) Make sure that the protein powder has the most protein grams per serving of the choices on the shelf. Mine (Muscle Milk Light) has 50 grams per two scoops.

When you get home, juice the citrus, remove any seeds (I pour through a strainer or a coffee filter if I have to) and put your glass of juice in the fridge.

Get a good night’s sleep. At least eight hours. Take an improving book to bed at 9 PM, if you can. (Oh, you may want to confirm Saturday night’s plans before hand.)

Here’s the part that may seem crazy. Your schedule permitting, get up a little early on Friday and do some light exercise. Yoga, pilates, or a jog and some calisthenics all qualify. Before children had me up at oh-dark-thirty every morning, this was my favourite way to start the day. Up a little before six o’clock, I would run two miles, return to my front porch, do sets of pushups and situps until I reached 100 of each, a few dips and squats and stretch out as the sun came up over the rooftops across the street.

Then it was inside to blend the citrus juices with the rest of the ingredients to make a delicious and satisfying smoothie. Shower, shave and dress. My energy levels for the day would be through the roof. Yes, I was that annoyingly chipper guy who walked into the office with a smile on my face, whistling a happy tune. “It’s Friday, I’m in Love”, perhaps.

A bonus to this plan is that repeated a few times a week, you will not only feel better, but you will look great, too. These days, it’s catch as catch can, especially during the summer when I have the kids at home more often. But it’s still the best way to start my day and earn a second, smaller breakfast around ten a.m. .

The Easy and Elegant Life Smoothie Morning Ritual
(makes two servings)

In a blender combine:
1 banana
2 large oranges, juiced
2 keylimes, juiced (or other limes, but they are essential for the taste)
3-4 tablespoons or 1 single serve container organic yoghurt (any flavour, I like vanilla)
6 strawberries, hulled (you can add or substitute any berry you like)
2 teaspoons of ground flaxseed
2 scoops protein powder (or substitute 1 tablespoon of peanut or almond butter. Protein keeps hunger at bay and feeds your muscles so that you burn fat.)
6 ice cubes

Liquify. Pour into tall glass and drink. Save or share the remainder for later.

You can find free yoga and pilates workouts via iTunes in the video podcast section of the iTunes Store.

Oh, I had you buy several keylimes… Tomorrow night make Hemingway’s Daiquri: the Papa Doble (from La Florida recipe book of 1939 according to the Wikitender) He was said to be able to down a dozen of these. Must be because he had them leave out the sugar….

2 oz white rum
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon grapefruit juice
1 teaspoon Maraschino liqueur

Shake with ice. Serve over crushed ice in a rocks glass. After all, you exercised today!

(“Cocktail” Gerald Murphy, 1927 available through Allposters.com)

“You hate people.”
“I know, but I love gatherings. Isn’t it ironic?”
– from “Clerks.”

I like the anonimity of the city. It seems a paradox, but you aren’t forced to interact with your neighbors that way that is required when you live in the suburbs. You may nod and smile, even wave, at your fellow city dwellers without actually having to stop and make polite conversation unless you’d genuinely like to. It seems to me a most civilised way of life.

I am sorry that I didn’t get to know a couple of my neighbors earlier, though. They are here, on the Outer Banks this same week, and the sun-kissed Mrs. E. and I enjoyed a marvelous meal of fresh fish grilled over charcoal, fresh corn, rather older wines and even older jazz with them just last night. They are a delightful couple, he an accomplished jazz musician, she a very successful attorney. I’m looking forward to more evenings with them.

Delightful though they are, they are not the subject of this post. Rather, it is their neighbors here at the beach who inspired me to write about a wonderful tradition that is sure to bring you closer to your neighbors, should you wish to get beyond nodding acquaintanceship.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere” is the rallying cry at the manse on many an occasion. My neighbor’s neighbors don’t have to shout to announce happy hour. Instead, if they wish to open the bar and soak the block, they fly the cocktail flag, and like moths to a flame, in come the friends to share in the festivities.

What an easy and elegant solution. The only question is what flag will you fly? Should we choose to show the colours, I think a pair of crossed cocktail sabres with skewered olives might do the trick. Or maybe that wonderful man on the cover of “The Savoy Cocktail Book.” “Cocktail” by Grald Murphy (shown above) would be very ambitious and completely perfect.

Or perhaps it’s time to invest in the green dock light that so entranced Gatsby.

What will your flag look like?