Boozy Coffees

The evenings have grown long and cold and we're lingering longer over dinner. The perfect accompaniment to dessert, or even as a dessert itself, is the "boozy" coffee.

The granddaddy of them all is the Irish Coffee. Add 6 oz. strong black coffee to a mug or heatproof glass with a handle. Add 1½ oz. Irish whisky and 1 tsp. of sugar (some prefer brown sugar). The original calls for heavy cream to be poured slowly over the back of a spoon to layer on top of the coffee. The coffee is then sipped through the layer of cream.

You'll commonly see Irish Coffee and other boozy coffees made with whipped cream. Using freshly whipped cream is preferable and practicable if you're serving several guests at a dinner party, but if you're preparing a single serving for yourself, using the aerosol canned product is an acceptable alternative. Be sure to rinse the nozzle well and it'll keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

The Irish Coffee spawned a host of other boozy coffees that you're no doubt familiar with from restaurant menus. Here are a few other recipes I've developed here at the 500 Words Bar and Bistro.

Kentucky Koffee: 1½ oz. bourbon, 1 tbsp. honey, 6 oz. black coffee, whipped cream. Don't use your expensive bourbon.

Mexican Coffee: 1 oz. Presidente Mexican brandy, 1 oz. Kahlua, 6 oz. black coffee, whipped cream. If you can't find Presidente brandy, any other brandy will do.

Bwana Coffee (adapted from The Elephant Bar restaurant, Torrance, CA): ½ oz. each brandy, Kahlua, crème de banana, and amaretto, 6 oz. black coffee, whipped cream.

And for those who don't drink coffee, the Kilt and Curry: brew Mighty Leaf Bombay Chai Tea for 4 minutes in a large mug (you may use any other brand of chai tea you prefer). Remove the teabag and add 1½ oz. of Drambuie. Sounds weird, but the honey and spices in the Drambuie marry beautifully with those in the chai. Give it a try.

Next month, I'll have some sparkling cocktail recipes for the Festive Season.

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Marfan Syndrome Awareness Week

This week, November 13-19, is Marfan Syndrome Awareness Week.

Marfan Syndrome is a genetic condition that results in weakness in the body's connective tissues. Connective tissue is the "glue" that holds many of the body's organs and systems together. People with Marfan Syndrome can experience problems with the lenses of their eyes, their joints and skeletal system, and most significantly, their aorta, the large blood vessel that leads out of the heart. Over time the aorta can stretch and tear, and this can be fatal if not diagnosed and repaired.

The majority of people with Marfan Syndrome inherited it. It's caused by a dominant gene, meaning if you have it, you have a 50-50 chance of passing it on to your children. It doesn't "skip" generations, though: if a child didn't inherit it from his or her parent, he or she can't pass it on to his or her children. But as many as 30% of people with Marfan didn't inherit it; they have it because of a new mutation in the gene that controls the connective tissue fibrillin.

Many people with Marfan are tall, but not all; they are merely taller than they would be without it. Most have poor eyesight because their lenses are dislocated. Some have loose joints. Every person with Marfan is at risk of aortic aneurysm.

The "classic" Marfan physique may be easier to diagnose, but Marfan people come in all shapes and sizes and races, and that's why it's important that there be greater awareness of this condition. Because a lot of people have Marfan and don't know it. It's estimated that 1 in 5,000 Canadians have Marfan, but the number could be double that.

A generation ago, the outlook for people with Marfan was not very bright. There was little knowledge in the medical community, spotty diagnosis, and few effective treatments. The average lifespan of a person with Marfan was less than forty years.

All that has changed in the last twenty-five years. Today there are good diagnostic tools like echocardiography and effective drug and surgical treatments. Research has discovered the cause and mechanism of Marfan, and a global study is underway to investigate a promising drug therapy that could prevent aortic aneurysms.

Organizations like the Canadian Marfan Association exist in most major countries to spread awareness, support Marfan patients and their families, and foster research. This year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Association's founding by a remarkable woman, Elizabeth McHenry. Over the past quarter century many hard-working people have given of their time, energy, and money to support and build the Association, and their efforts have saved and prolonged countless lives.

If you would like more information about Marfan Syndrome, or wish to support the Canadian Marfan Association, click on this link.

I have Marfan Syndrome.

News of the Weird

Being a semi-regular compendium of human folly, frailty, and fractiousness

Well, duh

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty announced this week that, contrary to cross my heart and hope to die promises made during last May's election, he won't be able to eliminate the budget deficit by 2014. Seems Jimbo was the last person on Earth to find out about this here "Great Recession" thingee we got goin' on. That means all the pie in sky tax cut promises, contingent on balanced budgets, are out the window too. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me three times…

Pre-Occupied

It's time most of the Occupation forces moved on. Around the world, civic reactionaries are moving in to evict them, and their resistance is threatening to transform the movement into merely a battle over their right to squat in public spaces. I'm not saying the fight is over. On the contrary, we need to recognize that Occupation was a tactic, not a goal. It's time to find new ways to keep up the pressure on the 1%.

Well, Duh, Part II

Speaking of the 1%, Toronto retail consultant Wendy Evans, quoted in the Toronto Star, reports they're doing just fine, thank you. "Luxury is just moving so fast," Evans says. "There's (sic) line-ups at the luxury counters. It's quite remarkable. There's a subset of our population that is just not aware there are some economic hiccups out there."

What Does Penguin Gravy Taste Like?

Buddy and Pedro, the male African penguins at the Toronto Zoo who have formed a same-sex bond, have become international media stars. Despite the global attention for the city's beleaguered zoo, Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, has reportedly refused to visit, saying he always spends Remembrance Day weekend with his family at the cottage. Your correspondent has been unable to confirm reports that Toronto councillor Giorgio Mammoliti has been seen at the Zoo attempting to film Buddy and Pedro with his video camera.

And You Want to be My Latex Salesman

Seinfeld fans might remember the episode wherein the hapless George Costanza crashes to the floor, pants around ankles as he rushes from the bathroom. If you've forgotten, Texas governor Rick Perry, who wants to be president of the United States, will remind you with his debate performance from earlier this week.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Aeroplan Miles Expiration

Patrick Sojka, who produces the Rewards Canada blog, recently wrote in the Toronto Star (5 things loyalty card companies don't want you to know) that loyalty programs count on a certain proportion of points and miles going unclaimed. It's money in their pockets instead of yours. One way they have of ensuring this is by setting a date when points will expire.

Some hotel and most airline frequent flier plans have points expiry dates: if you have no activity in your account during a certain period of time, the points disappear. (Delta Airlines SkyMiles is an exception: points never expire.) That's why a points tracking service like AwardWallet, which tells you when your points will expire, is very useful. And it's also why you should learn how to earn miles in your plans without having to fly, such as through hotel stays, point swapping, and online shopping, searches, and surveys.

While points in most plans expire after 18 or 24 months of inactivity, Aeroplan is unusually harsh in snatching back your points after only 12 months. And Aeroplan is unique (to my knowledge) in adopting a policy, a few years back, of erasing points seven years after they've been earned, even if you're earning points every single day.

Imagine if you contributed to your savings account each week and your bank simply decreed it was going to take any money that had been in there for more than seven years.

And they call this a loyalty program?

Anyhoo, Aeroplan has taken a lot of flak over its policy, and deservedly so, but at least it is now notifying its members of the pending confiscation of their points. And I should stress, that no one has lost any points yet: the policy set the earned date of all previously held points as December 31, 2006. That means that Aeroplan won't take away points earned before then until December 21, 2013.

So you still have two years to redeem any points earned before 2007. And if you have redeemed points since 2007, you may have redeemed those at-risk points already.

How can you find out if your Aeroplan points are safe? Like me, you may have received an email recently with a statement of the points that will expire in 2013 and 2014. If not, you can check the status of your points by going to aeroplan.com, clicking on Your Account, Account Expiry Status, and Request Mileage Status.

When Aeroplan was simply the frequent flier program of Air Canada, maybe a seven year point expiration policy wasn't a big deal. Regular Air Canada customers earned miles from flying, hotel stays and car rentals, and were expected to "earn and burn".

But today Aeroplan is an independent loyalty program company: most members earn points mainly from affiliated credit card spending, and/or gas (Esso) and grocery (Sobeys) purchases. And since a pair of economy class seats to Europe requires at least 120,000 points and Australia 280,000, that dream vacation may require a decade of patiently accumulating one mile at a time. In other words, it's an impossibility for many members if their points are snatched back from them after seven years.

Simply put, Aeroplan's seven-year expiration policy is an abuse of its members' loyalty and a theft of their property.

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What’s a Point or Mile Worth?

It's a question I'm sometimes asked and it's a question I frequently ask myself. Because points and miles aren't really "free": you do pay for them, if only indirectly; and they do have value, which you want to maximize.

For example, the question of how much a point or mile is worth is part of the decision as to which credit card to choose, especially if you're paying an annual fee. And if you have more than one point-earning card in your wallet, which one you actually use depends not only on the number of points you'll receive for the transaction, but also the value of those points.

And then there's the question of those cards (like American Express Membership Rewards) that let you convert its points into points in other airline and hotel programs. Which conversion offers the best value?

Unfortunately, there's no clear, simple answer. For one thing, the points in different programs have different values. Hotel points, particularly, are all over the map. While it might take 7-10K points for a free stay at a Starwood property, an equivalent Priority Club hotel might require 15-25K, and Hilton 30-35K. And the points you earn per dollar spent on paid stays generally reflects their value. At Starwood it's 2, Priority Club 10, and Hilton 15 (with the bonus points double dip option).

While (most) airline miles are (roughly) equivalent in value (for example, 25K miles are required to fly within North America), what you redeem for affects the value of your miles. Since Aeroplan is the most popular airline loyalty program with Canadians, let's see what an Aeroplan mile is worth.

Say you want to redeem for merchandise, an Apple iPad2 WiFi 16GB. With tax, it's $586.47 at Apple stores in Ontario. It's 72,500 Aeroplan miles. So an Aeroplan mile is worth .8 cents.

What if you want a gift card instead? A $50 gift card from Home Hardware, the Bay, or Esso costs 6,500 miles, making a mile worth a little less, .77 cents each.

Maybe you want to actually take a flight. Now the value of your miles depends on where and when you want to fly. For example, a flight from Toronto to San Diego, leaving on March 1 and returning on March 8 is 25K points. Expedia charges $684.78, meaning a mile is worth a little more than 2.7 cents. But wait: Aeroplan charges an additional $105.66 in taxes, fees, and surcharges, meaning the 25K miles covers only $579.12, making a mile worth actually just over 2.3 cents. That's still pretty good. And I'm sure there are even better values out there.

One reason I like to redeem for travel rewards, rather than cash back or merchandise, is the greater value. Considering that many cards offer two points or miles for spending on gas, groceries, drugstores, and travel, and taking advantage of double-dipping opportunities (see this post on the topic), a return on credit card spending approaching 10% is possible.

Getting the best value from your points and miles requires a little work. Pay for a hotel room or flight if it's cheap (and earn points and miles!) and save your points and miles to use when rooms and flights are expensive, in order to maximize their value.

One final point to consider: hotel points have an advantage over airline miles that affects the calculation of their value. A free hotel night redemption has no extra fees: there's nothing else to pay, even the taxes are included.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane

Points and Miles: November

It's the middle of the fourth quarter and that means it's been a quiet month in the world of points and miles. But there have been a few worthwhile offers that have come my way.

Hilton Hotels (which includes such brands as Hampton, Doubletree, and Embassy Suites) is offering the choice of a free night after four stays, or double points on all stays booked and completed by December 31. And if you select Delta Airlines as your double dip option, you'll receive an extra 250 Medallion Qualifying Miles via this offer.

If you'd like to give to earthquake relief in Turkey, Hilton HHonors will reward you with 10 points for every US$ donated.

A two-night stay at a Priority Club Rewards property (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, etc.) in major North American cities (including Toronto), earns a 7,500 point bonus via this offer. Combined with the base points and other bonuses available (see current bonus offers at Priority Club Insider), you could easily earn the 15K points required for a free night at most Holiday Inn or Holiday Inn Express locations. Since many Priority Club bonus offers are stackable, my advice is to sign up for every offer and see what you get.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts (Sheraton, Westin, etc.) is offering a variety of discounts and special offers at properties in the Southern U.S. and Caribbean to CAA/AAA members. Good until December 31, all the information is here. And until December 15, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card comes with a 20K point sign-up bonus. That's enough for between 2 and 5 free nights, depending on the category of hotel. Or you can convert the 20K points to 25K airline miles for a free flight in North America. The card carries a $120 annual fee.

Until January 15, Hyatt Hotels is offering triple American Airlines AAdvantage miles with each stay – 1,500 instead of the usual 500. Up to 15K miles can be earned. And in other news, Hyatt is renaming its Summerfield Suites brand Hyatt House. Hyatt House will consist of the existing 38 Summerfield Suites locations and 16 Hotel Sierra properties that Hyatt recently acquired.

With this code, get special rates from Hertz and earn bonus Delta SkyMiles. There are various expiration dates.

And finally, Patrick Sojka, on his Rewards Canada blog, has recently posted reviews of the American Express Gold Rewards card, the RBC VISA Infinite Avion card, and the American Express AIR MILES Platinum card. If you're looking for a point-earning credit card, or just curious how your card stacks up, check them out.

Follow me on Twitter: @AeneasLane