Day 10: My Cousin Fonzie

Canal Street Daisy

The Canal Street Daisy is probably the worst drink I have ever tried.  It is composed of Scotch whisky (we used Johnny Walker Black), orange juice, lemon juice, and club soda.  The Daisy dethroned the previous nadir, a drink called “Oddly Purple Toes” I had over 15 years ago.   That I remember that drink and that this one was worse should tell you something. 

I can’t adequately describe how foul this was.  As previously noted, We are not whisk(e)y drinkers, but we don’t think that was the problem as the whisky flavor didn’t dominate.  The drink tasted vaguely chemical and/or like old dishwater.  Squeezing the orange garnish into the drink changed nothing!  Mrs. Bottle summed it up when she asked, “why would anyone choose to drink this?”  I don’t know, sweetie. We couldn’t even finish it between the two of us so we violated our “no wasting” policy and poured it out.  I’m surprised our sink didn’t spit it back up.  Mrs. Bottle was then so discombobulated that she broke my favorite gin-drinking glass. It was an all-around tragic day.

It gets worse.  I also realized that the key element of My Cousin Vinny is a straight rip-off of an episode of

For some reason this Skylark
is in Germany but it still doesn't
have positraction

Happy Days called “Fonzie for the Defense”.  You may recall the great scene in the My Cousin Vinny where Marisa Tomei explains that the two utes could not have been the thieves because the getaway car had positraction and the defendants’ car (a 1964 Buick Skylark) did NOT have positraction.   Because of this key mechanical difference in the cars, the thief had to have been someone else! This fact blew the whole case wide open and also made Marisa Tomei an Oscar winner.  Probably the second greatest testimony scene in movie history after Colonel Jessup admitting he ordered the code red (spoiler alert!). 

You probably aren’t as familiar with “Fonzie for the Defense” as you are with My Cousin Vinny.  In that notable episode, the Fonz and Mr. C get called for jury duty.  The accused is an African American biker named Jason Davis who is accused of a drive-by purse snatching.  The jury, led by the racist Burch, is ready to convict even though Fonzie protests that they only have “circumventive” evidence.  After Fonzie fails to convince the other jurors, he is ready to go along with the rest and vote guilty until he notices something in the transcript…Jason Davis rode a rare British motorcycle that had a left-hand throttle.  The witnesses reported that the purse snatcher held the purse aloft in his left hand while accelerating away. Because of this key mechanical difference in the cars motorcycles, the thief had to have been someone else!  This convinces the jury that Davis is innocent and they immediately vote not guilty.  The audience also learns a valuable lesson in racial tolerance.  I learned that Happy Days doesn’t really hold up very well.  Oh, and that this is pretty much the same thing as the scene in My Cousin Vinny.

Now I (and you) have to live with the fact that the great My Cousin Vinny scene is tainted. At least you didn't have to drink a Canal Street Daisy  

Ratings on a 10-point scale:

Taste: 1

Ease of Preparation: 6 – Had to slice that orange

Presentation: 8 – We will admit it looks nice

Drinks until blackout: 1 – Purely based on the taste