The great Rudyard Kipling once penned a famous poem titled “If”, a lyric ode to fatherly advice.  While our Dads may not have been Kipling, they certainly had a flair for giving advice in an interesting way.  This Father’s Day Pengallan pays tribute to the Old Man, by honoring his wisdom, often maligned and seldom followed, but in retrospect damn good advice.  Ten things Dad said that you should have listened to:

1. Don’t piss into the wind.
2. If you shut up, you just might learn something.
3. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King.
4. Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.
5. Don’t ever look down the barrel of a loaded gun.
6. No one ever said life was fair.
7. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it.
8. Just try not to get hit in the nuts.
9. A penny saved, is a penny earned.
10. Just because your friends jump off a cliff, doesn’t mean you have to.

Olympias of Macedonia & Alexander The Great.  Alexander the Great was one of the most successful military commanders of all time, securing an empire that stretched from the Mediterranean to the Himalayan Mountains. He seems to have inherited much of his moxie from mom.  Some historians believe that Olympias aided and/or masterminded the assassination of her husband, Philip of Macedon, so that her son could assume the throne.

THE COUNTENANCE OF OLYMPIAS, MOTHER OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT, ON A COIN

Mary of Nazareth & Jesus Christ.  She not only birthed a man-god, but Mary also did it while remaining a virgin, establishing a precedent that no woman has been able to live up to since.

SAINT MARY OF NAZARETH MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST

Maria Theresa of Austria.  The only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions (consisting of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma) and the last of the House of Habsburg, Maria Theresa ruled for 40 years and had sixteen children, including Queen Marie Antoinette of France, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, Duchess Maria Amalia of Parma and two Holy Roman Emperors, Joseph II and Leopold II.

MARIA THERESA OF AUSTRIA

Ma Barker & The Barker-Karpis Gang.  Kate “Ma” Barker, was the mother of five boys: Herman, Lloyd, Arthur, Fred and Willmer.  Their Barker-Karpis Gang committed a spree of robberies, kidnappings, murders, and other crimes between 1931 and 1935.  While it has been determined that Ma was not the criminal leader or mastermind, she certainly knew of the gang’s activities, and even helped them before and after they committed their crimes.  Ma Barker and her son Fred were killed in 1935 after an intense hours-long shootout with the FBI.  According to the FBI, a Tommy gun was found lying in the hands of Ma Barker.

KATE “MA” BARKER – PUBLIC ENEMY

Rose Kennedy & Her American Political Dynasty.  The wife of bootlegger cum businessman, Joseph Patrick “Joe” Kennedy, Sr., Rose was the mother of nine children and a modern political dynasty.  Counted amongst her progeny were a U.S. President, John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy, and three U.S. Senators, John Fitzgerald “Jack” Kennedy – he was a Senator before he was elected President, Senator Robert Francis “Bobby” Kennedy, and Senator Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy.

ROSE KENNEDY

THE BAR TENDER’S GUIDE

HOW TO MIX DRINKS OR THE BON VIVANT’S COMPANION

To aid you in your Derby Day preparations, Pengallan & The Bar Tender’s Guide: How To Mix Drinks or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion, by Jerry Thomas (first published in 1862) have provided you with a classic recipe for that quintessential Kentucky Derby cocktail – The Mint Julep:

THE CLASSIC MINT JULEP

THE CLASSIC MINT JULEP (Use a Large Bar Glass):

• 1 tablespoon of white pulverized sugar.
• 2 1/2 tablespoons of water (mix well with a spoon)
• Take 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh mint, and press them well into the sugar water, until the flavor of the mint is extracted
• Add 1 1/2 wine-glass of Cognac brandy;
• Fill the glass with fine shaved ice, then draw out the sprigs of mint and insert them in the ice with the stems downward, so that the leaves will be above, in the shape of a bouquet.
• Arrange berries and small pieces of sliced orange on top in a tasty manner
• Dash with Jamaica rum, and sprinkle white sugar on top
• Place straw as represented in the picture, and you’ll have a julep that is fit for an emperor!

THE CLASSIC MINT JULEP IN A SILVER CUP

THE SPORT OF KINGS

This Saturday, May 4th, the famed Churchill Downs will hold the 139th running of the Kentucky Derby, the first, and probably best dressed, race of the Triple Crown.  As with other special occasions in the past (St. Patrick’s Day, Easter Sunday), Pengallan has put together an outfit to help you prepare for attendance on the field, or whatever Derby party you may find yourself at.

A classic coffee colored seersucker suit from Italian artisans Eredi Pisano, paired with some spring pink, and the beautiful crafted grey-white seersucker slim-fit boxers from Pengallan!

DERBY DAY IS NOT COMPLETE WITHOUT A FUN AND FESTIVE SEERSUCKER ENSEMBLE.

Beautiful two-tone white and tan leather wingtips help finish out the southern charm of the ensemble.

TWO TONE WINGTIPS

The bow tie is a great festive old-fashioned summertime look, and we untied the bow, just so you didn’t think we were rocking the clip-on.  Need to learn how to tie a bow tie?  Click on the image below.

BOW UNTIED

And to top it off, find yourself a nice straw hat to keep you cool, and the sun out of your eyes on race day!

A CLASSIC 1950′S STRAW HAT.

]]> http://www.pengallan.com/blog/2013/04/29/win-place-show/feed/ 0 http://www.pengallan.com/blog/2013/04/26/get-educated-regardless-of-color/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed http://www.pengallan.com/blog/2013/04/26/get-educated-regardless-of-color/#comments Fri, 26 Apr 2013 19:53:57 +0000 Pengallan http://www.pengallan.com/blog/?p=1607 Continue reading →]]> On this day in 1859, Businessman and Philanthropist Peter Cooper established Cooper Union, with the goal of educating regardless of race, gender, or religion.  You may remember Peter from your grade school social studies classes as the designer and builder of the first steam locomotive, or perhaps from the Hasbro board game, Monopoly (he founded the real B&O Railroad).  However, for most New Yorkers, the living legacy of the Cooper Union is his greatest shining achievement, only slightly dimmed by Tuesday’s announcement that for the first time in over a century the school must charge tuition to undergraduates.  A first rate education for future students that we are all as subject to the laws of economics as we are to those of gravity.

PETER COOPER’S B&O RAILROAD – $200 IN MONOPOLY MONEY; COOPER UNION’S FORMERLY TUITION FREE EDUCATION – PRICELESS

Click on the Image below and get a free education on the care and craftsmanship we put into each pair of Pengallan Slim-Fit Boxers, regardless of color!

THE STEELY CHARCOAL GREY OF INDUSTRIALIST DAYS GONE BY.