Nanea's Pineapple Mint Julep

A refreshing, fruity must have for any summer celebration!

Happy VJ Day! Today marks one of the many days the Allies celebrated as the end to the war in the Pacific. Nanea and her friends would have been young teenagers by the end of the war, and would be celebrating the end of the conflict and hoping for a speedy return of their friends and family who had gone off to war. Or maybe their celebrations were more subdued as they remembered the lives that had been lost in the conflict. Victory Days were fun, spontaneous holidays, but they also marked a very somber moment for families who had lost loved ones in the conflict. 

To celebrate, I decided to continue the summer of the mocktail at our apartment, and when I was looking around for something VJ Day inspired, I knew this was the treat that was meant to be featured. 

This tropical twist on the classic mint julep is appropriate for all ages, and comes straight from my 1943 copy of the Women's Home Companion Cookbook. Read on to see how you can bring this refreshing taste of history to life yourself!

Ruthie Makes Shirley Temples and Roy Rogers

Just the right addition to any end of summer parties you might be planning!

The summer’s winding down, but the heat definitely isn’t going anywhere. In the days before air conditioning was in almost every American household, people needed to get creative to find ways to beat the heat. 

One of the most popular for kids like Ruthie Smithens – and her best friend Kit Kittredge, of course! – was going to the movies. Movie theaters offered cheap entertainment and a nice, dark, cool theater to shelter inside on those hot summer days during the Depression. Getting lost in the stories on the silver screen also helped distract viewers from the struggles of everyday life during hard times. 

These two drinks get their names from some of the most famous movie stars of the time, and they’re delightfully simple to make. Read on to learn the history of two of the most famous mocktails ever created!