The Madhatter Manhattan

A few Wednesdays ago, I celebrated my twenty-first birthday. Now, I'm one of the last of my friends to turn twenty-one, and that hasn't bothered me much (why spend your time on other "dranks" when there's tea to be had?), but I was still a bit excited to try something new.

Homemade wine!

My first drinks were relatively ordinary--some very strong homemade wine that I'd made with my dad a few years ago, a fruity sangria, and a good red table wine at Thanksgiving dinner. When I was back at Hopkins a few days after, I had another birthday celebration at Golden West Cafe. There are so many reasons to love Golden West. First, it's easily the most hipster place I've ever seen in  Baltimore. If the giant moose head or the chandelier made of tree branches and twinkle lights don't do it for you, the plaid-clad wait staff surely will. The menus are repurposed covers of vinyl records, and behind the bar we found a pinball machine, a jukebox, and a game of Apples-to-Apples. Another somewhat related reason to love the place is that it's often a venue for concerts (the obscure kind of course). And oh yeah, the food is really, really good.

The Madhatter Manhattan. Totally sounds like a book.

Banana Nut Cupcakes.
Enough said.

I always get the same dish when I go there (apple-brie-pesto sandwich w/ sweet potato fries), but this time I had to consider an interesting drink to get with it. Naturally, I settled on the Madhatter Manhattan--a strong cocktail with Earl Grey-infused sweet vermouth, whiskey, bitters, and a cherry on top-- to see if I could taste the tea flavor in all that alcohol. (Full disclosure: I know so little about alcohol, I asked my friend Henry if vermouth was vodka. Apparently it's not.) This one's a sipping drink folks. Unfortunately, it was so strong I couldn't taste much of anything, including the Earl Grey, which I've always considered to be a pretty noticeable flavor. But the banana nut cupcakes made up for it.

Now I'm interested in seeing how other tea flavors can be incorporated into cocktails--or maybe into my own homemade wine! Must look into this.

 Another tea related occurrence was an awesome birthday gift from Kelsey and Henry, all done up in brown paper and string. From our China adventures, Kelsey's had inside knowledge of my intrigue with flower teas--the kind that actually open up into flowers in hot water--and so she presented me with a glass teapot and strainer with twelve flowering teas! This is a tea party waiting to happen. Thanks Kelsey and Henry!