If you’re nervous for your first experience drinking alone, you don’t need a talisman to bring to the bar: you need to tell a generous buddy (we’ll call him X) your Friday night plans. That way, when you arrive, the bartender looks at your I.D., recognizes your name, tells you that you have two drinks paid for (tips included) and to have an excellent night. Two free cocktails + a three day weekend + meeting up with a friend later = the formula for a beatific night.
My night began at Green St. Grill in Central Square, Cambridge, MA. The cocktail list is extensive and sequacious; each drink looks better than the previous one. While I got comfortable taking off my coat, I listened to two girls speak with an affectation so juvenile and exaggerated I had to move down a couple of seats. I learned from my fellow drinkers that seating is prime and promptly scooted until I had a corner seat with full view of the restaurant; I was ready for the night to begin.
I must admit that work was crawling that afternoon, and I had checked the drink menu of the restaurant a couple of times. I was ready for a “Moscow Mule:” Smirnoff vodka, fresh lime juice, A.J. Stephan’s ginger beer. Because X had known about the drink I was perusing, he paid for the substitution of Stoli Vodka for Smirnoff (he’s a fellow bartender of mine and knows his liquor). It was fantastic. The pucker of the lime juice combined with the spiciness of the ginger beer and finished with the smooth taste of Stoli left me with a muted but tacit approval.
It’s overwhelming when your senses experience a new feeling and your brain registers the novelty, yet it can be comforting when you’re brought back to another place. The linger of the ginger beer on my palate reminded me of a summer spent in Washington, D.C. I was with friends at a beach in Delaware, wishing we could be sailing on the open waters of the Atlantic but accepted our fate as poor interns and took the beach town of Rehoboth for all we could. The resplendent sun combined with the ginger beer and my friend’s story about malingering to skip work and hook up with a visiting friend was a warm memory for a gale filled, twenty degree night in Cambridge. Four years past that summer of freedom from responsibilities and triumphs (I had ended an unhealthy relationship), I was now faced with the possibility of losing my job to a country in economic turmoil, paying a gas bill for my apartment that was one third of my rent and trying to figure out what grad school program to apply for and when to take the GRE. For that moment, however, the “Moscow Mule” had liberated the worries imprinted on me and allowed me to revisit a memory that warmed me up as much as the vodka.
I found myself chewing the ice and feeling a bit buzzed, knew I needed food to accompany my second drink. I ordered the mussels in a coconut milk and red curry broth and a “Parisian Orchid.” Clearly, I was inspired by my first vodka drink; I’m strictly a gin and tonic girl. Maybe it was the rubicund warmth radiating my cheeks from the alcoholic buzz, but I was ready for more. The “Parisian Orchid” is a crisp and assimilated drink. Everything in it blends together so flawlessly that you can’t taste the original ingredients (Reyka Vodka, St. Germaine Elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon & pineapple juice).
Because of my corner seat, I was separated from the crowd and the bartender but for that moment, I was content.
I started woolgathering about my old bartending gig. I worked at a martini bar across the street from my apartment, and we specialized in happy hours, sorority girls and sugary constitutionals. The management was unpredictable and I hated being a exposed behind that bar, but I’m a firm believer in every situation having a deeper context (call me John Updike). The friendship I made there seemed to follow me all the way to Massachusetts that night. I was no longer a barmaid, but I was in the company of my good friend X via the Moscow Mule and Parisian Orchid.
And that was all right for me.
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Sasha, seems like your friend picked the perfect drink for you. One of Russian influence to go with your name. Sounds like a great start of the evening and wonderful intro. I hope your night ended as well as it started.
Comment by DZEE February 18, 2009 @ 7:26 pmYour descriptions are vivid. I could taste the drinks. Sounds like you really must have felt like back in the bartending days since the girls seem like they were of the sorority persuasion.
Very introspective with just enough of a glimpse into you to keep us coming back for more.
Great start!