Tuesday, August 23, 2011

One Mint Julep Was the Cause of it All

Sarah Vaughan and Quincy Jones, One Mint Julep

I used to listen to this song over and over again.  Now I'm a California girl, and I've been told that a mint julep is a decidedly Southern beverage.  I remember getting them at Disneyland, from a little place in New Orleans Square.  But I have since learned that those were not proper juleps.  They were just mint flavored lemonade.  Tasty, but not a julep.

Last night I had a proper julep. 

In fact, I think it was one of the most amazing cocktails I've ever had...ever.  I got it at The Sweet Hereafter, The Bye and Bye's new little brother over on Belmont.  Listed on the menu as a Gin Julep (traditionally juleps are made with bourbon, so I guess I still haven't really had a "proper" julep!) this little baby packed a wollop of a punch.  So tasty.  So fresh.  Mottled mint leaves floating in a tasty mix of gin and other incidentals...just a little spot of soul, now.  The absolute perfect end to my day yesterday.

Speaking of my day yesterday...It started out quite lovely with a nice walk along the river with Kittee and Vee.  We then headed over to the mini mall to visit with Emiko from Food Fight and Michelle from Herbivore.  I stocked up on tshirts and stickers and buttons and even got a new handbag!  From there Kittee and I headed over to Los Gorditos for breakfast.  She got a couple of xgfx tacos with soycurls.  I opted for a breakfast burrito with tofu, soy curls, beans, rice and salsa.  That burrito was ginormous.  I could only finish half of it. 

From there, Kittee and I said our goodbye-for-nows and I headed over to June and Kurt's to visit and play with their foster kitten.  Too cute for words.  The 3 of us headed out and we got ourselves some lunch at Pho Jasmine.  Great veggie pho.  Big bowls for super cheap. 

After a late lunch, we headed over to the Bye and Bye for an afternoon cocktail.  Of course I had the signature "Bye and Bye" served up in a big old mason jar.  So awesome.  Like pink lemonade on a hot sunny afternoon. 

I headed back to my hotel room for a bit to refresh myself and then June and Kurt picked me up and we headed downtown.  I was on a quest for a heavy metal bar that I swore I saw the day before.  Couldn't find it again, so we headed over to The Sweet Hereafter.

So, we've come full circle.  And one mint julep, was the cause of it all.

3 comments:

dreaminitvegan said...

Sounds like you are having a great time. I wish I was able to go to the convention. boo hoo for me.
I love gin and need to look up a recipe for these. s

Bianca said...

Oh man, I really should have planned to go several days early so I'd have time to do stuff like that...it was just gonna be too expensive. But man, I can't wait til Thursday!!!!

True confession: I'm a Southern girl who has never had a mint julep. Mostly because I had caramel-colored liquor (well, except for rum....but I hate whiskey, bourbon, scotch...). I should try the gin version.

Anonymous said...

Holy jeez, I used to work at the French Market in Disneyland... served up those disney-fied mint juleps all day long!

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