In 2015 I accidentally missed out on the holiday-themed "pop-up" bar in DC called Miracle on 7th Street so this year I was determined to check it out. The bar is set up in a pre-existing site with a special cocktail and snack menu that's based on popular holiday movies or holiday-references in pop culture. Due to its popularity (and very long lines to enter) last year they expanded to three adjacent businesses in the Shaw neighborhood. We invited a couple of friends to join us. While the cool decorations and general spirit of the experience was fun, it was not really worth the ridiculously-long entrance line and also long time it took to order a round of four drinks. I understand that the owners want their customers to have the Craft-Cocktail Mixologist Experience but when your menu is only 12 drinks long you'd think that they could have some of the ingredients ready in batches for quick serving. I'll try anything once, so it was worth a stop for the novelty. However our party was glad that after the "pop-up" stop there was a rather good brewpub around the corner with far less people, no line, and really excellent beer/food.
The menu, holiday elves making cocktail magic in the narwhal bar
Cheers! Checking out the Stranger Things bar
(that is a ball of cookie dough garnishing two of the drinks)
Goats in sweaters??
Later in December we visited the Baltimore neighborhood of Hampden, a funky area that is close to Johns Hopkins University. The main drag has a selection of shops and restaurants I've been wanting to investigate for a while. The main draw of the evening was their famous "Miracle on 34th Street" light show. One block of neighbors in Baltimore have been decorating their houses with over-the-top displays for the last 70 years. People come from all over during the month of December to see the lights and it culminates with the neighborhood "trash ball" drop on New Year's Eve. Before the light show we stopped for a truly delicious dinner at a local restaurant and I'm already planning our second visit to the area. On our way back to the car an ice cream shop was selling ridiculously rich cocoa with huge home-made marshmallows. Yum!
In other news, after having to delay for weeks while our landlady had hardwood flooring installed in the downstairs of the house we finally got our Christmas decorations up - just in time for us to leave town for a little bit...
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