Why yes, we dooo have mixed drinks!

This post is for those who know what I'm talking about when I mention the collage like menu wall behind our bar (and to prepare those who haven't)

I can tell when it's someone's first (or second or third...) time seeing it. The wide open mouth, the look of confusion, the leaning in for a good while and then finally asking if we sell beer (!!)

(Answer is yes)

So, mixed drinks though. I'm including here a menu of current and soon to be Sake Cocktails and other Mixed Drinks!

Sake is actually an amazing "liquor". I didn't used to be a big sake person either, but it adds so much complexity to a mixed drink and has a nice astringency like vodka. I've been constantly surprised at how well it blends.

We'll be printing up drink menus soon that one can hold and love and contemplate over.

So here it is folks and folksas..

O+A Mixed Drink Menu

Hot Sake Cider  
(has become our signature drink!)

Hot local apple cider and sake

Spicy Sake Cider 

Made with Sake infused with Chilis, Lemongrass, and honey in Hot Cider

Vegan S.S.C

Made with Sake infused with Chilis, Lemongrass, and local Maple Syrup in Hot Cider

Bloody Mary

Spiked with Sake,

Homemade & Spicy!

Eclipse 
Sake with OJ

& orange slice

Simonne 
Sparkling Apple Cider and Sake


Alphonse 
Sparkling Cranberry juice and Sake

Mimosa 
Champagne & OJ
withe slices of clementine


Full Moon
White Wine and OJ with slice of orange 


Kittywitch
Cardamom, Clove, Mint, Orange Peel, Ginger, Cinnamon, Black Tea (decaf available)
steeped in Hot Apple Cider with honey...$4
Spiked generously with Sake...$5

Kahlua
served over ice or with coffee
*add organic chocolate syrup  .50


"Olas"
Spiced tea steeped in Hot Cider over Red Wine
 
Night Cap
Secret Garden Tea (Rose Petals & Buds, Mint, Lavendar, Chamomile, Rooibos) 
steeped in Hot Apple Cider

Coming for Spring!!

Lua Saka 
Pineapple, Coconut milk, Agave nectar over a shot of sake

Sake Temple 
Grenadine, Lemon Lime Soda, and Sake 


Greenpoint 
Strawberry puree & Jalepeno over Sake
with strawberry ice cubes!


Papi 
OJ, Infused Spicy Sake, and muddled Mint leaves


Guiness Float
(or beer o' choice)
over homemade Ice Cream


*Flavor of the Day* 

TEA!

We've been trying to slowly build our tea selection. We just opened a new batch of "Secret Garden" and it's filled with whole dried roses, it's really gorgeous! We also just got in "Winter Solstice" and you can very nearly snack on it. It has big pieces of spicy, aromatic dried fruit, my favorite so far.

Our tea menu so far looks like this..

Secret Garden (Organic, Fair Trade)  -herbal tisane

Mint, Lavender, Rose (Buds & Petals), Chamomile, Rooibos

Mandela Masala (Organic, Fair Trade) (decaf)

Cloves, Cardamom, Ginger, Cinnamon, Rooibos

Nilgiri (Organic)

Black Tea Origin:  India, Dunsandle Estate

Temple of Heaven (Organic, Fair Trade)

Gunpowder Green Tea
Origin: China 
Estate: Zhejiang Province

Colonille

Vanilla, Vietnamese Black Tea

Autumn to Winter

Peppermint, Mint, Cloves, Cardamom, Ginger, Spearmint, Orange Peel, Chinese Black Tea

Fiji

Pineapple, Papaya, Chinese Green Tea

Ginger (Organic)

Peppermint (Organic) 

Origin: Egypt

Yerba Mate

"Yerba Mate, a ubiquitous S. American herb with deep cultural roots is native to Argentina, Brazil & Paraguay. The wild-grown holly shrub (Ilex paraguariensis), now formally cultivated, is found in the rainforest. Highly nutritious, loaded with anti-oxidants & numerous essential vitamins, like tea, Yerba Mate was used by indigenous people as food, beverage, medicine, a show of hospitality & even as currency. It contains matteine, a stimulant similar to caffeine yet much milder on the body with an energizing effect that doesn’t disrupt sleep or negatively react with the nervous system. Green Yerba Mate is grassy & herbaceous; Roasted is toasty & mellow."

Winter Solstice (decaf)
Apple, Cloves, Orange Peel, Apricot, Rosemary, Hops, Red Currant, Allspice

winter flavor

I think there's a delicate balance that needs to be struck in the Winter in Maine to coast through it with all mental hinges still intact. I'm sick of the vaguely Fall flavors hanging around our menu...polenta, pumpkin, cinnamon.
I love Winter! It's getting colder and I need deeper flavors...heat, textures need to change. Instinctively I went to my roots. The Fall was an expression of mainly Italian flavors, my roots but a different side.  My other side is mainly Armenian. Armenia is darker, it's people are so warm but tough because of a repetitively harsh past, I think dark meats, earthy spices, and fire blackened flavors cooked into the air over long periods of time. Oooh, it brings to mind ancient mysticism!
Anyway, I have to tell you about this soup I just read about....copied:
khash, is considered an Armenian institution. Songs and poems have been written about this one dish, which is made from cow's feet and herbs made into a clear broth. Tradition holds that khash can only be cooked by men, who spend the entire night cooking, and can be eaten only in the early morning in the dead of winter, where it served with heaps of fresh garlic and dried lavash.
Oh man....
Here's what I'm thinking...a "Wonton" or "Lamb Meatball" Soup- vegetarian ground meat- seasonings will sound something like garlic, alleppo, mint, and tarragon, lots of onion, maybe dried celery. Meatballs rolled in bulghur wheat and fried and served with sesame onion lavash.

Karshm- It's a local soup made in the town of Vaik in the Shirak Province. It'a a walnut based soup with red and green beans, chick peas, spices, garnished with red pepper and fresh garlic.

I've been craving a stew! My mom sometimes cooks a stew in a crockpot in the winter, with potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, beans, cracked pepper. The smell is the most comforting thing. And it builds all day long peaking your appetite. I'd like to do a beautiful, hearty stew like that with rosemary potatoes, "chicken" stock, homeade veg. sausages sliced and pan-fried then slow cooked in, kale and more and more.

Lahmajoun.......
Pelmeni!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

play and posting soon to come!


k

taralucci

homemade polenta

a lovely couple

Homemade bloody Marys!!!

If you like a spicy bloody mary, this will make you very happy. Gives a delightful burn going down! Lots of horseradish and secret spices. This will be a mainstay for awhile (at least so we can deplete it slowly ourselves). Instant mood lifter and congestion degester!

kombucha

i know some people hate this stuff, but it's like moxie, or say...sake! You have to take time, get acquainted in order to understand the magic!
So my mixture's been sitting in a pot for over a week and only little bubbles formed. I thought "it was dead, I peeked too many times, should i drink it anyway? probably not.."
But today! I smelled a smell and 'lo! a circle of cloudy bubblish things were forming! I'm excited.
It actually sits covered in a cloth next to me at the table like a friend.
So if this all works out we may be making homemade kombucha at The O+A

 

say hello to my little friend

-k