Winter Date Night Ideas
It’s December! Are you ready to eat, drink and be merry? If so, check out one of these tasty dates!
National Bartender Day
National Bartender Day is Dec. 2, and for that we decided on a date that allowed us to play bartender. Misc. KC is a taproom and event space in North Kansas City that holds themed classes several times a month, and we signed up for one. Our choice was a tiki cocktail class in which we learned how to make four tiki cocktails: royal Hawaiian, chi chi, milk maid and pineapple old fashioned. One of the actual bartenders at Misc. walked us through each step of the creation process, combining liquor (vodka, gin, tequila or rum) with juices, syrups, bitters, other liquors, garnishes and more to create the perfect cocktail. My favorite was the chi chi, which is basically a piña colada with vodka instead of rum. Yum! My husband loved the pineapple old fashioned.
National Sangria Day
National Sangria Day is Dec. 20, and to celebrate that, we visited three restaurants with sangria on the menu. First up was Zocalo on the Plaza, where they offer $5 red and white sangria for happy hour every day of the week. They also have an excellent selection of happy hour food, including mini tacos and jalapeño crab cakes. Next up was Brio, also on the Plaza. They have happy hour on weekdays until 7:00 and offer white peach and rosa sangria for $5. Pair it with their margherita flatbread for a great weeknight meal. And if you order the rosa sangria, be sure to squeeze the juice from the orange slice into it. It’s delicious that way. Our last stop was Trago Bar & Tapas, where they have happy hour every Tuesday through Saturday. They offer both a red and white sangria, with the white being one of my personal favorites in town.
National Pastry Day
If there’s one thing my husband and I agree on when it comes to food, it’s pastries. We both have a major sweet tooth and love paying a visit to our local bakeries. So for National Pastry Day on Dec. 9, we went to two of our favorite bakeries to pick out some goodies to sample later at home. The first bakery was Ibis Bakery/Messenger Coffee in downtown KC, where we picked out an apple cheese danish and a blackberry cardamom financier. Our other bakery choice was Laughing Place in Gladstone, where we picked out a cinnamon roll, a slice of pumpkin roll, a blondie brownie and an almond chocolate chip scone. Back at home, we took turns sampling a quarter of each pastry. We thought this was a good date, and we enjoyed the wide variety. Plus, the total amount eaten was held in check because each pastry sample was only about two bites. We would definitely do this date again.
Hannah Berry is a freelance writer who lives in the Northland with her husband. They love to explore Kansas City and try new restaurants and activities.