EAST COAST PALATE

      Yesterday I finished running around the city and was ready to unwind while I waited for a couple friends who were meeting me in Georgetown.  I happened onto a bar called Bodega, with dark black and red décor that was 2 parts sultry to 1 part soothing.  In the mood for tapas I ordered some overpriced tomato-bread with manchego cheese (you toast bread, rub it with garlic and then with a half a tomato, letting the juice and pulp of the fruit soak into the bread...top with olive oil, salt, and cheese, and voilá).  I also indulged in one of my all time favorites: bacon-wrapped dates that are breaded, seasoned, and fried. 
      I bypassed the wine menu and went right for the coctails and this concoction jumped out at me.  A caipirinha, for those who haven't yet tasted this pleasure, consists of Cachaça (a sugar cane based alcohol), sugar, and muddled limes.  This redition was a blueberry twist on the original, but honestly I prefer the original.  This is a drink that I love because of the acidity.  It is a grown-up's, 80-proof, Sourpatch Kid Slurpee.  The blueberrys are too soft and, now I sound like a cocktail snob, they clog the straw.  Whatever, it was refreshing and good. 
      If you make caipirinhas from time to time, try throwing in a wedge of grapefruit with the lime when you muddle them.  The end result is a Greyhound-esque dose of refreshment.