The Storm Cocktail

The Storm Cocktail is my homage to X-Men, which is the focus of this month’s Fandom Foodies. So here’s the long story of how I came to be inspired this month to make The Storm Cocktail. First off, this cocktail is inspired by the X-Men character, Storm. So you might wonder, why Storm? (Ok, you might not wonder, but I’m going to tell you anyway, which is where the long story comes into it).

Many years ago, I lived in Colorado. I actually grew up in Lakewood, Colorado, but spent a lot of time as a young adult in Denver (going to college, working, hanging out). One of my favorite places to go was Café Euphrates. I’m pretty sure that Café Euphrates was on Pearl Street, so it wasn’t too far away from my alma mater, the University of Denver. I’d go there to hang out with my ex and one of his friends. The place served the best hummus I’ve ever had and absolutely lovely coffee. I was still in my mocha phase, so I know that I drank probably several hundred mint mochas at Café Euphrates. But my absolute favorite part of going here was the X-Men Arcade game that was in the back corner.

Prior to Café Euphrates, I’d never played much in the way of arcade video games. I played some Pac Man and loved some really rudimentary computer games. However, growing up, there was no Nintendo, no Atari – none of that. I don’t think I was actually all that interested, which was probably a big part of why this never entered into my life. But for some reason, I loved X-Men. And I always, always, played Storm. If you’ve ever listened to the song “This Tornado Loves You” by Neko Case, you’ll get it. I’ve always taken some pride in a stormy personality. Storm was, by my estimation, powerful and perfect. If I had a super mutant power, I’d want hers.

I can’t remember the last time I went to Café Euphrates. I grew up, moved far away, moved closer and then moved further away again. I didn’t think much about this place and time at all, except as I started to think about what I would do for X-Men for Fandom Foodies and it all came back in a beautiful rush. I’m ok being my older self, but I have a lot of fondness for that young woman, who was optimistic but moody, reserved but with lots of big dreams. I think that time period might have been the first time in my life when I started to really appreciate my nerdy side and stopped trying so hard to fit in with everyone else.

So the storm cocktail is my homage to my favorite arcade hero. I haven’t gotten much into the X-Men movies (though I do think Hale Berry rocks in the role). I do think every time I drink this cocktail this summer, I’ll think about that younger self and smile.

This post is linked up to March’s Fandom Foodies hosted by Heather at Food ‘n Flix. Check out the Fandom Foodies page for a schedule of all the great inspiration for this year!