Wanderlust, with Wine, After Hours at the Gardner Museum

We're always on the look out for events that bridge something we don't know a lot about (e.g. jazz, race car drivers, hedge funds) with that thing we love (DRINKS) more than almost anything else.

Which is why we're giving you a heads-up on this one a full week in advance.

Next Thursday, the Gardner Museum brings the don't-know, such as music from DJ Coralcola, sketching, and talks in the galleries.

And they also bring the do-know, namely cocktails, snacks, and a café menu of both sweet and savory items.

It's called After Hours, and it is one very cool -- literally -- way to spend an evening doing something you don't normally do.

All while doing something you do normally do, like eating and drinking.

The eating: "courtside bites" that cost one little buck each.

The drinking: museum-inspired cocktails like the Madame Gautreau, named for John Singer Sargent's painting, Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast (1882-83), currently part of the Gardner's collection. The cocktail is a blend of sparkling wine, grapefruit and pineapple juice, and a splash of grenadine.

Don't-know + Do-know = 1 Very fun night out.


WHAT: "After Hours" with music, contests, specialty cocktails and $1 courtside bites
WHERE: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway, Boston
WHEN: Thursday, July 15 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
COST: $12, $5 for students, $0 for members

DAILY TIDBIT:

Learning never exhausts the mind. -- Leonardo da Vinci