Wine Club!

With the start of the new year comes a new beginning - a Wine Club (because I need one more club - ha)!  We kicked off the fun last night at our house.

Nine of the ten couples made it last night, despite the cold weather and the Colts game being on.  Our theme was "Shiraz".  Everyone brought a bottle of their favorite.

We put all the bottles in bags numbered 1-9 and our guests sipped the wines in whatever order throughout the evening.  We had scoring sheets that some took very seriously and others not so much! 

Here are the bottles lined up after the unveiling of the winners.  I was surprised we didn't have duplicates.  It was really fun trying them all!  (See winners below)

We had appetizers to go with all that wine.  I tried out several new recipes - I'll post some of my favorites soon.

As always I neglected to take enough photos and I had some blurriness going on.  Hmmm.  But here are a few of our friends who were with us last night.

Robin and Mary

Lora and Ginger

Barry and Leigh

Eddy and Kim 

And the winners were...

#1 Boomtown 2007

 

Barry and Leigh were the big winners receiving a gift of chocolates specifically for red wines.

#2 Layer Cake 2009

#3 Carnival of Love 2007 (Mollydooker)

I hate that I didn't get a photo of our boys and their friend Trevor who decided not to be outdone by our wine voting - they did their own poll on favorite cheese and dessert served last night. It was really cute.  The Havarti won favorite cheese and the Cake Balls were favorite dessert.

I did a little research on Shiraz (aka Syrah) wines before the party to share with everyone.

Shiraz are dark-skinned grapes grown throughout the world.

They originally come from the Rhone region in Southern France.

It is used as a varietal and is blended (especially in Spain).

Petit Shiraz wines are different than Shiraz.

Petit is also known as Durif and is a cross of Syrah and Peloursin.

Petits are more full-bodied and tannic because smaller, thicker grapes are used.

As mistakenly thought, the name Shiraz does not come from the city in Iran.

Shiraz, Iran is the capital of the Fars Province, established around 2000 B.C.

Ironically, Shiraz is the known as the city of poets, flowers, and wine.

We had a really great time last night and are so excited to be a part of such a great group of friends.

Looking forward to February's club - I hear we're doing Champagnes!

Centsational Girl-Inspired Winter Berries Painting

I am truly not an artist, but when I saw this beautiful painting at Kate's blog Centsational Girl, I bookmarked it thinking it would make a wonderful winter picture for the house.  My title says "CG-Inspired", but my project is really a complete copy!

I am inspired by people like my new friend http://ricki-treleaven.blogspot.com/ (a Birmingham girl!) who can take a blank canvas and turn it into something beautiful.  I decided to give it a whirl.

Instead of completely plagiarizing Kate's painting, I searched Google Images for a beautiful photo of winter branches and found this one.

And then I got busy following Kate's directions to a T to come up with this "masterpiece".

I'm actually really happy with it.  I'm sure I could do a better job (maybe using thinner brushes?) if I were to attempt a project like this one again, but I have to say, I'm pretty proud of myself.  I half-assumed it would be a mess and end up in the garbage.

I used the same color combinations that Kate did, and used glitter for snow as Kate did.  Again, quite a bit of straight copying going on!

I think it'll be a nice addition to the living room - a little touch of winter for the season!

Book Recommendations

I'm really excited to be in a book club again.  The one I started with a group of friends 11 years ago disbanded last year.  We were all so busy with kids, work, etc., and honestly I wasn't all that crazy about the book choices, but I loved the ladies.  Now I'm in a new group and we're finding our stride.  What I like about book clubs is the chance to hear about books I wouldn't normally pick up. 

Here are some recent books I've finished and wanted to share with you!  Let's look at them in order of how I liked them.

First up is my book club's February choice.  I really, really enjoyed this book.  It's about a literary society (a.k.a. book club) on Guernsey island off the coast of England during the German occupation in WWII.  I knew nothing about this island or that it was occupied.  I liked the way it was written as a series of letters.  It reminded me somewhat of Jan Karon's Mitford Series which I read years and years ago.  Now I want to visit Guernsey and learn more.  I highly recommend it, and can't wait to discuss it in February!

Over Christmas, I read Beneath a Marble Sky about the time period of the building of the Taj Mahal.  It was really interesting how the author weaved a love story, architecture, 17th century Indian culture, the oppression of women, religious fanatacism, and family dysfunction into a wonderfully written book.  This is definitely a work of fiction, but so many historical aspects are accurate. 

In my last couple of book reviews I completely forgot about Sh*t My Dad Says that I read earlier this year.  A lot of people recommended it and it must be popular because I waited for months for my copy to be in at the library.  Originally a Twitter account, this book is a compilation of stories by the author about his dad.  I'm not sure what I expected, but for it to be touching and heartfelt, I wasn't expecting.  If you can get past the language, I'd recommend it!

I know a number of you will really like Juliet.  If you like historical romance - this is your book.  It is the story of the real Romeo and Juliet.  According to a number of scholars, Shakespeare did not write the orignal Romeo and Juliet, and the original star-crossed lovers were real people from Siena (not Verona).  This story is about a modern-day lady who follows the clues left to her by her mother and great-aunt to learn about the original couple.  As I read it I kept feeling like it will be made into a movie one day.

I enjoy David Sedaris.  I have all of his previous books.  Some of his essays are disturbing and some are bittersweet; and they're always irreverent.  But many of them are hilarious.  When I was walking a lot a few years ago I downloaded him at Carnegie Hall reading aloud some of his essays to listen to while I walked.  During one in particular I had to stop and hold my side because I was laughing so much.  This book was not my favorite.  It was ironic and clever, but not one I feel the need to purchase.  I'd recommend Me Talk Pretty One Day instead if you're wanting a good Sedaris book.

A friend who reads probably three books a week recommended The Keep.  I had a hard time getting through it.  Just not my thing.  Rather gothic, creepy, and suspenseful, but I just had a hard time picking it up to finish it.  So I just "read through" the last half.  It never caught my interest again. 

I am so inspired by readers like Joan at Applejack Lane who are participating in 75 and 100 book reading challenges this year.  It would be awesome to read as many books this year as I did last year, but no way will I be able to get 75+.  But, go Joan!  Can't wait to hear what you read!

You can find my other book recommendations here, here, and here.

Spring Cleaning 2011

For the last two years I've taken on a serious room-by-room spring cleaning challenge for myself and it's been great (once it's done).  The problem is (besides how much work it is) that I don't like spring cleaning in the spring.  In the spring I want to be outside focusing on all the neglect out there.  So this year I decided to tackle Spring Cleaning in January.  It is the longest, coldest, dreariest month.  What better time to get the house in shape, organize and get rid of stuff.

So, enter my new notebook.  I love a new notebook - what better to place to make lists?  And I love lists.

I'm following the same process I learned from Sarah at Clover Lane two years ago.  You can read about it here.   My notebook has a page for each room/hall/closet/bathroom/pantry in our house and it has a list of all the things that need to be done to get it in its best shape.  It's a huge undertaking but I'm excited that once the kids are back in school tomorrow, Spring Clean 2011 starts.  Wish me luck!

New Year's Eve 2010

My friend Robin and I enjoyed New Year's Eve last night at their restaurant. 

They had three seatings and a choice of a four- or five-course dinner.  We enjoyed our five-course absolutely amazing meal at the bar.  Loren the bartender took care of us all evening.

In addition to the yummy Prosecco we enjoyed, Loren made us two cocktails to try.

The first was called "Nuts and Berries".

Loren coated the rim of the glass in a thin layer of strawberry preserves, then dipped it in crushed pecans.

The cocktail is a mix of equal parts Frangelico, Chambord, Vodka and Half-n-Half.

Really good - we split this one.

Next up Robin spotted a bottle of St. Germain behind the bar and asked about it.

Loren made us a St. Germain Cocktail.

St. Germain is a liqueur made from elderberry flowers.

They have the craziest marketing department.  They send out these old-time postcards with their bottles purchased.  Must be a French thing.

The St. Germain Cocktail is made from:

2 parts Dry Sparkling Wine

1 1/2 parts St. Germain

2 parts Club Soda

Twist of Lemon

It was absolutely delicious!  Again, Robin and I shared one of these and it might be my new favorite drink, replacing my standby Gin &Tonic!

Happy New Year!

January Goals

Last year I set a whole bunch of goals for myself and achieved only 1.  I did however accomplish all sorts of great things for myself and for my family but just not the ones I set out to achieve and blog about.  So, this year, I'm going to take it a month at a time!

January Goals:

Develop a workout program and eating plan that I can stick with all month

Spring clean the entire house (without going mad)

Spend time each day learning about my fancy new camera and how to improve my photographs

Renew our passports (in case we go overseas this year!)

Get both boys' bathroom floors/1 shower remodeled

Celebrate Brennan's 9th birthday

Kick off our new Wine Club

Phew, I'm tired just looking at that list :)

Happy New Year!