Weekend...

Went wine tasting with a couple of friends yesterday...

J is a fabulous place... they have the tasting set up at stations, so you progress through the winery for each part of the tasting flight. They also do a wine and food tasting with pairings, but we opted not to do that, since I had packed a picnic for us to have at a later stop. Their cuvee 20 is so delicious. Yum, yum. Oh, and they are also doing a single vineyard zinfandel that is really jammy with blueberry and dark berry... so yummy.

We also went and had a nice picnic at Robert Young. Sat by the fountain out on the patio and ate snackies... relaxing and good company. What a great Saturday.

From there, we visited Seghesio in downtown Healdsburg. It's about a block from the main square. The lady there was miffed when we were not interested in pinot grigio... I don't understand that. People come in tasting, and it's pretty common for us to go tasting and decide ahead of time we are looking to try new pinot noirs or zinfandels or some specific varietal, so I don't see why it would be an affront to the tasting room staff if I don't want to try everything they're pouring that day. She was appeased when we praised the zins, though, and bought their top end item, called Omaggio, which is a red blend. Lots of tannins and nicely full bodied. I'm thinking burgers would be a great accompaniment.

L had us over to her new apartment for dinner and poker. She got bored a few weeks ago and decided to talk her apartment complex into a bigger place, so we helped her move last weekend. the new place is much better. Plenty of room, nice and quiet, and we got a nice dinner prepared for us, to boot.

She got mad when I cleaned out her chips a couple of times, though. What's ironic is that i ended the evening about $3 up- not exactly a big windfall. But the husband made nearly $20- which means he took her money- yet she was bitter about how I was taking all her money. I'm tellin' ya, you just can't win. I DIDN'T win and I was in trouble as though I did. Hoping she'll get over it quick.

Things like this happen all the time with my husband. He is often mean to people, openly and to their face, and they still like him. It's like they gloss over it and don't notice- "Oh, he's a great guy!" I make a conscious effort to be kind and generous to people, and people get pissed at me. WTF?!

Unbelievable to me.

Tonight we're having some friends over to dinner. Think I'll make risotto... yum!

List...

And why, you may ask, am I up at 3:10 a.m.? Not only was I brewing up a nice migraine so I couldn't sleep, I went to a job interview today. As I always arrive to job interviews half an hour early, I grabbed a book to entertain myself while waiting in the parking lot. Then after dinner, I picked it back up and read from page 21 to the end.

It's the best thing I've read in a long time. It's called The Next Thing On My List, by Jill Smolinski. The basic premise is this: girl is driving an acquaintance home and the acquaintance is killed in the car accident they experience. Survivor girl discovers (and keeps) the list of 20 things the dead girl wanted to do before her 25th birthday, and after six months of slothlike reality-TV-watching guilt, she is compelled to finish the list for the dead girl. The snowball of life changes for her are easy to spot coming, but so enjoyable and heart-warming that I literally read to the end without stopping. Thus 3:00 a.m.

The book has experienced a following, and Wendy Finerman (think The Devil Wears Prada) has bought the film rights. I sooooo can't wait for that movie. Hope they get someone good to play the lead, though. Not that annoying chick from Grey's Anatomy- she's completely overexposed. And not some ridiculously skinny chick, either, since they meet initially at a Weight Watcher's meeting... maybe Anne Hathaway... Kate Winslet... wow, the choices of normal sized women in Hollywood is pretty short, huh?

But I digress. You must read this book, especially now that bar hell is done. No excuses. I'm now working on my list... this is the rough draft.

Things to do before I turn 35 (next May 27)

#1. pass stupid bar exam
#2. have garage sale
#3. learn to cook fabulous ribs
#4. lose 30 pounds
#5. compete in a cooking contest
#6. learn to play guitar
#7. get a great haircut
#8. change someone's life
#9. bake bread from scratch
#10. master every sauce in James Peterson's Sauces

By 40:

#1. become a certified master gardener
#2. visit Italy
#3. write a book
#4. create a piece of art
#5. win a cooking contest
#6. celebrate my 10 year wedding anniversary
#7. celebrate my daughter's 10th birthday
#8. own a pair of shoes that cost more than $100
#9. buy a new house
#10. have at least one employee

Yeah, some of those are a stretch, but I figure you gotta reach or you'll never try.

Speaking of which, hope ya'll are reaching for the brass ring this week. Hope my list will inspire you to create your own, which you can get started on Friday... after the hangover wears off.

Wine...

Yesterday was fun...

We were invited by my friend L, to a wine club event at La Crema Winery. I didn't really know what it was, so I was impressed when we got there and were greeted with a reception including wine and delicious hor doerves featuring local cheeses and other ingredients. Then, we moved further into the barrel room and sat down to a family style luncheon amongst the chardonnay barrels. The arugula salad with peaches and sliced almonds was fantastic. There was also sliced duck breast that was accompanied with roasted fingerling potatoes. Yum, yum.

I was also finally able to try the Nine Barrel La Crema wines. The concept behind the Nine Barrel is that the wine maker goes through all the barrels as they are aging and samples to determine the best of the best and the best nine get marked up with chalk, not to be used under threat of death. Those special barrels are used to make this reserve offering. I must say, the pinot AND the chardonnay were both delicious. The pinot was a soft, mellow, nicely complex version of the regular La Crema Pinot Noir. My only criticism would be the price. At $75 a bottle, I didn't prefer it over the regular $25 Law Crema to warrant buying the Nine Barrel over the regular one.

The Chardonnay was a classic Kendall Jackson style (at least to my palate). One whiff and the butter jumped out at you. Pretty sure they used malolactic fermentation (which I clearly can't spell, but means they do a second bacterial fermentation in the barrel that produces that buttery richness you get in many chardonnays). It was nicely balanced with some good acidity and lush fruits: think lemon, peach, melon, and of course, butter.

Then we went to Joseph Swan to taste. I wasn't super impressed. Let me preface this review with my personal preferences. I don't enjoy dessert wines and I don't drink syrah or petite syrah. Since their offering included a syrah, which I didn't drink, and a couple of white wines that I didn't try, I was basing my evaluation on a few reds. The pinot noirs were okay. Not so great I wanted to drink more, but decent. Then there were two zinfandels. The first was a 1998, that was surprisingly serviceable, but I wasn't blown away for the price. The second was a newer zin, and when the tasting room person warned me it has some residual sugar, I should have been warned off. It was like a mouthful of blueberry syrup. Bleck.

Then we went to Gary Farrell and, after tasting, bought a few things: Hallberg Pinot Noir and Russian River Pinot Noir and Encounter. Finally, we ended our day at Arista. Arista has a small collection of wines, but they are consistently delicious. They make a dry gewurtztraminer that is absolutely fabulous, and I am not a white wine drinker generally. I actually had a bottle of that with a friend at lunch a couple of weeks ago and it was the perfect summer lunch accompaniment. They also had two 2006 Pinot Noirs that were light, fruity (lots of cherry, raspberry, and strawberry), slightly earthy, and just downright good. I was glad to see that their wines have become less cranberry heavy. That has been my only complaint of their wines in the past- heavy cranberry flavors that overpower the other elements in the wine.

The tasting room at Arista is also beautiful. We have actually taken friends there and picnicked on the grounds, under the oak trees, and had a lovely time. They have a carefully crafted garden of natural rocks and ponds, with a winding path that invites a slow walk with a taste of their delicious wines. And the tasting room staff is super nice. I just enjoy that place every single time I go there. I highly recommend them on all fronts.

Then later we had a couple of friends over and played a little poker, drinking some of our newly purchased Gary Farrell. I did not do well at the poker, though. Hubby took all my chips a few times.

So, I had a wonderful day full of relaxation with friends and delicious wine and fabulous food. Now I just have to figure out how to duplicate that dressing for the peach and arugula salad...

Graduation...

Today I am attending the next graduation of my law school. I wouldn't go, except my good friend, A, will be graduating today. Yay!

Then I get to go see the Poets and Pirates Tour with one of my oldest friends from high school. (Crimony, I still hang out with people I knew in high school? Yup.) So, that will be great. Sit, drink, sing, not have to worry about anything, that's a good Sunday evening.

So, in a way, I guess I might experience a wash of failure at sitting through graduation having not passed yet, but this past week really put things in perspective for me. Also, the relief of having time has washed over me, so I think that trumps all other feelings of misery.

I was sitting through class yesterday, and yes, I was nervously thinking of the lengthy list of what I needed to get done before the THREE DAYS, but also, I was relieved, because this time I will actually have the luxury of time. Time to learn what I need to do without feeling like I need to do it as quickly as possible so I can still clean up the kitchen and make the kids lunches and make it to work on time and do laundry and all the other regular life stuff.

I just feel like I have given myself a gift now. Permission to do what I need to. Permission to take time.

I have been struggling to not feel guilty about it, because of the inherent mom orientation of wanting to take care of everyone else and leaving myself last, but I'm working diligently to quash those feelings of guilt every time they begin to arise. It's okay if I don't contribute a salary while studying. It's okay if I don't have a clean house. It's okay if I take the time I need to study. It's okay if I take the time and money to protect my health and sanity. All of these things are perfectly okay.

I don't know why it's so hard for me to do these things for myself, when I would tell any one of my friends those same things and mean them wholeheartedly. I guess it's easier to be generous and compassionate with others than it is yourself, when you're used to being a perfectionist overachiever.

Oh, dear god, Paula Deen is eating a breakfast sandwich that is two Krispy Creme doughnuts with a fried egg and bacon on it. Talk about a heart attack on a plate. Actually, it looks kind of good... Everything is better with doughnuts, right?

I think it's time to turn FoodTV off.