LaTrenda's Dinner!

Happy birthday (again!!) to Miss LaTrenda!

Good morning...

Wine Seminar: California vs. Italy

An interesting seminar to compare the finest wines of CA against the best that Italy had to offer! Enjoyed this one, a lot!

2007 Feudo Maccari "Saia" (IT) $29.99
This sour wine has a richness that screams of quality. It has a very dry nose (lacking any hint of sugar), and is full of fruit & earth. At 13.5% alcohol, this is a strong wine! **1/2

2007 St. Francis Old Vines Zinfandel (CA) $14.99
Not a sour wine, this is made of grapes from 120 year old vines. It has slight tannins which perk up my taste buds. It's juicy, salivating and great with food; a good grill wine. Sitting in 15 months in oak, powerful, full-bodied and acidic. ***1/2

2008 Tenuta San Guido "Guidalberto" (IT) $45.99
Not a heavy nose, has a nice aroma. Coming from a very windy and dry climate, the grapes have an excellent source of sun. It is 15 year age-able. It's light and sweet to the tongue. It makes me salivate, even if has no tannins. *1/2

2007 Benziger Family Cabernet Sauvignon (CA) $15.99
Powerful 14.5% alcohol. A lovely, strong nose. Great tannins. It fills the nose when drank. It's well integrated and balanced. ****1/2

2006 Agricola Punica "Barrua" (IT) $43.99
Stinky nose! It's a roast/meat wine. Amazing and spicy smell to it. Such body! Such flavor. Makes my mouth water (most likely the acid). Best for seasfood, escargo or kabobs. ****

2007 Sequoia Grove Cabernet Sauvignon (CA) $34.99
Good aroma, light on the tongue and full in the nose. Great bodied wine. ***1/2

One of the funnier bits I learned in this seminar, is that to "crashea" is to "spit" out your tasted wine. Who spits out their wine!?

Tennis!

Finally got our tennis match going this morning with Nola! Loved getting onto the court! Love-15-30-40! Game-Set-Match!

NYS Fair

Fair days are my favorite days! Holding baby chicks will make my year complete!

Hurricane Irene Survival Kit

Per the government, I have gathered the bare necessities for my Hurricane Irene Survival Kit.

1. Flask full of double espresso vodka, to give me courage to loot.


2. Freshly made no-bake cookies & candies, mostly to lure people and their supplies to my doorstep.


3. A bottle of water, Powerade Zero, to.. keep my electrolytes up? I might be running. Knowing me, I'll still hit 50mi for the week.


4. A Yankee candle, to not only to freshen the air (see item #7), but to provide light when the power goes out.


5. A bottle of dry red wine, circa 2001, Spain, with a fine lipped glass, to basically forget there is a hurricane. Might need two bottles.


6. Fiber pills, to keep regular during the stressful parts of defending my property from looters.


7. A canister of Lysol wipes, to replace the shower once running water fails.


8. Three bottles of beer, one for each morning I wake up and don't have to go to work.


9. A bag of tortilla chips w/salsa, cause who can stay low-carb once the world goes to hell?

I urge you to gather your items from your local store before the shelves empty. Go. Go now.

More Camping Pictures

A friend sent out some more camping pictures from back in June.  Hard to believe it's been two months already.  And look, I'm finally in a picture, albeit blurry!  Quite the fire.

Photos by Elena Dubas

LaTrenda's Birthday

The gang got together tonight to celebrate LaTren's bday! So fun to celebrate in style!

Especially Great

Today's run sponsored by this gorgeous view over the Erie Canal.

Family at Beardslee Castle!

Finally, a group shot! My family, enjoying our wonderful dinner and show at the castle on Saturday night.

Beardslee Castle - Murder Mystery Dinner

In a continuing effort to make my birthday last an entire month, I proposed a dinner at this amazing castle I saw on TV last October. Yeah, almost a year! I put it on my calendar to look it up and reserve some dinner plans. Well, when I did so, I came across a list of events they hold there, including a murder mystery dinner. Hey now! Sounds like fun. I proposed it to my family, and they were sold on it.


While it was an incredibly long drive from Rochester (3+ hours), we got there while still daylight, took a bunch of pictures and walked the grounds.


The castle wasn't huge... three stories, maybe 20 rooms, but it was absolutely beautiful, stone, ancient and very Irish! We got a couple group shots. In fact, that window you see above my family is the window we sat at during our dinner.


One of the places I wanted to visit inside the castle was the "dungeon." The website said it was a full bar/lounge, and it didn't disappoint! You walk in and down a back stairwell, and end up in a narrow stone area, crowded and close.


I, of course, explored first and took a bunch of pictures. The bar also served food, with clever little alcoves, comfortable couches, and an awesome looking bar.


I mean, come on! They had a Foosball table, pool table & dart board. They had ancient chess boards and other weird games throughout the dungeon.


My family hit the bar early, and got glasses of cider and wine. A couple glasses later, and we were ready!


We had a very fun table. In fact, the night began with other people from other tables coming to our table to steal the clue on our table. The game encouraged you to talk to other tables, but not to trust them. Nola took it upon herself to protect our clue, and only trade real facts. We got quite the reputation for the mean-spirited table!


Delicious dinner! Rolls, salad, roast beef, chicken french, roasted mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, vegetables & pasta and a decadent flourless chocolate cake. Our table loved the food so much that we asked for another round!


Nola got right into the game, and in fact, won for "stupidest solution of the night." Wow! In a room of 75, that's quite the award! She even got a certificate and free ticket for next time! At $45 a pop, not a bad win!


The show was great, food was great, we drank A LOT, had a ton of laughs, made complete fools out of ourselves, and eventually, made our way outside the castle into the dark. The drive home was tiring, but the whole evening was an amazing exercise in hilarity.

Red Wings (lose big)!

Had a great time at the red wings game tonight!

Too early - sale

Biggest sale of the summer! Got lots of great finds! And breakfast on Grandma at Denny's. :)

Will's Dirty 30th Birthday

Was invited to a VIP invite-only party on Saturday night that involved so much food, so much booze, so much dancing and so much insane behavior that I will only share a couple bits of insight.


The club was reserved for our group. Our VERY large group. Names on a list. People being kicked out. Our awesome bartender making double drinks so strong, you have no idea the results.



All in all, the party was insane. It went until after 2am. We had a blast. Definitely exhausting, but amazing all the same.

Running day!

Got out for a hot run! Gorgeous out!

The Shuni Awards

Tonight was the annual celebration of the role-playing group I'm involved in (i.e. see my annual trips to Baltimore and basically five nights a week in college). To keep myself having fun and interactive, I bought an expensive cheese and opened up a great bottle of wine for the night! Was great fun, and the online event worked beautifully.

Half Pies & Apple Dreams

I obliged a recent request by two people in my life to make them "half apple pies" since full pies were too much. And they declined my suggestion to just SHARE a full pie. So I made two half pies, and they turned out okay!

Birthday Care Package

Care package from Laura, Luke & Sean! This about brought me to tears. Packed with goodies from D.C. Trader Joe's "if you had visited as planned." Love love love! Truly makes me appreciate the great people I surround myself with (in friendship, not necessarily proximity!) Thank you!

Eerily Accurate!

TAURUS and LEO Compatibility Overview

Taurus will have to abandon stubbornness and let Leo take the leading role in the relationship. While Taurus is egoistic and reserved, Leo remains sympathetic and active. Although Taurus tries to be affectionate and loving, Leo is hard to please. This with no doubt will bring some complications to the relationship. Taurus wants their feelings returned. Taurus finds it extremely difficult to worship and adore Leo. Leo is a spendthrift and this may not augur well with Taurus, because Taurus is deliberate and cautious. The two of you may be compatible romantically, but it will be difficult for a relationship to stay afloat, if you do not put significant amount of effort into it. While the two of you have a strong emotional and physical attraction, you will be faced with many hurdles that might force you to give up eventually. This relationship sticks more toward being a romantic affair, rather than a solid partnership. Leo loves being in the spotlight, while Taurus prefers to stay in the background. Taurus has a lot to learn from Leo, if Taurus is willing to embrace it. The two of you may be very collaborative when in agreement, but you will need to work on reaching that middle ground.

--
Copyright (c) The DailyHoroscope by Comitic
http://bit.ly/DHmobile

Birthday Happy Hour

I decided to have a belated birthday Happy Hour at She'a Food, Wine & Tap. I invited over 22 people and a grand total of 16 attended. Such a success! While appetizers and such were served, people drank wine and caught up from weeks apart. Shea's surprised me with birthday cake before the happy hour ended at 8:30. Such a great night, and it didn't end until midnight. Was an amazing night!

Birthday Weekends

And ruined plans. No optimism left. Tried; failed.

Park Ave Festival

Walking the fest and keeping cool!