29 January 2007

Discovery

DH and I and another couple went t'up North last weekend. We went to Niagara-on-the-Lake, there was an Ice Wine Festival going on. If you've never had Ice Wine, well, you're missing out. Here's a definition for more information than you ever really needed about Ice Wine.

We visited seven, yes seven wineries in the 20 hours we were there. It was cold, but we were drinking lots, so it balances, yes? Best presentation of the ice wine had to be at Stratus Winery, where they gave us three things to taste with the wine, a slice of orange, blue cheese, and poached pears, with a honey glaze. It was really neat to see how the taste of the wine changed as you ate each thing. I'm not a fan of blue cheese, never have been, but the blue with the ice wine was wonderful. Best experience was at Konzelmann Winery, where we tasted probably 10 different wines, and the woman who waited on us was so much fun. Other favorites were Inniskillin, Reif, and Jackson-Triggs. We discovered a whole new set of favorites, DH particularly liked the Gamay Noir from Inniskillin. I found a Pinot Grigio and a Chard that I liked enough to bring home. We also bought 4 bottles of ice wine, good, good, good stuff.

We had no trouble at the border, which was nice. Homeland Security staffs the checkpoints now, but I would be astonished if they're not sub-contrators. The guy took our passports and looked at them, but no stamp. He walked around the car and peeked in the windows and waved us through.

Our drive home was eventful....we hit a major snowstorm outside of Buffalo, NY, and what should have taken us about 3 hours instead took six. For a while, really slow going, and you couldn't see the road. A little scary.

Finally, I've rediscovered a band that my sister introduced me to a few years back on iTunes, Red Wanting Blue. I've still got some issues with iTunes, haven't figured it all out just yet, but I'm so digging it. I want to change the order of some of the songs in a playlist that I created and I can't figure out how to do that, so that's annoying, but I also bought a season pass to a TV show that I like, and every time I log in, it checks to see if there are any new episodes. So if I miss one on TV, then I will have it automatically in iTunes. That's pretty darn cool. I have to watch the episodes on the computer b/c my iPod doesn't do video, but that's fine with me. I am rediscovering so many bands that I had not forgotten about, exactly, but stopped listening to. Folks like The Violent Femmes, the Beastie Boys, Squeeze....I find that I'm a happier person when surrounded by music that I love.

When I eventually feel like it, I'm going to get back to politicking, there was an anti-war protest in Washington DC this past weekend that I'd like to comment on, and a few other things going on that need addressed, but I'm really busy working on the book and trying to finish one baby blanket and start another, so it isn't politics as usual around here. Maybe later this week.

Listening to: Audition, Red Wanting Blue

No comments: