Red Wine

Why, oh why, can I not remember to stop drinking red wine at one and only one glass? Hmmm? I love wine. I love all kinds of wine, sweet white, dry-ish reds, from every corner of the globe.

One of my favorite family-owned local Italian places has a wonderful red that is called Luigi Leonardo or Leonardo Luigi...I can't remember which. It is goooooooood stuff. Especially with the super-garlicky pasta that I like to get there. Just goes down so smooth.

DH and I and friends went there last night for good food and general hilarity. A good time was had by all. Too much food, and decadant stuff at that. I didn't eat most of the day yesterday in order to be able to indulge in this wonderful cheesy garlicky cream-based pasta dish. I can never finish it. DH decided on dessert; I passed in favor of a second glass of the double LL. The bartenders there believe in healthy glasses full of wine, and I woke at about 1 AM with thousands of little hammers banging away in my skull. Two naproxen sodiums at one, another three at ten AM, and ow.

The tannins in the red wine are what give me headaches. I'm too stubborn to stop drinking the stuff. Working up a slow tolerance does not seem to be working so well; nor does drinking lots of water with the wine. Oh well. Red wine's good for the heart, right?

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

Feelin' hot hot hot

Had a wonderful anniversary; went to visit a winery here in OH and got just a weee bit tipsy. It doesn't get much better than this; you can sample all 11 wines that they make for $3. Yes, $3. They give you an ounce of each one and so that adds up to 11 oz of wine.

I wrote about it for Growers and Grocers, it will post on Friday.

The West Coast is sweltering under record temps, and we're not exempt from it in the Midwest. Yesterday and today were lovely, but we have a heat advisory for tomorrow and I'm expecting much unpleasantness from the heat. I hate the heat. Have I mentioned that before? I think a time or two.

Anyway. I did some checking about the test that the radiologist wants me to have and it turns out that the overwhelming majority of women who have a ductogram end up having surgery to remove the milk duct or cyst that is causing the problem. I don’t wanna have surgery. Don’t have time to either, now that I think about it. And I’m fretting unnecessarily because until I consult with the surgeon, none of what I think or have read will definitely come to pass.

I don’t spend much time talking about television, (or ever watching it, really) but there are two summer replacement series that I want to touch on. Sci-Fi Channel’s Eureka! Is something my DH has gotten in to, and I like it against my better judgment. Then USA Network has Psych, which I don’t really like. I am a huge fan of Dule` Hill, I really liked his work on The West Wing, and so I really wanted to like it, but I just don’t.

This is a classic case of escapism, because I’m watching stupid television programs to avoid watching what’s going on in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. Happy Tuesday!

Perfect Sunday Dinner

I'm so clever, I am. Came up with a perfect sunday dinner all by myself, and then as I've started to enter it here, banged my knee into something under the computer desk and owwwww.

I did a post on slow cookers for FitFare last week, and I made the slow cooker chicken that I wrote about for the post. Its easy, and I'm not entering the whole damn thing again here. Check it out over on FitFare, the post went live on 03/24.

Then I've got some brown rice going to accompany it, but the thing I'm most excited about are the stuffed tomato halves that are waiting to go into the oven. The credit for this goes in equal parts to Aunty Marianne and Giada De Laurentiis, strangely enough. Aunty Marianne did a stuffed mushroom caps recpie the other day (03/18 to be exact), that I found wonderfully inspiring. The problem is that I'm really allergic to mushrooms. They make my throat close over, which does make it difficult to breathe. Then this morning, when I should have been getting dressed, I was instead watching Giada make a big Sunday dinner for her family. I didn't make the tomato halves just like her, though, because she left out several vital things IMO. She said during the episode that her mom doesn't like garlic (horrors, can't imagine cooking without it, myself. Ever.) so she wasn't putting any in. Also, I love the combination of tomato and basil, as does apparently Aunty Marianne, because her blog is called Tomato and Basil sandwiches. Anyway, here goes.

2 large beefsteak tomatoes, cut in half, seeded, and centers removed with a grapefruit spoon
1/2 cup provolone cheese, shredded
1/2 cup breadcrumbs, unseasoned
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp finely minced fresh basil leaves
1 tsp oregano

Chop the removed sections of tomato into a fine dice. Mix all ingredients well and stuff back into hollowed out tomatoes. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. Top with more shredded cheese.

I'm excited about the taste. I tasted the filling raw, of course, and it is yummy. So I'm thinking that hot and with the cheese all melty it will be even better.

I have a fairly yuucky week coming up, so I'm pulling out the wine for dinner as well. Cheers!