Ooh la la

My friends Scott and Jen took me to my first wine-tasting for a belated birthday present.
Scott is quite the connoisseur, and I get delightful perks when I go over to their house for dinner.
He's always bringing out a couple of reds--last time we even started with a sparkling wine in a beautiful apricot shade.
Jen is an amazing cook--she can decipher every nuance of a dish ("I taste white pepper").
She took a sip and detected raspberry and oak.
Okaaay.
I'm not there yet.

I asked Scott if he would be so kind as to start teaching me about wine.
It's such a huge, complicated subject.
I started reading Educating Peter (sort-of a Wine 101) but wine is something one really needs to see, smell, and taste.

They took me to lunch at the WineSeller & Brasserie--a good choice for my first experience in that it was informal.
I didn't have to worry about swirling and sniffing correctly, if you know what I mean.
Wouldn't want to make a fool of myself.

Lunch was lovely.
We started out with asparagus soup with wild mushrooms and chantilly creme, big hunks of rustic bread, and an appetizer plate with roasted eggplant, green olive tapenade, and a marinated goat cheese.
Scott had beef (was it the rib eye? I'm not sure. I'm not much of a beef eater).
Jen chose Duck Confit, and I had the ravioli with ricotta, truffle, and artichokes.
We split the sampler of three desserts--carmelized banana cannoli, Vahlrona hazelnut torte, and creme brulee.
Scott also ordered a flourless chocolate cake with Grand Marnier that we shared.
French Press all around.
Ah, it's so nice being treated to the good life on occasion.

Along with our meal, we each were given six tastings of various Syrah.
We got a sheet of descriptions, and tried to match the glass to the descriptions.
Descriptions were wild adjectives--scent of blueberry pie, cherry cola....hint of chocolate.
Um, I didn't really get that.
I got every match wrong.
That's okay.
Nothing quite like quality time spent with good friends.
That's always the right thing.

Speaking of, that same week three other friends treated me to a Parisian-style bistro.
Coffee and about three hours conversation--it doesn't get much better than that.
Well, it does when chocolate is involved


My friend Tracie gave me a gift card in a unique package--a pig-shaped container made from a water bottle!

Who said crafts are for kids?