I also tried an Argentinian Malbec at my favorite local restaurant in my hometown. Eh, it was alright. It was drier than I like and no real burst of flavor. Very mild.
(2.5.12) I changed the bulb in my brake light. As always, I took my car, Hanz, to the shop to get an oil change, and they came out with a laundry list of things I need to have done. Included on that list was $15 to replace my burnt out brake light. I said no thanks. I already had an extra bulb from when my dad changed another light a few months ago. So I switched it out myself for free. I feel oh so handy now. (Full disclosure: my dad did supervise.)
I also tried an Argentinian Malbec at my favorite local restaurant in my hometown. Eh, it was alright. It was drier than I like and no real burst of flavor. Very mild.
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What woman doesn't love shopping? Not me. I've heard great things about World Market in West Des Moines. People told me it was a good place for furniture as well as wine, so I wasn't really sure what all I'd actually find in there. I spent 45 minutes wondering around. What a great wine selection! It also has fun stemware and plates, specialty foods, couches, handbags, and wall art. I need to go back when I have some extra cash laying around.
It was an incredible Saturday. I got out of bed only once before 3pm. While I can't recall ever doing that before, I won't count that as my new thing of the day because that would be really lame. During my time in bed, I watched the movie Monster which I've wanted to see since it came out in 2003. The story line wasn't what I expected, but I actually liked it better than what I had plotted in my head. I'm a huge Charlize Theron fan. Once I was done being lazy, I went to a friend's house for his birthday party. I'd never been to his apartment. It was in nice shape considering two guys live there, and we all know what slobs men are. I also tried Lollipop red wine for the first time. It's made by Madison County Winery. The name is right on. In fact, it could be called grape juice or jolly rancher. It was very sweet, too sweet for me. I didn't even feel like I was drinking wine. This is one of my few negative reviews. Sorry, Lollipop.
What better way to spend Christmas than with family? Working - not so much. That's how I spent Christmas last year, so I was very thankful to have several days off this year to spend time with the family. There's only 12 of us, and we always enjoy the time we have together. Us cousins are almost all grown up with real jobs making it hard to get time off to get together. Things got heated up Christmas Day with the award-winning (because people pick games based on awards) Dicecapades. We are very competitive people - turning everything (sometimes unnecessarily) into a win or lose, do or die, braggin rights show down. We were all on a level playing field for this one because none of us had ever played Dicecapades before. The game includes lotsa dice rollin, picture drawin, trivia, knowledge, memory, and athleticism, and you've only got 30 seconds to do each task. My brother-in-law was winning before my uncle interrupted the game to open presents (how dare he). I'd recommend this for older crowds who want to use their brains and can follow all the different aspects and rules of the game. Once again, I added a new wine to the list. Walker red wine was a fine, medium-bodied, semi-dry wine (that's what the label said). Nothing special, nothing awful. My parents picked it out, which you might have guessed because it doesn't have a cool name or pretty bottle, which is how I choose mine.
I drove up to my grandma's house in northeast Iowa on Friday for the Christmas weekend. There's been maybe three days that I missed doing something new. One of them was when I was at my grandma's. This time I came prepared. My family likes playing different games together. As I was Christmas shopping, I spotted Scrabble Slam. I'd heard of it before and remembered wanting to try it out. So I picked it up thinking it would be a great family game. I was right! My grandma and I played a couple of rounds as we waited for everyone else to arrive. She liked it because she said even she could understand the rules. How it works: Pick any four-letter word and spell it out on the table, deal out all the cards to the players, then as fast as you can lay down one card at a time to change the word until you're out of cards. However, once we played with everyone else, it was a little fast-paced for her. I blame my brother. He's just too good at it. All my cousins, sister, brother-in-law, and even dad had fun. I'd recommend it for your next gathering. And of course, no card game is quite as fun without alcohol. I picked up Twisted, a zinfandel, the week before and (surprisingly) never got around to drinking it. I had low expectations once I realized it didn't have a cork, just a cap. But, I gave it a try (it was the only wine in the house). It's sweeter than my cabs, but I liked it. It stood well on its own without a meal. I don't have any other zinfandels to compare it too, though. Looks like I've got a new assignment...
Walking in to Trader Joe's Monday night, I didn't plan on liking it. I shop at Aldi - yes, it's not the biggest selection ever, but you can't beat the prices. The two grocers are owned by the same company, so I thought there was a glimmer of hope the prices wouldn't be absurd. I was suprised when I walked in: there were other young people in the store. At Aldi, I'm the youngest by 50 years and the only one without three kids in tow. The store felt overly-trendy for me, but upon close inspection of the selection and prices, I was satisfied. Satisfied, not impressed. That's because I don't believe a box of cereal should ever cost more than $2, and there were several priced more than $4. I love they have a wine section and cheese section, and I trust their meat and produce a lot more than Aldi. They had great options for party appetizers, like a proscuitto mozzarella wrap. However, I was not a fan of the American Gothic re-creation. All the other cartoons in the store were about Iowa, and she's clearly from Wisconsin.
Sunday came three new firsts, which included a stop at The Underground in the East Village. I've heard of this bar before, but honestly, I don't go out that often in the East Village. So when my co-workers suggested going here, I was all in. I was surprised how big the place was. It wasn't crowded so we had enough room to grab a booth and pull over extra chairs. We also were able to wander around without constantly bumping into other people and having to be on the lookout for drinks spilling on you. Either my vodka tonics were a bit on the weak side, or I just really, really needed a drink.
Second, was Beringer Pinot Grigio. My glass is usually filled with red wine, but when there's only white to drink, white is it. I like to think I'm an equal opportunity wine drinker. I actually liked this pinot grigio, but should probably try it again when I hadn't already had several other drinks. Another restaurant to check off the list, which I should have done months ago, is Baby Boomers in the East Village. I've been there for a couple political events, and of course I'm aware it is the home to President Obama and his family's favorite chocolate chip cookie. The cookie is quite good, but after a plate of their gravy with biscuits and hashbrowns, I wouldn't recommend adding the cookie into the mix. I also got to take a bite of their French toast. I found it to be a little sweet for my liking, but I can't say I've ever had French toast at a restaurant that was better than mine. Don't misunderstand, I don't have some top secret, super special, out of this world French toast recipe. It's just what I grew up eating and love it. Thursday was a BIG day for me. It was the first time I did so many firsts in one day. Along with some help, I picked out my first Christmas tree as an adult. I’ve always had a real one growing up, so I haven’t wanted to get a fake one the past three years I’ve been on my own. This year though, I thought it was worth a look to see how much a little tree would cost. I went in with the idea to get a tree just bigger than Charlie Brown’s. This is what I walked away with… for $15! Now it’s sitting in a utensil holder leaning against the wall until I have time to go buy a tree stand. Then we dusted off our ice skating skills and put them to use at Brenton Skating Plaza downtown. It was actually pretty beautiful – you could see all the lights of downtown and the bridges over the Des Moines River, plus it started snowing. We attended the holiday release party at Jasper Winery for three of their new red wines. It was a great event. Free wine and beer samples from Madhouse for their new IPA, plus free hot dogss from Capital Pub and Hot Dog and pizza from Flour. The Hawaiian pizza was amazing. It’s not one of the new ones, but I really like Jasper’s Red Bed Head. It’s got black cherry and vanilla flavors.
We ended the night on the bridge at Gray’s Lake. I’ve never been on the bridge before, so to see it all lit up at night in the snow was pretty awesome. I enjoyed my Sunday evening with a glass of Simply Naked merlot and watched the movie Water for Elephants. I remember wanting to see this movie back in the spring, but couldn't really remember what it was about. I thought it was a cool story line, but felt like it ripped off Titanic a bit. It started out in the present day with an old guy flashing back to 1931. It ended with the old guy again in present day, just like Titanic, expect he didn't die in the end. The wine was pretty good for $8. I always pick wine based on the name or the label. I'll give you one guess to pick which criteria I based this one on.
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