Cork Poppers Celebrate Favorites!

Usually when our Cork Poppers gather to taste wine,. wine guide Dick picks several wines that might be from the same country or region, a mix of reds and whites, and in a variety of price ranges. We taste and compare and he gives us excellent notes which generally end up in my Gypsy posts (See labels and look for Cork Poppers or Wine for other wine posts).

This time everyone was on their own, with each couple bringing a bottle of wine they either wanted to try or wanted to share. The results? Four reds and two whites!

 

We were greeted at the door by our hostess Pat, aka Mrs. Merlot. She had asked us to wear something of Christmas... more on that later!(None of us were as Christmassy as Pat!)

We started out with a poem -- and a lovely poem it was, to the meter of "The Night Before Christmas" but in which Barb celebrated each and every one of us!

This time we started with the reds because the whites were both sweeter. The first up was the Chateau du Pin Bordeaux, 2009. Rick picked this out and at $9.99 it was such a bargain that at that very moment we called the wine store and ordered a case to split among the 11 of us! 

Rich and full, it was a delicious Bordeaux and at that price, an excellent value.

Dick was up next with Ramon Roqueta 2006 Reserva, a Tempranillo Cabernet Sauvignon. I loved its smooth finish and at $13.50 quite reasonable.

Mike offered Marques de Caceres Crianza 2008 Rioja from Spain. This, too, was very good. (Do you notice a theme here? They were all great!) This was another at $9.99.

Then Clayton brought a Gnarly Head Old Vine Zin 2010. Excellent -- at $13.99, another good buy.

Roger brought a Chauteau Chantal 2011 Late Harvest Riesling. this was a Michigan wine, generally not my favorite. But still, I found it quite nice and fresh. It was a bit sweet for me. The price? "Around $11 something."

And finally Pat offered a Gewerztraminer -- Covey Run 2012 from the Columbia Valley in Washington State. It was her favorite and at $9.99 a good bargain. Yes, it was a little sweeter, but very crisp and with turkey it would be excellent.

 

Remember the Christmas garb theme? Several had to wear the Santa hat because their clothes weren't Christmassy enough!

 

After exchanging gifts we did what Cork Poppers do best -- celebrate with a great feast! This time it was an early Christmas dinner with meatloaf, veggies, potatoes and a delicious wedge salad. 

Pat's table looked gorgeous with a little red...

...and a little white! 

We all took home party favors and best of all, took home the friendship of our fellow Cork Poppers, with lots of good wine recommendations to get us through the holiday!

All of these wines would be very good for the holidays and because of the relatively inexpensive prices for all of them, good to offer for holiday entertaining.

Try a few -- you'll like them!

Someone is waiting!

 Someone...

 

 And I'm not saying who...

 

But someone is waiting for Christmas!

 

(And the tree, miraculously, is still standing!) 

Deck the Halls

Truth be told, my hall decking got started a little early this year.

I was chosen to have my house decorations featured in one of our local magazines.

I was tremendously honored -- and also panicked! The photo shoot was a full week before Thanksgiving and we'd been under a tremendous pace at work. I had no idea how I could make a good stab at it -- with at least enough up for photos!

Fortunately, I had a few tricks up my sleeve that I'm happy to share. You've probably thought of most of these, but just in case...

Tip 1 -- if you have the space to do so and it will work, put your trees away with the lights and garland left on. It will save you a TON of time.

This only works with artificial trees, of course, and not all of them, at that. My big tree (not in this post) must have all the lights removed when it is put away. But this thin white tree is easy to keep lit.

I love the ornaments on this tree. For the most part they are white or silver and many are paper. (Shop your own collections, especially ephemera!)

A number of them I've made myself. 

I also tuck my antique Christmas postcards and cards into the tree, like this one I found in my grandmother's things.

Tip 2 -- For small trees, keep ornaments handy and easy to find and get to. This is my Solstice Tree.

Although it has a lot more ornaments than are on it now, I keep the ones I love most -- the "must haves" -- in a separate box and it's easy to get it up and something on it without spending a lot of time. 

The other ornaments can be added later.

Tip 3 -- Shop your yard, your basement and your current arrangements. I really didn't want to throw out my dried green hydrangeas. 

It only took a cardinal on a stick to turn it into something seasonal. And the bright green is a good contrast color.

Tip 4 -- Do the tree you love most first. While my big tree is "my biography," this smaller tree in the family room (also in the top photo) is my "mom" tree and the things on it are those from our original tree and ornaments that remind me of mom.

We have a set of storybook characters that she got in the mid-'60s when the hospital auxiliary sold them. You can see Peter Pan here, the Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow (alone with Raggedy Andy) below.

Other ornaments on this tree reflect her love of tea, family and sugarplums. If you run out of time, you'll always be happy if your favorites are there!

Tip 5 -- Do it because you want to; not because you have to. Not everyone is a Christmas Crazy Girl like me. I'm trying hard to do what I can do, not what I think I should do. This is hard for me. But in the end, I'll be all the better for it -- and so will you. Or maybe you know that already!

By the way, the magazine also included my pumpkin roll recipe. Here's the link!

More to come!

Butterflies are Free!

What is better than spending time with a friend?

I'm sure there are a few things -- but very few. I recently took advantage of the opportunity to spend a bit of time with a blog friend in St. Louis. Unable to get more immediate flight connections after a conference, I figured I may as well take that time to connect with Diana, whose blog "The Writing Life" I have followed for several years.

Catching up was delightful, as her daughter had been married recently. I had seen photos on her blog (HERE and HERE) but it was fun to see even more!

The next day we spent the morning working (online is a good thing and I felt less guilty about not being able to get a flight back the night before!) and then it was off to lunch and an orgy of Christmas shopping.

(I'm not sure which was better -- the quiche and scone or all the glorious places we visited, all decked out for the holidays!)

We returned home to prep dinner. One of our adventures was this to-die-for baked apple recipe from America's Test Kitchen.Then it was more talk, sharing, movie watching and just having fun!

The next morning I had to leave, but before going we stopped at the Butterfly House, which was located at a county park in Chesterfield, MO, a suburb of St. Louis. It was a magical place: humid, tropical, beautiful. It was a camera fanatic's dream.

I'll let the butterflies speak for themselves, along with a quote or two that is far more eloquent than I could be.

"Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."  
 ~Nathaniel Hawthorne

"'Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."  
 ~Hans Christian Andersen

 

I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly!  Indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless! - not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"

"I only ask to be free.  The butterflies are free."  
~Charles Dickens

"Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave.
The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him."
 
~Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds

"Once I read a story about a butterfly in the subway, and today, I saw one.  It got on at 42nd, and off at 59th, where, I assume it was going to Bloomingdales to buy a hat that will turn out to be a mistake - as almost all hats are."  
~Nikolaus Laszlo, Nora Ephron, and Delia Ephron, You've Got Mail

"The paired butterflies are already yellow with August
Over the grass in the West garden;
They hurt me.  I grow older."
~Li Po

“Butterflies are not insects,' Captain John Sterling said soberly. 'They are self-propelled flowers.” 
~Robert A. Heinlein, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls"
 

“Ballet in the air...
Twin butterflies until, twice white
They Meet, they mate” 
~Basho Matsuo, Japanese Haiku: Two Hundred Twenty Examples of Seventeen-Syllable Poems

“Is it possible to become friends with a butterfly?"

"It is if you first become a part of nature. You suppress your presence as a human being, stay very still, and convince yourself that you are a tree or grass or a flower. It takes time, but once the butterfly lets its guard down, you can become friends quite naturally."
  ~ Haruko Murakami, 1Q84 #1

...
" ... I come here every day, say hello to the butterflies, and talk about things with them. When the time comes, though, they just quietly go off and disappear. I'm sure it means they've died, but I can never find their bodies. They don't leave any trace behind. It's like they've been absorbed by the air. They're dainty little creatures that hardly exist at all: they come out of nowhere, search quietly for a few, limited things, and disappear into nothingness again, perhaps to some other world.”
― Haruki Murakami, 1Q84, #1    

 
Butterflies included in this post were the The Malachite, Owl Butterfly, The Postman, The Common Blue Morpho, Orange Tiger, Small Postman Red Rim and a few others not on the flyer!