Crazy Busy.

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There are number of things I want to blog about right now. 
There are also a number of things going on that have me completely distracted.
There are also only so many hours in the day,so many days in the week.
It’s the end of school year, so I only have 3 days of lazing around this house by myself left.  Not that I have alot of those anyway, with a husband who’s office is based out of the same house, but we do have the house to ourselves all day, with no not-so-little-anymore feet in & out all day.  That’s about to change for the next few months.
There are activities galore I’m expected to attend.  Piano recitals, chorus concerts, field day, moving up ceremonies, there are so many end of the year celebrations for this, that and the other I can barely keep them all straight.  I’m organizing the class picnic for the 5th and final year in a row.  
My dear sweet baby girl is off to middle school.  How did that happen?
I finally made it out strawberry picking.  I really need to remember to leave time for that earlier in the season.  I picked 20 pounds, froze some whole for the smoothies all winter, made strawberry butter and a strawberry rhubarb crisp.  Up next, blueberries.

I also helped organize the second Cville Swap this past Sunday, which you can read about here.  I scored some more raspberry bushes, so I’ll definitely have a nice patch come next year. 
Turns out Boots, our corn snake, is a girl.  And she’s laid eggs. 
Stay tuned to see what hatches.
I took some time to organize the recipes I’ve posted over the years and created a page for recipes with a link across the top of this blog.  Some of them are original.  Some of them are just links to other recipes on other blogs and websites.  You’ll have to skim through the whole post to find them, but they are in there.  It’s been asked if I will do the same for my wine columns and I might, I just need to get around to it. I can only do so much procrastinating right now.
There’s lots of other behind the scenes stuff going on as well.  Firming up summer schedules.  Edie’s only doing one week of day camp in addition to three weeks at away camp.  She hasn’t had this much time home with us since she was in preschool.  I’m a little nervous about that. We have our city pool passes, we have some great roadtrips planned to the beach, to the lake and to the beach again.  I’ve got some great projects I’m working on right now that I’m super excited about that will keep June pretty busy for me. 
And the chickens arrive the week of June17.
I guess that means we need to finish the roof of the chicken house.
I’m really looking forward to sleeping in next week and not having to have anyone in bed at a decent hour for the next 10 weeks.  Not that she’s been to bed at a decent hour in a month, but at least I won’t have to pry her out of bed in the morning for awhile….

Ten Treasure Salad

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When I was a kid, “Ten Treasure Salad” was my dad’s go-to summertime potluck dish.  He cut the recipe out of the paper and it became, along with his tacos and spaghetti sauce, one of his signature dishes.  I really don’t know how he came to be the one to come up with what we brought to cookouts, I imagine he got tired of all the potato salad and wanted something different.  He also really liked to cook when he had the chance.
I loved this dish as a kid.  I realize now it was because it was all my favorite things thrown together – snow peas, mushrooms, shrimp, broccoli, cauliflower and red bell peppers in a ginger soy dressing.  Somehow my version has never quite tasted like I remember it, in part I know, because I throw tofu in for the chicken, although my marinated tofu has more flavor than the chicken ever could.  I have played around with this recipe over the years and I think I finally came up with a version that rocks it.  Among my substitutions:
  • Rice noodles for the rotini pasta
  • Teriyaki marinated tofu for chicken
  • Ginger soy salad dressing instead of the called for 1/4 cup soy sauce with 1/8 teaspoon ginger
  • Adding cilantro for an extra kick
  • Adding garlic, ginger and soy sauce when I saute the veggies
I whip up my own teriyaki sauce sauce based on a recipe from The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook.
3 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
3 tablespoons orange juice
Minced garlic
1 tablespoon maple syrup
3 tablespoons sesame oil
I have learned that if you boil tofu for about 10 minutes or so, it firms up and holds marinades beautifully.
I use Twin Oaks tofu, which is pretty firm to start with.   The longer it marinates, the more flavor it holds, so I will prep this in the morning or even sometimes a day ahead of time.
The Ginger Soy salad dressing is based on one I used to eat religiously at a restaurant that sadly, is no longer open.  It was primarily a vegetarian smoothie place that had a nice salad bar I’d grab lunch from a few days week back before we had a kid and a mortgage and I could eat out every day.  I loved their ginger soy dressing, I swore it was sprinkled with fairy dust that made it addictive.  Here’s my version of it.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/8 soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon honey
pepper to taste
Now, for the salad.  I throw in the following:
Carrots, sliced
Mushrooms, sliced
Broccoli, chopped
Cauliflower, chopped
Snow peas or sugar snaps
Red Bell Pepper, cut into small strips
Scallions or Chives, chopped
Shrimp
Marinated Tofu
Cooked noodles (I like pad thai type rice noodles)
Cilantro
I saute some of the vegetables in sesame oil with ginger and garlic.  I start with the mushrooms and when they are slightly cooked I add the broccoli and cauliflower, also adding a touch of water/wine/broth to steam as well as soy sauce or salt.  I stir fry that for a few minutes, then add the snow peas and shrimp.  When the shrimp are done, I combine this mixture with the tofu, noodles and the remaining veggies (I like my carrots and peppers raw for a nice crunch), cilantro and about half of the ginger soy salad dressing. 
This salad is good hot or cold.  I find myself making early in the day during the summer, especially when I know it’s going to be hot out there.  It keeps well for a few days, is a great addition to a potluck and you can mix up what you put in there.  I’ve been known to substitute zucchini for the broccoli, regular peas for the snow peas, sometimes I’ll use a variety of mushrooms, sometimes I’ll just use regular button mushrooms.  I imagine marinated chicken would be great in it as well.
Happy Summer Eating!

Mom Hooky.

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The Fourth Grade had a field trip to DC yesterday.
 
Over our knitting a few weeks back, my friend Bonnie & I decided we wanted to go along.  Where exactly in DC they were going we weren’t sure, but there was a security clearance involved and as there is a classmate who’s family has a few connections in the area, we thought it might be a fun field trip to chaperone.  Also, there was no call for parent chaperones, which intrigued us. 
We are those moms. 
Bonnie is the mom friend who calls me to ask about the upcoming holiday party in our kids’ classroom and when I say I think the teacher has it under control, by the end of the call, Bonnie makes me realize that we should offer to help, we should just put it together ourselves and besides, I’m good at that.  This is what I do.  Which really is true you know.
So, our kids were going on a potential kick-ass field trip without us?  No way, we were so going along. 
There may have been wine involved when this conversation took place.
There was a point Tuesday, the day before,  in which I thought this wasn’t actually going to happen.  Bonnie threw her back out again and wasn’t sure she could do it.  I have a million different things going on and really didn’t have a day to devote to a road trip.  But, Tuesday late afternoon, we decided we were game. 
The kids were leaving at 6:15, A.M. On the schedule given us, there was a scheduled White House tour (hence the security clearance) at 11 that parents weren’t invited on (because we didn’t have it), but, if we wanted to meet up for lunch and then do the Monuments on the Mall with the kids, we were welcome. Also, there wasn’t room on the bus for any parents, we were going to have to drive ourselves, but that was my plan anyway.  I never ride the bus on field trips.  I love that time in the car for myself and I’ve learned that roadtripping on these things with a mom friend is a darn good time.   So, Bonnie & I decided we’d meet the kids for lunch and the afternoon, leaving a few hours after the bus.
We were exchanging text messages with staff members on the bus via Bonnie’s phone, keeping up with where they were.  There was a schedule change and their White House tour got bumped, so they were going to lunch early, they’d meet up with us after their tour.  Which was great,  because it’d give us time to find a parking space and fart around on our own.
I have never, ever driven in Washington, D.C. and not gotten lost and circled the monuments in an seemingly endless loop.  I also have a problem with always ending up at the Pentagon. (I think it might be the magnetic north of my internal compass.) It doesn’t matter where I set out to go, I end up at the Pentagon and circling the monuments. Always.
Our plan?  Drive past the Pentagon, head straight to the monuments and find a parking space.
A free one, on the street.
Bonnie came prepared with a map.
A real DC street map.
We found a parking space, a three hour parking space, on Constitution Ave, NW, which was exactly the time frame we needed, on the street.  Free.
Across the street on the driver’s side was the Washington Monument.

And directly across from that was the The Ellipse, the Presidental Park and the White House itself.
We ended up with time to kill, so we sat in the park.  We had no where to be, nothing to do and so we just sat.  And chatted.  And people watched. 
There was a group of men playing a soccer game that we watched, older men schooling some middle aged ones, with some fancy footwork.  There were some good tourists to be seen as well, but somehow the soccer was the entertainment. 
I really hate that I’m a soccer mom.  But I am.
We knew the kids were touring the White House and it seemed to be going long.  As we sat in the park, we watched men appear on the roof of the WH and walk around, surveying the scene.  All but one were in dark suits, one was in a white shirt.  We saw black SUV’s pulling up in front of the entrance, we saw people moving around.  We kept thinking we saw our kids, so eventually we left our bench and walked across the park.
Right after we took this picture, security came down and started clearing everyone on that side of the park.  Clearly, someone was either coming or going from the WH and the fact that our kids were inside was really sort of exciting.

So we sort of dawdled on our way back from the front line.  When the very handsome and nice gentleman on the bike there came up to us, I told him our kids where in there and that’s why we were taking our time moving on and for a second, I could tell, he was considering following up to see where they were for us. 
Eventually, they finished their tour and we met them up at the Lincoln Memorial.  There were protesters at the WH that morning, and that’s what got their tour bumped to a later time.

They were given matching hats to wear on the field trip.  I had no doubt that when we caught up with the kids, mine would not be wearing hers because well, it’s my kid.  If everyone else is doing it, she’s not going to do it. 
She did not disappoint.
I assured her it was way better than the neon t-shirts we’d seen other groups in.  When she saw them, she agreed.
See what I mean about the neon t-shirts?
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is currently under construction, hence the concrete instead of water in the pond.
While we standing at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial we saw a WH helicopter fly overhead.
That’s Edie and her classmate Shaniah, a little girl I’ve gotten to know this year on my weekly volunteer gig in their classroom at the MLK Monument.  As I looked through my photos, trying to choose one to post, I realized that two little girls of different skin colors standing together at the feet of a man who devoted his life to making that happen, well, that was it.
On the drive home, we stopped for slurpees.   
We’d have gotten Corn Nuts, but they had no BBQ and everyone knows, you only eat the BBQ Corn Nuts.
We felt like we had played hooky yesterday and we loved it.  The highlight of the day was definitely sitting in the park, people watching, with absolutely no where to be, no one to keep up with, just sitting somewhere that was out of our usual path. 
And for the first time ever, I didn’t circle the monuments.  I didn’t get lost.  Heading straight for the Pentagon is the way to go.  As is bringing Bonnie along.

Send Something Good

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It’s time for the big reveal on the “Send Something Good” Project that I first read about over at Kristy’s blog. 
I had Jessica, who said she loved blue & purple and zebra print, among other things.  So when I stumbled upon the blue zebra print tissue paper, I knew I had found the perfect wrapping.
I tucked all sorts of goodies into that sweet little blue basket, including
A kindle envelope I whipped up, out of purple toile with a zebra print lining, so that her kindle has a little more flair when she carries it around.  (I realized I need to make myself one, with a pocket for my glasses for the pool this summer!).  I loaded some of my favorite books onto a disc for her, got her some of my favorite local made chocolates (and some yummy ones they were sampling next to them at Feast! that day that ended up in my basket) and a Starbucks gift card. 
After I dropped my package in the mail, all there was to do was to wait for mine to arrive.  I couldn’t wait to find out who my secret pal was!  Turns out it’s Teagan over at Kyookyoo. 

She made me a paracord survival bracelet with materials and instructions to make more.  I had every intention of doing them with my girl scouts, but well, those girls have tossed the plan for months now, so we never did get around to it. 
Sporks, which you can never have too many of on hand, as we use them for every lunch, picnic and tea party that gets packed and planned around here.  Desk toys, an Amazon gift card and best of all,

Cascarones!  Confetti eggs!

Which I was going to share with my girl scouts, but as rain dampened our outdoor end of the year party last week and I was not cleaning up confetti inside, didn’t happen.  (There is a definite theme there with those girls, isn’t there?).  Edie wants the cascarones for her own and I’ve caught her a few times staring at them, plotting how she’s going to make her own version of them.  Inspiration indeed.
Thanks for the fun box and inspiration that came with it Teagan.

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A good time was had by all.

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This weekend, we packed up the family car and headed out for a wedding that had been on our calendar for some time. Pat’s former co-worker Brooke, whom he has a particular fondness for, married her beau Nick, whom I happen to have a particular fondness for.
The first time she brought Nick around, Brooke & Pat were getting ready to run a week long trip. They took off to buy food for the next week, leaving me to entertain Nick. He helped me can a half of bushel of peaches, we made a pot of gumbo, drank a 12 pack, talked politics, religion & family and by the time Pat & Brooke had returned, I had decided I was keeping him.
When they showed up last summer to tell us they were engaged, I had Nick rearrange the ceiling fans in my house in celebration. Friends that you share projects with are the best friends, aren’t they?
Nick had proposed to Brooke on some property his family owns in Bedford County.  It was so beautiful out there they told us, that they wanted to have the wedding there.  There are some areas of Virginia that are so beautiful you simply cannot describe it, you have to just see it to believe it.  Bedford County is one of those areas.

Penn’s Mill Farm, where the wedding was held, is pretty much smack dab in the middle of nothing.  Lots of winding country roads.   Breathtaking views. We turned at the arrow, drove up a steep, freshly graveled road that led to this:
In the middle of a field on top of a mountain, surrounded by hay bales and more mountains were several tents staked together, which served as the site.

The setting was breathtaking.  Mountains every way you looked.  There were a few houses in the valley over yonder, but for the most part, it was all nature.
The groom surprised the bride with a horse drawn carriage to bring her to the ceremony.

The ceremony was short and sweet, with a most perfect backdrop.
I think I took about 100 shots of the landscape. 
As twilight started to set in, Edie commented on how the mountains appeared blue.  That’s why they call them the Blue Ridge baby girl. 
At one point, the four year old niece of the bride absconded with my camera.  She took, literally, over 100 pictures.  This is one of the better ones.
I mention this because at a wedding we attended years ago, there was fun with cameras.  There may have been tequila shots involved, but my friend Greg & I started picking up abandoned cameras on tables, taking pictures and putting them back down.  The bride and groom at that wedding said they received well over 50 pictures of us, sent by various guests for months afterwards saying “I don’t know who this is, but clearly, they were having fun.” It was only fitting something along the same lines happen to my camera at a wedding at some point.
There was a whole crew of Pat’s former coworkers and their better halves, some of whom I’d never met, despite the fact that I’ve hosted their husbands many times over the years. There were friends I hadn’t seen in forever, mostly because life and kids have gotten in the way. We have always packed Edie up and taken her everywhere with us, so she spent the day hearing about all the times her parents brought her to this or that. Her first overnight trip away from home was with this group. There was a point in time during her terrible two’s that only Deidre could get her to go to bed without a meltdown. We were the first ones of this group to have kids and we were the only ones to bring our kid along this weekend.  We’ve always brought her along though, so this is nothing new. Our friends are her friends too you know. Everyone was amazed at how much she’s grown into a little lady over the last few months.  I know she had to have gotten sick of hearing this, but she smiled and accepted the compliment graciously every time.
When Edie saw the horse and carriage coming up the drive, I heard her mutter, “I’m gonna need one of those”.  When she saw the pink shiny Toms the bride was wearing, she took notes.  My baby girl might only be 10, but those wheels are already spinning on what her ‘princess’ day is going to be like and Brooke, you have just written a few pages in her playbook.
This was, hands down, one of the best weddings we’ve been to. It wasn’t just that the location was stunning, that the weather, despite being hot and muggy was really sort of perfect, that the food was plentiful and amazing and just kept coming late into the night and that there was an endless supply of alcohol.  Yes, it was a kick ass party, as we knew it would be. Brooke and Nick are the type of folks that have never met a stranger, so their wedding was full of kindred spirits that had not met yet. A good number of folks camped out on top of that mountain, meaning the party went all night long. (I do mean ALL night).  There was a bonfire, there was a picking circle, there were fireworks.  There were late night ribs smothered in the best damn bbq sauce I have ever had.  The port-a-john was the best I’ve come across – it was airconditioned and had real stalls, that flushed.  It was the cadillac of port-a-johns.
What made it such a great wedding was the couple throwing it. Together they radiate a love and contentedness that you see when two people truly fit together.   It was one of those days where everything in the universe seems complete and exactly as it should be.  It was magical and a perfect reflection of who the bride and groom are.  Congratulations Brooke & Nick, and welcome to your happily ever after.

Housekeeping Notes and Other Stuff.

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I’ve done some housekeeping on here.  I changed the comments settings, taking away word verification and moderation.  There was a stretch in which I was receiving some snarky and rather insulting comments, from someone who wanted to remain anonymous which seemed to have stopped.  I don’t mind snark, but own it, you know what I’m saying?  I’ve realized from commenting on other blogs what a pain the new word verification settings have gotten to be.   Some of you have thought blogger has been eating comments lately, but through the magic of the internet, they’ve shown up and been published.  Well, the ones I know about.

I’ve changed some things around on my side bar too.  I hadn’t updated my blogroll in quite some time, so I added a few new ones. My friends Ryanne, Julia, both of whom are new bloggers and quite entertaining.  I’ve also added Suzicate’s “The Water Witch’s Daughter”, which I find inspiring.   Suzicate, I’d love to go winery hopping with you next time you’re in Nelson.   There are a slew of other blogs I read, so I hope to be better about swapping them out a little more frequently on my sidebar. 

The conversation on Facebook that sprung out of the link I posted to my canning class yesterday led to it being restructured a bit.  Instead of tomatoes and peaches, I’m going to teach canning tomatoes and pickles.  I’m even more excited about this now.  If you’ve paid attention to my posts over the last couple of summers, you’ll know how much I love to pickle things and that I will pickle anything.  I plan on doing bread & butter pickles in the class and I will be sharing some of my other favorite pickle recipes.  There’s a link sign up for the class on the sidebar now too.

I’m pretty sure I’m the last person out there to discover First Aid Kit.  I can’t even take credit for discovering them, my dearest babydaddy heard them, realized I needed it and he made it the tunes I cooked to one day.  I do love that man.  Best Coast has a new album out, that I’ve heard great things about.  I haven’t listened to it thoroughly yet, but I do like what I’ve heard.  Anyone catch “Birth of an Album” on NPR this morning with Neko Case?  Totally made my morning. 

In a year of non-parties, the Oxford Road Block party was last weekend.  I was worried when I wasn’t hand delivered my invite and instead happened to catch a flyer on a telephone pole.  Turns out they didn’t invite anyone, it was all they could do to get the flyers up. At least they had the party though. There was a wonderful ‘mom circle’ that happened that refreshed my spirit that day in a much needed way.  I heard other women that were there say the same thing.  Maybe we need to do those things more often ladies.  D- I’m totally serious about Wine Thursdays, just hollar.  Also, I want that recipe please.

The best part of the evening though may have been watching Edie give the Fein boys a firehouse bath in the driveway.  All is always right with the world when there are boys who understand she holds the hose and stays dry while they get soaked.  I blame all older neighborhood boys who catered to her so much in her toddler years that she now expects all boys to do exactly what she tells them to do.  The male portion of humanity has no idea what they have wrought upon themselves.

Now’s your chance.

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Want to learn to can?  Well, here’s your chance!  I’m teaching a Canning Class at the Charlottesville Cooking School on Saturday, July 28.  We’ll do tomatoes and peaches and talk about all sorts of food preservation. I’ve got some great recipes and tricks to share that I’ve picked up in the dozen years I’ve been canning on my own.   I’ve been working on my outline for this class since last winter, so I guess you could say I’m pretty excited about it.  I’ve been teaching friends how to can for years in my kitchen, so the opportunity to do it in a space bigger than my 4 square feet of counter space that has air conditioning is going to be a treat!  Sign up today!

Life in Wine Country.

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One of my favorite things about living here in Charlottesville is the local wine industry.  Virginia is one of the top wine producers in the country, far behind California, but it’s still roughly a  $750 million industry.  Not too shabby.  The nearby Monticello Wine Trail accounts of over half the state’s total acres planted in vines and is the largest AVA in the state.  There are 29 wineries listed on their website.  I’ve read you can do the entire trail in a weekend, but I don’t see how that’s possible.  You might be able to visit all of them, but no way can you possibly enjoy all of them squeezed into a few days.

Over the last week, I’ve had a number of invites to go visit some of these wineries with various girlfriends.  I’m declaring it the new mommy playdate trend.  We must all be getting nervous about the hiatus in the big yellow angel coming by in the morning, whisking the children away to a better place for the day.  Clearly the best way to prep yourself for that is to head out to some of the local wineries for the afternoon.  Visiting a number of them in such a short time period allows one to appreciate how different each winery along the trail is. 
Kate invited me to come along on a visit to  Glass House Winery one day last week.  We grabbed some sandwiches on the way out at the Hunt Country Store and made a picnic out of it.
Glass House is by far the most eclectic winery I’ve visited.  It’s contemporary architecture, with a large glass conservatory that I imagine would be a wonderful place to visit when the grey days of winter start getting to be a bit too much.  Planted in front of the building are a number of tropical looking plants as well as some interesting metal sculptures, some of which are depicted on the labels of their wine.

The retaining wall in the parking lot included glass tile mosaics.  Everywhere you looked, there was a treat for the eye, whether it be the natural landscape or the uniqueness of the man made structures.
We didn’t spend time in the conservatory, I just stepped in for a few quick shots.  It was way too nice of a day outside for me to be inside, even if it was a tropical paradise.

I think this was my favorite detail in the whole building.  The entire hall to the restrooms and beyond was made to look like a large wine barrel.  The winery hosts regular music events in the glass house.  It has a funky, fun vibe that I haven’t seen in any other winery in the area.  The tasting room is full of natural light that showcases the beautiful scenery surrounding the winery.
All their bottles use a glass cork, which is a closure I had not seen before.  It’s an elegant alternative to screwcaps and plastic corks.

We tasted three white wines, a Pinot Gris, a Viognier, the Vito Signora (made from Traminette grapes), a rose, a red, “The Twenty First” (named in honor of the 21st amendment which repealed prohibition) and their signature dessert wine, the Meglio del Sesso.  It’s made of Norton, Chambourcin, Cab Franc grapes and real chocolate.  After the wine is filtered, the cocoa is then used to create the winery’s hand made line of chocolates.  When you taste the dessert wine, you are given a bite of chocolate to go with it.   I can only use one word in describing what that was like – YUM.   I may need a few bottles of the Meglio del Sesso to go with my next chocolate cake. 
As for the other wines, the red wine I tasted, “The Twenty First” is the one that stood out the most. It’s a blend of Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Merlot that had a nice depth.  It’s the type of wine that while highly drinkable now, could be aged for a few years and then I think it would be even more spectacular.  The rose was made of cab franc grapes and was my choice to sip on while we  sat on the patio overlooking the pond, with the vines and mountains in the background.  It was a beautiful day in which I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know some new ladies.  Thanks Kate, Jane & Val for having me along!
A few days later, my friend Kelly and I went out to celebrate her latest degree, a milestone on her path to her next two (another BS and an MS).  Toasting her accomplishment with a glass of wine became a ‘let’s go visit some wineries’.  We headed out to Barboursville Winery. It is one of the best known and most respected wineries in the area.  They can boast they make the house wine for The Inn at Little Washington, that little 5 star restaurant you may have heard of that’s widely considered to be one of the best restaurants in the world.  Barboursville has one countless awards over the years and for good reason. 

It was the first Virginia winery since Thomas Jefferson’s failed attempts to plant Vitis Vinifera, a species of grapes native to the Mediterranean and other parts of Europe and Asia. 

Of the twenty three varieties they offer for sale, we were offered tastes of twenty two of them, including ones listed that generally aren’t available for tasting.  My perennial favorite Barboursville Wine is their Brut, a sparkling wine.  Other standouts were their Sauvingnon Blanc, with crisp citrus notes that I’m a complete sucker for.  Their Riesling is also delightful, more dry than sweet, just the way I like them.
As for their reds, I liked the Sangiovese, an Italian grape that is traditionally the backbone of Chianti.  Although it was listed on the tasting sheet that the Petit Verdot Reserve was not being poured, we lucked out and managed to get a taste.  I’m glad we did, as it was hands down, my favorite of their reds. 
Other wines that stood out were the Cabernet Blanc, a blush wine that was a little sweeter than I like my roses, but light enough that it would be a bottle for a nice afternoon with friends.  The Malvaxia Reserve stood out as well – it’s rich, luscious and while it’s listed as a dessert wine, I could easily see pairing it with a nice cheese plate.
No visit to Barboursville is complete without checking out the Ruins.  I shot some pretty cool black and white photos of it as well.
Just down the road from Barboursville Vineyards is Horton Vineyards. With over forty wines in production, their tasting sheet was two pages.

At Horton, we were told up to twelve tastings are free, so we kept our tasting to that number.  You don’t get a souvenir glass, but as I’m running out of room for them in my closet, I chose to just snap a quick shot of them.  Take a picture it lasts longer is definitely true when it comes to me and wine glasses.
Although now that I look at them again, I may need to go back for some.  They were commemorative for the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  Horton is in Orange County, not too far from some of the historic battlefields of the Civil War, the closest being Wilderness Battlefield.
Horton is the winery that first experimented with Viognier here in Virginia, a grape that has taken well to growing in Virginia, so well that it was named the official grape of the state in 2011.  Of all the viogniers I tasted at all of the wineries, Horton’s hands down is the best.  Not too sweet, not too dry, it’s a wonderful wine that pairs beautifully with food. Horton’s Late Harvest Viognier dessert wine is also worth mentioning.  It’s rich without being overly sweet.  Horton was also the first winery in Virginia to make Norton, a varietal that is a native Virginia grape.  I am quite fond of Norton, it’s fruity without alot of tannin and Horton makes a good one.  The Cab Franc, another grape that does well in Virginia as well as the Nebbiolo, a native Italian grape, were the other two red standouts. 
Three different wineries, three very different experiences.  While the tastings at both Glass House & Barboursville were the same price and came with a souvenir glass, I got far more wine for my money at Barboursville.  The most personable, knowledgeable pourer was at Barboursville – he was far better skilled at juggling the different parties along the bar than any of the other pourers I came across.  Glass House is a boutique winery while Barboursville and Horton are producers on a much larger scale.  Horton appears to experiment far more than any other winery, with several fruit wines on their list.  Curious as to how they would taste, I chose the Peach, which is blended with a small amount of viognier.  It wasn’t overly sweet, but it didn’t taste like peaches either.  I might try another one or two of their fruit wines in the future, just to see how they taste.  The pourers at Horton didn’t offer much information as far as the wines or the winery were concerned.  I realized how important the personality of the pourer is in experiencing a winery.  Wine tasting should be fun.  You can tell when a pourer has a pat speech they offer with each pour and you can tell when your pourer has a knowledge, not just of the wine they are pouring, but of the process involved in getting that wine to your glass.  
There are exactly 17 days of school left.  I really want to hit up Trump before the big yellow angel stops coming.  Blenheim is literally just up the road, so we have the makings of a good mommy playdate field trip.  Who’s in?

Best Of Cville

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C-ville, a local weekly paper, is currently accepting nominations for their “Best Of” contest.  There is a local blog category.  Voting closes in a week, but let’s see if I can’t make it to the next round.   If this blog makes it to the next level, we will have a party to replace the May Margarita bash we didn’t have this year.  I know that’s incentive for a good number of folks.  So please, go vote for me, now.  And when I make it to the next round, we’ll throw down.
Thanks.

Scenes from the week.

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 It’s been a busy week around here.  Here’s some of the highlights.
Playing around with the settings on my camera, I finally figured out the b&w one.  
The Planting Seeds Festival

held at the Buford Garden, had a fantastic turnout and was a success

despite the fact that Mother Nature didn’t fully cooperate.

The whole shebang was moved into the cafeteria at Buford when the skies opened up and the children took over the face painting stand. 
Face painting became full body painting.
Apparently this is what a gang of girls will do when left with a stand full of face paint.
When the headliner, Dar Williams, took the stage
there was dancing and sing-a-longs.  A good time was had by all.

Anniversary dinner of shrimp and grits.

This bug paced the top of my monitor literally all day Wednesday, back and forth, for hours. 
Please ignore the dust.  He did.
My Mother’s Day gift to myself.
A variegated leaf geranium. 
There’s practically a rainbow on every leaf!
My winning streak lately has not been limited to just new fly rods. 
I won a seed giveaway thanks to the Eco Women.
That’s a cosmos popping up from seed.
I also won some apron patterns from Lesa , but I’ve used my rainy days to clean around here, instead of sewing, despite what that picture of the top of my monitor tells you.  Sewing when your hands are covered in poison ivy is not ideal anyway. Neither is cleaning really.
While I was at the nursery, I spied a tag for Becky Mix. 
Of course it came home with me.  They are now planted in the back yard.

Near my new patchouli plant.
Who knew it was a plant?
It has a much softer scent than what you  remember.  There’s no second note of uhm, well, you know.
I was listening to the Dead as I ran errands that day and as I’d already bought and planted my scarlet begonias for the year, I thought why not?

One of the roots of that pesky muscadine vine I’ve been digging up from all over the back yard. 
It’s huge.  I need to take an ax to it.  It’s the size of my foot, maybe bigger and
I wear women’s size 10 shoes.   
I may have underestimated it’s ability to not die.  It’s the energizer bunny of invasive plants.
I threw the hibiscus in a spot of dirt a few weeks ago and despite the neglect, it’s thriving.
I guess it’s earned a weeding and mulching session, hasn’t it?
Just as soon as I dust off that computer monitor and finish hacking away at that muscadine root.
I finally found myself some new canvas gardening gloves so I am going to try to stop ripping roots out of the ground with my bare hands.  Wish me luck.