Snow Days!

Wow!  Quite a snowfall we had over night.  It was a winter wonderland when we went to the gym this morning at 6:30, and by the time I went back out around noon, we probably had six more inches!  It reminds me when I was a kid and hoped for snow days every time it flurried!  

My mother and her teacher friends would sometimes have wine & cheese parties (Mogen David & Port Wine cheese spread on TownHouse Crackers) certain that school would be canceled.  I can think of more than one occasion where they were painfully wrong and had to work the next day. 

I guess it truly looks like Christmas now.  I haven't spent much time on Christmas this year, but Jim and I did a little shopping yesterday.  It's a good thing he has me or he would end up with lots of age inappropriate gifts!  I swear, his nieces are almost 8 & 10, and he's still looking at toys for 5 year olds!  They would be very disappointed.  I have taken the easy way out for the last couple of years.  College kids love money, so that's what they get.  Parents love plane tickets, so that's what they get.  Grandparents don't need a thing, so I get them a sack of oranges.  They're useful, and they like them.   I would liked to have gotten Jim something more special, but I did get him two things that he asked for, so in times like these, I'm sure he'll understand.  We have the wedding trip coming up, so that's plenty for us.  We're going to a wine dinner this weekend, so that is gift enough.  Now, about that wine....

I'm trying to learn more about wine, since I have quite a collection.  I have no idea what years are best, but from being a member of the Cellar Rat wine club over the last couple of years, I've accumulated quite a few bottles.  I picked up the Andrea Immer Robinson's 2009 Wine Buying Guide for Everyone at the Kohler Food & Wine Fest, and am finally starting to look through it.  I like how she marks things:  a fork for "food friendly", a smiley face for "crowd pleaser" and a thumbs up for "wine-geek favorite" so you can impress your wine-snob friends.   She also gives each wine a "kitchen survivor grade" for how long it will last with a cork in it on your counter. Lord knows that even with fancy vacuum sealers, most of us just stick a cork in it, right?  Another great thing is her "Vintage Chart" in the back of the book.  Tells you what years were good vintages for different varietals and regions.  For example, California Cabs had great vintages in 2005, 2002, 2001.  Now how would I know that without truly studying up on this stuff?  So, that's what I'm working on in the wine world.  Next, are the wine racks I will be ordering so we can finally get all these bottles sideways.   

Did I mention that this blog would be eclectic?  Who knows what I will talk about next time! Food, fitness, fun?