Friday's Fling - Roasting Turkey

So I went for Thanksgiving dinner to Tucker's BFF's house. That of course, meant I was without leftovers, although they offered to send me home with some. Anyway, I decided to check out the grocery stores for turkey sales and got an 11.5 lb. bird for $12.00. It took 3 hours to cook according to the package, though I tend to think it would have been better after only 2.5 hours...not that it was bad...or even dry. It was just a tad not juicy enough. Anyway, I had half a baked potato and half an acorn squash with crazins and brown sugar. Oh, and I had a glass of that Fox Brook Chardonnay with it. Afterwards it was left over pumpkin pie with tons of whipped cream. Yum! Hope ya'll had a good Thanksgiving!

Wednesday's Wine - Woop Woop Cabernet, 2007

First off, this LABEL is NOT the label on the 2007 version of Woop Woop Cabernet. The picture is the same, however and it's kinda cool. Not to mention the name of the wine, which apparently means "out there" as in "it's way out in Woop Woop" (kinda like saying it's in Timbuktu) is also fun. And the bottle comes with a reusable stopper instead of a cork or a screw top cap. I totally LOVE the reusableness of the stopper, so I'm saving it for the next bottel of red wine that I open.

Second, I know you all were probably hoping for a white wine suggestion to go with your Thanksgiving dinner, but I frankly I opened this one to go with my Sunday steak dinner, so you get what you get. I do have a white wine review coming soon, but in the meantime, this is the one I already reviewed that I'm taking to dinner tomorrow.

Third, this Cabernet did get a score in the high 80's by at least one of the major wine rating magazines (of course, I can't remember which one...heh). High 80's means the wine is both very good and a good value. You know I love a good wine at a good price and I picked this one up with several others at Applejack Wine & Spirits a few weeks ago for around $9.00.

Woop Woop Cabernet is very tasty I must say. It's got kind of a dark cherry and grape mix of a scent. It actually reminded me more of a dry Shiraz than a typical Cabernet. Of course, since this wine is from South Eastern Australia (home of the best Shiraz), we might expect that. In addition to the the cherry notes of this wine, it has a kind of peppery spicyness to it and almost a dark chocolate finish with not much of an alcohol burn. This wine is dark purple reddish in color and pretty bold. It definitely went well with steak as well as pizza. It's very drinkable and makes a nice table wine if you want to go up a step from a blend. And frankly, with a name like Woop Woop, you gotta plan on having fun food. The guys that make it, apparently like BBQ.

Enjoy!

Rivalry Week - Say That Five Times Fast!

I do in fact watch sports. And today I spent the morning and part of the afternoon watching my Buckeyes kick some Wolverine tail! Yes, I am a graduate of THE Ohio State University. I wear the scarlet and gray colors of my alma mater proudly. I even recruit my friends to be fans. I have one of my best friends meet me at our local watering hole/sports bar for all the major OSU football games and dang it, now she's a fan! She even said to me that maybe she'll take an online course or two from OSU, just so she can be a real Buckeye...heh. I think she should take enough courses to finish her bachelor's degree. ANYWAY, I'm just waiting for Michigan STATE to beat Penn State, so Ohio State can take the Big 10 Championship and go to the Rose Bowl. Should that not work out however, I'll still be watching some good OSU football in January, 2009. Just sayin'...

UPDATE: Penn State is kicking the other Michigan team's tail, so the Rose Bowl is not likely for Ohio State. Tune back in for Bowl Bids and the final outcomes of the BCS...

Sunday Surf - What Veggie Are You?

I was over at www.the-n.com catching up on South Of Nowhere videos. No not the shows, just the extras. Anyway, they have cute quizzes and I thought this would appeal to some of my more adult readers...heh. Here's what veggie I am:



Feel free to share which veggie you are...or not...hee...

Rally Against H8 - Denver

I dropped off Tucker at the groomer's and headed to downtown Denver for the Big Rally against H8. When I got there...a bit late since I had to drive around and around to find a parking spot. $.85 (all my change) later I had 51 minutes to participate. The rally started at 11:30, but by the time I walked from the parking meter to the Denver City and County Court house, it was noon. This is the sea of humanity:




















An as you can see, we are ALL Americans. And as such, we should ALL have the same rights. Even if it's against our better judgment to get married, if we do, then we should at least have the rights and responsibilities ALL married folk have here in America.




















I was obviously a beautiful day in Denver to have a rally! Our future's so bright, we all gotta wear shades...or at least shade the camera!




















It was good to see so many people coming together to protest such a horrible precedent such as this where a proposition put to the people is one that TAKES AWAY rights. No matter what your personal stand on marriage between any two people might be, taking AWAY rights of a minority group by the majority group is a bad bad bad thing. And it's definitely not what we, the majority of Americans, can support.





















I'm not sure who the woman speaking is, but she was running the rally. Or at least she was keeping it moving along....speaker...singing...another speaker...some more singing...




















There were a lot of signs. One had a WHOLE paragraph explaining the two parts of marriage:
1. The civil marriage which is the legal rights portion, conferred by the law of the land.
2. The religious marriage which is the one sanctioned by the church of your choice.




















America is a country founded on a few principles, one of which is the separation of church and state. As such, the CIVIL right of CIVIL marriage should be available to any two human beings regardless of gender (although I do believe that children probably ought not get married...of course that opens another can of worms). If the word "marriage" needs to be stricken from the law and replaced with "union", I'm fine with that. As long as the rights and responsibilities of what was formerly called "marriage" now applies to "union" and as long as those rights and responsibilities are extended to all citizens. Not that I have any current plans to get civilly unioned. Applications are being accepted however...

Wednesday's Wine - Falesco Vitiano, 2006

So, the other day I was at my OTHER favorite wine place, Applejack Wine and Spirits, (while I was on my way home from the mountains) and I bought FIVE bottles of highly rated wine for about $41.00! Anyway, one of my choices was a nice mellow red wine from ITALY. Yep, after SEVERAL requests from the Gentleman that I review an Italian wine, here it is! Falesco Vitiano, 2006 is a red blend of Cabernet, Merlot and Sangiovese.

This wine is a deep red color. It had berry notes in both the scent and taste. My first glass seem to slide down like water due to little or no alcohol taste on the finish. The winemaker notes on the back of the bottle said this wine is "Rick in black fruits and mint. It is mouthfilling with cassis, vanilla oak and a well balanced and ripe finish." Hmmm, well, the mint might have been what made it seem like water in the refreshing sense. Of course, the water thing might have been the Merlot portion of the blend (I generally find Merlots to be somewhat watery).

As I mentioned earlier, I bought five highly rated wines. The Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator each gave this wine 88 points (high 80's and 90's are very good wines). Since I bought this on sale for $7.00, that means this was a great value for the buck. Here's what Wine Spectator had to say about Vitiano, 2006:

This Italian red shows lots of blackberry and licorice, with raspberry notes. Full-bodied, with round tannins and a fruity finish.

I have to say I didn't notice the fruity finish, but the round tannins means that the wine was very smooth. Some additional winemaker notes:

"This is a blockbuster young red wine with explosive, luscious aromas. Vitiano Rosso is deep ruby red in color, and offers a wide range of fruit and spice aromas, including black cherry jam, licorice and tobacco leaf. This versatile wine pairs well with a wide array of food, including meat, pasta and pizza. "

I had it with a meatball sub sandwich, something I can't remember on Monday evening and with Taco Bell spicy Combo burrito's tonight. I think it would be good with any food that you want to emphasize and not overwhelm. Enjoy!

Make My Monday - Tucker and I Survive Our First Days Apart

I spent Thursday through Saturday at the Beaver Creek Resort (no joke...really). Okay, it was mostly work, but I did get some brief moments to play. I ate some expensive resort food...high priced pizza by the slice on Thursday night. Friday evening brought a little charity casino night...I lost $35.00 playing mostly Texas Hold 'Em and a confusing game called Craps...yeah, I crapped out. I sat in one of 5 different hot tubs Saturday morning...more seminars and then I drove back down the mountain. I was exhausted and I think I had a touch of altitude sickness. Sunday I had a massage and kind of vegged out all day.

Meanwhile, Tucker spent three whole days in doggie bliss with his BFF, Rufus (a very tolerant Bichon Frise whose owners voted for McCain...but I forgive them). I'm telling you, Tucker was either depressed Sunday or complete worn out, because all he did was sleep. I hope he was just worn out. But to be sure, he's got a play date for tomorrow... More doggie WWF. Poor Rufus, Tucker gets ahold of his curly ear and just hangs on for the ride. Oh yeah, and Rufus has a HUGE backyard. Back and forth for hours...I'm sure Tucker was just worn out...really.

Anyway, we've survived the time apart and now we're back to routine again...very busy and boring...