Wednesday's Wine - Back by Popular Demand...

You'll notice that I didn't put the name of the wine in the post title. Yeah, it's not that good. But since I'm an equal opportunity kinda gal, I'm still going to review it. So what's the name of this not quite that good wine? Why it's Sutter Home Red. Yeah, that's the problem. It's Sutter Home. You know when I mentioned that I had a good box wine and everyone said..."ewww?" Well that "ewww" should have been saved for this wine. GACK! It's just too sweet for a red wine. And here's why: it has a sweet white grape in it. Just by including at white grape Sutter Home violated the unwritten RED wine rule that requires that a red wine be a blend of RED grapes...just sayin'... Anyway, I suppose it's okay for someone that prefers their red wines to be more pink and kinda sweet...and chilled. So, you all know who you are...you sweet wine drinkers you...heh. I know I'm being a bit biased here, but I'm not going to post a picture of the bottle or other information on it. You can pretty much find Sutter Home in any liquor store in the U. S. of A.

Of course, you might be wondering WHY on earth I would even buy such a low end wine. Well, I didn't buy it. I was sent home from the previously posted Mother's Day dinner with the remains (half the bottle). I will say, it's kind of my fault that my friend even had this bottle of wine. She went to 3 S Liquors (one of the ones I go to) and asked Joe (one of my wine guys) for suggestions. What's not my fault: she requested a cheap red wine on the sweet side...and that pretty much describes this wine! We had it with her sister's homemade stuffed bell peppers (which were pretty tasty!) and later I had it with cheese tortilla's with avocado. I also had it with meat ravioli. I think it would be better with ham or something else that's kind of salty. Basically, if you buy this wine anyway, serve it with anything that you would serve with White Zinfandel (another "gack"). Anyway...let me know if you try it and actually enjoy it...heh.

Sunday Surf - Happy Mother's Day...now watch this...

I was invited to dinner at one of my best friend's house by her mother. I had called to wish her a Happy Mother's Day since she's kind of a surrogate mother as my own mother is WAY down in Texas (and yes, I called my mother, too). Anyway, after dinner we watched a rather disturbing movie called Zeitgeist - the movie. If you haven't seen this...and I tend to think most people haven't...you might want to watch this. It will make you rethink your complacency about the role of religion (Judeo/Christian in particular), banks (and I work part time in finance), and war (WWI, WWII, Vietnam, and the current wars) in our lives and how these are used to oppress people. Then, if you really think about it, it might make you rethink the male of the species (they seem to the the common denominator)...or not.

Sunday Surf - Lunch/Dinner

My blog buddy, Citizen of the World, regularly post pictures of her meals. They look yummy usually. I generally don't have the creativity to stop and take some pictures. Especially since I usually eat at my coffee table...heh. Anyway, I finally got around to making a recipe my mother gave me years ago. It's called King Ranch Chicken Casserole. I happened to have the ingredients in my pantry, so I decided to make it. Here's what it looked like out of the oven:

Here's the recipe if you desire to have something yummy with cheese on it.

1 Chicken breast - broiled and shredded

Tortilla chips - enough to layer twice in a 9 x 9 casserole

6 oz shredded cheddar cheese

1 can Rotel

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 4oz. can of chopped green chile

1 cup finely chopped onion

milk as needed (optional)

After cooking and shredding the chicken, place in a bowl and combine with all of the other ingredients except the cheese and chips (add milk to the mixture if baking uncovered). In a 9 x 9 casserole (or similar size oven safe cooking dish), place a layer of chips on the bottom, a layer of the chicken mixture, and a layer of cheese. Repeat the order for a second layer.

Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove lid and broil for 10 minutes (or until cheese is browning) at 450 degrees. Let casserole stand for 10 minutes uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with a romaine salad or Mexican slaw and a crisp white wine (or lemonade). Serves 4 large portions. The full casserole has about 1540 calories or about 385 for a large serving.

ENJOY!

Sunday Surf - A New Obsession

In efforts to keep myself completely distracted from matters at work...and to counteract insomnia...I have developed a bit of an obsession. Otalia. What is this, you may ask if you're not a regular reader over at AfterEllen.com (link to the right). It's the pairing name of two characters from a soap opera. Yes, it's true I watch soaps. It started accidentally in high school...and no it wasn't General Hospital (although all my friends were obsessed with Luke and Laura). I was home really sick, but tired of being in bed all day, so I started watching As The World Turns (ATWT). I was obsessed then with Betsy Andropolis played by a young (but older than me) Meg Ryan. I had a crush on her, ok. Anyway, over the years I've tuned in when I was home during the day. In college I got hooked on All My Children (AMC) for many months when they had a lesbian psychologist. I mean, how perfect was that!?! AND that was back in the early 80's! Gay was just getting a toe hold and then AIDS happened (Real People featured an episode on the gay rodeo curcuit...who knew).

Anyway, a few years ago when I started having a very light daytime work schedule, I started watching AMC for a new lesbian storyline, as well as ATWT which had a gay storyline. I also watched Guiding Light (GL) because it came on after ATWT and was good background noise to whatever I was otherwise doing (generally prepping proposals for clients). Yet, somehow I missed it when two long time female characters had their previous love triangle storyline shift into a major love story just between them. Granted the subtext was so buried at first, that anyone would have missed it, but usually I see subtext where is there is none, so go figure how I missed it when it was purposely there.

The characters are Olivia Spencer and Natalia Rivera Aituro. Hence, Otalia. After youtubing for the past two weekends, I've managed to catch up on the episodes leading up to the shift in the storyline. Seems like multitasking got in the way of good productive TV watching...heh. Anyway, if you're interested in Otalia, go here to watch most of the episodes available on youtube. Some are full episodes in multiple parts, but many of the ones since the beginning of this year are cut down to just Otalia. If you want the whole storyline from the shift on, start on the April 1, 2008 episodes. Yeah, 2008. This story has actually been in the works for several years, with the set up to the storyline shift occuring in early 2008. For current episodes with everything but Otalia cut out go here.

Saturday Surf - Dressing Up for HRC

I'm going to the HRC Colorado annual dinner tonight. It's a dressed up affair. Yeah, I'm dressing up...in a DRESS...and heels. My feet will probably hurt tomorrow, but it's for a good cause. I was invited last year, and really I should have gone. But lacking in funds and time, I didn't go. I think I missed my opportunity to make a good impression with a certain someone who attended and was single. This year it happens that I'm invited to sit at the table of a friend who is actually one of the speakers this year. Wow, who knew. Anyway, if you check back tomorrow, there is a small chance you can see my dress...maybe. On the other hand, I've been having a challenging two weeks in what has turned out to be a really challenging last 8 months. I'm not ready to write about it. It's occupied my emotions to the point that writing in general would sap the rest of what little energy I've had to get through each day. Yeah, it feels that bad. At least I can still stand (or sit) to read everyone else's posts and make the occasional comment.

Sunday Surf - Sunshine Cleaning

I had a busy weekend. Friday night I went dancing at Tracks for the monthly First Friday party put on by BAD. Saturday night I had a friend and her mom over for dinner. And today I went to see Sunshine Cleaning while Tucker went to the groomer's. So working backwards from today, I'll start with the movie. It stars Amy Adams and Emily Blunt and has gotten mixed reviews, though mostly good ones. I thought it was very good. Definitely worth the price of a matinee admission ($7.00), but don't buy the LARGE soda. You won't last...heh.

Anyway, I'd been asking a friend of mine to go see Sunshine Cleaning with me over the past few weeks. She said she could plan for today. What she really meant, she needed time to round up a few more people so it wouldn't be like a date. Oh well. She invited Amy's mom to come see it with us (they're long time friends). Unfortunately, she also thought she might go skiing. I think she must have decided all the recent snow was way too inviting to pass up. And if you like to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, I'm pretty sure I've cut that down to about 4 degrees or less (I've also met Ellen DeGeneres...and I have the autograph to prove it...somewhere...). So I showed up for the movie non-date that I suggested and semi-planned only to pretty much be a third wheel. Yeah, not gonna do that again. I didn't figure on a matinee, while my dog was at the groomer's, as a date anyway...sigh. At least the movie was good!

Saturday one of my good friends (you know, the friend that knows just about everything about you and fights with you like a sister...yeah that one) and her mom came over for lasagna. No, I didn't make it myself. I'm a good cook, but I'm not going to spend that much time on something that you can buy at the grocery already made and ready to bake...heh. Anyway, I figured they might eat and run, but they actually stayed for a couple of hours just chatting away. It was nice. It was also a good excuse to clean my condo and vacuum (until the vacuum belt broke anyway).

Friday night, as I mentioned above, I went to First Friday. My friend Shannon Stone spins Country Western for about 4 hours until 10pm or so. I danced to a couple songs and gave a young friend a two stepping lesson. I think I was pretty successful since she looked pretty smooth later dancing with her girlfriend...of the moment. We danced again later in the main bar to current dance and techno music. My legs are hurting now like they do after a workout with weights. Something about deep knee bends and other dance moves my legs don't normally make at my advanced age...heh.

Which reminds me...while I was chatting with another friend by the bar, I saw a 20 something wearing a t shirt that said: "Cougar Hunter." Sigh. I've noticed for about 10 years or so that young women really are going after older women (well lesbian and bi women anyway...just to clarify). At first I thought it was just an online chat room phenomenon, but more and more, the last year or so, I have noticed that my friends have been dating younger women (by younger I mean more than 10 years younger). Of course, THEN I thought my friends were the ones chasing the younger gals. Nope. It's most definitely the young ladies chasing the older women. Of course, THEN I thought maybe it was just older HOT women. Nope. It's pretty random...which in the grand scheme of things is sorta nice.

But really, I worry about this situation. See women live a lot longer than men, so when older straight women (the original cougars) have younger boyfriends, they might actually live together a really long time before they both die not so far apart in time. On the other hand, if you're say...a 45 year old woman with say a 25 year old girlfriend and you both live until your 80's...well it's not a pretty picture for the younger partner. And today I was catching up with my stack of newspapers and Amy (the advice gal) told one woman to have fun with her younger boyfriend if they were otherwise compatible, but even she hinted at the future possible issues...and the unlikely chance of a long relationships owing to things such as "you mean Paul McCartney was in a group?"...heh. Yeah, that happens to me a lot.... Then I saw another "Cougar Hunter" t shirt today. What? Is the universe sending me a message?

Wednesday's Wine - Altos las Hormigas Malbec, 2007

Yum! Spicy! My regular readers know I like spicy. One can find spicy in wine too. I just opened this wine tonight to go with my New York strip steak (with a spinach and tomato salad). And that's how we are visiting Argentina. I don't recall having had a wine from Argentina before and this is a good start for under $10.00. I did notice that this malbec (yes, it's a red grape) is dark in color and slightly astringent. There's a wee bit of oak and a bit of alcohol burn on the finish. But really, it was spicy like pepper and really good with a steak. I enjoyed it quite a bit, I think because it was kind of bold in flavor, but not as fruit filled as some of the red wines I've had lately. Here's what Altos Las Hormigas said about their wine:

TASTING NOTES
Violet vivid colour, truly varietal nose, with notes of cherry and blackberry, that come out clear and intense. Its true character lies in the palate impression, where structure, freshness and persistence combine giving a very pleasant harmony.

ENJOY!