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Me Myself & Riggins

Tag Archives: wine

Crafts, Wine & Friends

25 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

10 minute runner, craft, friends, sewing, wine

photo 1 (16)One of the reasons I like making crafts and such is because I always feel so proud of myself when I’m finished.  I can stand back and say, “I DID THAT!”  I wanted my friends to have the opportunity to feel that way so I thought I’d invite them over to make their own 10 minute runner.  It just seemed natural to add wine to the mix.  This last Saturday my tiny house was full of crafty friends.  My dining room (which is tiny) became the sewing and gossip room.  The kitchen (also quit small) was the food and wine hook up.  My back entry photo (15)mud room (not really even a room) area housed the iron board and iron.  Finally my office (not a bad size) served as the cutting room.  It was like our own little factory.  Really boozy factory!  It was a lot of fun.

I’ve blogged about the 10 minute runner in the past (actually twice – here and here) so won’t make you read through all that again.  It’s a great project since it is fast and easy.  We had every level of sewing experience represented and everyone’s final result was perfection!
photo 3 (10) If you have a machine you can whip these up in no time.   Add a candle and they become the perfect hostess gift.  Everyone in my family has accumulated quite the collection.  One for each holiday/season … at least.

Even those who didn’t take part in the “craft” portion of the afternoon still had fun sipping on wine (a number of us drank the wine/sparkling water Giovanna special) and catching up.  Thanksgiving is almost here and one of the things I’m thankful for is being able to hang out and have fun with my lovely friends and family!

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Boo-tiful Dinner Party Table

28 Monday Oct 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

beer, Buddha, candles, crafts, dinner party, Halloween, Lucky Beer, table setting, wine

photo 1My Halloween table runner has been sitting under my TV since I sewed it.  I’m in that room everyday (watching TV) so it is a good place to put it to let me get the most enjoyment out of it.  A couple of days (weeks) ago I was having a few friends over for a casual dinner and I thought it would be the perfect time to use the runner.  Then I thought it was a great time to use the beer bottles I’d be saving (and as an extra bonus get rid).  That is how the most boo-tiful of all dinner party tables came to be!

Runner – Here is how you can make this 10 minute runner.

Buddha Beer (actually called Lucky Beer) – I found this great beer on sale at Vons.  I’m not a big beer drinker and never purchase beer unless it is for a party but how could I pass these up?  The bottles are shaped like the Buddha!  That’s brilliant!  I love them so much and figured they would make perfect flower vases.  Then I came up on the problem … what photo 2do you do with 6 tiny flower vases shaped like Buddha?  You add them to your dinner table and hand them to each guest as they leave.  How does it taste?  I don’t know … like beer.  It’s a light beer that real beer drinkers wouldn’t be that impressed by but I like it.  The beer is made in Mexico so I suppose it is kinda like Corona Light-ish.

Spooky Wine – I was getting flower for the Buddha Beer vases at Trader Joe’s when I saw this wine.  The wine dude asked if I needed any help pairing wine with my dinner.  Who does that?  I’m pairing the label to my table theme!  Honestly the wine wasn’t great but it was only six bucks (probably why it wasn’t that great) and looked perfect.  It’s also screw top which is my favorite.  I plan to start a petition that demands all wine is screw top vs. cork.  If you want a bigger selection of Halloween themed wine/beer/etc. I suggest going to Cost Plus World Market.  I was there recently to get a friend a birthday present and I spent a long time wandering up and down the Halloween themed aisles just wishing I had a reason to purchase everything.

Candles – I used individual candles because I couldn’t find any suitable big candle holders.  There were fun and are currently upside down in my freezer so I can pop out the dead candle goop.

There you go!  Happy Halloween week to you!

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Stolen Sangria Wine Spitzer

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

LaCroix, Morgan, sangria, sparkling water, wine

ry=4001My good friend Giovanna is super-duper fit.  That means when you hang out with her you tend to lean over to the super-duper fit side of life.  I don’t do it very well, but I give it a shot!  When I have dinner with her and her dog, Morgan, I usually want a glass of wine.  I like wine.  I like wine with dinner.  I like wine when I have dinner with a friend. Sue me. Unless she ran 20-50 miles (seriously) that day Giovanna tends to shy away from caloric beverages.  That includes wine.  On the other hand she is a fun chick so wants to partake. Honestly, I also think she wants to slow down my wine consumption.  To achieve these goals she designed what she calls a wine spritzer.  It’s a simple concoction of 1/2 red wine and 1/2 sparkling water.

It takes no genius to see this is just bubbly watered down wine.  As I drink from my glass I top off from the wine bottle and as Giovanna drinks from her glass she tops off with more sparkling water.  Either way we are both happy!

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Giovanna purchases giant bottles of sparkling water by the case.  No doubt wherever she is right now she has a giant bottle in her purse ready to be consumed. I can’t commit to such a huge bottle.  I am a loyal fan of LaCroix canned water. Years and years ago while traveling for work United Airlines would offer LaCroix sparking water as a beverage option. That’s where I first got hooked.  United no longer offers it but you can buy it at grocery stores and your local Target.  It’s always on sale at my Ralphs.  I assume this is because I’m the only one who purchases it.  I enjoy the no flavor variety the best.  The lemon and lime flavors are pretty tasty too.  Giovanna recently purchased the grapefruit (to be fancy they use the French word “pample-mouse”) flavor and it is divine.  Not all are winners though.  The coconut flavor tastes like ass and I pushed it on my friend/hairdresser.  She demands I’m crazy and it is delicious.  The cran-rasberry tastes like it was mixed by the devil but Giovanna disagrees and happily drank the ones I had purchased.

This past weekend Giovanna came over and made her spritzer with LaCroix and red wine. As usual it was delicious and I admit a better summer drink choice than white wine.  We happily sipped our cocktails on the porch with our wide brim summer hats on with Riggins and Morgan at our feet.  Ok … we drank them in my living room but that doesn’t seem as nice.

Last night I was looking through Pinterest and found this …

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WHAT???? SOMEONE ACTUALLY MADE THAT A LEGIT DRINK RECIPE???  Apparently if you add strawberries you can call the watered down wine a skinny sangria. I immediately emailed Giovanna telling her they stole her famous (at least in my house) recipe.  Hmmmm …. I have strawberries … I think I’m going to make myself some skinny sangria right now!

(The LaCroix web site actually has a number of cocktail recipes for you to enjoy.  Take a look.)

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Mommy and Me

30 Wednesday Jan 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

mom, Mom, music, wine

photo (9)My mom’s birthday was last week and my sister sent her two tickets for a concert at the Disney Concert Hall (plus wine reception).  Luckily for me my dad doesn’t drink wine and doesn’t listen to concert music.  During the time I took piano, when I was young, he was known to duck out after my performance and walk home vs. having to sit through the rest of the recital.  That left a ticket for me!

Now to be honest I’m not big on fancy concert music either but was sold on the idea of a wine reception.  Plus I’d never been in the Disney Concert Hall theatre before and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to check it out.  (I am intimately familiar with the buliding’s parking lot and cafeteria as that is the lot you park in for jury duty in downtown LA and the cafeteria serves wine — I was part of a jury for a case that lasted a month.  Parking and drinking were both necessary.)

My poor mom hit heavy traffic coming into the city so we had a little less than 1/2 an hour of drinking time.  No worries, I was able to toss back a couple of glasses with the speed of a thirsty camel.  We also did some great people watching and took notice of who was and wasn’t holding their wine glass correctly (https://wendyandriggins.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/mind-your-manners/ — Now I realize in the picture below I am not holding that darn glass correctly.  In my defense seconds earlier I was balancing our tickets in that hand, along with the wine plus trying to coordinate taking a picture with my iPhone so my goal was to stabilize everything as much as possible.  Do you buy that?)

The theatre itself is super fancy.  My mom and I immediately felt like we were becoming more cultured just by sitting there.  I managed to pay attention through the first half of the first half and then my mind started to drift.  I needed some dancers or something to keep me engaged.  Instead I became obsessed with the giant organ at the back of the theatre.  At least I assume it was an organ.  My mom and I agree it was so that’s good enough for me.  The theatre is sort of “in the round.”  Meaning audience can sit on all four sides of the stage.  For this performance the seats on the back side of the theatre were blocked off along with those on the extreme sides.  The beautiful organ was sitting at the back of this wasteland staring at me.  I needed someone to play it.  It took all my will not to find a way down there to press on those keys.  That didn’t stop me from figuring out a plan. 

I could go down to the second floor (were the stage is -we were sitting in the mezzanine on the fourth floor) then scurry down the aisle, jump up on the stage (I figured it was about the same height as pushing yourself out of a swimming pool and I can manage that.) then army crawling up stage left (that meant the musicians would have to struggle around their instruments to get to me if they were so inclined), then scurry up the steps by the invisible back wall audience, run to the organ, leap over the leapable railing holding the organ back from the public, and start playing!

Or

I could make my way down to the third floor and enter the theatre from the side where only 1/2 the seats were full, make my way casually up stage to the empty seats, jump over the railing onto the stairs for the back wall invisible audience, scurry up just a few steps, run to the organ, jump over the railing and start playing!

Both options seemed totally doable if I chose to throw away all the culture I’d soaked up and become a crinimal organ player!photo (8)

In between my scheming I did enjoy more music and had lots of time to try to figure out how it was that only the pianist had to turn music pages while those string instrument fellas and gals managed to play a 2 hour concert with no page turning.  Magic.  Obviously.

Happy birthday Mom!

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Mind Your Manners

28 Monday Jan 2013

Posted by wendynewell in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

dinner, food, invitation, manners, Riggins, wine

ry=400Recently I noticed on Pinterest a pin that informed you of the proper way to address wedding invitations.  I don’t plan to send out that type of correspondence anytime soon but I do send letters through the mail at least once a year.  It wouldn’t hurt for me to brush up on my mail etiquette.  Turns out that stuff is crazy!  No wonder it’s a popular pin there is no way to remember all those insane rules.  There were a couple of surprises to me, good and bad.  Good – If the woman of a couple has a doctorate while her husband does not her name comes first.  For example, Dr. Wendy Newell and Mr. Riggins Newell.  That makes perfect sense but I was surprised that it was actually a valid rule.  Bad – If children are invited their names shouldn’t be on the front envelope but should be included in the inside envelope (Or maybe it was the invite itself.  I’ve already forgotten.).  If the child is a male then his title is Master.  As in, “Master Riggins Newell.”  What the hell?  Master?  Seriously?  Am I the only one that feels uncomfortable with this rule?

It made me start thinking of the other manners I follow that are no longer popular or even known.  I wanted to share them with you.

  • Don’t Slurp Your Soup – Slurping shouldn’t really be an issue unless you dine with neanderthals.  Still there is a proper way to eat soup.  “As little ships go out to sea / I dip my spoon AWAY from me” (I didn’t actually know this little rhyme before my in-depth research for this post.  When I say in-depth I mean use of Google and assumption that when discussing manners on the internet majority rules.).  This means scoop the soup with your spoon away from you.  I do try to do this whenever I eat soup but honestly sometimes only have the energy to pull it off when with company.  Additionally, soup at my home is often served in a Tinkerbell mug making a spoon and any rules about it, no longer necessary. 
  • Gift Me Or Else – This rule is one where when it isn’t observed I wince a little on the inside but can’t really hold it against the culprit.  She probably has no idea it is bad manners and is just trying to make your life easier.  Good intentions do not equal good manners.  When sending invitations for an event, wedding, baby shower, bridal shower, etc. it is considered bad manners to list where the guest of honor is registered.  Don’t try to out wit this rule by placing this tidbit of information on an insert.  That insert is still inside the invite so still counts.  Technically it looks like the guest of honor is not only expecting a gift but have mandated where it should come from and what it is.  When put this way you can see how it would be considered uncouth.  Right?  Instead the guest of honor should have told host, close girlfriend (maid of honor for example) and family (mother for example) where she is registered.  Then it is up to the guest to ask for this information if it is wanted.  On the flip side if the invite asks for no gifts it is considered rude to bring one.  Can’t win can you?  Giving a gift at a social gathering when you were specifically told not to only causes the other guests to be uncomfortable, wondering if they should have done the same, but also the host who is looking out for the happiness of all her guests.  If you would still like to give your friend a gift it is fine it just needs to be done at a different time and place.  Just think of it this way, you get to give a gift, your friend gets a gift, plus you now get to spend more one on one time with the friend you love!
  • Stop Ruining Good Wine-ing.  Wine glasses come in all shape and sizes but one hour of television where the characters are drinking it proves that not many know how to hold their wine glasses correctly.  Wine glasses should be held by the stem so that your body heat doesn’t warm the liquid and therefore change the taste of the wine.  Although most important when drinking wine served chilled, like white and champagne, this is actually true for all types and colors.  It seems a little ackward at first but you look so much fancier getting drunk this way!  Here’s the rub if you come to my house.  I use stemless wine glasses.  It’s almost like I’m mocking my guests isn’t it?  While we are on the subject of wine can I point out that there is a very small chance you should ever send back a bottle that you have ordered.  You should only send it back if the wine has turned which should be painfully obvious to your nose once you get anywhere near the cork.  Those folks that swish the wine around and make a production out of tasting it then nodding their head in appreciation are weirdo snobs.  Smell the cork.  If it doesn’t smell like death you are good to go. 
  • I’m Done.  Turns out I’ve been doing this one all wrong.  When finished with my meal at a restaurant I have always signaled to the waiter that I’m ready for him to clear my plate by putting my folk and knife down on my plate in an X.  It usually worked so I was shocked to discover, during my in-depth research, that most people would consider this impolite.  Apparently I’m a barbarian.  Instead the more common suggestion is to lay the fork and knife side by side across the plate at 10 and 4 o’clock.  Tines facing up or down is still very much up for debate.  I think from now on when I’m finished with my meal I’ll dramatically throw knife and fork to the ground, raise my arms in an Evita pose, and yell, “I’ve finished.  Take all this away now my minions.”  That should be pretty clear.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending how you look at it, hard-core written in stonephoto (7) manners have been fading away.  You can take everything I’ve said above and find at least one person who says the opposite online.  The internet gods will let anyone post on the world-wide web without checking their facts.  So it’s your turn.  What do others do that make you silently cringe inside knowing that they were obviously raised by wolves?  Personally I can use all the help I can get.  After all at my house feeding Riggins from your folk isn’t considered bad manners it’s considered good sharing!

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Gone to the Dogs

19 Thursday Nov 2009

Posted by wendynewell in wine

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

dog park, Twitter, wine

Should I be horrified that this was the twitter list I was a part of yesterday? I’m not sure what the #WW hash tag means but after some research I think it is Woof Woof or Woof Wednesday or something with Woof in it. A doggie shout out if you will. I appreciate how all the names on the list have “dog” or “poo” (which is dog enough) in them but mine. Like I’m a closeted crazy dog person that Wisdom Panel was smart enough to sniff out.

I suppose it makes sense as the night before I was asking for suggestions on how to sneak wine into the dog park to make it more enjoyable. Maybe these are my wine drinking fellow dog lovers.

I’ll assume that, embrace them, and start following them all.

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