Pamela Schoenewaldt: When We Were Strangers: A Novel (*****)
Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (***)
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So you have refrained from shopping on Black Friday but you would still like to pick up a few presents for those you love and you aren't quite ready to be come the anti-consumer? Well, support your local small businesses.
And you can even get a $25 statement credit if you register your AM EX and use it to support small businesses tomorrow. Keep these business alive and growing. They create jobs and support the community. They make our towns a better place to live.
Ok, so this is last year's logo but I just love the escaping stick figures. I am posting this a day early so in case you stop by in a turkey induced torpor after a wonderful feast, you will be reminded that there is no need to buy into the hype of Black Monday. There is no need to go out and get in fist fights over things you don't really need in the first place. Stay home, go for a hike, rest, relax, enjoy your family. Your children will not remember the perfect girts you painstakingly chose out for their stockings. Instead they will remember the time you spent with them and the memories you made. Spend some time together making Christmas cookies instead of at the mall standing in line.
I hope that you are enjoying the bounty of the season with loved ones. Be thankful for what you have and you will always feel blessed.
WIth the upcoming holiday, today's topic for Carole's 10 on Tuesday is
10 things you are for which you are Thankful
A good friend and I have been going through some changes in our respective lives (you know the regular things, relationships, work, children, housing related stresses) and decided it might be a good time for a girls weekend away. But with so much on our plates, we weren't sure we were up for much travel and so we headed out to Annapolis, MD. Just 40 miles from home and yet it would offer the escape we both needed.
We booked the sleep and sip package at the Annapolitan. A nautically themed Bed and Breakfast on West Street and were booked into the Port Pleasures Room (shown below in a photo shamelessly lifted from the B&B website as our stuff was quickly strewn around the room before I thought to take a picture). We really liked the B&B. It was comfortable, clean and well appointed. The breakfast a three course hot meal and both the hosts and the other guests could not have been more pleasant.The package include a $20 credit for wines at Crush Wine House. We were really impressed with Crush, it was bustling on a Friday night but they were very accommodating and soon had us seated for table service despite our lack of a reservation. Crush features an enomatic wine serving system which uses argon gas and pulls the wine from the bottom of the bottle which avoids air contact keeping an open bottle fresh for up to three weeks, this allows restaurants to offer wines by the glass for more expensive wines which might not sell in an evening but will definitely sell over the freshness span of the bottle. Another advantage of the system is that is offers three pour sizes allowing for a taste, half glass or full glass. So you can create your own tasting, design a flight or just enjoy a glass of your favorite. I was feeling a bit indecisive and settled on a flight of left coast reds which we paired with some lovely cheese and crackers and a few small plates to share.
My flight consisted of three California Reds. There was a 2009 Seghesio Zinfandel, a 2008 Elizabeth Spencer Cabernet Sauvignon, and a 2008 Por Que No? (52% Zinfandel, 32% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 15% Petit Syrah. I have definitely enjoying Zinfandels lately so was surprised that I liked the ELizabeth Spencer the most but having seen the price tag now I know why. An excellent wine if you feel the need to really splurge. The food was good too and I will definantly return next time I am in Annapolis.
Saturday we spent the day antiquing and then had a lovely lunch in Pasadena at Moulin de Paris. All in all a great little getaway.
I receive a lot of email and some of them I wonder how it ever came to be that I signed up for this or that club, but when I get invited to the free promotions for the various brands of alcohol, I always try to fit it into my schedule. After my first experience with this Guinness event, I learned they throw a good party and there is absolutely no obligation. They don't even sell anything at the events. So when I was invited to the Raise The Macallan event, I was sure to sign up.
The party was held at Ibiza, a huge nightclub in NOMA (what is it with naming DC neighborhoods these days? oh and if you were wondering that one stands for the obvious North of Massachusetts Ave-- which could be about half of the city). The old warehouse has plenty of room to throw a great party.
While the parties are free and require an RSVP, they recommend that you come early as your reservation does not guarantee your entry. The iPad has made registering and checking people into these types of events infinitely easier. You can check the crowd in before you even open the doors with representatives working the line. They open the door right on time and start the event with a full serving of the 10 year scotch and passed appetizers. After about half an hour they moved us to another room for the educational part of the event and a seated tasting.
One of the whiskey makers ran a presentation on the history and making of Macallan. He was quite the comedienne and it was very good time. Throughout the presentation we were giving tasting samples of the 12 year, 15 year, 17 year and 18 year scotch. It was a nice way to familiarize myself with the brand and get an idea of how the aging process affects the flavor of the product. While my preference is still for Irish Whiskeys, Macallan makes a quality product which might be a nice change every now and again.
Two random pieces of information that I remember from the presentation:
(Do excuse the photos but the lighting was nightclub dark and these samples were the best I could get and they were lit from below making for difficult photography.)
Some time ago when I was visiting my mother I noticed she was wearing some store bought slippers in the house but didn't think much of it. A little while later she brings out the Fiber Trends felted clogs which never made it to the blog, I don't remember when I knit them but it is possible it was pre-blog. They had been well loved and well worn and were a bit worse for the wear.
I later slipped them on and realized what great slippers they really make, mother needed a new pair of slippers. Well, I dug out that fiber trends clog pattern and then started to look through the stash for some feltable wool to use up. Looking through the stash always brings up memories. Over the years I have made a few presents for my mother, there was this sweater, and this sweater, and this hat that never fit very well but she was gracious about it anyway. Well these last two projects had left me with a fair amount of left over wool from Coradan Farm which is rather a heavy worsted weight yarn. Perfect for these felted slippers. Problem was that there wasn't quite enough of each of the colors...so they turned out a bit fraternal twins rather than identical, but this isn't the kind of thing to phase my mother...
They may need one more round in the wash but I will get a FO post up when I visit my mother over Thanksgiving.
Carole over at Carole Knits hosts a blog round up on Tuesdays. Occasionally, I participate and needing content for NABLOPOMO, I figured today's category focuses on one of my favorite flavors of fall.
10 things you do with fresh cranberries
One of my favorite ways to spend a Sunday afternoon is visiting one of the many fabulous wineries that have replaced the tobacco culture here in Virginia. On these drives out into the country, I usually bring a pair of socks to work on. Something simple that won't be too complicated after a couple of tastes of wine. These lovely socks in shades of red wine fit the bill quite will for a many weeks this spring. Here they are pictured with a couple of bottles of Blenheim Vineyard Painted Red whose label is a sketch by owner Dave Matthews of a favorite pair of hiking boots.
