Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Spotlight : Napa, California

If you know me, you know I love my chardonnay and it is suspiciously ironic that I was born in the heart of wine country. Anyways, twenty seven years ago today I greeted my first day of life in the beautiful Napa, California! The hospital where I was born sent the babies home that were born on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or the day after in a stocking. I made the cut!

Some volunteers for the hospital sewed this stocking for the babies.
These days it holds my birthday presents under the tree
and still has the note from the lady who made it attached.

We moved to Lawrence, Kansas, when I was two years old so my sister and I could grow up closer to my mom's family. I didn't have any memories of Napa nor had I been back since. Enter Christmas 2007. My parents surprised me on Christmas Eve with a trip to Napa and San Francisco and we we're flying out on my birthday! After picking up the rental car, my mom says she "left something at the airport" so we had to turn around. That "something" was Rhett! Woop woop!

After the shock wore off, mom gave us the grand tour of San Francisco/Napa and with our forces combined we turned Rhett into a wine drinker... which only took us a winery and a half.

On my 22nd birthday at the hospital where I was born.


I was surprised, and felt a little misled, to learn that fortune cookies are absent in China
and are said to have been popularized by various immigrant groups in California in the early 20th century.


Of course such a beautiful place would have such a beautiful saying on their welcome sign.

At a family favorite, Robert Mondavi.


A local artist, Veronica di Rosa, and my mom were colleagues when she worked for the Napa Valley Opera House, one of Napa Valley's most historic cultural icons since 1880.
Veronica called me the "Opera House baby," and thus began my career in the non-profit sector.

Because Napa is world-renowned as "Wine Country," it would be silly of me not give some fun wine-o facts in this post. I recently read in Real Simple (academic source, I know, but this sounds about right) that people will, on average, spend $2 more for a bottle of wine with a fancy name. And it would be easy to spend a lifetime learning about wine, but based on the many blank stares I usually see in the wine aisles, I think most of us just hope the taste is okay and the price is right. Many wine aficionados will tell you not to worry if you don't know much about wine and just get your basics down.

And now for a few fun factoids:

-The fermentation of the fruit happens naturally due to the chemical balance of the grapes and when yeast is added, it consumes the sugars and converts them into alcohol and fun.

-In Napa Valley, the wine makers grow mustard along with the grapes to add a pretty yellow touch of color to the vineyards.

-Many of the vineyards in Napa Valley are family-owned and do not export their products outside of the valley.

-Although many sparkling wines are referred to as champagnes, true champagne only comes from grapes from the Champagne region of France.

-Great artists have been drawn to designing wine labels, an art in itself... and that little extra something that helps us choose a bottle off of the shelves :)

Each row of vines is labeled with the type of grape it produces.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and don't forget to go enjoy a glass of bottled poetry before the holidays are over!

[photo sources: Napa Valley Opera House, Mrs. WRCIV]

Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry wishes to you!


Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Yesssssssss.... Christmas movies, family traditions, cozy fireplaces, random acts of kindness, and kids still believing in magic and miracles... and more trips to Target. When I was a kid, I could not understand why adults didn't wake up before dawn, open presents, then go back to sleep (sorry about those years, mom and dad). But I was never told that Christmas is even better as an adult: we appreciate gifts more, get to drink mimosas (or "poinsettias": champagne and diet cranberry juice - the diet takes away the I-can-only-have-one-of-these-they-are-too-sugary taste...and they're festive red) while opening them, giving is better than receiving and cooking is, to many, just as much fun as eating. And to top it off, a fresh new year is on deck the following week. So sit back, relax, eat a lot and pour another glass of chardonnay... Christmastime is now!



Have a holly jolly Christmas and a wonderful 2013!
And thanks for the memories, 2012...

[photo source: Mrs. WRCIV]

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

A Seattle Wedding

Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. David Jaeger!
December 15, 2012
My Best Friend's Wedding, Part I

When Jessica and I were roommates in college, one day she came home and said to me, "Em, I think I'm going to move to Seattle," so I said, "Cool! When?" That's how Jess and I's relationship has always been. We have some sort of unspoken understanding that we're operating on the same wavelength and laugh or roll our eyes at the same time.

She did move to Seattle for graduate school and also snatched herself up a dashing husband with a one-in-a-million smile. Since Seattle is now home to the couple - although she is from Knoxville and he is from Kansas City (irony only) - all of their friends and family had a perfectly good reason to travel to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. The entire weekend was a tour of Seattle with underlying tones of all traditional wedding festivities throughout...

Thursday night Bachelorette karaoke at Seattle's dumpiest dive bar, Baranof.


The best - BEST - goat cheese and beet salad of my life and drinks
at Oddfellows Cafe + Bar after the rehearsal.

The day Jess and Dave went to get their marriage license
happened to be the first day same sex couples could legally get married.
They had to return another day, but said there were lines upon lines of happy couples.
We joked that conservatively this may just be South Carolina... in 200 years.
Seattle is laughing at us.


One must always sit on the pig when visiting Pike Place Market.


The colors and smells of The Market


Only the swankiest Seattle brides go to Pike Place to get their wedding flowers.
Bonus: sweet, sweet ladies and an amazing view of Puget Sound.


A local coffee joint. Starbucks' original store, opened in 1971.

"...but Jess always said she'd marry a man with a beard."
-Excerpt from Laura and I's "coffee house style" poem at the rehearsal dinner at Local 360
(snapping encouraged)

The happy couple enjoying a little wedding eve snack:
McDonald's post-after dinner drinks at 2:30 am.


Bridesmaid dresses steaming in the shower at the Westin Seattle
and we didn't even get charged for all of the extra hot water wasted used.

I'm easily starstruck. Ad for the lofts where the Top Chef Cheftestants stayed this season.

Moments before the ceremony

Bridesmaids me, Kelli (college friend), Leize Marie (college friend), 
Laura (college friend), Mica (Seattle friend)

Beautiful wedding party photos during a break in the rain

Mr. & Mrs. Jaeger leaving for Hawaii!

 
We thought we were hallucinating at the oasis of SEA-TAC,
but everyone was just spreading holiday cheer:
A one man band, Starbucks delivery on a unicycle, Frostella and Frosty,
an aviator on a magic carpet, and carolers.

A million thank yous to the Portwood and Jaeger families and to Seattle for a beautiful weekend! I traditionally record our office's holiday voice message, but had to postpone this year as I am still hoarse from all the fun. More photos to come on Facebook over the holidays and here's to happily ever after. I love you two!

A Charleston Wedding
My Best Friend's Wedding, Part II
Coming in May 2013!

[photo source: Mrs. WRCIV]

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Genius, by Publix

Personally, I find Publix to be the "Target" of the South's grocery stores: it might not have everything you want, but it's worth going anyway because it's tidy and fresh, and they really make "shopping a pleasure."

They regularly have sample days when an employee cooks one of their Publix Aprons Meals. These recipes are incredibly crafty and incorporate what's on sale with easy, crowd-pleasing recipes. Of the dozens of samples I've tried and tested, so far I have found these two to be especially delicious... and mindbogglingly simple. Actually, the only thing I don't like about these two recipes is that it's almost like you're not cooking at all.

These two recipes make you say, "duh!," require no measuring and minimal dishes. A man, child, or caveman's child could make these. And if you happen to not think they're slammin', you've really lost no time or money trying!


Spinach Mashed Potatoes
Serves: 4-5

1 bag fresh spinach leaves, chopped
1 T. butter
1 package refrigerated garlic mashed potatoes
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Chop spinach and place in microwave-safe bowl with butter, salt and pepper; cover and microwave 2 minutes
2. Stir in mashed potatoes and microwave for about 4 more minutes or until hot, stirring occasionally if needed
That's it!

Caesar Salad with Tortellini
Serves: 2, with some leftover tortellini

1 bag salad mix with Caesar dressing
1 package tortellini (such as Buitoni)

1. Cook tortellini as directed, then drain, rinsing under cold water
2. Top salad with torellini and dressing
That's it!

Wash either down with a scoop of Publix's own Chocolate Cookie Quarry frozen yogurt. I really do like more complicated recipes and come from a bloodline of women who love to cook. I'll have a post of our family favorite staples after the holidays, but cannot disclose that post just yet. Now, if Publix would take the suggestion I submitted to mirror their sandwich ordering process like Which Wich's so customers could shop while their sandwich is made, we'd be set!

Come on, Publix! We don't like those long deli lines...
but forgive your smiling faces.


 
[photo sources: Yelp, Mrs. WRCIV]

Monday, December 3, 2012