Winefest 2013

22 Wednesday May 2013

Tags

food, foodie, vineyard, wine, winefest, winery

I love that our town flaunts its German heritage. Afterall, what fun is a town without Oktoberfest, Christkindl Market, and Mayfest? This past weekend, was a small winefest, which was part of a larger Mayfest. Our family & friends came to visit for the event as well. While Hubster & Pumpkin were not part of the winefest, they could eat and visit with us at the picnic tables. Our group purchased a few cheese platters which had an assortment of cheese, fruit, and 1/2 a baguette.

There were 9 Pennsylvania wineries participating, and each ticket holder received a commemorative wineglass. I went to 8/9 wineries since one is right down the road, and I’ve already visited it a few times. Usually I prefer dry and semi-dry white, but I’m very particular about the those wines. I surprised myself and drank quite a lot of sweet wines.

The employees at many of the wineries were genuinely friendly and seemed to be enjoying their day as well. While some were sweet and kind, some were really playful. I overheard this conversation at one winery’s tent:
“Wow, this is the classiest winefest I’ve ever been to.”
“Yeah, the people are really friendly and nice”
“And no one has fallen over drunk.”
“Or got arrested.”
“It’s quite a nice change of pace.”

Even though they had a wine check available, I wanted to keep my load light. I still had plenty of bottles at home. I did however buy multiples of my favorite ones My picks for the day?

Sandcastle Winery: Alpine Spice (which I always drink warm in the winter, but tried cold for the first time)
Bastress Mountain Winery: Autumn Blush, Jack Ass Red, and Group Therapy
Seven Mountains Wine Cellars: Tickled Pink
Armstrong Valley: Midnight Desire
Shade Mountain Vineyards: Six Dwarves Mint Wine (excellent mixed with iced tea)

In addition to wine, several of the wineries were selling trinkets and misc. foodie items. One winery was selling gourmet salsa, and unfortunately they sold out of the strawberry salsa before I made it to their tent. Another stand was selling locally made wine jelly, and I bought a jar of their delicious Blackberry Merlot.

The temperature was perfect and the company lovely. I look forward to attending the winefest in 2014.

To which spring event do you look forward?

Tuscan Vineyard in my Kitchen

13 Saturday Mar 2010

Posted by Young Wifey in Creating, Decorating

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

destress, fine art, kitchen, landscape, painting, relax, relaxation, Tuscan, Tuscany, vineyard, wine

It’s a rainy Saturday morning and I finally had a moment to relax. No students, no rehearsal, no Hubster and no Pumpkin, just me in my quiet house…
Ahh… Then Hubster calls to see how my morning is going (2nd time today), and proceeds to give me a list of chorus he wants me to do today. Seriously? I ended the call and turned off my phone, I just need some time for me.

I pulled out a few canvases, my paints and brushes and began to relax. So I decided to paint a Tuscan Vineyard for my kitchen. We’ve been looking for paintings to go into the kitchen but haven’t exactly the right fit (with the large price tags, why would you settle?). We want our kitchen to give a Tuscan feel, yet that’s hard to accomplish without rust colors in your palette. Our kitchen has shades of brown, tan, blue and green. I didn’t have canvas that fits the space, so I made my painting on two panels. To keep it cohesive, I used packing tape to tape the frames together in the back of the frames. Two hours later, I’m not stressed (phone’s still off)… and I’m ready for a glass of wine.