What really matters

 

The past week has been one of emotional turmoil filled with disrespectful, rude, unappreciative and selfish people. The world is filled with those kinds of people and attitudes and I do my best to steer clear of them. Unfortunately, the past couple of days have really taken its toll on me. I haven't blogged in quite a while which is upsetting because it's the last day of my birthday month and I have done some really fantastic things over the last 30 days that I need to share!

 

In light of recent events, I felt as if I needed to step back and purposely focus on what really matters in life. It's not the nonsense going on at work (even if I do spend the majority of my waking hours there). It's not the fact that the idiot who screwed up my stump grinding from the tree that was removed in my front yard is still making my front yard look like the rest of the neighborhood (not a good thing in case you're wondering). It's not the fact that people don't understand me when I speak and write plain English (they are the fools, not me). It's not traffic or someone cutting me off at a red light. It's not the neighborhood kids taking rocks out of my yard to weigh down their basketball hoop stand (at least they are playing basketball and not breaking into houses).

 

No, what's important in life, what really matters, are the simple things.

The simple things that I have always had and clung on to because they are what get me through this crazy life.  The simple things that I love which made me start this blog in the first place.

 

 

Here are just a few:

Spending a beautiful afternoon with three of my favorite people at my favorite Virginia winery, Otium, and then lunch at Magnolia's at the Mill, in Purcellville.

 

 

 

My parents, my two best friends

a refreshing and beautiful Chardonnay

Enjoying a Pinot Noir that isn't from Oregon but from Virginia

Being silly by being ourselves and loving each other just the same because that's what good friends do

Virginia wine owners who make amazing German-inspired reds

living like nothing else matters at that very moment

the road less traveled

beautiful, yet simple, architecture



escaping in the beauty of nature



seeing an abandoned house and envisioning how wonderful it could really be



Celebrating my birthday lunch and being surprised with a personalized version of the day's menu

sharing incredible food - like cheese and fried green tomatoes...and

melt-in-your-mouth gorgonzola ravioli.. and

 

smoked chicken papardelle with argula and mushrooms ... and 

 

 chocolate... yes, chocolate. Chocolate always matters

 

 

 

 

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou."

- Omar Khayyam

being able to drink local wine purchased that day with no cork fee at Magnolia's

What matters most of all to me? 

Yep, love.

Unconditional love

I'm fortunate to have that love in my life.



 



Love from a good friend and from my parents

Whiskey matters also, especially rye whiskey from Catoctin Creek Distillery in Purcellville

and whiskey cocktails....

 



and whiskey sipping with my dad in honor of my grandfather

 

 

Yeah, what really matters is what happened on Saturday, September 20, not this nonsense that I have let take over my thoughts and my spirit the last couple of days.

 

What matters is good friends, family, wine, food, nature and the freedom to love and be who I want to be when I want to be and where I want to be with those I want to be.

 

 Not everything in life is perfect or the way I want it that is for sure.

 But as long as I don't lose sight of what really matters in life, I'll be just fine.

 

 

 

 

"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life." ~Rachel Carson

 

Such a cheesy birthday!

My birthday is in September; the 15th to be exact. I love the month of September for many reasons - football season starts, the transition from summer to fall, and of course because it's my (and my mom's) birthday month. I love birthdays. I believe in celebrating the entire month of your birthdate.

 It doesn't have to be something fabulous or extravagant but you should celebrate every single day in some way.

 

On September 1, the Evil Red Genius and I decided to do just that and start my month of celebrations off right! Not only was it a holiday but we had no previous plans and decided to take a trip to Shirlington Village in Arlington to try two of our favorite things - cheese and wine!!

 

 

Cheesetique is a boutique cheese shop which also has a fantastic little cafe/bar and a decent selection of wine! From blocks of cheese, to sandwiches, to soups, to salads, to mac and cheese to brunch items, it is definitely cheese heaven!

I couldn't have chosen a better place to start off my birthday month!

 

 

After drooling over the three expansive cheese cases as we walked in the door, we sat down and attacked the menu. Wow, where do we start? One of everything, please!
It was only 11am and we were in no rush!

 

Little did we know that it was our lucky day because it was a Monday.
Guess what Monday at Cheesetique means?

 

M.Y.O.B.

Make your own board...... of cheese!

 

Usually you are limited to the selection of cheeses allowed on your board, but not on Mondays!!
You can pick any that you want out of the case!!!!! Now as excited as we were to hear this news, it was also a little grueling.

 

How on earth do two cheese lovers pick only 6 out of 300!!?? Yes, that's right. They have over 300 cheeses from around the world from which to choose! Each one is cut to order also so if you're in a rush, know what you want or don't come to this place. It's worth the wait, believe me.
 You want to savor every smell and bite anyway! (Oh, and fyi, we will return on a Monday! Hello... holiday in October!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's what we chose (from left to right shown above):

 

Whiskey Cheddar

Basil Garlic Gouda

Humboldt Fog

Oma

Goat d'Affinois

Piave Vechio

 

While we waited for the cheese board to arrive, we perused the tiny little wine selection, sure to find something (or 2 or 3 or 4) that we'd want to try. There were quite a few I recognized, some I did not. It was limited as to what we could open in the store to consume and what we could purchase to take home. Their cork fee was outrageous as well, even thought it was already built in, and really was my only complaint about the place. (Don't worry, Arthur, you still have no competition).

 

It was blazing hot outside and we wanted something that was going to pair well with all the cheeses (that's not easy to do!) and was on the lighter end of the reds. 

 

2011 Andre Brunel Cotes du Rhone from France

 

 

 

I barely know a thing about French wines and decided a while ago I want to educate myself so let's make that part of the adventure!

 

 

This wine is 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah and 10% old-vine Cinsault. It has aromas and flavors of small red berry fruits, black currant and black cherries with slight touch of Provencal herbs and cinnamon spices.

 

 Most importantly, it went really well with the all of the cheeses!!!

SUCCESS!!

 

 

We were both pleased the most with the Humboldt Fog and wine pairing. The cheese became creamier and you could taste it still getting better even after the cheese had been consumed. 

 

Evil Red Genius: I love what that does!

Tiny Wine Girl:  That's what every man wishes I'd say to him!

 

The wine brought the goat cheese flavors to the forefront which made us extremely happy. So much so that when we tried the Goat d'Affinois it didn't even taste like goat cheese to us until we drank the wine. It was so exciting to see what the wine brought out in the cheese!

 

Anyone who has followed my blog will realize that I love a funky-smelling wine. The funkier the wine smells, the happier I usually am with the taste. Just because the wine smells funky (dirty tennis shoes, manure, farmland, wet forest floor) does not mean that the wine will taste bad!

Trust me, I've been there!

 

Well, I tend to often feel the same about cheese, but not as strongly. There are some really funky smelling cheeses out there and if you can get past the smell, you'll be surprised of incredible taste! The Oma cheese on our board was a perfect example.

 

Tiny Wine Girl: OMG! Oma! It's the FUNK! (with a pleasantly surprised exclamation)

Evil Red Genius: It's OUR kind of funk! (with a smile of pleasant acknowledgement and agreement)

 

 

Once the cheese board had been demolished, the best quote of the day, as if wanting to be dared,

"I'm not above licking the board......" In case you're wondering.... we didn't..... this time.

 

Next on our cheese adventure was two grilled cheese sammiches and soup to share. 

(I know how to spell sandwiches, but when they are yummy, I have always given them a nickname of sammiches, so there!)

 

 

 

The "Grown-up Grilled Cheese" is the signature sandwich and with a heap of artisan Prairie Breeze Cheddar melted on grilled sourdough.

Not only was this sammich delicious but it literally begged me to dip it in the creamy tomato soup that was sitting next to it. I couldn't say no to the sammich and man, am I glad I didn't. The sammich was amazing but dipping it sure did make the soup even better!

The second sammich was the "Grilled Caprese" - a perfection of mozzarella, tomato, basil and basil mayo on grilled ciabatta.

 

I don't know what took us so long to try Cheesetique (especially since they have had one in Del Ray for 10 years!) but I can guarantee you it set the bar high for my month of birthday celebrations!

It will take quite a while for us to eat our way through 300 cheeses but I promise we'll enjoy every single moment!

 

 

"Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon, or good people and noble ventures."

- MK Fisher

 

Duck Donuts...where have you been my whole life?

Last fall, I was introduced to "Duck Donuts" in Kitty Hawk, NC in the Outer Banks. Yes, I've been going to the Outer Banks since I was in middle school and I've been in love with the place for not much longer after that time. I had heard of this doughnut place but I'm not much of a sweets fan, especially breakfast sweets. However, it was within walking distance of the house we rented and thought why not try it. One bite and I couldn't believe I had never been in there before!

 

 

Their website says, each donut is about 310 calories. So what?!  You're on vacation! That wine you drank last night is probably more than that and so was that fried seafood platter and the shrimp pasta in cream sauce. So eat the frickin' donut!!

 

 

This summer vacation we made it a point to go to the one in Kill Devil Hills since it was closest to Nags Head where we were staying and we ordered a dozen. What's a dozen between three people! This place is a tiny hole in the wall but it's where the magic happens.

You can actually watch your doughnuts as they are being prepared. They slowly come off the conveyor belt onto a big platter. Notice, I'm not telling you what happens before the conveyor belt - lard, lots of lard and hot grease.... but we don't need to think about that part....

 

A really nice lady then reads your order and makes the doughnuts pretty and delicious - made to order - chocolate frosting, lemon frosting, cinnamon, coconut, powdered sugar, sprinkles, butterscotch, you name it.

 

In about 10 minutes time, here ya go!! I saw people come in and just buy one doughnut. Some may call that restraint. I call it nonsense. Pure nonsense. You can never get enough of a good thing!

Well, at least if you only buy a dozen once (or twice) a year!

 

If you love doughnuts you definitely need to try these. If you like Krispy Kreme doughnuts and get excited about the "red light" being on, then you definitely need to try these.  The red light is always on because they are always hot and made just the way you want them. If you only care a slight bit about doughnuts, you still need to try them. These things will make you a doughnut lover. Trust me.

 

 

Until the next trip south....... here's to you, Duck Donuts!!

 I won't ever make a trip to the OBX without stopping in Duck Donuts now!

 

 

"I owe it all to little chocolate donuts."
-John Belushi

 

An insatiable chardonnay on a special birthday

August 30, 2014 was a difficult day for me. August 30 is my grandmother's birthday and this year was the second year I didn't get to spend her birthday with her. I LOVE birthdays. Not just my own, but those that I care for and call family and friends as well. I believe that birthdays should be celebrated with excitement and warmth and compassion. It doesn't mean you have to throw a party but it means that you have to celebrate that person. Embrace the meaning of a birthday. I also like to thank the parents of the birthday boy or girl because actually isn't it all because of them that we're able to celebrate that particular person's birthday anyway?

I loved spoiling my grandmother on a daily basis, but on her birthday I did it even more so. I must say, she did the same for me - every day of my life. I tried my best to make her birthday special every year that she was on this earth and I sure hope I did a decent job. 

This year on her birthday, I woke up early to take my sweet dog outside and it was peacefully quiet. Only the sound of birds chirping and trees rustling. Neighbors weren't up yet and I was grateful. I walked to the top of my backyard where it inclines to a slight hill in between two trees and faced the sky and sang "Happy Birthday" to her.  (She loved when I sang and even has asked me from the spirit world to keep singing, so it's the least I can do for her.)

 

It was a bittersweet day for me because while I know it's a happy day and she is in a much better place celebrating with my grandfather and her other family members and friends who have passed before her and since in heaven, it makes me sad to know that I can't be with her. Yes, I know, she's here with me in spirit. I think it's hilarious actually when people say that to me. They don't want me to be sad and want to say something that will make me feel better. What they don't realize is I don't need their sympathy, or kind words or to be "pumped up" because I KNOW she is with me.  I feel her, I hear her, I smell her. I even have proof from HER through my spirit medium that she is indeed always with me. Would be funny to say that to someone just to see their reaction when they said "oh, honey, don't be sad, she's with you." What I want to say is "no shit" in my saracstic way, but that probably wouldn't go over well, would it?

But I digress....

This year, I decided I needed to be with my mom because she would be in a melancholy state just like I was and we should be together. So.... off to the beach house, Prowler and I went to spend the day and night. It was an overcast, cloudy kind of day. The kind of day when you think it's going to rain but it never does but continues to stay gloomy. Not a good weather day for me. Not on this day.

Instead of going straight to the house, I drove the long way down along the river. The river always makes me feel better, I thought. Just as I was about to make the turn away from the river to head up my street, I looked out and a ray of sun was starting to peek through the clouds and was glistening down on the river. I smiled, with a tear in my eye and said, "Hi, ladybug. Thanks for waiting for me to get here." She knew all would be better once mom and I were together in "her" new house in the town that she loved so dearly. The sun came out bright and shined the rest of the day.

I was determined to make this a happy day and not be down and depressed. Taking Henri, the golf cart, for a ride to the Food Lion (come on, it's a small town. Give me a break. Plus your golf cart doesn't have a name?) with Dad, to find a cheap, California Chardonnay was the mission. Luck was on our side, because I not only found a cheap Cali Chardonnay but I found one that I had not tried but had been wanting to try. So $9.49 later, we were headed back home to chill this baby.

  

2012 Sterling Vintner's Collection

Chardonnay

Central Coast, California

A few hours later we were enjoying front porch sipping, the sun was shining and my heart was heavy but smiling.......finally. She would be happy because the ones she loved so dearly were together at her favorite place on earth on her birthday.

You can't have a birthday without wine and you can't have wine without cheese. So I grabbed two "tasting size" packs of cheese to try. A Bruschetta cheese which has sundried tomatoes, basil and garlic in the cheese, and a New Zealander cheese which is a combination of gouda and cheddar.

Dad and I have had the Sterling Zinfandel (see blog post from April or May, I believe) and we both enjoyed it. I also have two other red Sterlings on my wine rack but haven't had them yet. So it was only natrual that we try the white they make.

The Sterling Chardonnay has floral aromas of pineapple, apricots and white peach.  It has a creamy flavor with hints of vanilla oak and a slight tart finish.  As I suspected, it paired better with the New Zealander cheese than the Bruschetta cheese by taking the tart aftertaste away. 

Flies tend to love our snacks so mom found this awesome contraption to stop the flies this time! Brilliant!
 

While Mom may not be a wine fan, she definitely is a cheese fan and this smile says it all!

While this wine was very satisifying to the palette on its own I had a feeling it would be really good with my mom's crab salad - which is just lump crabmeat, mayonnaise and tiny bit of lemon juice. Well, I completely underestimated how good it would be because once I took a forkful of crab and then a sip of wine, I was blown away. Insatiable. I could not get enough of that incredible combination!

Well done, Sterling. Well done, Food Lion.
Well done, Grandmother for obviously pointing me in that direction for your birthday wine!

 

 

"Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own."

~Robert Heinlein

 

I spent all of my life trying to make her happy and I loved her with all of my heart. I have never known such an unconditional and magical love like the one that we shared. There is nothing I wouldn't have done for her and she felt the same and did the same for me.

I am blessed to have had her for almost 40 years of my life - every single second was priceless.

 

 

Happy Birthday, my sweet ladybug.

I love you and will continue to celebrate you, especially when I'm at your happy place!

 

"Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words."

- Plautus