Visit Home

I went home for a visit on my birthday this Fall.  I asked my sister to get me a bottle of Souverain Cab so I could drink it on my birthday night.  She and my niece also baked me some Chocolate Chip cookies which was great because I am a cookie monster!

It was great to see my family and especially fun hanging with my niece and nephews.  We played some frisbee and went to the park a number of times.  Jax didn't remember me from last year but he was my buddy in no time.  

While home my sisters and I and some of their friend went on a dinner cruise on the St. Croix River, Regan and I worked at the Desiring God conference, and my Mom made me my favorite meal (Thanksgiving).  Jamie and I shopped and went to lunch, Regan and I drank wine, and Steven brought over a number of homemade goodies he made so I could try them including the most delicious pulpy grape juice- yum!  He also gave me two unique bottles of wine- one from Minnesota and one from Texas.  Both were surprisingly good.  I also got to do an impromptu wine tasting at my friend Jane's house for a few ladies.  Good times!

Birthday wine and cookies

Whiskey Tasting with Benjamin

 Mid summer Matt hosted a whiskey tasting at our house.  Sixteen men attended and we made 18 pizzas from the wood fired oven.  It was a lot of work and we were grateful to have Sandi's help for the evening.

The tasting was led by a friend of ours, Benjamin, who is whiskey expert and a very interesting character indeed.  The guys tasted through 8 different whiskies and at the end everyone got to have a real pour of a whiskey of their choice before the bottles were raffled off to the attendees. A very fun and informative night.  Thanks Benjamin!

Tamal Party causes Earthquake!

Ok, so its been a good 6 months since I've posted. But I've had good reason.  I swore off all extracurricular activity so I could focus on studying for my level 2 sommelier test which I finally took last month.  Now that the exam is over it's time for me to play catch up!

At the end of June some of the men folk got together for a weekend of fun in Albuquerque while some of the ladies stayed behind in Tucson.  Yunuen, Betsy and I spent a fun evening together making corn tamales, which turned out fantastic!  We used Marcela Valladolid's recipe

Later that night as Yunuen and I were sitting on the couch watching some Friends we felt a flutter go through the house.  Yunuen asked me if I felt anything and I said it felt like a heavy truck had gone by and rattled the house.  About a half an hour later Ryan text Yunuen to see if we had felt the earthquake.  We looked it up on the news and sure enough Tucson had experienced a little earthquake at about 10 PM. Thankfully this is an extremely rare occurrence in Arizona and we can laugh about it with pictures like this:

Cumpleanos!

Happy Birthday to my Honey!

We celebrated by having a delicious lunch with filet mignon roast with gorgonzola sauce, the best potatoes ever, homemade bread and Altano Douro Reserva 2006.  Sandi joined us for lunch and to watch the World Cup.  She also baked Matt his favorite dessert, apple pie.

Preparing for the Exam...

God has been providing for me this past year in many different ways  as I prepare for my level 2 somm exam which I hope to take in the next couple of months.  I started teaching wine classes at work this year which has been scary and great all at the same time.  I have also been trying to learn about cocktails by making some of the most classic ones.  I have been reading tons of books and making an endless amount flashcards and will also begin practicing service too very soon.  But the most fun has to be blind tasting with my friend Tali.  We met on the International Guild of Sommeliers website when I posted a thread about how I was looking for a study partner.  She just took her level 1 exam last winter and is also studying for level two. We have been meeting once a week to taste together and it  has been very helpful and fun. 

Teaching a class at work

making my first cocktail

Bread Baking Brings Friends Together

Last month I taught a bread baking class in my home to some ladies from my church.  We baked 3 loaves together; a white sandwich loaf, a loaf swirled with pesto and roasted red peppers and a crusty artisan loaf.  Here are a few pics of us at the end of the night hanging out while the bread bakes and then eating it fresh from the oven.  Great fun!

The Rottmans used the bread class as an excuse to come down from Phoenix and stay with us for the weekend. We were able to have an early dinner with the Rotts and Janks before the Janks had to head back down to Mexico.

First Official Pizza Dinner

Last month we had our first official pizza dinner at the oven.  We invited our good friends the Kruis family and the Dunlap family.  We baked 6 pizzas and after dinner baked a batch of bread as well.  Here are some pics from this historic wood fired oven event.

Dana building pizza

Matt loading pizza

Fig & Gorgonzola pizza

Betsy and Shelly

Nick, Silas, Caleb & Phil

Matt removing the coals for bread baking

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

breads baking

finished breads

Sandi cries, "FREEDOM!" upon Retiring

A few weeks ago Matt's Mom hit a major milestone in her life: RETIREMENT!  We are very happy for her and prepared her a special dinner with her favorite meal from El Corral.  I forgot to take a picture when we were eating but here is the menu:

Sandi’s Retirement Celebration Meal

Starter

Baked Ricotta

Bubbles, Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Reserve Champagne

Main Course

 House Salad

Tamale Pie

Filet Mignon

Flichman Dedicado Red, Mendoza, Argentina

Dessert

Brownies a la mode

We are proud of you Mom!

                                                                     

She now plans to spend her days doing her most favorite thing... sewing!

Congratulations McMom!!

Hermosillo Weekend

We recently took a lightning trip down to see the Janks in Hermosilllo before the weather there turns brutal.  It is normal for them to be significantly hotter and more humid than Tucson so we had to go before May.  We took it easy there- just hanging out, eating, playing games, shopping for and drinking wine.  We of course had our traditional meal of steak, potatoes, bread and wine.  We bought amazing Ribeyes from the butcher and Ryan treated us to one of the best wines of Mexico, Chateau Camou, which is a Bordeaux blend.  Espactacular (as Rayn would say)!  We also had breakfast at a really cute little tradtional Mexican restaurant downtown where I had chorizo with eggs, beans and tortillas.  Delisioso!

Whenever Matt plays Guitar...