Wine and Werewolves

Wine and Werewoves was an EPIC NIGHT with Tyler Lyle who we hired to come play a house gig in our backyard.  We had been preparing for weeks.  The morning of the gig Matt awoke early to fire up Sharptooth's Inferno.  We baked about a dozen loaves for the gig.  Set up followed throughout the day and we were so happy the Janks were here to help us.  The guys picked Tyler up from the airport around 2 and took him back to our house where we promptly filled him full of our most authentic and delicious Tucson food- Guerro Canel carne asada tacos.  I served Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne and Monte Xanic Calixa red wine (cab/syrah blend) which is one of Mexico's finest.  After a leisurely lunch of getting to know Tyler we gave him some time to chill and get acquainted with Luke's guitar.  Jeff arrived late afternoon and helped us all with last minutes stuff around the yard and thankfully he also took photos throughout the night for us with his sweet camera.  See his awesome photos here.

Gates opened at 7:30 and Tyler was playing by about quarter after eight.  We had 40 people all together.  Tyler took a break a few songs in so people could get more wine and snacks.  We had a plethora of wine (Champbrule, Luc Pirlet Chardonnay, Summit Estates Riesling, Vasco Sassetti Sangiovese, Montecillo Rioja,  L.A. Cetto Cabernet Sauvignon, & Line Shack Cabernet Sauvingon).  Plus we had fresh baked bread from the brick oven, cheeses, a tray of dessert bars by Betsy and a big platter of strawberries from our neighbors.  Tyler played many more songs, including my favorite of his, By My Name, which he had to relearn for me as its one of his oldest songs, and Matt's favorite, A Journey of Infinite Recognition, another oldie.  Tyler ended and we demanded an encore so he took a bit of a break and then ended the show with One Legged Woman.  The concert was awesome!  We tried to record the audio and video but unfortunately it didn't work (Jeff recorded a few songs which you can watch on his photo page linked above). Tyler brought a bunch of copies of his new album to sell and even though no one who came to the gig had ever heard of him they loved him and he sold a slew of his CDs. For those who bought CDs they got entered into a raffle in which we raffled off an autographed bottle of one of Tyler's favorite bottles of Bourbon.  When the music was over we kicked people out within about a half an hour or so.  This was for two reason, number one we needed to quiet it down and get all the cars off the street before we got complaints from our home owners association and because there was an after hours high end whiskey tasting for just a few guys and Tyler.  All in all the night was AWESOME except that I got sick that night and had to go to bed soon after the show.  The next morning we filled Tyler full of coffee and Los Betos breakfast burritos before we hauled him back to the airport.  

I will never forget how I was walking around the corner into my backyard the afternoon of the gig when I heard a very familiar voice singing, live.  A voice I listen to almost everyday and here it was live in my own backyard.  Awesome.

A Welcome Addition to the Casa

 We have talked about how awesome it would be to have a hot tub on our back patio since we bought this house.  We had set aside some money to take a trip this year that we were unable to take and so decided to use the money to get a hot tub.  Since we knew it would be delivered with a crane we invited some people over to watch.  The delivery  guys arrived a bit early and I was the only one here.  I took many pictures as I stood there hoping the hot tub would not come crashing through our roof as they lifted it over the house. Thankfully these guys know what they are doing and they lowered it down just where it needed to go.  Unfortunately I was the only one to see all the magic.  They set it up for us and Ariana was the first one in.  We  had dinner with friends who came over to see it that  night and then after Matt got back from his soccer game we got in.  We use it now about  every other day.  My favorite time of day to use it is right as the sun is going down, after a day of work.

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:

Preparing for Tres Parejas 2013...

 
 

Times of Refreshment

After a very difficult week we were extremely blessed by God who brought our very good friends to town this weekend.  We had a couple of great nights with the Richards, the Rottmans and the Jankowskis.  We even had a toast to our everlasting friendship with Nicolas Feuillatte!

Good times!  We love and miss you all!

Valleyscare Weekend

Extreme Swing

Matt and I headed up to the Twin Cities over the weekend in order to join Reegz, Cbass and Janni in their spooky evening of Valleyscare and to surprise my nephew Jace with the dresser we recently painted for him.

"Valleyscare" happens each October when Minnesota's beloved amusement park ,Valleyfair, fills the park with spooky haunts.  I hate all things scary but since Matt loves them and never gets to watch scary movies with me I thought we should go.  I did not go in any of the scarey attractions with my group but I did indulge myself in many a ride.  Valleyfair was part of my upbringing as my dad took us every year for Regan's birthday.  I loved it then and love it still.  Even though each year I find myself more and more afflicted with motion sickness (can't watch some TV, movies, and most all video games) I can still ride the wild rails of rollercoasters, thank God!  This year I braved the "Extreme Swing."  Words can hardly describe the feeling you get when you're falling forward from the top, other than to say I thought I was gonna die, but this ride is awesome!  The rollercoaster "Wild Thing" was also a favorite.  I did not have whatever it takes to ride the wicked looking rollercoaster "Steel Venom" but Matt, who will brave any ride, enjoyed it.  

We were happy that Jace was gone for the weekend- not because we didn't want to see him- but because we wanted to sneak his new dresser into his room while he was away so he could come home and be surprised by it.  It turned out pretty well me thinks.  Good job Matt!

Before

After

Mayo Foundation Gala

Matt and I got to go to a formal dinner last night at the Mayo Foundation House for his work.  The house is pretty much a castle and used to be occupied by Dr. Mayo and his wife.  We had wine and h'orderves on the main floor and then moved up 2 floors to a grand wooden paneled banquet type room where we had a 3 course meal staring filet mignon which could be cut with a butter knife.  The dinner ended with pumpkin cheese cake and then cordials and chocolate dipped strawberries on the way out.  I think this was the first time in my life I ever ate with real silverware.  Anyway a good time was had by all and the best part of the night was getting to see my handsome husband dressed up and getting to wear a gown myself- always fun!