king mack!

the first boy ever to be allowed at girls weekend did a great job holding down the fort! there was no shortage of babies to love on this weekend! love sweet baby mack! 

sweet Millan!

little Millan was the oldest little one at our girls weekend! at 6 1/2 months old she surely showcased her smiles and giggles...cannot wait to watch her grow up!!!

lainey grace

my sweet little friend Lainey Grace & I had some pretty good bonding this past weekend! a few of the photos we captured of her precious little face! two months and looking just like her daddy! 

time flies! one month since Maine

i cannot believe its been a month since we've been in maine! where does the time go?! such a fun family vacation that we will remember for years to come! 

two awesome new wines!

as part of Kate's bachelorette her sweet sister put together a private chef to cook for us! i'll post many of her suggestions and great tips she provided us with. first off though, the wine!!! Chef Melinda [affectionately "Chef Mel"] owner of Culinary Connection was amazing [see below for ways to contact her].

many of our girlfriends aren't too hot for white wine...especially sweet ones. This 2012 Riff Pinot Grigio was legit. an italian, drier, pinot grigio available was how we all classified this that almost drinks like a sav. blanc.  Chef Mel said she was able to get this at Whole Foods in South Carolina and I was able to get it through Tower Beer & Wine off Piedmont Rd in Atlanta. Additionally the distributor online was quick to respond with where to find this in my area! This retails for a great $9.99 a bottle at Tower in Atlanta. 

the other wine that we sampled was a merlot which again, many are predisposed to think this is going to be a less bulky cab or somewhat tangy. the Hyatt merlot that we had was amazing. This Washington State merlot drank like a great pinot noir and we were all big fans! I wish I could say I could have this again soon, however after contacting the distributor, this isn't distributed in Georgia. This is however available per Chef Mel's recommendation at Whole Foods in South Carolina. This wine also retails per Chef Mel's notes between $10-12/bottle. 

Chef Melinda Piercy, Owner of  Culinary Connection
chefmelinda@culinaryconnection.us.com
828.638.6766

Mel travels to you for you own customized in home chef experience. This can be as hands on as you'd like it to be. She can do anything from sushi classes to sit down dinners. We had a blast getting to know her and would highly recommend her to anyone interested in this great experience! Additionally she isn't available just in Charleston...I can't wait to find a reason to have her come to Atlanta in the future!

Follow her blog: http://chefmelindap.blogspot.com
Follow her Pinterest boards: http://pinterest.com/chefmelinda/?d
Like her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theculinaryconnection

welcome back!

one week till CB!!!

the faves: wine country

so for those of you who aren't into reading long blog posts, seeing lots of photos, or hearing me talk about my favorite things...this is not for you! for those interested in wine, traveling to Napa in the near future, or are just plain curious to see how my vacation was, read on!

here are the top 3 places that we visited in napa (wineries that is) & you'll notice they all are the same thing from the same mountain (& guess what, the vintage was my fave too across the board). All of these you have to contact the wineries to get however...unless you're lucky enough to be invited over for a glass when we pop these bottles.

Spence Wines
Howell Mountain, Angwin, California
Cabernet only

Close your eyes & imagine sitting on the back porch at your best friend's house. Now add vineyards as far as your eyes can see & just at the end some mountains with the sun setting behind them. Now open your eyes & find yourself at Spence & guess what...the owner feels like she's your best friend and you are sitting on her back porch with the same setting! What a treat!

Allen & Jacalyn Spence, the vintners, were not just hospitable but they also welcomed us into their home to try some of their greatest wines from 2006 (best of course if you know much about Napa wine--which I now do ha) through 2009. All 4 vintages of course were great. 6 bottles, 4 reserve and 2 white label, made it back to Atlanta.

We hit this winery by chance as they do not offer tours nor do they typically offer tastings. We'll call it luck for both sides. We left with a case of wine & they left with 6 of their newest fans.

Bremer Family Wines
Howell Mountain, St. Helena, California
Cabernets, Merlot, Claret & Chardonnay

 

The first winery we went to and really its a three way tie between the 3 wineries I'm mentioning here. However Bill, did show us a great tour of the facility. He mentioned the word cave & Sid was all over it. 17,000 sq feet of caves and endless bottles of wine, we really did have a blast learning about the wine making process with Bill.

We had a blast here & it really did spoil many of the next wineries we went to as it was by far our favorite of the first two days of wining. To put things in perspective, this was the first red wine any of my sisters & mother drank and actually liked (loved rather). Lets just say they do it right at Bremer. Dear Santa, Sign me up for that wine club please because I only purchased 1 bottle!

Ladera
Howell Mountain, Napa, California
Cabernet & Sauvignon Blanc

By now you get it...sign me up for any 2006 Howell Mountain Cabernet you can find. Ladera was no different. Although we spoiled ourselves with 2 of these bottles, I wish we had also purchased a bottle of the white. The wine was so great, the gravity method they practice at Ladera was so cool...& so were the vintners we met from Iowa who were there as well!

preview of west coast

wish i was here...

t minus 2 months...