An Arizona Cheesehead's Thoughts

We had a “Welcome to the team” lunch for our newest colleague and I was in charge of the icebreakers per usual. One of the questions I asked was, “What’s your dream job?” The caveat is you can’t pick your current job. That’s just a suckup move anyway. Two people answered they wanted to work with horses (ugh), one said police officer, two said chefs of some sort, another said electrical engineer and one said the answer I had prepared. Writer. Which is laughable in a way because the only writing I’ve done is for our newsletter and (small) pearls of wisdom emails from the President (that’s me) of Parrot Heads in Paradise. I started thinking about what was stopping me from doing any real writing. I couldn’t come up with any good reasons. Oh, I had reasons, of course, but not good ones. Can you legitimately say you want to be a writer when you don’t actually write? I might have well have said I wanted to be an Olympic athlete. Both seem just as likely when you’re making zero effort. I also...

Last Saturday, I had some long-time friends over for late lunch and shenanigans. To prepare for the event, I decided to make a passel of food from scratch. Three soups, a couple of dips and a dessert. My backup plan if it all sucked was to order Spinato's Pizza so we weren't going to starve. It was nearly three hours total of chopping, dicing (which is different than chopping for you non-chefs), mixing, heating, spicing and tasting. It was also two loads of dishes, three pans, one crockpot, a micro-plain, a Spiralizer and too many mixing bowls to count. I really could have used a kitchen assistant. All for four people. Definitely one of my crazier ideas and a lot of kitchen time. But, I wore an apron the whole time so that's the thing that tips me into professional Chef status now, right? Everything I made was a low or 0 Weight Watcher's Freestyle point food and I don't think it was readily apparent. As in, it didn't come across as "diet" food....

One of my colleagues turned me on to the idea of 100 Happy Days . I jumped on it because I felt my 21 days of gratitude exercise a few years ago really had a positive impact on my outlook on life. The concept is to post a picture every day that makes you happy. You don't have to explain it, just post it on your medium of choice. I chose to do them all on Facebook because it was fast and easy. A few of my other friends joined in, too. It was fun to see what was making them happy. My last day was yesterday and this is my favorite picture of all. Joan, Charles, Bill and Mary - Pfister kids My Dad is turning 80 next week and three of his siblings flew out for the party. They got in yesterday and weren't expecting me to come over but I surprised them by leaving work early to go hang out. I'm lucky to have a family that I truly enjoy being with. I reviewed all of my pictures today and saw that I missed posting more days than I thought I had. Not a big surprise, those...

While in Frankfurt, my companion and I decided to take a city bus tour. When we bought the tickets, I asked if they did the tour in English as well as German and was told they did. Sweet. It was one of those double deckers with an open top. We got on and climbed to the top level and situated ourselves. I looked in front of me and saw this: Ten Languages! The only problem was that there were no headphones in sight. I had my own pair so I plugged in and I told my companion, "They must come around and hand them out." The bus then started filling up and a couple sat in front of us. The man looked at the language selection then looked for the non-existent headphones then went down the stairs. My companion started to follow, thinking the guy knew where headphones were but before he got to the stairs, the man came up and sort of shrugged at his wife and sat down. We took that to mean there were no more headphones to be found. We tried to share an earbud apiece but betwee...

Two of my Poker Chick friends and I bought a Living Social deal for DIY painting at a local arts store in Mesa. For $25 a person, the store provided canvas, brushes, paints and an instructor to give you advice. The best part of the deal? You could bring your own booze! I got there a little early and started chatting with two other women who came in when I did. The store had 100 designs on the wall to give you ideas and we examined all of them. The ideas were nicely labeled with a degree of difficulty from 1 to 3. I had no shot at completing a 3 and I wondered even about a 2. By the time Stacy and Angela got there, I was firmly a BFF with my fellow artists. Angela asked me, "Did you know them already?" I said, "No." Then, she just rolled her eyes and shook her head at me. Don't hate me for my superior social butterfly skills! Canvas and a bottle - that could have been all I needed. The picture I chose to emulate. Degree of difficulty = 2. W...

I'm pretty sure this is the longest I've gone without posting on my blog since I started it. It's been almost a month. It's not that I don't have lots to write about. Work is sooooooo busy and my social life is just as full. I'm just so overwhelmed between the two that, when I do manage to have some down time at home, all I want to do is watch mindless TV and drink wine. Seriously, my mind is mush and my energy level is non-existent. My house and my yard are a mess, I'm behind on club administrative work and all I can think about is sitting in the chair with the DVR controller in hand. Up until this weekend, I had only read one book this month and only because it was for book club. Sad. I think  about writing something and even halfway compose it but it just seems like too much work to actually type it all out. Actually, it seems like too much energy to even take my laptop out of its case when I get home. You know it's got to be bad when I don...

One of our warehouse guys brought up a big box to my desk. It was addressed to me by name and labeled with a Gift Tree.com logo. Since I order most of the equipment and supplies for IT, I’m used to getting packages. However, they don’t usually have this label: For the record, he didn't check my ID We joked that it must be from someone who knows me well. I opened it up to find a note from our team in Canada saying that they hoped the contents would help with our ongoing issues. Below the note was a well packed barrel that was holding three bottles of wine. Nice! It’s a good thing that our issues seem to be behind us or we might have just cracked them open on the spot. There were three guys who bore the brunt of our issues and I offered each of them a bottle. One is a non-drinker so, score for me, I kept his. You gotta love the teetotalers because they leave more for the rest of us. I’m also keeping the barrel. It will make a great display for a Parrot Grande Silent ...

I got two unsolicited gifts this week from two different friends. A drink bell and a tiara woozie (wine koozie) I think these selections say I'm a spoiled, alcoholic Princess. They also say I have some really nice friends.

I swear I’m not doing this boneheaded stuff just so I have blog fodder. I went to make my new fave dish for dinner. Hot Italian sausage, chopped greens, onion and garlic with pasta. I put a pot of water on the back burner set to high to boil and my cast iron pan on the front burner set to medium-low to heat up so I could brown the sausage. I cut a hole in the end of the sausage casing and squeezed out its contests into my pan. I had an instant, dramatic sounding sizzle and a boat load of smoke. By the time I got the pan off the stove, my smoke alarm was blaring. I put the stove fan on high and went to open the front and back doors. George was hiding behind her kitty condo at the front door and looked at me with terror in her eyes. I felt bad but was happy to know that something actually scares her. The sausage was scorched in places so much so that I had to slice the burnt parts off. My pan was carbon coated so I had to scrub it before I could use it again. This time, though, I put s...

My friends have gotten involved in Rodan and Fields  and invited some of us to come check out the program. There was an event put on at Total Wine and More  that combined a free wine tasting with a presentation of the Rodan and Fields product. Genius idea! Great idea for those presenting the product because the tasting was free to them and to us although they provided some cheese and crackers and dessert. We tasted four wines from South America (two whites and two reds) with one of the store employees leading the discussion about the wine. It's always nice to learn and it made me miss the days when the Poker Chicks went to lots of wine tastings. Following the tasting was the product presentation. It looks very cool, I must say. I haven't decided if I'm going to buy anything right now (because I'm cash poor thanks to some medical bills) but it's certainly compelling. Who wouldn't want some truly effective anti-aging products? It was also a great idea fo...

My buddy T agreed to go to one of the Dining Out For Life spots for lunch today and our friend Dave went with us. We chose The Stockyards and all add the Prime Rib Sandwich. Oh, my, is it ever wonderful! D'Arcy McGee's was our dinner choice. The Rocket Scientist and our friends, Barb and John, hit it up for some big beers and good food. As is typical, TRS and I ordered the same thing. We are really almost identically the same person. ;-) There were some Dining Out For Life volunteers working the dinner crowd. They gave out envelopes where you could add to your automatic donation from the meal if you chose to. You could also just fill out the flap on the envelope and give it back. Either way, you got entered into a prize drawing. Both Barb and I threw in some extra cash and she filled out forms for both her and John. TRS told me to fill his out for him and I made a joke about putting TRS-Pfister as his name. He didn't think it was funny but Barb and I did. I did fill it out ...

Nectar from the gods! This is sweet, bubbly and smooth but also rich/full feeling and I could drink it day or night. I'm not even going to distract from the flavor by pairing it with any food. It's awesome on its own. If you like sweet wines, you'll love it.

This was a nice, but not very remarkable, white table wine. I liked it better with food than just sipping it on its own as it was a little sharp to the taste. I won't go out of my way to buy it again but I would pick it up at the next BevMo! Five Cent Sale if it's there.

My favorite wines are the sweet, white ones and, for some reason, I expected this 2008 Gewurstraminers to fall into that category. It did not. It wasn't at all bad, it just wasn't as sweet as I hoped it would be. It had more of a dry and spicy flavor than sweet and bubbly. It did go well with a grilled chicken salad and was also fine on its own. I wouldn't hesitate to try it again now that I know what to prepare myself for.

I'm not a huge fan of Chardonnay but this 2009 bottle from Arrogant Frog is quite delightful. It's the oak taste that turns me off. This one is not oaky at all and has lots of fruit flavor and scent. I started the glass with a jalapeno cheese sandwich and it well together. I'm now finishing the glass on its own and it's still enjoyable.

How sweet it is! Side Yard never disappoints. Every wine I've had from them has been a great taste for the price. This may be my favorite, though. When they say sweet, they mean it. It's like soda pop sweet which is not appealing to some palates but I love it. I had a glass with my chicken tonight and have had a glass (OK, maybe two) on its own and both were decidedly pleasant.

My tasting selection was bottled in 2008 and it was everything I wanted it to be. Rich, warm tasting and with a touch of heat/spice. This wine would be great with food. I think this was the first time I've had anything from this Australian vintner but I'll keep an eye out for the label going forward.

The last BevMo! Five Cent Sale didn't feature any Vinho Verde. That made me sad because it's a great drink with anything or just drink wine. The wineseller there suggested this wine was similar. He was correct. This is a refreshing, light wine that is good on its own. However, it may be over-powered by heavy food. I've enjoyed it over three nights, one glass at a time. It's just delightful with a crisp taste, clear color and a surprisingly long finish. It would be perfect for a summer's eve.

The 99 Vines vineyard from California is almost always featured in the BevMo! Five Cent Sale so I've tried several types. So far, I haven't found one that's been a disappointment. I quite enjoy the Pinot Grigio. It's refreshing, light and has a pleasant fruit to it. It goes well with food and is also great just as a sipping wine on its own. In fact, it's quite easy to sip a lot as it's very smooth. The alcohol count is 12.5% by volume which makes it about average for what's in my wine cooler. More than two glasses and I wouldn't want to be driving.

I'm a big wino. While I usually drink beer when we're out but, at home, I drink wine 99% of the time (when drinking alcohol which isn't 99% of the time, really, I swear). The BevMo! Five Cent Sale is like a quarterly holiday for me, almost the equivalent of Christmas. I save so much money! The interesting thing about wine (and beer and spirits and food) is that it's not a universal feeling for each one. A few years back, my Chick Poker girls and I took several wine tasting classes and the key message was "Trust your pallet". The point was that if you liked something, enjoy it. And, that not everyone else would agree it's as enjoyable as you find it to be. So, I've decided to post my wine reviews. Mostly so that I have a record of what I liked and what I hated so I can query going forward. Nothing is worse than buying something a second time to relearn that you didn't like it the first.