Whats Happening Around Town

My reason for creating this blog was so my friends and I can share the things around town we like to do. As moms, we have a wide variety of things we are looking to enjoy. We need activities for our children, things to enjoy as families and things we can do with our friends in those few blessed moments we can be women instead of moms. I have found many activities but none of them seem so extraordinary that they deserve posting. That has changed. While they are not family or children activities, activities that seem to be severely lacking in my blog, they are some of my favorite things to do. First is my weekly belly dancing class. I am a member of club boom, but you need not be to enjoy this class. For a seven dollar fee you may enjoy the facilities, including the classes. My friends have happily paid this to take this class. The teacher is a beautiful dancer whose love of dancing is infectious. She breaks down the routines in to manageable combinations and some of the steps are from previous weeks. This makes learning the steps surprisingly easy. Not that we in any way come close to approximating the skill and grace she has, we have, however, an enjoyable time, learn something new and exciting and we burn some calories and get stronger and more flexible.

The other activity I have been remiss in posting involves, you guessed it, the Ormond Wine Co. On Thursdays, they have a wine tasting. The cost is ten dollars. There are usually anywhere from six to ten wines with small appetizers to enjoy with your samples of wine. There is a lot of great information to be acquired. If you make a purchase that night, whether a bottle to take home, a glass to enjoy or food from the restaurant, you get a five dollar credit towards that purchase. So really you get all that for five dollars. I won't go on too much about this because if you want to know more about this restaurant, all you need to do is read more of my blog.

Wine Pairing Parties

Pairing wine with food seems such a esoteric, daunting and above all personal skill to master. Not feeling able to do this alone, I have decided to put a team on to this task. Couple this with my desire to give frequent parties, but not having the resources to fund them in the manner or frequency I would like to have them, and you have the "wine pairing party" solution. My friends and I each choose our favorite bottle of wine or appetizer that we would like to bring to the party. We individually research the appropriate pairing to go with that choice. After meeting at an appointed time, we lay out our food and wine and determine an order to the tasting. I will not give an order because I am not an expert, but I believe the rule of thumb is light to full bodied. Then we proceed to enjoy the wine by itself, the food by itself and then taste them together. The beauty of this party is that you get to try lots of wines and appetizers, experiment with what tastes good with what, and there is no need for planing or RSPVs because the amount of food and wine is determined by how many show up. The end cost is very reasonable. As you may or may not know, I adore the Ormond Wine Co. I went in there before my last party to get wine and suggestions for my appetizer; it was then that I was told that they had over 250 bottles of wine for under twenty five dollars. I was able to get a very nice bottle of wine and make a substantial appetizer all for under the cost of a meal out. If you enjoy wine, I highly recommend trying this with your friends. I am keeping a journal of the best food and wine pairs of each party. As of right now we have had two. The first 'winner' was a pairing of a Riesling and mini apple tarts. The second was a blended wine called Sunshine with a pear and blue cheese salad with walnuts. Much to my embarrassment as host neither of these were mine. Oh well I guess we'll just have to have more.