Wine Tasting 2023 has begun

Several years ago, circa 2018 I think, Janet and I bought the Woodinville Winery Passport. The passport has about 50 wineries who are participating in the "tasting" passport. It's a great idea to get people into your tasting room. 2018 happened to be the year I had a goal of tasting 50 different wineries for my 50th birthday year. And I did it! 

Ahem. 

Then 2019 we did some tastings, but nothing as serious as 2018. 

This year I decided I was buying Janet and I this passport again. It really helps to get us out and do something, and wine. I mean, come on. 

There are several on the list that we've tasted before and remember. And several we weren't sure if we've tasted (not promising at all), and some we've never tasted. The thing about hitting any tasting room multiple times, is every year is different. Their wines change. The grapes change. One wine you may hate one year, then the next you taste it and buy several bottles. 

We started our 2023 adventure yesterday. We know by experience we should only do 3 wineries in one outting. After three your taste buds are really wined out. AND you probably shouldn't drink any more so you can drive. 

The wineries on the list, though, all have different hours, different locations, and some require reservations. The Woodineville Winery group have created an app for this Passport thing. And while that's great, they don't allow you to sort the wineries by location or available times. So...me being me, I put it all in a spreadsheet. You're shocked aren't you?

Janet and I have our next tasting dates already on the calendar and now simply have to choose where to go. But before I get ahead of myself, let's talk about yesterday's tastings. 

We started at Zerba Cellars. I didn't recall it, but we had tasted at Zerba before in 2014. I didn't have a very good experience there at that time. And, to be fair, my wine knowledge was lacking at that time. Still, this visit was fantastic. The two ladies working the tasting room were warm and welcoming. They knew a lot about the wines and spent enough time explaining to us. What makes Zerba special is it's called "rock" wine. The vines grow in a very rocky area, and prefer that. The rocks make the vines really work at it and the result is a bolder taste. I bought three bottles there and would certainly go back and taste them again. 

The next one was 425 Cellars. This was a new one for us. The woman working it was also fantastic. We were the only ones in the room at the time so she spent time chatting us up. She didn't have a lot of knowledge about the red wines because she was a white wine drinker. That was ok with me she knew enough. Their wines were so fantastic. Every one we tasted I fell in love with. Even the white wine we tasted (it was a Pinot Grigio). Their wines were so good that I joined their wine club and bought 3 bottles. Janet bought a rose from them too. I'd highly recommend this winery tasting room. In fact, I'll meet you there. 

After 425, we took a break and had lunch at Vivi Pizzeria. Their pizza is thin crust and so amazingly delicious. Janet and I split a wedge salad and a pizza. It was just what we needed to finish out tasting day. 

The last winery we tasted at was Patterson. We know Patterson very well. We've tasted there several times. This time, though, we just didn't think their wines were that great. It could be that the first two wineries were so great that Patterson was just lackluster.

I managed to come home with 7 bottles of wine. 6 I bought and 1 Janet bought. She likes to buy wine and send it home with me because here is where we'll usually be drinking it. She also likes to let me buy the wine because she knows she'll be likely with me when we drink it. Smart. 

I am happy that we're tasting wines again. I missed it last year. It also gets me out of house - which is where I like to stay too much. I can't wait to taste some of the new ones on the list. Stay tuned for those stories. 

3,153,600 Minutes

Here we are.  I can’t believe it’s been six years. I think about mom every single day; multiple times a day. The number of times that I still want to pick up the phone and call her is outrageously large. I miss her.

 I’ve been extraordinarily bitchy the last week, and it wasn’t until yesterday, that it dawned on me why. The week before mom died, we spent in the hospital sitting with her. Some praying for her. Most of us just talking to her or being with her. And all of us feeling the enormity of what life was going to be like without her. How could we cope? How could we go on? I think, subconsciously, my mind was remembering this week 6 years ago and that was putting me in a horrible mood. 

I can still remember exactly what was going on when I got the call. I had ordered pizza for dinner. I was still working and finishing up some report I was working on. My phone rang. I glanced at it and say it was Jeannette Wraspir. I ignored it. Then my phone rang again and it was Jeannette again. I knew something was up then. 

She very gently told me what happened. The words that stick out even today - "no brain activity". I wasn't sure what it meant but I knew I had to get on the next plane to Tucson. 

 5 days later, at 5:30 in the morning, the hotel phone rang. The doctor called to tell me that she had passed in her sleep in the night. We all had decided to go home the night before and we'd get a good night sleep and come see her in the morning. Us three girls stood at the foot of her bed telling her we were going home and we'd see her in the morning. I said to her that if she was ready to go, we were ready for her to be at peace. 

I hung up the phone from the doctor and sat on the bed wondering how I was going to get through the day without her. Then how is it going to get through the week. Then month. Then year. How was I going to get through all of the “first". The first Mother’s Day, the first birthday, the first Thanksgiving, the first Christmas all of it. I just didn’t know how I was going to survive. And yet here I am six years later having survived the time without mom. And maybe a stronger person because of it.  

Time has made it easier. Most of the time. But there are still days that grief reaches deep into my soul and pulls out whatever is left there.

Six years ago today the loss of mom crushed me. I never imagined I would ever be strong and steady again. Losing her crush me in a way I never imagined it would and yet it made me stronger in a way I never imagined it could.

Grief has no timeline. There isn’t a single day that suddenly the sun will come up and I’ll feel 100% healed. It doesn’t work that way. Instead, it’s like a roller coaster where you may not be able to see the twist and turns around the corner but you can be damn sure they’re there waiting to toss you around. f

I'll get past today. I'll survive the grief of today. Tomorrow I might even smile a little thinking of something Mom would have loved or some inside joke we had. I'll survive. She would want me to, in fact, expect it from me. 

I miss her. 

I have a ridiculous amount of...

I saw this on Facebook tonight and I thought of a funny Mom and Dad story. 

It was a hot July day in Tucson. Dad had just passed away and I was down helping Mom. I didn't know what I'd be helping her with, but I knew just being there would be help enough. 

We had finished dinner. A HUGE rib eye steak, baked potato and a salad (she made the meal in Dad's memory), when Mom hopped up from her chair and started frantically walking around the house. She was opening drawers, cabinets and moving things on shelves. I could not figure out what she was doing. She was clearly looking for something, and she was focused in finding it. 

A good 15 minutes goes buy and she comes back into the living room. She plops down on the sofa by me and dumps a box full of something onto the coffee table. 

"Look at this! Just look at this," she said. 

I looked down and there was AT LEAST 30 nail clippers in all shapes and sizes. 

I, of course, was very confused. When I looked back up at Mom to ask why, and what, and why again, I saw tears in her eyes. Then she said, "You dad could never find his nail clippers. He always bought another pair when he was out. He had them everywhere. Everywhere." I still wasn't sure where she was going with this, then we proceeded to talk all night about how if Dad could have one thing, why not have 10 of them. It was a joke in our family with Dad that when he'd go to the store to buy something on sale, he'd be so many of whatever it was. He'd say it was on sale so stock up. 

Fast forward 4 years I'm dazed and stunned cleaning out Mom's house. She died of a stroke and I flew to Tucson the month after to clean out her house. 

I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing. I was sorta floating through the house moving things to and from, but not really doing anything. I was still a bit in shock that Mom was gone. I was sitting at her desk and noticed a drawer that had a couple of scissors in it. I jumped up and started rushing through the house picking up scissors EVERYWHERE. I brought them all into the kitchen and dumped them on the table. There were 24 pair of scissors! Who needs that many scissors? 

The family there helping me thought I was losing it, but I started laughing. I laughed and laughed and laughed. I told them the story of Mom after dad died, and here I was after mom died doing the same thing, but with scissors! 

Ironically enough, she also had about 20 nail clippers too. They may have been dad's for all I know. 

For me? What do I have a ridiculous amount of? Pens. I'm a pen whore. I have at least 25 here by my sofa. I have at least 50 upstairs in the scrapbook room. I have a dozen in my office. I have 5-10 in my night stand. I have 4 in my purse. I tell you, they are everywhere in this house. 

What about you?

January Sunday Dinner - Family Favorite theme

Last night was the first of the 2023 themed Sunday dinners. It was a smashing success, as all of them were in 2022. 

Let me back up. In December of 2021 I decided to spice things up with Sunday dinner. I had my December Sunday dinner guests put their suggested themes in bowl and then each guest got to pick one out of the bowl and those ended up being our 2022 themes.

I had so much fun with the themes last year, and everyone played along splendidly, that I decided to do it again this year. The rule this year was we couldn't use any themes from 2022. My "plan" is a theme can return after a year. Otherwise, we'll run out of themes quickly. 

There are a couple on this list that will get tricky for some guests. Many haven't cooked Peruvian food or German food much. Myself included. But in true Jenn insanity, I've already started researching. 

Sunday we kicked off 2023 with Family favorites. The idea here was you'd bring a long standing family favorite, or a recently one. It didn't matter. It just had to be a family recipe that every one enjoys. We had a small group this month so I opted to make my Famous ribs. These really are the bomb. In fact, during dinner, Rowland leaned over and said to me, "Your dad would be proud of these ribs." Makes me tear up just thinking about it. 

Doesn't that look lovely?

I made three racks of ribs. We had enough for everyone to have leftovers. 

Also included in the family favorite menu:

Onion dip from Mark and Vanessa

This dip has shown up at every friend gathering we had in the 90's. Then it became Mark's signature dip for their Ground Hog's day party. It's a dip I associate to him whenever I see it or make it. And it was yummy. 

Janet's Mom's potato salad

This recipe has shown up many times at Wraspir family gatherings. You can't make this in small amounts so we all got leftovers. 

Kathy's Famous Corn Bread

Kathy has a special touch with corn bread. We've had it for years. It always turns out moist and delicious. She says the trick is this small loaf pan so each one is an individual serving. The pan makes great little corn bread loaf and it's delicious. Funny story. Janet wanted Kathy's corn bread recipe one time so she called and asked if she'd share it with her. To which Kathy replied, "Yes. It's a box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix." We laughed and laughed at how we thought it was a "family recipe" only to find out it's from a box. 

Sherrie's Kick Ass Salad

Sherrie made this amazing salad many years ago and it's has to be my favorite salad of all time. I don't know what exactly it is about this salad, but everything balances perfectly. And it's brought all together by this amazing poppy seed dressing. 

Sex in a Pan

When is sex in a pan not a family favorite? 

The ribs were so tender that when cutting them they fell off the bone. So I have a pile of rib meat instead of actual bones. See, the rib rule in this house is ... I get the butts. You know? The ends of the rack... mmmm. My favorite.

Sherrie, Rowland, Kathy, Vanessa, Janet, Mark and my big noggin right up front.

All in all it was a family favorite fun night. Lots of chatter. Lots of laughter. Lots of napkins. And lots of dishes (not really). 

Looking forward to month's dinner when we travel to West Seattle for The Pantry Goat to host Viva Italia. 

Friends who you forget are friends

We all have them. Friends that we forget about, then you reconnect and it's like "Oh yah, we were friends."

I've got a ton of these types of friends. In almost all cases, we were good, close friends in our twenties. Most of them got married and started having kids, and slowly the relationships fell off. They had new lives. I still had my fabulous single life. 

I missed most of these friends and I would, occasionally, make an effort to plan a dinner or a get together with them. This almost always failed because they were "busy" with kid stuff. After three cancellations or three attempts to connect, I would stop. Then I'd just forget about them. Not on purpose, but because they aren't part of my "regular" life. 

Then suddenly, one day, one of them reaches out. Suddenly you remember, "Oh ya, we were friends." 

I'm not hurt, usually, that they go dormant. I don't take it personally, well, at least these days I don't. I used to and had to do a lot of internal work to realize, it isn't me...it IS them. 

Today I was contacted by a friend I haven't connected with in a very long time. He's not one of those that got married and moved on, but rather our life circumstances moved us in different directions. He reached out last week and asked if we could hop on a call. Literally scheduling a call with me because, "he knows I'm busy." 

My first reaction was, "eww...a phone call." Then my second reaction was how great it would be to chat with him and get caught up. Neither of us could remember how long it had been, we speculated that it had been early 2022. 

What's great about these types of connections is, regardless of how much time passes, you pick up where you left off and have a great conversation. 

We chatted for an hour about life, sudden life changes, new years plans/resolutions, intent on making our lives better, and being kind to ourselves when we fail. It was a really good conversation and I'm so very glad we had it. 

Thing is, it doesn't make me want to reach out to any other missing friends. You'd think it would, but it doesn't. I realized long ago that I just wasn't as important to some of these folks for them to even make the slightest effort. And that's ok. 

What's my point? It's okay to forget friends. It's ok to reconnect. And it's ok to not reconnect. Don't put all that pressure on yourself to feel "obligated" just because it seems like the social norm. Do it. Don't do it.  

2022 Favorite Books and other goals

 Happy New Year! When the clock rang midnight, a new ready goal is begun. This year, like the last several, I'm sticking to my 50 books read in a year. And as with each year, I'm going to try to not wait until the last couple of months and find myself having to read 10+ books to hit my goal. 

So, like any good project manager, I've broken my goal into quarters. To keep on track I have to read 12.5 books a quarter. That's doable. 

My second reading goal is to visit the local library. I mean, I have a library card. It is only a mile away and browsing books often means I find new authors to read. In addition, getting at least the book club books at the library saves me $$, which is also a goal. 

I have no goals around WHAT I read. I am doing Book Bingo again though. It never really drives what I read, it's more a happy coincidence when I read a book that is also on the Bingo board. 

2022 had many good books for me. And some horrible books. I read all the book club books - none of them I disliking so much I couldn't finish it. 

Here are my Top 10 favorites for 2022. Bold are the top 3 favorites.

1. Dear Edward - Ann Napolitano - An interesting story line about survival and how you learn to deal with trauma.
2. Everything We Keep - Kerry Lonsdale - I liked the mystery in this book. I thought I knew what happened, but I was wrong. 
3. I Found You - Lisa Jewell - Lisa Jewell is one of my favorite authors. She did not disappoint with this book. I read this one quickly.
4. In an Instant - Suzanne Redfearn - This one leaves you with a question of "what would you do?"
5. Magic Hour - Kristin Hannah - I loved the characters in this book and how they all struggle to know and feel love. It's a book about survival and how much inner strength we each can have.
6. The Exiles - Christina Baker Kline - This one had a twist in the middle of the book I did not see coming. I thought I knew which character this book was about, and I was way wrong. 
7. The Girl from Ballymor - Kathleen McGurl - This book stuck with me for some reason. I felt like the characters and I became friends.
8. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid - Such a good book with a nice little twist I did not see coming.
9. Verity - Colleen Hoover - By the end of this one, I was blown away with more questions than answers. A nice twist that some could see coming, but not the twist you think. 
10. We all Want Impossible Thinks - Catherine Newman - This one made me cry like nobody's business.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to reading.