Too Cute Tuesday: Wine Tasting
Every Tuesday, it’s a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To get in on the fun, check us out on Facebook or read all the posts at www.toocutetuesday.com. Comment, suggest crafts, or start your own TCT chapter. It’s fun!
When my friend Sue said her wine expert friend John would be in town and asked if I’d want to hold a wine tasting/lesson instead of our usual craft format, I knew I’d be crazy to say no. I also knew I’d be doing this writeup on Wednesday.
On my way to Craft Central, my car broke down on the side of the road. I called up and John and Sue’s husband Andrew came and rescued me. They popped open my hood and started talking about belts and fluids. Andrew kept going in his car and getting liquids to pour in and John told me that before becoming a wine person, he was a mechanic. That’s versatility!
After making my car safe enough to drive to my favorite garage, we left it and off we went to Too Cute Tuesday.
After this incident, John didn’t skip a beat and we all had a great experience. Here’s how you can approximate it without your own car mechanic/wine expert on hand:
Materials
6 bottles of wine, shoot for the same kind of grape and same year but different regions. We did Cabernet Sauvignon in 2008-2009 vintages from four regions of the world.
Baguette, fancy crackers, and fancy cheeses: both palate cleansers and dinner substitutes.
Ideally one wine glass per wine type per person. Ideally, the same glass size and shape. We only had three per person so we worked with it.
Container for dumping the wine (there is probably a better technical name for this and, while it is sad to throw it out, six people drinking six whole bottles of wine would not have made for a nice Wednesday morning)
Cocktail of the Night: Um… wine!
1. Line up the bottles (don’t tell people prices or specifics).
2. Pour small glass of each wine to excited TCT participants. First smell, then swirl the glass and smell again. Discuss how the smells change.
Too Cute Tuesday: Mardi Gras Masks
Too Cute Tuesday is a weekly event that involves a craft, a cocktail, and a friendly get together. Join us each week for a different inexpensive craft. Currently there are TCT chapters in Bar Harbor, Maine and Saint Louis, Missouri. If you want to join in on the fun, check out Facebook or contact Nicole.
Mardi Gras always makes me proud to be a French gal. The whole joie de vivre culture, not to mention music, food, and drink, well, it’s a fun time no matter what culture you’re from.
Too Cute Tuesday ends up being on Mardi Gras every year (Fat Tuesday) and this Mardi Gras, we made masks and drank hurricanes in addition to listening to traditional music and eating gumbo beforehand. If you want to follow my whole menu, I modified this gumbo recipe by adding scallops and sausage to it (and omitting less exciting ingredients like celery) and I modified this tarte au sucre recipe to include a bit of vanilla extract. I also made ployes to go with the gumbo, an Acadian tradition. All in all, in addition to a fun craft night with cocktail, there was a meal with dessert and it was all pretty authentically French.
Laissez les bonnes temps rouler!
Materials:
Sequins and spangles (in case you are wondering what the heck I’m talking about, these are left over from snowglobe week)
Elmer’s glue
Cardboard (for mask cutouts)
Elmer’s glue
Cardboard (for mask cutouts)
Exacto knife
Takeout chopsticks (for mask handles)
Scissors
Fabric, old costume jewelry, construction paper, ribbon (for decoration)
Glue gun (for hardcore gluing)
Cocktail of the Night: Hurricane (invented in New Orleans, here’s where I got the Pat O’Briens cheat recipe)
1.5 oz. light rum
1.5 oz. dark rum
1 oz. orange juice
1 oz. fresh lime juice (NOT Rose’s or RealLime)
1/4 cup passion fruit juice, or 1 tablespoon passion fruit syrup
1 tsp. superfine sugar
1 tsp. grenadine
Shake ingredients, serve on ice.
1. Serve happy participants food. I guess I can make good soup after all! Pour hurricanes to go with. Ahhh…