October at Misty Creek

We belong to an informal group who share a love of wine, good times and good friends.  I got an e-mail from the lady who keeps us coordinated and she passed along the following information from another member.

He is good friends with the owner of Misty Creek Vineyards, and wanted to share event information in support of this family-owned winery.

The Nichols family recently opened their tasting room at 710 Wyo Road in Mocksville, and they are having two October events at Misty Creek that may be of interest to you.

First, all during the October 16-18th weekend we’re offering a 25% discount on full case purchases, and you can mix vintages to get just the wines you want. Come stock up for the Thanksgiving holidays and enjoy our lodge-style fireplace with snack packs and great wines.

The following weekend on Saturday, October 24th the blue grass band Mountain Flat will entertain from 2 to 5 pm here at the tasting room. We’re looking forward to their first appearance with us, and they take requests! Enjoy our cheese and cracker packs, or bring you own snacks or picnic lunch.

Hope you can join us. We’ll look forward to seeing you again, and until then, Best Wishes from the Nichols Family!

My thanks to Cyndy and Bill for sharing this information.

Building a Blog

What makes a good blog?  Content alone, humor, intelligent discussion, pictures or just "conversation" with people with similar interests, all of the above?  So how do I promote my thoughts and ideas, and gain an audience.  I am new here, and just feeling my way through. 

I follow several money-saving coupon blogs, which are great, but I don't want to be a copy-cat of anyone else's efforts.  I just post my finds, successes and disappointments.  I like good food and wine, so occasionally, I'll post a recipe or talk about a winery visit.

Other interests include environment, such as recycling, and charitable causes, such as the Food Bank and abused women's shelters.  I have posted briefly on these topics, but there is so much more to these services than just putting your recycles out every week, and dropping a box of cereal into the collection boxes.

I'd thought to be (or become) a source of area information on events such as wine and food festivals, family fun, outdoor events, local concerts, etc.

Is this too broad?  If so, how do I go about narrowing it down, and still having interesting, readable content?  Where do I go from here?  I need to find my niche...

Like Pineapple? Have I got a muffin for you!

This is a recipe from a very talented lady who plays a major role in the food and wine discussion groups on the Winelover's Page.  As usual with her recipes, there is a story behind it.  You can go here and see the original recipe and read the story.

Pineapple Muffins
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
4 TB fairly neutral oil, like canola
1 20-oz can "crushed pineapple in syrup" (do not substitute fresh, the higher acid in fresh pineapple will kill your leavening)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center, add the beaten egg, oil and 100% of the contents of one can of crushed pineapple. Stir until just blended. Scoop into greased muffin tins. Bake 20-22 minutes at 400 for large muffins (18 minutes for 18 regular muffins).

These are absolutely delicious.  I made some yesterday afternoon to send to family.

A Rose by Any Other Name...Would Still be Gray

Have you looked at my profile picture?  Doesn't look like a rose, does it?  Doesn't look like me either.  You're probably thinking it looks like a cat.  Bingo!  That's my Rosebud, aka "Rosie", aka "the Rose".  He is my 12 year old little boy.  Thinks he's a human, he does.  Twelve years ago this month we went to the Humane Society in search of a cat or kitten.  We had recently lost our 15 year old to old age/kidney failure.  He had been FIV positive for a number of years, but lived a happy life anyway.  I was looking for another "best friend", preferably a white/off-white long hair.  What I got was so far removed from that image words fail to express it.

Rosie is a long hair, all gray down to his toe pads - only his tongue is pink.  He was a cute little sucker (literally, but I'll get to that in a minute).  I knew he was going to be a big cat.  At 4 1/2 months his ears and paws were huge in proportion to the rest of his body, so I decided he needed a big-cat name.  I thought Nicholas would be a fair representation of the cat he would become.  I couldn't have been more wrong!  Now, he loved people initially, and in particular, loved to suck on your arm, your shirt, whatever was readily available.  He had to be all over you to the point that I threatened to "sell him down the river".  He was just a very loving kitten.  I feel that part of his problem was that he was "fixed" too soon.  He was only 4 1/2 months old when we got him and it was done before that.

Back to the naming part.  Since Nicholas didn't pan out, I needed to come up with something else.  For lack of anything better, my husband started calling him "Bud".  At that point, I said he's more like a Rosebud, and thus he was named.  Mostly we call him Rosie or Rose.  He is indeed a big cat at around 14 lbs.  He is long, with long legs and a mane like a small, gray lion.

He is still my little boy, and one of my best-est friends.

 

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Quote of the Week - Now on Mondays

I found this in the Sunday comics recently.  The picture caught my eye since Mutts is usually in black and white. This was a full color fall scene with a guy and his dog looking at two deer.

Below is a similar experience from our own yard.

Everything natural - every flower, tree and animal - has important lessons to teach if we would only stop, look and listen.

- Eckhart Tolle

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