On a cold stormy night...

...what could be better than a warm drink to feel cozy at home.

How about a perfectly frothed rich hot chocolate, with a dash of ground cinnamon on top!?

No words will suffice to describe this delight.

While sipping away, I am wondering what my next triumph will be...

Hmm, what would Frothed Soy Powdered Green Tea taste like? I am sure it would be awesome! Ellie, you will have to tell me where to buy some good powdered green tea for this experiment!!!

Mmm!
.....................
Update 02/27/07:

I had another thought! I was thinking that I could make my espresso in the morning, and then add a little cacao powder to the espresso, mix it well together and then add hot frothed soy milk!

Yes, maybe that is called a Mocha, but I have no clue... Never had a mocha before anyhoo...

Mother Daughter Dinner!

A awesome dinner hosted by Ellie and her mom.


Ellie and her mom.


Me and my mom.

View a more detailed account of this fabulous dinner at Ellie's blog.

How retarded can life get....

I got run over by a bike messenger last week. It was Friday evening and I was heading home from a long day of work, when I was crossing the street (my right of way) and to my horror, a speeding cyclist smashed right into me, from the left, causing me to smack down to the ground and skid across the pedestrian crossing. It was raining and I literally was laying there, covered in muddy water, at a perfect angle to watch the dumb ass speed away down the street.

It was awful, but the worst part is that no one helped me up. I had to help myself up and I had to find a lamp pole because I blacked out for a second. I was so shocked I was in tears.

The guy who hit me finally came back to see if I was ok, but I was in such shock I just told him to go away and leave me alone.

Anyhoo, I wasn't completely ok. I bruised my knee quite badly and it still looks rather gross a week later.

Oh well. It was one of the more "not so good" days of my life.

A Trip to Wine Country — Part 2

To read Part 1 of this 3 part series go to A Trip to Wine Country — Part 1

The Benziger Winery
The second part of my trip to wine country was spent at Benziger Winery located very near the Coturri Winery, in Sonoma Valley.

Watch the video below for a little intro to what we were about to experience.



Okay so basically what I was saying was that at 3:30am me and my friend Adam woke up from a short night's sleep to go pick grapes at Benziger Winery. It was the end of the harvest season and their estate zinfandel grapes needed to be picked and there was not one moment to spare, so they decided to do a night harvest, and we were invited!

So, we got ready and wore as many layers as possible and off we drove, down the windy country roads, in the middle of the night. We got lost momentarily but soon enough, we found ourselves driving up their front gate and saw the sight at hand.



When we arrived we found out that Mike Benziger himself was there for the pick! That was pretty cool. We had to wait in the cold while they dealt with some technical problems... It was FREEEEEEZING! The flood-lights apparently didn't want to turn on, or was it the generator was being stubborn. Hmm, anyhoo after a long wait, they finally managed and off we were to witness this strange and unusual event.



Had I been an alien and had landed on earth that night, I would have been utterly confused as to what on earth these strange beings were doing.



From then onwards, the night progressed smoothly, and row by row, grapes were picked by hand, by the crate, and dumped into containers that the cranky tractor was pushing. As the tractor rode, Mike and his fellow helpers picked out the weeds, leaves and bad grapes making sure only the best was within.



The pickers worked fast, and with only one tractor, constantly moving, they had to keep speed and stay in pace. It seemed like a race; who could pick the most crates in the shortest time. In fact, every time a crate was dumped into the big container, someone with a clip-book kept track of who it was and how many were dumped... Did they get payed by the crate?? Who knows.



This picking frenzy continued for a good 4 hours...



I was fascinated, but, not fascinated enough to not let the cold get to me. At around 6am, I crawled into the car, turned on the engine and blasted the heater. I took a nice nap and next thing you know, the sun had risen!



This is the beautiful vineyard we spent the night on. I had no idea how beautiful it was until now...

Things were quiet as I got out the car. Apparently the picking was over. I ventured around, looking for a sign of life. I found everyone behind the tree covered hill. The grapes were not allowed any naps. Once they were picked they moved on to be crushed.



And then begin the first stages of fermentation.