james_kieliszek (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} james_kieliszek) wrote,@ 2005-07-18 12:13:00 |
|
"Have no fear, I'll keep all my wits about me!"
Spent this weekend at the Finger Lakes Wine Fesitval. It was a fantastic time; I tried a few hundred wines over the two days we spent there, but found myself spending much more on food than on wine.
I found some sour cherry jam that I thought was really good, and I complimented the vendor on it as I bought a jar - and before I left his booth he had managed to sell me two jars of concentrated, unsweetened sour cheery juice. I'm all out of stoli and seltzer, but they've just been added to the grocery list. If I ever get around to buying an ice cream machine this summer, you can be sure that I'll try my hand at a "cherry garcia"-inspired flavor with sour cherries and (bittersweet?) chocolate.
Speaking of chocolate, I picked up some chocolate-covered maple sugar candy that was incredible. I bought the last four boxes they had; I'll try to make it a month or so before I manage to eat all of it. I only bought one bottle of wine (some really weird stuff that tastes like a bloody mary - no joke, this winery also sold a wine made from habeneros - strange but good!).
My group (darrin, tom, rhu, and sharon) and I found a lot stuff we liked, and took copius notes. Swedish Hill's Viking Red will replace Louis Jadot's Beaujolais Village as my (cheap!) dry red wine of choice if it's as good as I remember... I need to consult the notes we took and head out to Marketview later tonight and see what I can find.
Freaky-weird networking thing: I was talking to another festival attendee we randomly met at a tasting booth about the around-the-neck wine glass holders we were using (a vital tool, every few minutes the festival din was punctuated by a cheer from the crowd acknowledging that someone had dropped (and inevitably broken) their tasting glass (next year, sharon plans to make and sell her own version of glass holder - I plan on making a chrome goblet (krunk!) that I can wear as a necklace (I am only half kidding))) when she mentioned she was the head of IT at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, and that she was hiring. I have no idea why she mentioned this (we weren't wearing any computer or geek paraphenalia, but I guess heading up IT at a liberal arts college has tuned her nerd-dar). We all exchanged contact information with her, and I mentioned that CSH was chock-full of talented geeks who wouldn't mind relocating to the mid-atlantic region.
The weather reports for the weekend predicted nothing but thunderstorms, and I came to the festival expecting to be uncomfortably wet the entire time. Instead, the weather was dry almost the entire time we were at the festival - the only sustained rain we experienced was on the drive home. I did get rained on during the game of mini-golf that (along with watching the 1960's Batman and Robin movie (with the commentary on, of course)) served as the most excellent capstone to a very enjoyable weekend, but I didn't mind at all.
Next weekend will be the 10 ugly men fesitval, an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink event that Sharon reccomends highly. For a more expensive entrance fee, you can apparently buy an all-the-Dinosaur-BBQ-you-can-eat pass. Tempting, but no thank you - I'll stick to more plebian eats, and the costs that accompany them, as I don't plan on really gorging myself.
Spent this weekend at the Finger Lakes Wine Fesitval. It was a fantastic time; I tried a few hundred wines over the two days we spent there, but found myself spending much more on food than on wine.
I found some sour cherry jam that I thought was really good, and I complimented the vendor on it as I bought a jar - and before I left his booth he had managed to sell me two jars of concentrated, unsweetened sour cheery juice. I'm all out of stoli and seltzer, but they've just been added to the grocery list. If I ever get around to buying an ice cream machine this summer, you can be sure that I'll try my hand at a "cherry garcia"-inspired flavor with sour cherries and (bittersweet?) chocolate.
Speaking of chocolate, I picked up some chocolate-covered maple sugar candy that was incredible. I bought the last four boxes they had; I'll try to make it a month or so before I manage to eat all of it. I only bought one bottle of wine (some really weird stuff that tastes like a bloody mary - no joke, this winery also sold a wine made from habeneros - strange but good!).
My group (darrin, tom, rhu, and sharon) and I found a lot stuff we liked, and took copius notes. Swedish Hill's Viking Red will replace Louis Jadot's Beaujolais Village as my (cheap!) dry red wine of choice if it's as good as I remember... I need to consult the notes we took and head out to Marketview later tonight and see what I can find.
Freaky-weird networking thing: I was talking to another festival attendee we randomly met at a tasting booth about the around-the-neck wine glass holders we were using (a vital tool, every few minutes the festival din was punctuated by a cheer from the crowd acknowledging that someone had dropped (and inevitably broken) their tasting glass (next year, sharon plans to make and sell her own version of glass holder - I plan on making a chrome goblet (krunk!) that I can wear as a necklace (I am only half kidding))) when she mentioned she was the head of IT at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, and that she was hiring. I have no idea why she mentioned this (we weren't wearing any computer or geek paraphenalia, but I guess heading up IT at a liberal arts college has tuned her nerd-dar). We all exchanged contact information with her, and I mentioned that CSH was chock-full of talented geeks who wouldn't mind relocating to the mid-atlantic region.
The weather reports for the weekend predicted nothing but thunderstorms, and I came to the festival expecting to be uncomfortably wet the entire time. Instead, the weather was dry almost the entire time we were at the festival - the only sustained rain we experienced was on the drive home. I did get rained on during the game of mini-golf that (along with watching the 1960's Batman and Robin movie (with the commentary on, of course)) served as the most excellent capstone to a very enjoyable weekend, but I didn't mind at all.
Next weekend will be the 10 ugly men fesitval, an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink event that Sharon reccomends highly. For a more expensive entrance fee, you can apparently buy an all-the-Dinosaur-BBQ-you-can-eat pass. Tempting, but no thank you - I'll stick to more plebian eats, and the costs that accompany them, as I don't plan on really gorging myself.
