Wine Country

I learned 3 things about myself last weekend during very first wine tasting experience in Napa Valley:

1) Wine aficionados roll their eyes when u hold ur wine glass with pinky finger extended.
2) I must not be equipped with enough taste buds to savor wine the way other people do.
3) Pastries are the DEVIL! Especially when you and a friend buy 10 on a whim for "sampling" purposes
and end up gorging like pigs.

Napa was both fun and enjoyable - great food and nice scenery. Apparently, grape vines turn color during fall, and so we drove past arcres of red and gold vineyard. We stayed at a spa-hotel in nearby Calistoga, attended a cooking demonstration at CIA (culinary Institute) and perused some mouth-watering gourmet food shops!

Pre-Thanksgiving Feasts -

As if there wasn't enough of an opportunity to stuff my stomache on Thanksgiving, the pre-Thanksgiving BBQs, potlucks and dinners came out in full force this weekend. While the food and friends were great, I can't help but question: Why do so many social gatherings have to be about food? Can't we just get together and go hiking? Maybe a game of table tennis or an afternoon of craft-making? LOL - I think I've spent too much time waiting in line with soccor moms at Michaels.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire -

The best HP movie yet! But unfortunately the story was too much for just 2.5 hours, even after much condensing. Many story details were left out and certain characters' roles were siginificantly downplayed in the interests of saving time. For instance, Draco Malfoy, Cho Chang and and Fleur Delacour had about 5 lines each the entire movie. Fleur was this coy, boy-teasing coquette in the book, but was portrayed as just another good student on the big screen. I would have gladly payed to see this HP movie if it had been split into 2 parts, as originally planned.