Take me out to the ballgame…

Wednesday was a mystery date planned by Josh. We took the day off work and had a leisurely morning of sleeping in, walking down to our nearest lake and generally hanging out. We left the house around noon to go to the Saints game, St. Paul’s semi-pro baseball team. We had great seats, directly behind home plate and four rows back. The awesome thing about Saints games is you can get these seats for $12 apiece!

Since it was a mid-week day game, it was not remotely crowded. We ended up sitting between two season ticketholders who knew pretty much everyone who walked by. They were nice and we chatted with them a bit.

It was a HOT day – in fact, it hit 97 degrees and broke a record for being 8 degrees warmer on that day than ever before. And, it was windy – thank goodness, because without the wind it would have been miserable. On the down side, a fair amount of dirt ended up in our beer, hair, teeth, etc. Gritty.

Saints games are always super random and I don’t think I’ve seen an entire inning even once in all the times I’ve been to one. There is always too much to do, from getting another beer to watching eyeballs chase each other around the field, commenting on the trains going by and people watching. Oh, and the pigs in tutus, of course!

Wednesday was no exception as the power went out for several innings. No scoreboard, no PA. People just passed the word along. #17, third baseman John Doe is up to bat. Funny.

We had to leave during the sixth inning because we had an appointment to make beer and wine. Our new friends were sad to see us go. The Saints were behind, anyway, and ended up losing the game.

Josh had booked a 4 o’clock appointment for us to make a batch of beer and a batch of wine at Vine Park Brewing. We have both made beer there before, but never wine. We’ve been saving our bottles at home!

We got started on the beer first, since that takes longer. Measure, boil, mix. Pretty simple and there’s a lot of down time in-between. So we hung out, read the paper and drank the free root beer. We go back in two weeks to bottle the Summer Wheat.

As for the wine, it couldn’t have been easier. They have a bucket of water and you stir in a packet of clarifying agent, two packets of oak, a box of grape juice and a packet of yeast. (I had no idea oak came in powder form!) It will sit there and ferment, and then we’ll go back in six weeks to bottle it. I was surprised that’s all there was to it. Once we get our rioja back (makes 30 bottles), we will have to store it for six months before it is ready. We’ll have to have a “come try our wine” party!

After that we swung by Shamrocks for their juicy Nookie burger and fries (in a word, YUM!). Then, home again for a nap and a shower. All in all, an excellent mystery date!