Labor Day weekend

Overall, we had a very nice and stress-free Labor Day weekend. Earlier in the week I had done laundry, and Friday I stopped at the grocery store directly after work, so no real chores or errands had to be accomplished. We ate dinner outside – cheeseburgers on the grill, sweet corn and roasted peppers – and otherwise had a leisurely night.

Saturday we hung new curtains in the bedroom and made BLTs and spaghetti squash for lunch. We then decided to get on Josh’s motorcycle and take it to a couple of wineries west of the Cities that we had never been to before. First up was Woodland Hill Winery just outside of Delano. We only came across this place when we were looking up the other one, but since they were relatively near each other and it was a nice day to be out on the bike, we decided to hit up both. Since we had never heard of it, I assumed it would be a pretty small family operation. Not at all – we pull up and the place is packed to the gills. In addition to the regular tasting, they were having a small art fair with about 20 booths, as well as music and some fair-type food – pork chop on a stick, mini doughnuts, what have you.

The tasting room was packed, but we sidled up to the counter pretty easily. It was $5/person to taste 6 wines – 2 whites, 2 roses, 2 reds. We didn’t care for the reds at all, and liked the first one we tried the best – an apple-y white called Autumn Sky. The tastings were done in 1-oz plastic cups and we had hardly picked up the first cup before she came by to see if we were ready for the next one. People were about 3-deep at the counter, so I couldn’t blame them for rushing us. After tasting Josh bought us each a glass of the Autumn Sky and we wandered around the fair for a bit. They have several nice sitting areas including a bonfire, and it seems as if they have fun events there frequently. Too bad it’s not a *bit* closer to us! We bought a bottle of the Autumn Sky on our way out and headed to the next stop.

The next winery was Parley Lake, near Waconia. It was the grand opening weekend for this winery; their first vintages. I thought they had pretty good traffic for being relatively unknown. The tasting here was also $5/person, but in real wine glasses that you got to keep (I think that brings our wine glass count up to at least 353). The girl who did our tasting was very nice and we enjoyed talking to her. It did start getting a bit crowded so we left to wander around outside. The winery is on a farm, so you could visit rabbits, goats and horses. They also have an apple orchard on the property, so you could buy apples and apple products. We didn’t end up buying any wine there but had a nice time.

Came home, took a nap and made dinner – homemade pizza. Otherwise, just hung out with the TV/computers/books, and I finished “My Life in France” by Julia Child. Fast, easy read, and really makes you wish you could have known and hung out with Julia and Paul Child back in the day. They seemed to have fabulous lives!

Sunday we didn’t have a plan and I was restless. I bailed out of the house around noon to run a few errands and Josh took his bike out for a while. I was back in the house by 2 because my back was acting up again. I spent the rest of the day on the couch, nursing ibuprofen and a hot pad.

Monday we decided to run to Macy’s to get Josh some jeans since his are falling off of him. Got him a belt and two pairs of jeans, plus went to Express and he bought the brightest orange shirt you have ever seen. After that we went to Patrick’s – Josh had a chicken wrap and I had a fruit tart. Came home and packed up to go to Staring Lake. Josh packed his disc golf equipment and I packed a book and a blanket. Really a nice day; perfect weather all weekend.

Came home and Josh decided to watch a movie and I decided to try my hand at Julia Child’s beef bourginon. The recipe is rated difficult and gives the active cooking time of 120 minutes. I wouldn’t say it was especially difficult, but there were a LOT of steps to it (it is a 3-page recipe). All in all, it took about 4 hours of my time AND I think I dirtied every dish in the house. The end result, though – my, my, my. It was absolutely delicious, and very, very rich. It should be, since you use, among other things, nearly an entire bottle of wine. I personally think a few steps could have been cut out/modified, and next time (?!) I’ll use regular bacon instead of salt pork, but it was very, very good.