Wine around the world

Queasy?  Check.

Sore head?  Check.

Vague memories of inappropriate behaviour?  Check.

It must be New Years Day!!  Happy New Year!!  Two Thousand and Ten or Twenty Ten?  Quite frankly I don’t care, I’m here to tell you about the party.

It’s summer here in the Southern Hemisphere, so partying at New Years tends to be relaxed and informal.  Barbecues, beers, bikinis and babes.  The party was within walking distance, so me’n my man wandered over for pre-aperitif drinks fairly early.  Then we had the aperitif, the wine with the meal, the digestifs, After that we started drinking.  I love very cold vodka cocktails, and the vodka du jour is Absolut.  I like it with semi-frozen fruit pulp like mango.  I had a few of those last night, as well as a bit of red, a bit of white, a few beers, a couple of ports… No wonder I feel a bit under the weather..  The port must have been off!

So, good alcohol.  Great food.  Slow roast venison, pork spare ribs in home made plum sauce, new potatoes, baby carrots, peas from the garden….  I think I gained about 6 kilos.

And fantastic people too.  We have great neighbours, we live in such a cool neighbourhood.  The problem is, I got a little tipsy, and flashed everyone.  Seven times according to someone keeping count.  At least I wasn’t the only one.  I saw more nudity than I have seen in one spot for a long time.  There was a real sense of casting off the old crap that we have put up with, and a sense of adventure and forward looking.  And drunkenness too, but that feeling of optimism hasn’t faded, despite the hangover.

Anyway, back to nudity…

Almost all the women were tits out at one point or another, and most of the blokes nuded up as well.  I like my body, and am comfortable with it, so I quite enjoy showing it off, and I like the reactions I get.

Let’s end the post with another picture of tits.  Christmas ones.  I wouldn’t mind unwrapping that on Christmas morning!!

Love,

Chiquita

x

Party time! What are you drinking?!

In honor of New Year’s Eve, I figure I should put up my first alcohol recommendation.  Well, it isn’t so much of a recommendation as it is noting how much I personally love this beer can. 

I mean, what is there to say about this gem?  Just revel in the name.  And the ridiculous picture on the can.  As it turns out, the beer inside the can is pretty good, but of course that isn’t why my father bought it.  When he saw PorkSlap in the local beer and wine store he didn’t even think twice before taking it to the cash register.  I mean, it is called PorkSlap!  Anyone with a decent sense of humor would have done the same thing.

If you would like to learn more about PorkSlap or the geniuses that named it, visit the website at:
 http://www.butternutsbeerandale.com/. 

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to take the time to be a little nostalgic as this year comes to a close and I look back over the last twelve months. Ha! Who am I kidding, 2009 sucked. I am very much looking forward to 2010. I would like to bring you all through the journey of my last twelve months.

January: Dating a drug addict, awesome. Earnest starts to like me. Anastasia and I decide to start this blog!!

February: Sleep with my marine friend who acts like a 12-yr-old girl. Decide to join the Navy as an officer.

March: Applying to the Navy. Things with Earnest really heat up.

April: Finish applying to the Navy, the process takes a long time. Still trying to get rid of Earnest.

May: Decide against the commitment of the Navy. Decide to go celibate for six months. Hit up Vegas with my roommates from college for a smashing good time.

June: Best friend gets married – make horrible decisions. Few dates with hot New Zealander.

July: Anastasia and I are too busy being crazy during the summer months to write anything.

August: I go to Wisconsin to visit old friends – oh wait, I haven’t written about that yet – yeah that was a good time, look forward to that story soon!

September: Disaster with New Zealander strikes.

October: Still celibate and not by choice.

November: Travel to Bali on a yoga retreat! It was my birthday present to myself. Oh and along the way I seemed to have sort of married my yoga teacher? Strange.

December: Christmas in Wisconsin and Minnesota, attended a killer Green Bay Packer game, and ended this year quite nicely.

All in all this year was not as bad as 2008, but I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be phenomenal. Especially since I get to visit Anastasia in two weeks! Oh the ruckus we will cause.

-Alexis Patron

I knit a wine cozy for the hosts of tonight’s kegger.  My dh and I have not been out on New Years in forevahhh.  I am sooo stoked!

Want to make one, too?  Click here for the pattern.

What are the ingredients for a great dinner party?  According to Nutmeg this is the list:  great food, interesting people and good wine (lots really good wine if the people are not interesting).  Ginger would add a full iPod, cleansing ales, dark rum and ice cream as must haves.

Curry Murray knows how to bring all the right dinner party ingredients together.  On a cold, dark winter night she pulled together home-made pizza (roasted vegetable, pear- gorgonzola, tomato mozzarella, meat lovers), four different red wines and a group of old and new friends for a cozy evening by the fire.  All the right ingredients.

Serving pizza can be as easy or as complex as you want it to be.   Easy:  order in, buy store-bought frozen.  Complex: buy pre-made crust and creative ingredients, or start from scratch and make your own crust. The choice is yours but Nutmeg does not really see the time-value in making pizza dough when someone else can do a great job.  A pizza stone really helps if you want it crusty.  If money and space are no object install your own outdoor pizza oven as this has the best results; although you might want to evaluate your pizza consumption.

Here is the twist, Curry decided the party would involve a blind wine tasting.  The bottles were all around $30, all red and all wrapped so no one (even Curry) knew what we were drinking.  It helps to have an aspiring sommelier as a friend, we will call him Mr. Wine for now.  Mr Wine led the group through a brief appreciation session on clarity, color, taste, finish.  What a fun way to learn about wine and indulge at the same time.  The results were four Pinot Noirs from four regions and interestingly no one was able to guess.   Nutmeg’s party rating:  two thumbs up!

If you have some ideas/ingredients for a great dinner party, please comment.

Give me wine to wash me clean of the weather-stains of care.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Added Cork’d feed to the blog… One of my resolutions is to use Cork’d to write and store all reviews as part of a greater community of vino-lovers!

This year really surprised me. I didn’t think I’d be as busy as I was. My “side” photography has taken off quicker than I every expected. I owe it to all of you! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. What has started out as a few friends need photos of their children has grown through word-of-mouth. There were amazing weddings, beautiful children, happy pregnancies, lovable engagements, a county fair, a beautiful memorial and connecting with new people. I was not just creating lasting images but lasting relationships.

Be-u-tiful sessions was born this year. I look forward to creating sultry, beautiful boudoir images with you. Check out the Be-u-tiful blog for the latest news…

2009 was an up and down year with the economy, world news, local news, etc. It wasn’t the healthiest year for some members of my family. Other events within occurred. But what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. It started out slow, but ended with a flash. There were lots of ups moments too!

Maddie began kindergarten with the most amazing teacher, Mrs. Gayle Fujitani!

Chase earned his black belt!

Maddie learned to tie her shoes!

Knee surgery… (the jury is still out on this! LOL)

The cars didn’t explode.

Grandmama is doing better.

We got JOE!

Chase was accepted into the Gate program for next year.

My love for my stubborn husband has grown. Looking forward to celebrating our 10 year anniversary in April.

Meeting so many people I would not have met otherwise.

Volunteering for Pink October.

Helping my mentor, Clifford Oto, with Help Portrait at the Stockton Homeless Shelter.

For 2010, I wish you all good health, plenty of family moments, catching up with friends, living in the moment, dancing in the rain, eating around a table together, and MUCH LOVE! See you on the other side! Happy New Year’s!

Jen

Here are photos from the year (187 of them). Enjoy!