Sweet Love and Ginger

Travel

A Wine Country, NY Bucket List

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This is a laid back Wine Country, NY Bucket List, focused on fun activities in the Finger Lakes Region of NY.

Wine Country

So if you didn’t know this already Chuck and I are tying the knot in approximately 12 days. It’s pretty exciting. What’s also exciting is the first full week off of work I have had since our trip to Ireland in 2012.

I’m doing a happy dance, yelling “woop, woop!” with my hands in the air right now just fyi.

I have been looking forward to this forreeeeeeeeeveeeeeeerrrrrr.

Seriously though this might be the better than the wedding just a week of Chuck and I, and maybe some Brody cuddles too. Since I can’t stop thinking about this I thought it might be fun to a bucket list of all the stuff I want to do while we are on our honeymoon. The first half of the week we will be in the Finger Lakes region of NY also known as wine country, the later half will be home, or the Adirondacks, we are leaving that part up in the air because why not?

  1. Sleep late
  2. Get a massage – we are already scheduled for Sunday night when we arrive !!!
  3. Drink wine
  4. Eat decadent, overpriced food
  5. Howe Caverns – this one is a maybe, it might be more fun to save for when we have some little ones.                                                                                                    
  6. Watkins Glen – This is a must.   IMG_1938
  7. Cornell’s Botanical Gardens – I’ve actually already been, but if we are looking for something to do it would be worth another trip. It’s beautiful.
  8. Waterfalls – I’ve already seen a few but this region is full of them so I’d like to check out a few more Cascadilla Gorge is one of them.
  9. Do a Wine Trail
  10. Hit up a farm/farmers market/stand – these are plentiful but since we will be there during the week I’ll take whatever we happen to come across

And there you have it a list of everything I would like to do while we are in wine country. This list is pretty laid back and negotiable since to me the most important thing is to relax and enjoy this time with Chuck.

Do you have any great wine country ideas? Let me know I’m definitely interested in more ideas!

Visiting Friends & Tea Parties

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 Recently I was lucky
enough to be selected by Plum Deluxe to be a part of their Tea Ambassador
program. I was given a few select teas and a set of question cards to throw a tea
party. This could not be a better fit for me and my tea obsessed friends, so I
decided to actually have the tea party while Amanda and I were visiting my friend Lindsey.
We had an entire girl’s weekend, full of chick flicks, awesome
snacks, shopping, and lots of good conversation. My favorite snack of the trip
was the goat cheese wontons that Lindsey made, the night that we arrived,
though Captain Scott’s chowder was a close second.
On the first morning over a hearty and delicious breakfast
we decided to break out the Ambassador kit.  I think one of the things that I enjoyed most
about the kit was the conversation cards. Some of the questions asked sparked
long talks and helped me learn some new things about my close friends.

The rest
of the day was spent in bookstores and shops around Mystic. Unfortunately I don’t
have many pictures because it was snowing or raining most of the day, and any
that we took simply did not work out. I’m proud to say that the harsh weather
wasn’t enough to keep these tough northeast chicks in the house and we had a
great time.

To spice things up a bit I decided to make a cocktail out of
the Pacific Northwest Evergreen Mint tea. It took a few different tries to come up with this sweet and minty
cocktail, but I really think it is a great addition to any tea party. You can
bet that I will be experimenting with other tea flavors to make similar
cocktails in the future.

Champagne & Mint Iced Tea (serves 4)
16 oz of water
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2-3 teaspoons of mint tea
16 oz of good champagne

Heat the water to a boil. Place the sugar in a tea pot or
pan and pour the boiling water over the top. Add the tea in a tea ball or bag
and allow it to steep until it becomes golden and fragrant about 5-6 minutes
(when making iced tea you want the tea to be a bit stronger than a normal).
Remove the tea and set aside, stir the combination to be sure all of the sugar
has dissolved. Fill 4 glasses with ice cubes and pour about ¼ of the hot
mixture over the top. Pour about 4 ounces of champagne into each glass. Add
more ice if needed and serve immediately.

Long Weekend in Hampton Beach

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This vacation was much needed.

The food, the beach, the rest, and the people, all very much
needed.

A Weekend in Wine Country & French Onion Casserole

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So last weekend, I FINALLY made the trip out to visit one of my good friends from college in Ithaca NY. It was a blast! Brody and her 1 year old puppy Baxter are now pretty much best friends.

This is in the heart of NY Wine Country, so of course we drank a little wine, visited a few waterfalls, and went to farmers markets. It was great just being able to catch up and playing with our pups. They were so spoiled the whole time. They had all kinds of fun on nature trails at the dog park, and just in the back yard. Little Brody was so tired that he slept the whole way home, and then for the next 2 days as well. The little guy was barely playing at the end of it, but he would not take a nap no matter how hard I tried.
 
Now while I was gone I wanted to leave Chuck with a hearty dish that he could eat over the weekend, and thought a casserole would be perfect. I wanted something French Onion style but aside from green bean casserole, and minimalist French onion casserole there was really nothing, and definitely nothing hearty enough to keep Mr. Meat and Potatoes satisfied for an entire weekend.

So of course I improvised.
I still wanted something meatless (generally speaking) because of this whole quest thing that I have been on to make vegetables our main focus, but I added some pasta (surprise!), and a few vegetables that I thought would go well with the flavors. These made for a pretty hearty casserole in my opinion, and considering that Chuck now wants me to make it once a week I think it was a hit.

French Onion Casserole
3-4 large onions, sliced thin (I used white & yellow)
1 tbs oil
1 tbs butter
1 tsp salt & pepper each
1tsp thyme
2 tbs flour
1 large carrot, shredded
2 cups of beef (or vegetable)broth
(1 tbs soy sauce if using vegetable broth)
1 cup frozen peas
1 ½ cups frozen French cut green beans
1 lb pasta, cooked aldente
¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2/3 cup shredded gruyere cheese
Sprinkle parmesan cheese
In a large thick bottomed sauce pan heat oil and butter, and layer in the onions with salt & pepper. Sauté, onions for 1-2 minutes, until the edges begin to brown, and reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20-25 minutes stirring occasionally until the onions have become caramelized. Bring the heat up to medium high and stir in the thyme, carrots and flour. Continue to stir for 1-2 minutes until well blended, and deglaze with broth. Allow the broth to simmer for 3-5 minutes, while stirring and scrapping browned bits from the bottom of the pan. As the sauce begins to thicken mix in peas and green beans and cook until they have softened. In a large baking dish toss together the vegetable mixture and cooked pasta. Top with both mozzarella and gruyere cheeses, and sprinkle parmesan on top. Place in a preheated oven at 400 degrees and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve warm.

This Picture

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This picture.
My roommate took it.
We were on a trip adventuring up the Maine coast. I don’t remember her taking it; I just stumbled across it after the trip. I’m pretty sure it was in Acadia National Park.
It was the summer before my last semester at school; the summer before Chuck and I started officially dating.
I was single. I had no bills. I had no job. I had no responsibilities.
We camped, slept in the car, hiked, rock climbed, ate and adventured.
I miss the simplicity.