Wine Riot – eat, drink… and drink some more

I’m going to go back in time a little bit… let’s talk about Saturday. Yes, it’s already Monday but let’s pretend it’s still the weekend, shall we? As mentioned in my previous post, we had a surprise birthday party planned for our friend Kyle. Well it wasn’t just a surprise birthday party, it was also a pre-gaming/fueling party before the Wine Riot – an all you can drink wine tasting event. Can you smell trouble coming?!

Everyone brought a little something to munch on. I provided the cake, Adam was responsible for drinks… for everyone else’s delicious goodies, please see below.

Yeah, there was A LOT of food!

My food:

Multiply this picture by 1 million. These goat cheese stuffed dates where unbelievably amazing. The maple syrup sauce complemented the flavors so well! I actually asked Kevin (who made these) to make some without the bacon but I have to admit the bacon did make these better. It looks super fatty (and it is) but it didn’t taste fatty. De-licious! I also grabbed some of the asian salad, but unfortunately the scallions in it were a bit much for me There were so many good things in there though – broccoli slaw, carrots, almonds, ramen noodles, but the evil scallions killed it for me ( ) I think I’m going to ask for the recipe, though, and make it without them. Everyone else seemed to really enjoy this!

I ate another one of the pulled chicken sliders. They were so juicy and delicious. I didn’t eat all the deli meats you see here, and only had 2 of the stuffed shells. I got too stuffed. Ha.

And of course, I had some of the cake I made

Now on to the good stuff… the Wine Riot!!

* Yes, that’s a fake mustache. It got a little weirder as the night went on…

I’m not even going to attempt to describe the wines I tried. As you can see, it got a little crazy. I tried A LOT of wines. At first I just took tiny sips and poured out the rest. I wanted to taste as many wines as possible and didn’t want to be “out of commission” too early. But then it got easier… as the drinks kept flowing.  My favorite (because it was so unique) was the apple ice wine, made right in Harvard, Massachusetts!

It tasted just like apple juice, but with 12% alcohol content, it’s sure to make you feel a little happier at the end of the night

After the Wine Riot (and don’t ask me why any of us thought it was a good idea) we went out! People wanted something casual so we found a little dive bar a few blocks away. The name?  Sorry, I don’t remember I had 2 vodka cranberries there, which definitely put me over the top! Yeah, someone was mighty hungover the next day!

And of course, there were midnight munchies…

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We had a lot of fun!  I don’t know if I’d say all of it was “worth it” but I had a lot of fun at the time Oh, and to think we used to drink like this every weekend in college… Crazy! *Hmm, now I sound really old

Oops, I almost forgot with all this party talk…

GIVEAWAYS AND FOOD BANK DONATIONS

- Remember when I posted about the Pound for Pound challenge? Well I hope those of you who are still trying to lose weight, joined the challenge, because for every pound you lose, General Mills will donate a pound of food to your local food bank. I just wanted to remind you that if you did sign up, please report your weight loss by May 5, 2009 at www.PFPChallenge.com. I have to do that too (although I wish I lost more than just a few pounds I think I’ll have to do some of my own donating do make up for it!)

- Speaking of donating to food banks, Zesty has created some fun Zesty Gear - all the sale proceeds will go towards donations to his local food bank. If you purchase something over the next 5 days, he’ll double your donation! Now I’m off to buy the apron… it’s for a good cause!

- Finally – check out the Stonyfield giveaway at Hangy Pants. Stonyfield is another company that always gives back to the community. I’m all inspired now!