Bordeaux Isn't Dead, It's Just Broken.

So, that’s what some people say: Bordeaux is dead! No one drinks it anymore! It’s too expensive, only really really rich people in Asia buy it, California is where all the good red wines are….etc.

But for the optimists, Bordeaux isn’t dead. It’s just broken.

I count myself as one of those optimists, albeit a reluctant one. Bordeaux has never been my favorite. I would rather drink an Italian, Rhone, sometimes a Malbec, or yes, a California Cabernet*.

But at some point this summer, I was in a room full of well-seasoned wine professionals and someone said those words: “Bordeaux isn’t dead, it’s just broken. And it’s our job to fix it”.

And my heart might have fluttered a bit. I do love a challenge. 

So, World, Wake UP! Got some wine for you to drink! It’s from a region in France called Bordeaux. Bordeaux makes some really good red wines with Cabernet and Merlot grapes. And,  if you do a little bit of leg work, you can find some great ones under $20!

                                                             

Here are two: Chateau Fontenille and Chateau Brondeau. 

They are both Merlot based, and both are well under $20. I’m having them with Horseradish cheddar cheese, grapes and low-fat Triscuits and I’m watching The Voice... yes, you read that correctly, I am watching The Voice for some reason, and I’m trying to figure out what that reason is, and why are Cee-Lo’s arms so short and why does everyone think that the dude from Maroon 5 is so hot when clearly Blake Shelton is where it’s at and I don’t even like country music all that much but HOLY COW this CHATEAU BRONDEAU is SOOOOO GOOOOD!!! But so is this CHATEAU FONTENILLE! Do I have to pick just one?

Bordeaux! You are not DEAD, You are just IGNORED, and people have just forgotten about you. It’s not your fault we are a society of instant gratification (hell-OOO, I’m watching The Voice, why?) with very short attention spans (what is UP with Xtina’s boobs? They are GI-normous) and we just need to bring you back into our fold. You deserve a little patience. And, I may add, you are great food wine.Grilled rib-eye, possibly duck…you’re very versatile! So next time I want a good red wine, under $20, I just might grab a Bordeaux. Or two.  

*www.halterranch.com

I'm back.....

I’m back…… (did y’all miss me?)

Guess what inspired me to get back to this blog? You’ll never guess. …..Just try……

Okay, it was a salad.

I’m on day 12 of Super Awesome Salad September, along with my other teammates on “Tummies Aren’t Trashcans” and this past weekend I made a salad for my sister and her husband and it was SOOOOO good I just had to pass it on. Here we go!

The players:

2 cups of cooked quinoa

2 cups of cooked lentils

2 cups of roasted carrots (carrots, 2 TB of olive oil, salt and pepper, roast on 450 degrees for 25 minutes)

The fancy dressing:

1/3 cup plain Greek Yogurt**

½ lemon juice

1 TB of Dill

Mix it together, eat it. Know that you are doing something good for your body.

**Praise the Greeks for at least getting yogurt correct (God knows they’re terrible at paying taxes), because you can do so much with it! This means I will be making a post about Greek yogurt soon.

Did y’all miss me?

I've moved!

Go to my new tumblr spot y'all

http://whatwouldgiado.tumblr.com/

See Ya there!

Cheers!
Gia

HATS!!!! May 2012

Resolved:

Once a month, gather friends, pick out hats (all with different themes, ie, Sombrero, Fedora, Tam, Cowboy, etc.), go out in public, switch hats every 30 minutes, or upon request of wary restaurant owners.

                                     Photo taken at Ollie Irene in Mountain Brook, Alabama.


So, where are we going for June and who's in?

Introducing Princess Fierceness

Can we talk about this dress?

Can we talk about that if I had this dress I would change my name to Princess Fierceness and I would drink champagne instead of drink smoothies everyday and I would collect blank white canvases and call it art and Diane Kruger would be my best friend? 

Dress, Style Stalker, Thrifted and Modern, $138

Click on the link to see the dress in its entirety and be enamored with it like I am.

Happy Saturday, y'all!

G-POST. A day late. Again.

How freaking cute is my Spanky? I just love him.
So, it was brought to my attention that some of you may not know that G-POST actually stands for something. Gratuitous Picture Of Spanky Thursday.
There you go.



Oh, and a quick update. Remember these shoes? Within 3 minutes of posting them on this blog, I got a big "Hell to the No" from BF. So, they won't be showing up in my closet anytime soon.

 And remember how I was super upset with Bruce Springsteen about trying to take all my money to go see him in ATL? Well, he added more dates to The Wrecking Ball tour and my super sweet Mother bought us tickets to see him in Chicago this September. Hells yeah, y'all. Oh, but I still haven't gotten a new chandelier. It is possible this household has spent some money on wine. And dresses.

BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!

Have a good Three Day Weekend Y'all! Be Safe.
Remember why we celebrate Memorial Day!

Kisses!

Summer is Almost Here...Unless You Live in The South...

.....then you know that it summer early-May through mid-October....

But I will enjoy the anticipation of Summer, because Memorial Day is coming, and I consider that the Kick-Off of Summer (I think a lot of people do) and I want to tell you about all of the things I'm excited about this summer! Please be Enthusiastic With Me, because I will lose steam around mid-August and then I will do nothing but Whine, Complain and Bemoan about how much I want Summer to go the hell away so that I can wear Sweaters.

Until then, YAYSIES for Summer!

I plan on Drinking This Wine:

It is 2011 Halter Ranch Rose from Paso Robles, California. It is delicious.

And I plan on helping my sister get ready for this baby:

(Not the best quality video! Sorry! I'm a blogger, not Martin Scorsese.)


And I plan on swimming because I need to do something else with my exercise routine. And Dara Torres is my new fitness hero. Here's my new swimsuit!

 

 

Swimsuit from Speedo.

 And I plan on swimming in the morning, challenging myself even further because I have suddenly had issues getting my ass out of bed earlier than 6 am. But do you know what happens in the summer at Swimming Pools? They are overrun with Toddlers in Diapers. I learned this when I went to the Y last weekend and was out-splashed by a bunch of  4 year old Birthday Party Animals.

And I plan on making lots of Roasted Okra, my new favorite French Fry Substitute:
 This recipe is the bestest ever: NY Times Roasted Okra .


.....And Last but Not Least.....

I plan on getting my Summer-Time Brain Candy Fix with some True Blood, y'all. June Tenth, HBO. Christopher Meloni as a Vampire. Shut. Your. Mouth. (or a mosquito will fly in,  AND by the way, mosquitoes are gonna be hella horible this year thanks to the complete and utter lack of winter. That's what the Today show just said. Invest in OFF. I bought the family pack at Costco b/c Skeeters love me. I hate them with a passion.)

Oh wait, one more! I am thinking about making a switch from Blogspot to TumblR. Any opinions on this matter?

Okay! So these are some of my favorite things I am super excited about! What are you super excited about? Tell me! I wanna know!

Baseball Isn't So Bad.... You Can Drink Beer and Eat Peanuts....

.

I'm not even going to pretend that I personally enjoy with true, genuine pleasure the game of baseball. However, I do very much enjoy spending time with my husband, and he really loves baseball. He actually really really loves The Cubs. So, most of the baseball watching I do is the Cubs. And let me tell you something, people who LOVE the Cubs TRULY LOVE the Cubs. I think it because they have heart and soul . I mean I don't think they have ever won a World Series (Is this true? Someone fact-check me please). So you just have to LOVE them because someone has to love them, right?

BF loves loves loves loves the Cubs and he loves loves loves talking to me about them, and it's rubbing off on me, a bit. I'm not a rabid fan, but it makes him happy and he lights up and that's cool. Some very dear friends gave us Cubs tickets as a wedding gift. We went on our honeymoon. It rained. I think he cried. He really wanted me to watch a game on Wrigley Field.

I tell you all of this, because something very important happened this weekend. BF's favorite player, Kerry Wood, retired after 12 seasons with the Cubs. He struck out the last batter and then his son ran out and hugged him. It was really sweet and really heartbreaking.

I don't know anything about statistics, RBIs, rules, etc. But here's some stuff that the 34 year old Kerry Wood did:

• He won rookie of the year award in 1998.
• He threw a 20 strikeout one-hitter game against the Houston Astros in 1998 (and I think this was the impetus of BF's man-crush).
• He won a career-high 14 games in 2003 and led the Cubs to the playoffs, where he won the deciding Game 5 in Atlanta in the division series.
•  He started Game 7 of the National League Championship Series at home against the Florida Marlins and hit an early game-tying home run. But the Marlins rallied and advanced to the World Series, where they beat the Yankees.
• He turned down $3-$4 million contracts to play with Yankees and White Socks to play for the Cubs, who paid him only $1.5 million (See? He loves loves loves the Cubs, too!)

Ask BF next time you see him why he likes him so much. He'll tell you.

So goodbye Kerry Wood! Sorry I never got to see you play at Wrigley with my husband because I think that would have made him jump out of his skin with excitement. Have fun with your kids! Stay in Chicago!


And Happy 34th Birthday today to Boyfriend, Wylie Scott Atkinson, aka Wink, aka Uncle Wink, aka The Hairy One (that's what Spanky calls him) aka THE Boyfriend, aka Huzzzbin (that's what I call him). I love love love you more than air and oxygen and french fries and champagne, and I'm glad your mom begged for you!