No Whining About the Hodgepodge!

 

1. It's National Wine Day (May 25)...do you like wine? Red or white? Dry or sweet? Do you have a favorite? Have you ever been to California wine country? Or any other wine region? What's a dish you make that calls for wine? 

The older I get, the drier I like it. I like red wine as long as it's not "smoky". There was a wine that I tried in NC that was the best I've ever had. I need to go back and get another bottle or more! North GA is becoming known as wine country; there are supposed to be some good wineries around there.

Scene from Frogtown Winery in Dahlonega, GA

2. What's something you've whined about lately? 

Oh my goodness! One big thing is the unfairness of caseloads in my school system. That's all I'm going to say about that.

3. Last time you were 'wined and dined'? Tell us about it. 

Last summer CH & I had a camping vacation: 2 days in North GA, 2 days in NC, and 2 days at some friends' house in VA. While there, I have no idea how many bottles of wine we went through, but I know that I couldn't keep up with them! They were wonderful hosts and we really enjoyed the time there.

The view from our friends' side yard.

4. Three cheers for_____________________.

Summer

5. This will be the last Hodgepodge in the month of May. Somehow next Wednesday the calendar rolls into June. Before we go through, sum up your May in twelve words or less. 

Quick. 😊

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I'm trying to get into my summer schedule, which includes walking at 5:45 a.m. before people start walking in the park. I love that morning time before it's too hot and I have to contend with Gurl Dogg and other dogs. This morning she had no interest in walking; she wouldn't even get off of the porch so I went on my own. It was really weird; I haven't walked without a dog in years, if ever. I think she's just getting older and can't handle walking as much as I did the past couple of days. Or it could be that she doesn't like being out in the dark!

A Most Delectable Treat (for Adults)

Picture courtesy of Picjumbo

Last summer when I was in New Orleans for a conference, I had the most delectable treat (for adults). When I went to MS' graduation in Baton Rouge, I had to indulge because I haven't seen anything like it around here. It's perfect for a hot summer day, or after taking the dogs for a walk in the evenings. Do I have your attention?

Frosé. What a treat! I knew there had to be a recipe out there somewhere that wasn't too difficult, and I found it on Bon Appétit. What is Frosé? It's frozen rosé. (Duuuh!) The first time I made it I used Pinot Noir. It was good, but not quite what I had in Louisiana. For one thing (and I probably got the wrong kind...I'm definitely not a wine connoisseur!) it was dark. It was still really good and I would definitely make it again, but using a straight up rosé is where it's at!

It is time-consuming but really easy and very much worth it. I took some to a friend's house when a few friends got together & they all enjoyed it. I took the recipe on Bon Appétit & tweaked it just a tad.

First: Pour a bottle of rosé in a 9X13 pan and put it in the freezer for at least 6 hours.

Before you take it out of the freezer, boil 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar until clear. Make sure you stir it while it gets to the boiling point. It doesn't take long for the water to boil, so make sure you don't walk away!
After the water boils, take it off the heat and put in 8 ounces of cut up strawberries. Let that sit for 30 minutes on the counter. I've let it sit longer than that just to give it a little more oomph!

Strain the strawberries and put the strawberry infused syrup into a container. Put the container in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Don't throw the strawberries away...MS  likes to put them over ice cream!

After the syrup has been in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, you're ready to assemble! Take the frozen rosé out of the freezer and chop it up just a little bit...enough for it to fit in a blender.

To the blender add: 1 cup of crushed ice, the simple syrup (the original recipe specified the amount but I think adding all of it makes it taste a little better), lemon or lime juice (I didn't have any lemon juice but had a bottle of Key Lime Juice...again, I didn't measure; I just put a couple of long squirts in), and the shards of rosé. Blend until well mixed.

This is my "antique" blender that we received when we got married...34 years ago! Since I took this picture, I had to throw it away (the base was cracked) and buy a new one.

Put the blender pitcher in the freezer for about 35 minutes. Take out and blend again. The site says that you can store the finished product in the freezer for 1 week. The batches I've made haven't lasted that long so I can't attest to that.
I would highly recommend this most delectable treat (for adults). If you're in the NOLA/Baton Rouge area you'll definitely want to try it. This homemade version is pretty close to what you'll get there! Cheers!

More Frosé recipes:
Meet Frosé
Frosé (This one is interesting...it uses grapefruit juice)
Boozy Frosé (no crushed ice but includes vodka)

{Friday Foto Friends} Definite Signs of Spring & Other Things

I’m joining Deb again this week for Friday Foto Friends!

Last Saturday, CH & I splurged and bought some new bicycles. There have been a lot of times when we've been on a camping trip & wished we had bicycles.

While on a bike ride, we ran across this mama and her babies...in the Parks & Rec swimming pool...which is being drained. When I drove by yesterday, I noticed they were still in there. I called the office and the lady assured me that they would get them out before they get hurt. She said they deal with this every year. 

This is a tree beside the gym at my mountain school. It's so pretty when it blooms...too bad the blooms don't stay very long.

Here's a view from my window at my mountain school. I happened to look outside Thursday morning & saw the sun coming up.

CH & I are in the planning stages of a new kitchen. I went by a place the other day to just look and see what's available. I thought this was very cool. Instead of having a lazy susan in the corner, this pulls out like a drawer, and when you keep pulling it, it turns and a some shelves just appear!!!  It's probably over our budget, but I really liked that idea.

This is actually OS' picture. Isn't my granddog handsome? Such a good boy!

My SIL gave me an essential oils necklace for my birthday. I decided to give it a try. It can't hurt, right? People who use it swear by it, so I'm going to see what happens.

My dad made this super-cool wine holder. I call it "magical"! It's been sitting down at the house and no one made a claim to it, so I took it (after writing it on the list-just in case any of my siblings are reading this!) 

If you read my Hodgepodge post from Wed., I included this picture:

and I mentioned how excited I was to see the UPS man pull in the driveway. Here's what was delivered:

CH & I talked off & on since our trip to SD last summer about getting a case of wine from Prairie Berry in Hill City, SD. But, I didn't feel like I could justify spending money on a case of wine when I could drive down the street and get some wine. Not Prairie Berry, though; it's not carried here. My sweet FIL & MIL included something special in my birthday card, so I decided to indulge! YS & I brought home several bottles in July. The Wild Bill bottle you see in the Magical Wine Holder is our last bottle from the trip. So, you can see why I was so excited about seeing the UPS man!

It was a busy, busy week. How was yours?

Definitely a Wine Day

 If you're Party Hopping, WELCOME!  Stay a while and see what's going on!  My UBP Post is here.

Whew!  What a day!  Yesterday was the first of "TCAPs", the state testing that all 2nd through 8th graders are required to take.  In SC it is called "PACT":  TCAP backwards.  Or, maybe TCAP is PACT backwards.  Anyway, I'm wondering who I ticked off at one of my schools, because I had to administer it to a group of 3rd graders who can't take it with the rest of their class.  It seems that their behavior may affect everyone else's ability to concentrate on the test.  When I saw my list of kids, everyone was apologizing to me.  Since these boys aren't in Speech, I didn't know them.  I do now.  In all honesty, the testing part went okay.  They had 69 minutes to finish the first part of the today's test; 3 of them were finished in 15, the other boy took about 25.  Here's the kicker:  they had to sit there for the remainder of the time, just as if they were in the classroom taking it.  Okay, let me paint the picture for you:  I'm not sure if they have ADHD  or are just active kids.  (Get the picture?)  They are not allowed to bring a book and read, or have paper so they can draw.  Seriously.  Like they're going to try to find some answers in a book.  I encouraged them to go back over their answers and make sure that's what they wanted the answer to be.  I had them go over the answer sheet and make sure they had completely bubbled in their answers and didn't have any stray marks.  They still sat there for 40 minutes doing nothing.

After the 69 minutes, we took a bathroom break.  Oh, I forgot to mention that we were in a portable today so that my intern could continue to have speech with the younger students.  So, we trekked into the main building with me threatening them with their lives to be quiet in the halls.  We walked past the office, and the office staff looked at me, with the counselor's face questioning how it was going; I gave a thumbs up and heard, "Hey, it's a thumbs up!"  The boys did their business, then we went back out to the portable.  The next section was 67 minutes; they were finished in 10-20 minutes.  Again, they had to just sit there.  One boy asked if he could go to the bathroom.  Are you kidding me?  Of course, this was after he saw his class out on the blacktop with their snacks for 30 minutes.  I kind of felt sorry for them...okay, maybe not so much.  Turns out one of the boys (the one who got through 1st for both sections) hasn't had his ADHD medicine all week.  Wonderful.  Those parents should be nominated for Parents of the Year.  Another boy took the tape off of his glasses, then put it back on.  When the 67 minutes was over, we went to the computer lab to waste some time until their classes were finished.  Here's an example of what kind of day it was:  I called the counselor to let her know where I was so the boys' teachers knew where to get them when they were ready for them.  She asked if I had a phone in the room I was in.  HEEEEELLLLOOOO!  We got a good laugh over that!  When I went back by the office, I stuck my head in and said that I was ready for my box.  One of the teachers perked up and asked if I had it there....at school...where it's not allowed.  I laughed and told her it was at home, and she said she was about to say if I had it at school I needed to pass it around.  Now, I'm sure that y'all are astounded  to learn that I actually have this in my frig:

If you look closely you'll see a beer behind the box...a beer that's been in the frig since Christmas.  That's why I have a box.  The man at the liquor store told me to get the box since I'm the only wine drinker in the house and I can't drink a whole bottle of wine by myself before it goes bad.  Did you know wine in a bottle only has a shelf life of 3 days?  My college friends would be in awe if they knew I had an unopened beer that had been in the refrigerator for over a week, much less 4 months!

I had an awesome time with my friends Tuesday night.  We went back to the same restaurant that I had my birthday dinner.  For starters we had fried pickles:

One of my friends (who just came from a Weight Watcher's meeting) ordered these onion rings:

The little one is a normal sized onion ring...they were really big...and good!  This group of friends is from one of my schools; we get together once a month for dinner.  One of the ladies just retired this year and one subbed for one of the special ed classrooms.  We have such a good time; it's nice to get together away from school and chat.  I asked them if they thought I was really weird for taking a picture of food, and one of them raised her eyebrows and asked why. I explained it to her as I was snapping the pictures.  I'm sure they think I'm a little strange, but, hey...I don't really care!

MS had a soccer game that same night, so I left the restaurant and went to the game.  No broken bones that night and MS' team won 9-1.  It was another district game, so in that department, so far, so good.  They were suppose to have had a game on Monday and it was an away game.  The boys rode the bus down there but....no referees.  Crazy.  Apparently the home coach just assumed that TSSAA would have the refs there.  I'm sorry, but if you were a coach, wouldn't you call to verify that you had refs coming?  Oh, wait...these coaches are men.   Case closed.

I really, really need to get my desk cleaned off.  My husband threatened to get on my blog and post about my messy desk.  I told him that it wouldn't be so messy if people wouldn't put their stuff on the kitchen table.  See, in order for us to eat at the table (yeah, I know...novel idea), the stuff gets put on the desk.  Guess I need to make sure I sign out of my blog when I'm through posting!

I suppose that I have jabbered on enough!  Hope everyone has a Tremendous Thursday!