Category Archives: Wine

Barcelona Meets Mendoza: Wine Dinner

Last week (Wednesday 3/13) I had the pleasure of attending Barcelona Wine Bar’s latest wine dinner at their West Hartford location – La Vendimia de Mendoza. Funny enough, it fell on the same day that the new pope – from Argentina – was chosen! Fancy that.

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The moment I arrived I knew it’d be a wino’s dream evening. The menu listed SIX different wines that we’d be sampling. Keep in mind the event came with food too, and only cost $45 per person (plus tax and gratuity)!

ALL THE WINE.

ALL THE WINE.

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Love and Bitters at Barcelona

Remember to check out yesterday’s post, where I shared a special announcement…

My friend (since high school!) Andrea and I made plans on a Monday this month to go out to a fab dinner in honor of her birthday. I discovered Barcelona in West Hartford was doing one of their fun food and drink pairing events that very night, so we decided to turn that Love & Bitters Cocktail Class into our celebratory meetup!

Quite the lineup!

Quite the lineup!

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M(aria)IMM

You still have until 11:59PM (EST) tonight to enter my giveaway for an Albion Go Long Crew tee! THUMBHOLES my friends!

I’ve been really lucking out in the blend date department lately. I spent last weekend with Kaitlin, and this past Saturday I hit the road for Stamford in the afternoon to stay with my lovely fellow Connecticut blogger Maria of Pappa Don’t Preach! And if there’s one word that describes our time together, it’s gotta be MARVELOUS! I hereby declare today’s MIMM post…M(aria) In My Monday!

Thanks Katie for helping us all see the marvelous side of things every Monday!

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Caitlin and Kaitlin Take Gbury

I’m glad you all are just as excited about BAMR Bands as I am (in fact mine makes another appearance in this post – can you spot it?) and I’m happy to announce the winners of my giveaway!

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Congrats Amanda, Allison, and Celeste! I will be contacting you about your prizes!

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WIAW: A Super Super Bowl!

Never before have I watched so LITTLE of the Super Bowl. I usually pop into the TV room at our traditional gathering spot, the Gerber family’s house, to try and catch some ads. This year that didn’t even happen.

No Caitlin here!

No Caitlin here!

Aside from the halftime show (I think Beyone was hella fierce) I did not see a single second of the 2013 Super Bowl broadcast. I was too busy hanging out with family and friends, and tasting some fabulous food and drink. Seeing as it’s What I Ate Wednesday (thanks Jenn of Peas & Crayons for hosting!), today’s post is going to be heavy on both of those things!

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Friday Flights at Esca!

Two of my foodie friends have started their own food blogs about their cooking creations! Devan has guest blogged for me before and she just started Devours by Devan Victoria. And Molly, my long-time best friend and neighbor, just started The Bite is Write. Make sure you read their blogs for drool-worthy foodgasmic photos and recipe ideas!

This past Friday night my mom and I hit up the Hartford Advocate Best of Hartford Readers’ Poll voting party at Esca Restaurant & Wine Bar in Middletown, CT. As part of the shindig, happy hour was extended until 8pm in the bar area. Interestingly enough, the bartender had no idea! However she was really nice about giving us the happy hour pricing on my mom’s $5 glass of Quattro Mani Montepulciano d’Abruzzo (2008). What a sizable glass!

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Mohegan Sun WineFest 2013

Remember friends, the giveaway for a free pair of Oakley sunglasses from Sunglasses Shop ends tonight at 11:59 PM EST! Be sure to enter this fabulous contest!

Last year I went to Mohegan Sun Casino‘s annual Sun WineFest and had so much fun, I needed three posts to share my experience! This year I am going to do it all in one post, but that’s not because I had less fun. Au contraire, I’d say this year was MORE fun because I reunited with old friends I’d met during and since last year’s event, met a blend I LOVE in person, and got to share the experience with my close friend (and namer of this blog), Rachel.

Me and the gorgeous Rachel in our glasses and fancy media badges!

My love for Mohegan Sun is no secret. I visit as often as I can whether I am there as their guest or just ready to have a great time with friends and family. I love entering the casino and feeling like I’m in another world – yes I know they do that on purpose. But I only lost $20 on the craps table this night (unfortunately my lucky streak has ended) because I spent most of my time in the ballroom of the convention center at Saturday’s Grand Tasting!

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Beautiful Blogger Award

Woo hoo! I loved reading your comments on yesterday’s flashback WIAW about your childhood eating habits and hope to reply to them all today. A couple of you mentioned doing your own posts about that topic – PLEASE DO! I’d LOVE to see what you munched on as a munchkin 😉

My HLS roomie Alex of Wholesome Living nominated me for the Beautiful Blogger Award! I really enjoy filling out these little surveys especially because lately I’ve just been enjoying writing more about moi and my musings, thoughts, what have you. In fact I’m going to cheat a bit and use this survey to share some more current words running through my mind, not just general “about me” stuff.

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WIAW: Florida Vaca Eats!

Today is the last day to enter my giveaway for a copy of the Tone It Up Beach Babe DVD! Check out my thoughts on the post and enter if you are interested!

It’s time to do another notdailyeats take on Jen‘s What I Ate Wednesday (WIAW). I’ve already done that, and if I shared typical workday eats each WIAW, this blog would be Snoozeville, Population: ALL OF YOU.

After all, you’d much rather read/see a recap of the food & drink I enjoyed during my Christmas vacation to Florida, right? I thought so. I already shared my raw/vegan lunch experience at Christopher’s Kitchen with Brittany, and my apricot beer and TooJay’s takeout on Christmas Day, so start there if you haven’t seen those posts!

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Mohegan Sun Restaurant Week: Tuscany Take Two!

Did you catch the Tone It Up Beach Babe DVD giveaway I posted yesterday? You have until tomorrow (Wednesday 1/9) night to enter!

My younger sister Hannah is headed back to school at the University of Tennessee today, and I’m so glad we got to do something special together on Sunday night – hit up Mohegan Sun for Restaurant Week! You may recall that a reader Megan won a $50 gift card to Mohegan Sun in a recent giveaway I did, and the casino was kind enough to offer me the same to help fund a trip to one of their restaurants during the current Restaurant Week (Sunday 1/6-Friday 1/11). It’s easiest for me to make the 45 minute drive on a day I don’t have work, so Sunday was the obvious choice of time to visit.

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