The Nose is Back!!

The weekend of debauchery is well under way. The hot tub is getting plenty of use and yesterday Chris and I participated in two back to back wine tastings. How's that for figuring out if I'm back in fighting shape? And the answer? Um...not so much.

The first wine tasting started out well enough. See how together and professional Chris and Brein look at the beginning of the Forgotten Grapes tasting at Omakase? We were tasting Viogniers, Roussannes and Marsannes. Nine bottles. One turned out to be corked, so we only actually tasted 8. Right. We were going slowly. See the digression in the photo of Rory and me? (We're kidding, of course).

The best thing I learned (besides that Cass Vineyard makes a pretty good Viognier! Check out Forgotten Grapes June 4th posting for more info) was that my pretty-darn-good-if-I-do-say-so-myself nose for wine scents is back. I believe I mentioned before that chemo gave me a really strong sense of smell for some reason. But not in a good way. I could smell bad scents really strongly and many smells made me a little queasy (a scented candle on my desk at home--not even lit--had to be hidden in a cabinet). But as of yesterday's tasting the nose had returned to normal and I was once again easily able to sniff out fabulous wine scents like cantaloupe, apricot danish, macadamia nuts, and lemon meringue pie. No, really. It was wonderful

Wine tasting number two was at Ciao Bella--summer wines and food pairings. Mmmmm. Tasty all around. Our dining/ drinking companions were ZEE BEARD, SUE MITCHELL, RORYANN CLEMENTS and Ciao Bella owner JULIE DEKORNE. Chef Ryan prepared a wonderful summer salad with melon, mint and prosciutto in a watermelon dressing, shrimp tacos with a mango relish and lime creme fraiche, and barbecued ribs (a delicious honey bbq sauce!). All were good, but the shrimp tacos were the decadence I was looking for. Wine pairings included prosseco, a Toad Hollow rose, a Lambrusco, a Now and Zen Alsatian white, and....um...others. At some point I lost track. You can see how that might happen right?

And the food and wine just kept coming--we moved outside to the patio eventually. Let's just say the debauchery continued and there was a general decline in behavior. I think these pictures explain it all.

We made it home safely, participated in more debauchery, and then I promptly fell asleep. At 9:30 pm. I don't think I've fallen asleep at 9:30 since....ever. But then I woke up at midnight. With a searing headache. And let's just say that when 9:30a.m rolled around...I was still in bed. Hmmm. I might not be back in fighting shape. But I sure had fun finding that out. Chris is now making us lunch (Bacon, lettuce and avocado sandwiches and milk...back to the basics folks). I expect a return to normal shortly. However, there may be far less decadence and debauchery today. Except for the hot tub. I will return to the hot tub. I just may be drinking milk.