Great Grapes Festival
On Sunday afternoon, Jodi and I met Jill, Rob and Jill's parents at the Great Grapes Festival at Oregon Ridge Park. It was essentially a big wine tasting, craft fair, concert. The Kelly Bell Band played, and they are always entertaining; and I bought some really nice jewelry from some regional jewelers.
Here's a snapshot of 'IDK my BFF, Jill' and Rob. How cute are they?
Here are Jill's mom and dad relaxing on the blanket and listening to the music.
(You might remember Jill's mom from her Internet debut on Thanksgiving.)
Here are Jodi and I in shades. She doesn't like this picture as much as another one we took, but this is my blog and I like this one. J, you can post the one you like on your blog, okay? :)
You know what's surprising? How bad some Maryland wines are. I suppose I shouldn't be so negative, because I tasted quite a few good wines, but there were quite a few horrible wines out there too. A few of my favorites were Basignani Winery's Marisa, Woodhall's Sangiovese and Fiore Winery's Chambourcin Reserve. Yum.
Another bonus was meeting Ilan from Top Chef Season One. Can you believe it? He was in Maryland! We had no idea that he was going to be there, but what a neat treat to meet him. He was so friendly and down to Earth, not to mention pretty funny.
After some more drinking and shopping, Jodi and I caught up with him later when he was doing a cooking demonstration. I had my very first taste of lamb on Sunday, and it was so, so good.
This is my favorite photo. I love a man with meat.
Here's a snapshot of 'IDK my BFF, Jill' and Rob. How cute are they?
Here are Jill's mom and dad relaxing on the blanket and listening to the music. (You might remember Jill's mom from her Internet debut on Thanksgiving.)
Here are Jodi and I in shades. She doesn't like this picture as much as another one we took, but this is my blog and I like this one. J, you can post the one you like on your blog, okay? :)
You know what's surprising? How bad some Maryland wines are. I suppose I shouldn't be so negative, because I tasted quite a few good wines, but there were quite a few horrible wines out there too. A few of my favorites were Basignani Winery's Marisa, Woodhall's Sangiovese and Fiore Winery's Chambourcin Reserve. Yum.
Another bonus was meeting Ilan from Top Chef Season One. Can you believe it? He was in Maryland! We had no idea that he was going to be there, but what a neat treat to meet him. He was so friendly and down to Earth, not to mention pretty funny.
After some more drinking and shopping, Jodi and I caught up with him later when he was doing a cooking demonstration. I had my very first taste of lamb on Sunday, and it was so, so good. 
This is my favorite photo. I love a man with meat.
posted by Charissa at 10:31 PM
7 Comments:
I'm not calling you one, but I have several friends who are proud wine snobs. Some are in Cali, others are right here in Bawlmer. And they all rip on Maryland wine - the Marylanders who have tasted some clunkers, and the Californians who jovially say "You have wine in Maryland?"
It's good to hear there are some good ones. Certainly a better alcohol experience than Honfest probably was. Though all I drank there was water.
I had such a good time and I would love to post the other picture, but you have to share them with me first! Hope you weren't too tired tonight. Have a good week!
I heart Ilan!
ILAN!!! You waited all this time to tell about Ilan?? *sigh* That meat quote totally had me laughing. Oh, and I'm sure you would have emailed me right away if it was Harold, right? hahaha. I think it's pretty kickass that there are so many festivals and stuff in Bawlmer for you. I think they have a German fest in Milwaukee... but that might be the only one... hahaha.
ps- Only one 30 fact a day??? more more more more more
Hope you are having a good week (so far) and not working too hard.
oh- and you should just start watching RESCUE ME the beginning of this season. I didn't watch the first season, I caught up on it on reruns off season, but the acting and characters are just great... you should try it. AND... don't you just love the crying cowboy?? hahaha
Boordy's Vidal Blanc, served cold, is a nice picnic wine. Ditto Eye of the Oriole. Catotcin makes a good Cabernet. That's really about all I like after a couple of Wine in the Woods trips.
Maybe his television persona is different than his in-personm one, but judging from what I saw on TV alone, I absolutely could not stand Ilan! Towards the end of his season of Top Chef, he just seemed deliberately mean-spirited just to be so, all because everyone enjoyed piling on that obnoxious bu mostly harmless kid Marcel. Yep, he was full of himself, but to treat him as less than a human being? Inexcusable. I think Ilan and the others may have apologized, I don't recall. But during the show at least, I truly despised him. Glad you had a good experience with him though! I preferred Sam myself, even though he also jumped on that down-with-Marcel bandwagon.
If it had been Marcell, I hoped you'd have kneed him in the groin (also: Ilan was season two, and three starts this week!)
I was wondering what was going on at Oregon Ridge on Sunday. Some yahoo decided to stop his fucking car on Beaver Dam Road to check a map, and I'm sure he was wondering why I was honking at him.
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