Women Who Wine

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Antipasto and Art - March 4, 2016

"Age and glasses of wine should never be counted."

~ Italian Proverb ~

Cathy was our hostess for the March Women Who Wine event on Friday, March 4, 2016. The theme was Italian Day so the ladies brought antipasto and wine. All twelve Women Who Wine were able to attend this fun event!

"Benvenuto in casa mia"
Welcome to my home

Antipasto in Italian means “before the meal.’’ It’s meant to whet your appetite and tide you over until the main course arrives. But the line between a tasty nibble and overindulging is easy to cross when the appetizer consists of sliced cured meats, cheeses, olives, marinated vegetables, and other delicacies. Add a glass of wine and the assortment of rich, salty, spicy foods becomes a leisurely meal. And there’s no cooking involved! Look at the feast we had! Complete with cannoli for dessert!

Cathy with the antipasto spread! Delish!

A little education on Italian wines, courtesy of Cathy!

And, of course, the wines!

LtoR - Debbie, Connie, Pam, Cathy, Kelly, Vicky, Ruth, Susie, Daryl, Christy and Judy

LtoR - Debbie, Kelly and Connie

The lovely Miss Vicky

Judy and Christy relax before the real work begins!

After we sampled the antipasto and wine, Cathy and her talented assistant, Christy, helped us work on our own embellished, wire-wrapped appetizer spreader. We learned to make a spiral with wire, and wrap the wire and beads around a small spreader. Cathy provided the wire, beads and spreader for our craft. Thank you Cathy!

LtoR - Cathy and Connie
This should be fun!

LtoR - Connie and Debbie
Look at mine! Look at mine!

LtoR - Pam and Susie concentrating!

Daryl working on her spreader.

LtoR - Ruth, Susie and Kelly
This is harder than it looks!

Debbie - Squee! Finished product!

Kelly shows off her spreader

Several of the finished spreaders.
We had great teachers!

There are two types of people in this world;
Italians, and those who wish they were Italian!
Salute !

Monday, February 15, 2016

Brush N Bottle - February 5, 2016

“Art is the only serious thing in the world. And the artist is the only person who is never serious."

~ Oscar Wilde ~

Kelly was our hostess for the February Women Who Wine event. She arranged a private painting class at Brush N Bottle, located in the North Campbell Plaza on Prince Road and Campbell in Tucson. Since our group is Women Who Wine, the painting subject was, surprise! A wine glass!

Eleven ladies were attended the class and brought our favorite refreshment (wine!) and appetizers. Paint, canvas and brushes were provided, as an experienced and enthusiastic local artist lead the group step by step in recreating the featured artwork. At the end of the evening, the ladies took their masterpieces home.

To commemorate the event, Kelly surprised everyone with a lovely wineglass etched with the following "Women Who Wine Established November 21, 2013". Originally filled with Valentine's Day colored M&M's, both chocolate and peanut, you can see how long THAT lasted!

LtoR - Carol, Susie, Ruth, Cathy, Christy, Vicky, Debbie, Judy, Connie, Pam and our host, Kelly

The fun is about to commence!

Lots of goodies to choose from!
Connie and Susie are discussing their options!

Our very own Women Who Wine glasses complete with Valentine's Day candy!

Ladies, Work in progress on the left
What it should look like on the right.
Okay, let's get to it!

LtoR - Carole and Ruth
See the beginning of the painting there?

Debbie - Holding her breath or stifling a giggle!
We're betting Debbie is an artist since an "artist is the only person who is never serious"!

LtoR - Connie, Christy, Pam and Vicky (well, her back anyway)

Wait, did someone tell Vicky blue is the new brown?

LtoR - Connie to Susie - Let me tell you girlfriend!

LtoR - Christy and Carole

LtoR - Pam and instructor - Just a little dab right there!

Not ready for prime time painters!

Cathy's painting is coming right along!

Kelly does more than golf!

Carole has a photographer's eye

Susie - There are no words!

Vicky as the resident rebel! Naturally!

LtoR Back Row - Ruth, Carole, Susie, Christy, Pam, and Kelly
LtoR Front Row - Judy, Cathy, Vicky, Connie and Debbie
The finished paintings!

LOL, sometimes with good reason!

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Champagne Wishes - January 8, 2016

“All Champagne is sparkling wine, but not all sparkling wine is Champagne”

When determining whether a wine is truly Champagne or sparkling, one only needs to identify the region where it was produced. While true Champagnes can only be made in the Champagne region of France and with seven distinct grapes (and a slew of other regulations), sparkling wines aren’t held to the same restrictions. Sparkling wine may be made with the exact same grapes as Champagne or an entirely different blend. From Rosé to Brut (or extra dry varieties) to super sweet sparkling dessert wines, the flavors and qualities run the gamut.

Champagne, the wine, is named after the region where it is grown, fermented and bottled: Champagne, France. Nestled in the country’s northeastern corner, near Paris, the only labels that are legally allowed to bare the name “Champagne” are bottled within 100 miles of this region (according to European Law).

Originally cultivated by the Romans as early as 400 A.D., today’s vineyards that adorn Champagne’s beautiful hills and plains span 76,000 acres and 319 villages.

Ruth purchased eight bottles of bubbly. We first tasted with labels in full view and once familiar with the characteristics of each bubble we had a blind tasting of the same wines.

This author has to admit miserable failure at identifying the bottles after tasting!

Our lovely hostess, Ruth, with the mostess!

LtoR - Susie, Cathy, Carole and our honorary member, Delores!

LtoR - Judy, Vicky, Debbie, Christy, Judy and Kelly

Ruth kept us in line with her HR voice! So stern!

Carole, This is NO time to be checking your FitBit! You are earning, not burning calories!

LtoR - Kelly, Vicky and Daryl

LtoR - Connie, Christy and Judy

Our wee lass Kelly!

Queen of the Contest Cathy! She got all four blind tastes correct! Love your taste buds! There was lots of competition from Connie but Cathy pulled through with bonus questions.

A toast for us all!

Here's to beauty, wit, and wine, and to a full stomach, a full purse, and a light heart.

And then there's Christopher Walken as "The Continental" in Saturday Night Live!

You've changed your mind about the champagnyah...

https://youtu.be/_0hPFDmoVyo

Saturday, December 26, 2015

Christmas at Christy's - November 17, 2015

"This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone." ~ Taylor Caldwell ~

On Thursday, December 17th, the Women Who Wine attended a wonderful luncheon at Christy's Christmas house. Apparently Christy got PLENTY of exercise during the month of December. Nearly every inch of her house is decorated to the nines!

After lunching and wining, there was a Trivia Contest (so hard!). Debbie won the Christmas Trivia contest - 7 correct answers out of 12. What a smartie! Carole won a prize for guessing when Christy first started decorating her first apartment for Christmas - 1971. Ancient history! Daryl won the Ugly Christmas Sweater contest. She had it all sewn up with NO competition!

After announcing the winners and distributing prizes, the WWW ladies had presents to distribute to each other. So many cute and clever gifts!

Thank you all for your friendship!

Christy shows off our edible goodies!

Daryl displays her Christmas spirit...winning the ugly Christmas sweater contest!

LtoR - Susie, Connie, Kelly, Judy, Vicky, Ruth, Daryl
Front row - Christy and Carole


Christy's Christmas Tree "O Christmas tree, o Christmas tree How loyal are your leaves/needles!" Who knew the second line to this song for the Trivia Contest?