Sunday, February 12, 2012

Chelan Weekend

Everyone knows that Lake Chelan is beautiful in the summer with lots of fun water and outdoors oriented activities to experience (oh and there is this thing called the sun that we on the west side of the state don't get). But, we've decided we love it during the winter! Less people, some snow on the ground, a crackling fire in the fire place, curling up with a good book and some wine tasting. What is not to love?

We went last year as well and decided that February is a great time for a get away so we headed back over (used a timeshare week) to Wapato Point in Manson. Though a bit older resort, it works great for us and has a great location. We love the lake views out the window and as we walked around on the point...

 
Not much sun but still beautiful...
Red wine tasting at Karma Vineyards.
On Saturday, we did a bit of wine tasting. Last year this was super awkward for us!!! But this year we actually enjoyed it quite a bit and could even start to tell the different flavors coming out. It was also the Red Wine and Chocolate weekend in honor of Valentine's Day so some of the places had pairings. I think we forgot to eat lunch after all of the chocolate!

We got the fireplace seats for the wine tasting at Karma... 

Outside at Karma. They also have a plaza up on the hill for weddings.

And under this hill/waterfall is actually a cave where they age the wine.


Tunnel Hill Winery... love the stone & their wines!

Nefarious Cellars... yummy wine and...

... a beautiful view. Love the vineyards.

Over to the other side of the lake to Benson Vineyards... very classy!


















Self potrait... (by the way, our camera screen wasn't working at this point)

Hard Row to Hoe. Look at their website for the clever origin of the name.


They have very clever graphics... even on their car.


Today we had another fun "first" experience as we went cross country skiing! We hadn't been planning on it but once we got over and saw how much free time we had, we thought it would be fun to get out and do something new. So, we rented equipement and headed up to Echo Ridge for an afternoon of skiing. We both laughed so hard as having our feet in two separate skis instead of together in a snowboard got the better of us! I won't go into it too much, but both of us ended up on the ground just a couple times. :)



The sun even came out for a bit! Lovely!

Thank goodness for grooming and tracks.

We did enjoy it and our muscles feel it tonight.


Overall, it has been a great weekend... some wine, some reading, a little snow and skiing, and lots of relaxing. Do we really have to go back to real life?

Superbowl Treats...

Just wanted to share what we served at our Superbowl party last weekend. We had a few friends over, my brother and sister-in-law and had a nice mellow superbowl party. Being on the West Coast, we randomly picked a team to cheer for (no one was passionate for either the Patriots or the Giants), critiqued the half time show (not the most engaging), and had some tasty microbrews from various local breweries to keep us entertained.

I have to say that it was a huge help to look at all my favorite food blogs for ideas of what to serve! Each of them put together links of favorite recipes that would be perfect for a party ranging from appetizers to soups/chilis, dips and other treats. I think I cook more off of food blogs than I do out of cook books now days! There is nothing like step by step pictures to make me want to make something new.

I know my food pictures and styling is no where near what they have on their blogs but believe me when I say that all these recipes were very tasty!

Chet's delicious guacamole

Pretzel bites with cheese sauce from Two Peas and Their Pod

Smokey Turkey Chipotle Chili from Cookin' Canuck

Cookie Dough Dip from Two Peas and Their Pod

Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta

Friday, February 10, 2012

Unexpected...

So, the weather last week was lovely here in Seattle... mid to upper 50s and sunny! Seriously! Certainly not your average February weather. In fact, it felt like a beautiful May day a whole 5 days in a row!

What to do on a beautiful sunny day? Well, we took advantage of the weather to do some yard work. While Chet trimmed up our lawn moss, I got to work weeding and discovering what was coming up.

I found the rest of the carrots... 



















And discovered my garlic is starting to come up!



















This is my first time growing garlic so I'm super excited about it.

























Oh, and of course the rhubarb... it is starting to sprout as well. I suppose I should get to work on using the rest of what is in the freezer now! Rhubarb pie anyone?


Here's to hoping that we don't get a cold spell and kill off all these cute little plan starts. I also have some daffodils and bulbs that are starting to show. I do love spring... even if we are still technically in winter!