joe anyone?

We are still making wine-in fact we are making a cab and a zin. For wine, you must be patient. The zin is already on it's way to becoming a pretty good glass of wine, but for the cab, it needs more time. Grapes will soon be in for our experimentation with the "real thing" as the first two batches were made with grapes that had already been part of the way processed. But what has this to do with coffee you might ask? Well the "patient" part of the wine making had my husband wanting to make something else. We LOVE coffee so it is only natural to want it freshly roasted......hmmm, where do you find coffee that has been fresh roasted around here??? After some research we bought a coffee roaster and some green coffee beans and we had our first cup yesterday truly fresh-roasted coffee. It was tasty! Joe anyone??

Avon Walk for a Cure

I am excited to say that I joined a team to walk in the Avon Walk for a Cure for Breast Cancer. It is a two day walk in NYC where I will walk a marathon and a half: 26.2 miles the first day, and 13.1 miles the second. The training will be intense as I've been told it is often more difficult to walk a marathon than it is to run one (I don't know about that!) I am happy to be finally doing something to help put an end to this terrible disease. Please visit my personal page by clicking on the link below. You can even make a donation online. Just follow the link and it will take you to the secure page. Thanks! xo

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk2009/NewYork?px=4368056&pg=personal&fr_id=1850

birthday

The four day birthday weekend started with lunch, bookgroup girls and fresh hand-dipped chocolates from Wilton Treats. Then, I enjoyed dinner Saturday night at my favorite restaurant http://www.theschoolhouseatcannondale.com/ where they had a gorgeous flower arrangement and champagne waiting for me! It finished yesterday with my children waking me up with coffee and breakfast in bed and handmade cards! When I came downstairs there was a beautiful sign that read "Happy Birthday Mom" (handmade by the kids of course). All day I received many phone calls and visits with birthday wishes which, to me are some of the best gifts. I got a new camera lens from hubby....love it! We finished with a homemade chocolate cake that my daughter baked and frosted for me. I really had a special birthday thanks to everyone and their simple, thoughtful gestures. xoxoxoxo

four generations

Thank you to the "D" family for letting me invade their birthday celebration. Four generations of the family were together and they gave me some time to shoot some pics. Enjoy!

brrrrrr-really, really cold!

Thank you so much "O" family for coming out in the FREEZING cold. What was supposed to be 45* and sunny turned out to be 32*, cloudy and windy. The conditions were less than optimum, but they hung tough and we got some amazing shots!

As you can see, we did move inside and got some beautiful shots with the lighting inside. Thank you "O" girls for being so patient! Hope you like the shots! xoxo

tasty!

We tried our first sample of the Cabernet we are making and it wasn't bad. I was nervous tasting it as the temp of the wine is about 70* or so and still slightly bubbling. It just didn't sound very tasty-turns out, however ,that it actually was. We'll see after the next round of tasting. This is really fascinating to learn about the entire process. Next, we'll be racking the wine into it's initial storage vessel to clarify, and we will re-rack several times over the next 45 days or so. Then will store it in our oak barrel for 6 months minimum. Very cool stuff. xo

bubbles, bubbles!

Yeast is kicking in and we have the wonderful, yeast-y, grape-y smell floating through the floorboards and throughout the house. It is working! So many variables go into making the wine, we only hope the selections we make now will taste good next year-otherwise those of you that are on the fudge holiday list will receive our kahal family vinegar!!!! Seriously, just another creative venture to savor life with. xo