Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Wine, Food and Nature...

Three of my favorite things!
MLK weekend brought me just that.

Pat and I are wine club members of Europa Village.  We were invited to the Grand Opening of the Vienza - the Italian Resort portion of their growing property.  (They already have a Spanish section and a French section!)  I was super excited because there was no cost, just a reservation.  So we took off Friday and headed down!  It was really lovely!
 
We of course got there early - but the email had said it was sold out and to arrive early due to a large turn out.

We weren't quite the 1st ones, but almost

Ok now people are arriving and they served Krispy Kreme donuts!

Now this was the part that all the VIP's got to go inside the cave and the rest of us regular members were standing around awkwardly, not knowing what to do.  I asked the donut lady...so is anything happening until 10am?  (Schedule said 8:30-10 "Welcome Reception", 10-11 grand opening ceremony and then 11 on you tour the Vienza)  Pat and I got there at 8:30.  Um we're not standing around for an hour...so....

Bolero Restaurant was open so we hit the bar!

When we came back out closer to 10 they were serving Champagne with Peach Puree and hors d'oeuvres.  That's more like it!

We fancy!

Ok now it's looking like a party

This fellow did most the chatting

I loved that they brought the staff out!  Betsy is in there!

A lovely opera singer

She moved into the Vienza later

Since we're also members at Wiens we headed over there after touring the Vienza for our free tasting!

Notice my shirt...

Saw this lady and thought...that's my future.  Random wine tasting on a Friday.  You go girl!

We had four days off and nothing planned except the above.  So one day we whipped out our bikes and took a ride.  Pat's ankle is still screwy so hiking was off the table but biking seems to be ok!

I also wanted to go geocaching since I haven't yet this year.  Sadly it was a 1 for 3 day.  I'm going to go back to the multi cache I tried to find with my glasses and see if I can find the damn thing.  The other one was thwarted by the police arresting someone right at ground zero so have to go back for that one.  But there was a new one at Handy Park so at least got that one!



Handy Park Geocache!

The weekend also consisted of Pat trying more food experiments.  One morning he made his 1st stab at Eggs Benedict.  Not bad!  We celebrated with mimosas of course.  And another night he made his 1st duck breast!

1st Eggs Bennie!

Poe thinks he's a lap dog


Duck La'Orange with roasted carrots and potatoes

Monday morning met up with 2 of my best girls for a walk in Irvine Park followed by breakfast at Bluestone Cafe (which I DO NOT recommend - the service is horrific everytime I've gone there.  The food is great, but the service sucks.  I've tried them 3 times now and everytime - awful service.  So I'm officially done.)


Love these girls

Poe is so giant compared to the other 3


Loves his stick!




All it all it was a pretty good weekend I'd say!  Now can we have 4 day weekends all the time please?





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