Tag: shopping

Taste Testing Two Spirit Sipper Infusions from Vena’s Fizz House

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I drink wine, craft beer, especially sours, and the occasional margarita but otherwise liqueur or cocktails are a rarity for me although my husband hasn’t given up hope that I’ll expand my repertoire.  When we met, my go to alcoholic drink was Miller Lite. It was almost a deal breaker for him, but fortunately he was able to look past that particular character flaw.

After years of effort and the consistent refrain of “here try this”, my go to beer is now Allagash White and we often enjoy local craft sours together.  While he’s pleased with my progress, his work is not done. He’s still nudging me towards porters, stouts and the real stretch drink experience for me: cocktails.

Fortunately, he has some support in this endeavor. Vena’s Fizz House in Portland is a wonderful, inventive cocktail bar. My first experience tasting bitters was at Vena’s during a Micro Maine Trolley Tour.  Before that visit, I would have said definitively that I don’t like bitters. But, now I know that statement is untrue. Bitters done right can really elevate a cocktail.

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Going to yard sales this weekend? Here are some helpful tips.

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My parents spend most Saturday mornings on the yard sale circuit. Trust me, it’s a thing. I’m a fan myself although I don’t go as often as they do. Maybe someday. My husband and I did make a pit stop to the annual ten-mile yard sale in Cornville on our way up to The Forks last spring. It’s one of those must do destinations for yard sale aficionados.

While we never did find the main drag, we spent a few enjoyable hours poking around some of the side roads leading up to the sale as we passed through Skowhegan. I even scored a $5 pair of ice skates and a $2 DVD of The Purge so the hunt was successful. Although after watching the Purge, I’m not sure it was a complete win.

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Holiday Adventures | My list of things I want to do this December.

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‘Tis the season that always seems to go by in a blur. My house is currently covered in boxes filled with Christmas decorations waiting to be unpacked. Decorating is a multi-week endeavor for me. While there never seems to be enough time to do everything on my holiday list, I’m going to give it a shot this year. We’ll see where the holiday spirit takes me and what I can squeeze in this coming month. Below are a few things I’m hoping to do.

Check out some Local Artisans.  I have a brown felt covered advent calendar with perfectly symmetrical numbered tags hanging from hooks on which we place ornaments to count down the days until Christmas. I made it during a crafting weekend with a friend who brought her sizzix die cutting machine and let me play with it. I  often blog about my love for crafting and always get to a few craft shows each season. It’s the best place to find something unique and personal.

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Celebrating small, local businesses with the microMaine Trolley Tour

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What do beer, bitters, wool felting, pie and qigong have in common? They were all things we got to try on a unique tour  hosted by Benchmark Residential & Investment Real Estate which focused on micro living in Portland. The tour highlighted smaller local businesses so was different from typical city tours.

The tour started at the Press Hotel which is a cozy themed hotel on Exchange Street. This past March, we did Spirit Quest for Maine Restaurant Week and the Press Hotel had my favorite tasting and cocktail combination. This micro tour also had a food component as we were treated to Korean BBQ vegetable chips and house made carrot & ginger effervescence shooters upon arrival. The carrot and ginger juice, was especially amazing.

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