Tag: wine

#AtoZChallenge | Glass etching to make my newly minted 21 year old some one of a kind wine glasses

34 Comments

My love of crafting has prompted me to take dozens of art classes through the years. I have a vague recollection of trying glass etching during one of those sessions. It was a quick lesson and probably part of broader class covering other techniques too. The only reason I even remember was because with little idea as to what I wanted to create I ended up making a simple ornament design on a stemless wine glass and I bring it out every Christmas. Otherwise, I think I’d have completely forgotten I even took the class.

What I do remember, is that the etching process itself was extremely easy. It was picking and executing the perfect design that was the hard part. For this second round of glass etching, I had a much clearer idea of what I wanted for a design. My youngest daughter turned twenty one this past November and is enjoying drinking more adult beverages these days. She went back to school with wine bottles in tow but no glasses and no cork screw. While she’s on her own with the cork screw, I had a plan to create some memorable wine glasses for her.

Continue reading →

Virtual dinners from Wine Wise provide a way to connect from a distance.

3 Comments

The current measures to fight COVID-19 are devastating for many local businesses. But I am also amazed at the creativity I have seen come from these stressful times.

Local businesses have shown impressive adaptability. Many businesses have found ways to pivot, seemingly instantaneously, from textile artisans who have transitioned to making masks or the rapid move to curb side pickup at some of my favorite breweries and restaurants. I know these changes can’t make up fully for the economic stress businesses are experiencing but it is impressive.

Recently, we took advantage of one such reinvention.

Continue reading →

An infographic on spending a fun filled socially distanced weekend in Maine.

6 Comments

During my first year of blogging, I created an infographic that highlighted how to spend a perfect weekend in Portland, Maine.  Now that we’re all staying home and access to public spaces is more limited due to the pandemic, I thought it would be fun to create a new infographic focused on how to spend a perfect socially distanced weekend in Maine.

Even if we can’t currently visit our local restaurants, breweries, museums, shops and all the other amazing places that Maine has to offer there are still many ways to support our local businesses while practicing social distancing and having a great time.

The links to all of the sites mentioned in the infographic are listed at the bottom of the blog post. Wishing everyone a fun filled virtual weekend!

Continue reading →

Looking for free things to do? Here’s a monthly breakdown of free events in Maine for 2019.

1 Comment

A few years ago, my family and I did the Living Well Spending Zero challenge from Ruth Soukup. As part of the challenge, we spent minimal money for the entire month. No groceries, no entertainment, no take-out. We allowed ourselves a small amount of cash at the start of the month for minor necessities, and activities that had already been planned, but that was it. We ate through the food in our refrigerator and pantry, learned to ration our seltzer, and went to some free events like the Fork Food Lab grand opening.

Overall, we did a great job, or at least until the last day of the month when our cat came down with a UTI, and we had to do an emergency visit to the vet complete with x-rays, anesthesia, and multiple antibiotics, all of which negated most of our savings from our zero spend month. Still it was a fun, creative experiment and one we are about to embark on again.

Continue reading →

Y is for Younity | Want to try a blueberry wine? You’ve come to the right state.

29 Comments

While we’re working our way through the Maine Beer Trail, one of my bucket list items for this year, we don’t have a lot of experience with Maine’s wine scene. I have been to Cellardoor Winery in Lincolnville, and since they opened their tasting room at Thompson’s Point, I have gone to a few of their wine pairings. So far, that is the only winery I have been to in Maine. We do plan to tackle the Maine Wine Trail eventually, but as I said in my bucket list post, it’s probably best to attempt only one alcohol related “trail” a year.

In researching Maine wineries, I learned that there are:

(a) far more than I realized; and
(b) most of them make a version of blueberry wine.

We bought three bottles of local blueberry wines so that we could have a mini-wine tasting and compare flavors.  For our wine tasting, we opted to try the following wines (all descriptions are from the winery’s websites):

Continue reading →