THE WINE GARDENER COMES OUT OF HIBERNATION

We're only a month into winter, but it's been so cold 

so far, it seems like it's been three months already 

The plankets came out early this year

The plumerias were hauled off to the storage

unit two months ago

and what was left came in the house or was placed

on the carts and hauled into the garage

This weekend was nice to get a brief reprieve

With no freezing temperatures in the forecast that
 meant carts came out of the garage, plankets came 
off and the other plants were hauled outside for a 
few days of relative warmth and sunshine 

Two weeks from today Punxsutawney Phil 

will reveal the remaining course of 

winter for 2015

I hope it's a cloudy day

Easy to Grow - Kalanchoe

In my experience it doesn't get any easier than this. I've been known to lead more than a few plants to a premature ending through neglect or just misunderstanding their care instructions 

But the Kalanchoe is not one of them 

There are many varieties (well over a hundred) but two of my favorite are the paddle plant and the mother of thousands  

Both are succulents which means to me they don't require a lot of water or a lot of attention

And they both spin off seedlings even for those of us who lack the skills generally needed to propagate plants  

With the mother of thousands, the "babies" literally fall off the leaves and grow wherever they land.  The biggest challenge with these plants is keeping up with all of the new plants the mother plant will be giving birth to

  This plant loves the sun.  The name mother of thousands refers to the fact that these plants have seedlings on the edges of the leaves that fall off 

and will root on their own   

You can pick up the seedlings and place them in other pots and they take root and become mothers themselves before you know what's happened.  I enjoy looking at the seedlings daily to see the changes

This plant thrives with very little care and you can share the wealth; you will have more seedlings than you can plant.  All of your friends can enjoy this plant with you

And you'll find it will leave you with more time to try new wines

Maybe a new Merlot to sip while you enjoy your Kalanchoe-

THE WINE GARDENER GOES TO THE WINE GARDEN

The State Fair of Texas wound down this week

I guess everyone that goes to the fair has a favorite thing to do there

Some people go just to taste the fried foods

Others go for the rides and games along the midway

I think everyone has to at least stop by to see what Big Tex has to say

I'm sure there are mirrors involved

but I've still never figured out how the midway barker balances himself so well on that stool

After I've had my fill of fried foods

spent more than enough on the midway games to buy the jumbo sized sock money outright

and stopped by to see if Big Tex has anything new to say this year

I like to head to the wine garden

The wine garden offers tastings from a number of Texas wineries

You can try a glass, a flight or a bottle

This year I tried a red wine from Los Pinos Ranch Vineyards located in Pittsburg, Texas

A lot of the Texas reds are a little sweet for my taste

The one I tried was a little drier

and was a nice pairing with the Texas fried chicken in a waffle cone I had just purchased

As an added bonus, there is a big screen tv on a nice, shaded patio

This is still one of my favorite things to do whenever I come to the fair

ROUND TOP - DAY TWO

This is the time of year that the population of Round Top increases more than 100 times.  

Today was no exception. 

It was a nice day and traffic was fairly light compared to what it will be like Friday and Saturday when it will look more like the LBJ Freeway at rush hour.

Many great finds today - two wine themed treasures.

Found this cool industrial looking gauge that serves as a wine holder.  

Can't wait to get it home and try it out- might even put it in my garage.

The second item was a vintage wine bottle- an Italian red table wine by Lambrusco.

I have two others that I have posted pictures of previously.  One is a plain green cylinder for the neck of the bottle.  Another is in the shape of a chain of fishes and this one is in the shape of an elephant's trunk with the elephant serving as the base of the bottle.

Funny thing is - I had no idea I needed these things when the day started.  

Who knows what I'll find that I didn't know I needed tomorrow.

Roundtop 2014

 The Wine Gardner goes to Roundtop

Fall 2014

Warrenton, Texas tends to be the center of activity during the Roundtop Antique Show each afternoon beginning around 4:00pm.  It's the home to Zapp Hall, Royer's Cafe, The Legal Tender Saloon and formerly the world headquarters of The Junk Gypsies (who now call Roundtop their home).

Some people call Roundtop during the antiques festival, the happiest place in the world.  And why not?  You can find gardening goods, arts & crafts, rare antiques and many other one of a kind items.

Maybe the wine has something to do with the happiness.  There are local wineries, wine tasting events, wine shops and many places that offer free wine in the evening. Today someone told me that Miranda Lambert now owns a winery in the area and her father was at Royer's serving up free samples.  I picked up something today that I'll be using tomorrow.  It's a plastic wine glass with a spill proof top that you can drink from like it's a sippy cup and the other is a wine tote that holds 750ml of wine and is great for biking, hiking, backpacking and other events.  Tomorrow I think I'm 

gonna love the wine I'm with.

WINE WEDNESDAY: Wine-o-mania

Like the dot.com bubble, stock market bubble, the housing bubble

and the beanie baby bubble . . . could  a wine bubble be next?

It seems everywhere you go now there's wine on the menu, 

on the shelf,  

in the beer gardens, 

at the theatre, 

at the ball games . . .

at Starbucks

It seems like wine is surpassing beer as the drink of 

choice in many venues

And wine infused food items - 

there's wine-infused popcorn, 

chocolate, 

chicken,

ice cream and now . . .  cheese

Recently at my gourmet grocery store, 

while selecting a wine for the weekend, 

I happened to see this Sartori BellaVitano Merlot cheese.  

The rind was a purple color, so I couldn't resist.  

I paired it with several other cheeses, olives, crackers and of course Merlot 

It was great

Wine and cheese and wine-cheese

I don't know - if this is really a wine bubble

But I didn't sell my house when the bubble burst

And I won't stop drinking wine

I'm in it for the long haul

Bring on the wine-infused cigars

WINE WEDNESDAY: Flea Market Finds

When you see something you like

don't worry about where you will put it

you'll find a place . . . eventually.

On occasional weekends I like to go to my local flea markets.  The mix of vendors changes each time and you never know what you'll find.  

A few weeks ago I visited a flea market I have been to a hundred times and ran across a vendor that I had never seen before.  

I found these great inexpensive wine prints, cut some mats to fit ready-made frames and they're ready to display.  I haven't decided yet where I'm going to hang them but I like the subject.

I can vouch for the first one but I've never been to Paris so I can't speak for the second one - but it sounds good.

I've visited the same flea market recently and the print vendor wasn't there  . . . but

 I'll keep an eye out.

You never know what you'll find that you need to find a place for.