Valentine’s Weekend

Amazingly, this weekend’s weather wasn’t horrible. Friday evening, we had a lovely steak night. That write up, with pictures and instructions is here: Cooking Blog . So that was lovely. Saturday, we woke up and Virginia made some lovely eggs and homefries… then it was off to the wineries with Josh, Michele, and Jessica.

How often do you get to see vines and snow? Well, if you lived here, you’d get to see it all the dang time. But, since the wineries were down the mountain, it was a bit warmer and pleasant. The first stop was at the Laurel Gray Vineyards. They had some rather tasty sauces and dips to go with their wines, and had a few wines that I really enjoyed as well. We bought a bottle of their “Nectar” wine; it’s a sweet wine, but it’s one of those whites that tastes like a mouthful of sweet grapes. I could really have a glass with breakfast every morning.

Next up was Buck Shoals winery.

They had some AMAZING things going on with their wines… They had several sweeter wines that were very interesting. They had a blueberry, raspberry, and one other sweet wine that were mixed with brandy… They were thick and full bodied… you almost had to chew them… we ended up buying one of these interesting sweet wines from them as well.

After this stop, we made our way to Shadow Springs Vineyard. We treated ourselves to a $8.00 sampling there… which consisted of all 12 of their wines, plus a special bonus.

They had Cabernet Sauvignon that I had to buy a glass of while we were there… it was outright tasty. Josh was a bigger fan of their Meritage, and the girls were big fans of their Chocolate Wine and their Strawberry wine (Called Dark Shadow and Shortcake respectively) If you mixed the two together in a 50/50 mix, the result tasted like chocolate covered strawberries.

After filling ourselves with wine at Shadow Springs, we made a quick stop at this nice little Amish general store. Let me tell you, these Amish people know how to make a sandwich. Also, they apparently have no problem using running water, electricity, cash registers, etc anymore.

The last stop was at Dobbins Creek Vineyards. They put on a lovely spread, and they had a fireplace. So, we had to sit and enjoy the fireplace for a bit, and I ended up getting a bottle of their Riesling.

Then, to round off the lovely day, we stopped at the “Coffee House” just outside of Wilkesboro, and grabbed some food. I had a breakfast sandwich… 2 eggs, 3 pieces of toast, and 8 pieces of bacon. It was a breakfast sandwich club with cheese. Wow.

For Valentine’s day, I woke up this morning and made some chocolate Belgian waffles, then we lounged around for a bit. Around 12, we wandered into town and saw the movie “Valentine’s Day” … it was a decent flick, and it was nice to have a weekend finally that allowed us to get out of the house on both days. After the movie, we met up with our exchange student Gaby, had some coffee, and then Virginia had a meeting with her “Alternative Spring Break” people. So, while Virginia was doing that… I took some time to take a few pictures around campus at night…

After taking a few shots, it was time to gather supplies for our actual Valentine’s dinner. Tonight we had: California Rolls, Chicken Caesar Salad, Lobster Ravioli, and Virginia made some Pumpkin Pie. Washed it all down with a glass of wine… and now it’s coma time. Overall, it was a lovely weekend. Which is a good thing, since the snow comes back tonight… and is supposed to continue through Thursday.

Until next time, enjoy a view of the entrance to the school library.