Monday and Tuesday, November 10 and 11

Wine! Wine! Wine!! Monday night was the wine dinner at Joe D's. It was raining outside and it was COLD. For two cents I would have stayed home but I didn't want to welch out on my reservation. My friend Diane and I declared ourselves ready and Bruce drove us back to the Center to meet our van and the rest of our group. Seven of us piled in the van and off we went. About 30 minutes later we arrived at Joe D's in Brookside. We arrived to find out that the wine dinner was just for our group of 10. We started off with an introduction of the wine we were about to enjoy. A representative from D'Arenberg winery talked a few minutes about Australian wines and introduced our wine somalia. We started with a nice glass of champagne. Well ok, we started with a few glasses of nice champagne. It seems that the other end of the table wasn't wild about the wine so my end of the table had to drink everything. Our first course of food was a scallop on a bed of finely chopped seafood in a yummy creme sauce. The second wine was a light and fruity white wine that I REALLY liked. The food for that course was a jambalaya croquet with a piece of really nice meat that I thought was pheasant. NOT! I was chowing down when the waiter announced that we were eating rabbit. I thought I would throw up on the table. So much for that. I had to drink more wine. Then we had a buttery Chardonnay that I didn't like so I traded Diane for her fruity wine and she drank my Chardonnay. Unfortunately I can't remember what we ate with that wine. Shiraz was next and again I loved it with the veal and potatoes. Dessert consisted of a very delicate cup of chocolate custard and and another cup that had some kind of a creme in it along with a very dark red wine. We were instructed to put 1/2 of the chocolate custard on the creme and then chug the rest of the chocolate and chase it with the wine. During all of this food and wine we were busy talking, laughing and getting to know each other. (This was the first time Diane and I had gone out with this group.) Diane and I decided that our end of the table had the most fun. I could give you a better description of the food and wine but I forgot my menu on the table. (Imagine that). Our wonderful driver was waiting outside for us and he drove us safely back to Olathe. Bruce (the best husband ever) was waiting to drive us home. Diane spent the night because she lives 30 miles south of Olathe and it was too late to drive home (the wine had nothing to do with it!!) Tuesday morning we got up early, exercised and went out for breakfast. Diane went home and Bruce and I went Christmas shopping. We enjoyed our day together. We met my sorority sisters and their husbands for tacos about 5:30. Three of us gals went to see Secret Life of Bees. What a movie! We had a very full 27 hours.