Group of Folks...

We've been adopted into a fun little social group. It's made up of a bunch of local couples (and a few singles) and most of them are a bit older than us, kids grown or they don't have any. Which inherently isn't a bad thing it just makes getting together a bit easier sometimes.   In February a friend from the gym, who's in this circle of friends, invited us to her "Ugly Sweater Party" as a way to "give the finger" to old man winter. Everybody showed up with seriously ugly sweaters from 2nd hand shops and lots of food and wine..included was a home made pizza covered in Morel mushrooms. So to say these folks have GOOD TASTE is putting things mildly....

Last night we met up again for wine tasting followed by dinner at the local Italian restaurant. Apparently this is an ongoing event that happens the first Thursday of each month. It's put on by a wine distributor out of Portland and this month they were pouring Oregon wines. 6 of them. And when I say pouring? I mean POURING. We were all seated or perched around this large coffee table on two huge leather couches..the guy would come around and pour from above and I'm not sure if it was because of the angle or just because he was generous...but he was giving us each about a 3 ounce pour "taste" instead of the standard one ounce little sip you might get out at a local vineyard.  After sampling 6 different wines we'd all had the equivalent of about 3 glasses of wine..and we were all feeling FINE. The restaurant also provided appetizers; a fruit tray, various cheeses, and really yummy pizza. One that came around was a roasted garlic, gorgonzola cheese and pear concoction. That one didn't last long.  Best of all? The entire tasting event with appetizers was complimentary! Yep. Free of charge...in hopes you'd buy some wine out of it. Which we did. One of the wines was a big hit with our group..an amazingly smokey red cuvee blend from southern Oregon. And at $16 a bottle it was a virtual steal. Unfortunately the wine guy sold out of what he had in the van and so he took orders from us and we'll pick it up on Monday. I think he felt bad (or was just happy our group bought so much wine) that he brought over 2 more complimentary bottles off the list that we shared over dinner.

Oh and speaking of Monday..we're set to meet again at the bar next door to the restaurant after we pick up our wine. It's 50 cent taco night. And plans are in the works for a camping get-together this summer at one of the couples' lake house near Detroit resevoir. Good people. Good times.

PS-I am SOOOOO penciling in this free wine tasting Thursday night deal into my calendar for July and August.