WOW only three days til you go to F&W how lucky
Kind of, I guess... actually, we leave home in four days. We won't be at F&W until Friday. But that is soon enough for me! 
I did not take any food porn last night. I went to The Melting Pot for the first time and had their fondue. I've been to another fondue place before, just not that one.
I didn't have the cheese fondue, but I had the entree and dessert fondues. I must say they were excellent, as was the glass of De Loach Pinot Noir.
We went to Cooper's Hawk to do the wine tasting!
For $7, they gave samples of 8 wines, and boy they were fantastic! My favorite was a red wine I hadn't had before, a Barbera. Pronounced Bar-BEAR-ah, like the animator, not Barbara, like the name.That and the Petite Syrah were my faves.
I enjoyed them so much, I joined their wine club. Every month they charge you for a wine that you can either pick up at the place or have it shipped every three months. I chose the pick-up method. You had options to choose from, too. If you like whites, you can choose to have only whites. Or only reds. Or the "variety" option. Since they alternate white and red from month to month, you can pick any wine for your option, up to $20. I chose "reds", and October will be a red month.
Yes, you are my guinea pigs! So let's start for the worst rating to the best rating.
First, we have King Hubert with the Bad rating:
"The food is so bad, I should cut the people responsible for cooking this mess with my rapier-sharp fish!"
Next, we have the Minstrel, in his first of many appearances with the Ok rating:
This means: "The food was perfectly ok to be served to the masses."
Next, we have the Good rating:
As in, "If you don't mind, my good man, I believe I'll have some more."
And now, the Excellent rating:
"This is excellent; too good to let any go to waste!"
And since Catherine pointed out that we need a Homer, a gastromic ecstasy picture, I finish with a Gluttony rating:
This should be self-explanatory.
This picture should state, "My excess of gluttony and sloth is a sight to behold. That's how good the food and wine were."
Glad to hear you enjoyed. How were the portion sizes for the fondue? We have a Melting Pot nearby but never went because I had heard they are really stingy. Probably just ours though.
Love your rating system Brenda! Sorry you're having such a rough time healthwise. I know how tough it is when you're on vacation with many different dinners scheduled and your stomach is giving you problems. Let's hope it was just a bad shrimp shell and nothing more.
Lori - LOVE the rating system!!!!
Brenda - I'll be thinking of you on Thursday.
) ... I'll be starving by the time we get to WDW. 
Thanks Kat. Basically it's gonna come down to whether or not I want to start new meds before FL ... and I don't. That just means I'm going to be rolling the dice while we're at WDW ... I'm going to try to just go nice and easy with my diet for the next couple of weeks to see if that calms things down a bit. Yogurt ... scrambled eggs ... plain noodles ... cream of wheat ... ease up on the coffee (
Actually that rating system is Lori's not mine. I'm not clever enough to come up with something like that and since Catherine is using the Simpsons, well ... to quote Ned Flanders' mother, "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas."
And thanks for the kind words. My colonoscopy is Thursday morning and I'm working from the house on Wednesday. The worst part is that Jay's schedule is all wonked up at work this week so I had to tap my mom for a ride to Anal Probes 'R' Us ... she means well but she's totally useless when it comes to getting information out of the doctor while I'm coming out of my fog.
. I'm sorry I just couldn't resist
. Lets hope see is in a very helpful mood
. We will all keep you in our thoughts
Actually that rating system is Lori's not mine. I'm not clever enough to come up with something like that and since Catherine is using the Simpsons, well ... to quote Ned Flanders' mother, "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas."
And thanks for the kind words. My colonoscopy is Thursday morning and I'm working from the house on Wednesday. The worst part is that Jay's schedule is all wonked up at work this week so I had to tap my mom for a ride to Anal Probes 'R' Us ... she means well but she's totally useless when it comes to getting information out of the doctor while I'm coming out of my fog.
I'm not original, though. I took someone else's idea and adapted it with something I could personalize. Looks like I'll be updating my first post with the rating system. Thanks everyone!
I did not take any food porn last night. I went to The Melting Pot for the first time and had their fondue. I've been to another fondue place before, just not that one.
I didn't have the cheese fondue, but I had the entree and dessert fondues. I must say they were excellent, as was the glass of De Loach Pinot Noir.
This was a Girl's Night Out dinner with three friends, and we were originally going to eat at the Cooper's Hawk Winery/Restaurant, another place I hadn't been to. What did we do after indulging in fondue?
We went to Cooper's Hawk to do the wine tasting!
For $7, they gave samples of 8 wines, and boy they were fantastic! My favorite was a red wine I hadn't had before, a Barbera. Pronounced Bar-BEAR-ah, like the animator, not Barbara, like the name.
I enjoyed them so much, I joined their wine club. Every month they charge you for a wine that you can either pick up at the place or have it shipped every three months. I chose the pick-up method. You had options to choose from, too. If you like whites, you can choose to have only whites. Or only reds. Or the "variety" option. Since they alternate white and red from month to month, you can pick any wine for your option, up to $20. I chose "reds", and October will be a red month.
And you earn points towards a $25 gift certificate towards dining in the restaurant, for every 350 points you make in purchases or dining in the restaurant. You get discounts on purchases and cases.
And their merchandise was awesome. I saw some great rhinestone tshirts with cute wine slogans on it. "Save Water, Drink Wine" and "Well Red" with a book and glass of red wine outlined in red rhinestones, all designs over black tshirts. I found pics of them on the internet, too.
And they have $65 wine event dinners that sound awesome, too.
You can shop online at their site http://www.coopershawkwinery.com/ and even join the wine club online. I think the prices were fairly reasonable with most wines $19.99 or less, except for their "lux" wines in the $35 range. I tried the Lux Merlot and didn't like it as much as the cheaper wines.
And here's something for Brenda: Looks like they are coming to St. Louis!Guess we'll have to keep checking their home page to see when the St. Louis location will be open. The one I went to is a new location in South Barrington, IL. The Wheeling, IL location is actually closer to me, and that's the one I'll be most likely to go to.
Ok, now I want to discuss my Gluttoberfest review. I was thinking about a rating system similar to Catherine's Simpsons Rating System.
I thought, why not have something related to Sleeping Beauty, since that's my favorite Disney film? So I devised the SKUMPS! Rating System, which I have not yet posted. I'm posting here first to find out from the friendies whether I should actually use these!
Yes, you are my guinea pigs! So let's start for the worst rating to the best rating.
First, we have King Hubert with the Bad rating:
"The food is so bad, I should cut the people responsible for cooking this mess with my rapier-sharp fish!"
Next, we have the Minstrel, in his first of many appearances with the Ok rating:
This means: "The food was perfectly ok to be served to the masses."
Next, we have the Good rating:
As in, "If you don't mind, my good man, I believe I'll have some more."
And now, the Excellent rating:
"This is excellent; too good to let any go to waste!"
And since Catherine pointed out that we need a Homer, a gastromic ecstasy picture, I finish with a Gluttony rating:
This should be self-explanatory.
This picture should state, "My excess of gluttony and sloth is a sight to behold. That's how good the food and wine were."
Actually that rating system is Lori's not mine. I'm not clever enough to come up with something like that and since Catherine is using the Simpsons, well ... to quote Ned Flanders' mother, "I've tried nothing and I'm all out of ideas."
And thanks for the kind words. My colonoscopy is Thursday morning and I'm working from the house on Wednesday. The worst part is that Jay's schedule is all wonked up at work this week so I had to tap my mom for a ride to Anal Probes 'R' Us ... she means well but she's totally useless when it comes to getting information out of the doctor while I'm coming out of my fog.
I will probably have to break down and wear a coat to the airport...the low is predicted to be 29. The truth is, I'm just not a snow bunny.
). Just think ... next week you'll be in Florida!I'm on it.
He should be a beer flavor....
had a great time at the wine dinner last night - terrific food and wine (all served in grossly inappropriate glassware, I might add
and in keeping with the way things have been lately I felt great when we got home last night and then spent all morning sick as a dog.Feeling better now and am going to see if I can keep any food in my system but I'm starting to get nervous about next month ... I don't need or want this kind of aggravation during the highly overscheduled best trip ever. Jay and I are both hoping that I may have eaten a bit of shrimp shell by mistake ... they were coated with panko breadcrumbs and it was hard to tell where the meat stopped and the shell started because of the breading.
I guess Spanish themed food doesn't agree with me ... first Wapango and now this. Jay just commented that we're going to be in Barcelona next September looking for a McDonald's so that I can eat without incident.
Sorry to hear you didn't feel well afterwards 
Thanks Kat. Basically it's gonna come down to whether or not I want to start new meds before FL ... and I don't. That just means I'm going to be rolling the dice while we're at WDW ... I'm going to try to just go nice and easy with my diet for the next couple of weeks to see if that calms things down a bit. Yogurt ... scrambled eggs ... plain noodles ... cream of wheat ... ease up on the coffee (
Gawrsh.
Good luck with the colonscopy, Brenda.
Congrats on the extra day, Deb!
Gin, be safe ... the first snowfall is always the worst around here (along with the first rainfall, the first windy day, the first sunny day ... of each week.
I just realized how much this thread is going to slooooooooow down in the next couple of weeks since so many of us will be in WDW. Do you think we'll be able to pick it back up and keep it going? I hope so ... I'd miss talking with you guys.
