Wine & Wonder

The Cake Cafe is quite possibly the best cafe in all of Dublin! The have amazing sandwiches and they serve things on and in mismatched antique dishes. Even Wedgwood! Recently there was a wine tasting series. Last night Kevin and I got to go the Wines of the Mediterranean class! Now, I've got a developing passion for wine since living in Europe. My first influence were the vineyards near Toulouse in the south of France. Then, living in Portugal for 6 weeks and studying wine there really taught me a lot. Unfortunately, I know more about the chemistry than the tastes of wine. I'm starting to be able to pick out scents like floral and spicy. My shining moment last night was when I thought the wine smelled kind of like pie filling and the expert later told us he thought it smelled like preserved berries! There was a lovely mix of people - younger and older - and everyone interacted throughout the evening. The wine was good. I can't say anything really stood out at me as a top notch wine, but having the chance to try wines from an area I'm unfamiliar with was great. We tried 3 from Greece, 2 from Italy and 2 from Spain. The funny things was that at the end, we were asked first to vote for our favorite. Then, we had to guess the prices. As it turns out my favorite wine was also the most expensive wine! What can I say...I have expensive taste! There will be another series of classes after Christmas, so for all of you in Dublin - contact the Cake Cafe for more details!

Tonight is knitting group and alas...I don't have a project suitable to take. I'm thinking it's about time to start either a pair of convertible mittens or a pair of wrist warmers. I started socks the other night, but that's going to take way too much concentration. I've got my Irish Hiking Scarf that I should be working on. Maybe that's the best bet. It needs to be done by Christmas for a certain beautiful friend of mine back home!