Southern Christmas Show Demo!

Hello, readers!  I have missed writing this week!  My laptop cord broke, so I haven’t been able to blog in a few days!  But I got a new cord today—Yay!—and now I am back!

I hope you have had a wonderful weekend! 

You know, the further we get into the month of November, the more excited I am about the upcoming holidays!  I absolutely love the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas stretch.  In fact, I’ve already been listening to some Christmas music!  ;)  Earlier in the week, i had an opportunity to help with a demo at the Southern Christmas Show.  The dance-fitness company I teach with likes to go out and do demos at differemt events, just to show what a regular Zumba class or DanceOut class is really like.  I always love attending the SCS, so I was excited to help with this demo. 

 

Here I am with 2 other fellow instructors:

Jenny, Kyle, and Me!  We were also joined by about 10-12 other participants.

If you want to get in the holiday “mood,” then this is the perfect place.  I had never been on “Preview Night” before.  One bonus—free parking!  And as a demo participant, I got to attend the show FREE! 

Our demo was lots of fun and we had lots of people interested in taking classes with us.  Afterwards, it was time to explore and shop! 

When I attended the SCS last year (click to view), I got hooked on  Duplin Wine.  Most of their varieties are too sweet for me, but I love their Burgundy.  I made sure to stop by their area and got a little care package for myself. 

I didn’t spend too much—just got a few gifts, and some Darby Creek Soups.  I always want soup during fall and winter, and I like these soup mixes.  They are really easy to make for a weeknight dinner and you can add in extra fresh ingredients to make it “sorta-homemade.”  I chose three varieties: Tortilla Soup, Navy Bean Soup, and Split Pea Soup.  I can’t wait to try them out! 

Actually, tonight I am making a different sorta-homemade soup: Broccoli Cheddar.  I can’t wait!  I’ve been thinking about it all day!

Happy Sunday! 

The Southern Christmas Show!

Yesterday was a special day.  My husband and I celebrated 9 years of wedded bliss!  I can’t believe that 9 years have passed since our wedding day!

And… how sad is this… we didn’t even see each other!  (Well, not much anyway… we had about an hour and a half together.)

My friends and I like to hit the Southern Christmas Show in Charlotte each year, and this was the ONLY day we could all agree to go.  So… Ryan and I are going to celebrate our anniversary this weekend instead!

Have you ever been to the Southern Christmas Show?  If you are like me and LOVE a chance to get into the holiday spirit, you must go.  Angie, Mandy, and I got on the road yesterday as soon as we could and headed to the Queen City!

As soon as you walk in the door, there are beautiful holiday displays, holiday songs playing, and all kinds of wonderful smells. 

The first place we went was to the wine tastings.  Now, don’t judge.  It’s literally right by the entrance.  It’s not that we TRIED to go there first.

We went to the Duplin Winery booth.  I usually totally ignore this wine, because I don’t like sweet wine at all.  For those who don’t know, Duplin is a winery close to Wilmington, NC, and they make Muscadine wines.  There are LOADS of people out there who love it.  So yesterday I asked if they had any wines that weren’t sweet.  I tasted their Burgundy, and I actually really liked it.  It’s not at ALL the kind of wine that I usually like.  It’s dry, yet it tastes like Muscadines… It’s very light and fruity!  I think this would be a great summertime red wine.  I don’t think I would drink this all the time, but I actually bought a bottle to take home.

We saw all kinds of cute gift ideas… but we did more tasting than shopping!  

I tasted all kinds of goodies….

Some delicious bread from Elaine’s Slices of Heaven…

This was actually some of the zucchini bread, which was wonderful, but I ended up getting the cranberry bread.  It was delicious!  It has this amazing icing on it, and it is so moist!  This bread has oranges, cranberries, walnuts… it is perfect for the holidays. 

If you are interested in looking at all the different flavors, take a look at their web site: http://www.slicesofheaven.com/ .  They also do amazing gift baskets, too.  You can order online, but there are also places you can buy it in Charlotte. 

Take a look at this fudge display…

I tasted several yummy kinds, such as Cheerwine fudge, Fudge with jalapenos, and Raspberry Cheesecake fudge. 

I took some of the raspberry cheesecake flavor home with me. 

There were also soup samples…

ciders and coffees…

dips and spreads...

Just an aside... this dip was called "Crack."  Actually, it was "Cajun Candy," but the salesperson said it was also known as Crack because it's so addictive.  His sales technique was to call out, "Wanna try some crack?" to everyone who passed by his booth.  Amazingly... it worked really well.  The booth was flooded with people.  I didn't bring any "Crack" home with me, though!

And there was so much more!  Here's a peek at the goodies I brought home...

If you’d like to go, the show lasts a few more days.  You can visit the web site for more information about the Southern Christmas Show.  Make sure to wear comfortable shoes!  This show is HUGE!!!

When I got home, hubby and I enjoyed some wine and fudge and toasted to the next 9 years!  Next year’s a biggie for us… wonder where we should go for our 10^th anniversary???



How Do You Select Wine?

Today, I was at the grocery store on the wine aisle, looking for a new bottle to try.  I'm not a big drinker, but I do like to try new wines.  However, my criteria for choosing a bottle is not very sophisticated.  I'm not looking at a certain year or location.  Instead, here's what I am thinking...

Which bottle has an interesting label?  (Once, I bought Red Truck wine because I liked the picture of the truck.)
Which one have I never tried? (Today I bought Earthwise Wine just because I'd never heard of it.)
What has an interesting name? (This is the only reason I ever bought Fat Bastard wine.)
What's under $10?

So, as you can see, my criteria is not very discerning.  No wine snobs in this house!

Before I got pregnant, Ryan and I had started going to tastings and trying to learn about different kinds of wine.  I like going to tastings because they can tell you what you are tasting.  Somehow without that expert, I just don't know WHAT I am tasting. 

Lately, I have been stuck on the reds-- mostly Pinot Noirs, with an occasional Cabernet.  I like Pinot because it is the lightest of the red wines.  One I have been buying lately is Redwood Creek.  I REALLY like this one. 

So today, as I was looking for fun labels and names, I stumbled on Earth Wise Cabernet.  It was $5.99 at Harris Teeter.  So the price was great!

I actually really like it!  Not bad for $5.99!  If I knew some wine language, I would try to describe it to you... It says on the label that it has cherries and blackberries.  Maybe I can taste the blackberries.  It's more full-bodied than I usually like, but tonight I thought it was pretty good.  Earth Wise claims to use environmentally sound practices, so this is supposed to be a "green" wine.  Now, I am not sure what their "environmentally friendly practices" are, so I can't tell you if this is for sure.  But I bet it helps it to sell!

So... how do YOU select wine?  What's your favorite?  I am curious to hear some responses on this one.

Today, Sadie was sick, so Ryan stayed home and made pork tenderloin for dinner.  It was sooooo tender-- practically fell apart when I sliced it. 

Here's how he made it:

Season with salt, lime pepper (we find this at Sam's), and Emeril's Original Essence.  Place in the crock pot and splash with white wine (about 1/4 cup).  Cook on low heat 6-8 hours, or until cooked all the way through. 

We served it over potatoes with green french onion green beans. 

My camera battery was dying, so these pics did not turn out that great.  It tasted better than these pictures show.

Tomorrow is my Zumba Demo at Oakland Baptist Church!  Come and join us for some Zumba!  See the details on the side of my page.  Now, I've got to make sure my playlist is ready!  I am looking forward to this fun night!

Oh-- and I ordered my new camera lenses!  I am so excited to see what I can do with them.  They should be here later this week!  YAY!