Well...I forgot to post a recipe on Friday. Guess why? I was doing homework. It started and I had a paper to write. I forgot what it is to take a class and actually want to do well with it. My friends think I am nuts. Everytime I say I have homework, one says "You have fun with that. Thank God I'm not doing it." If I had a couple bucks for everytime someone said I wouldn't be taking the damn class.

So this weekend I went to a 40th birthday party. I had a blast in spite of an ill-mannered guest who drank the host's beer and ate their food then whispered to me that "This isn't a Tommy Bahama kind of crowd." I wanted to slap her but I had beer in my hand. I settled for telling her how rude she was. I wanted to tell her north of the Mason Dixon line they think Tommy Bahama is a beer.

I had two papers due and a quiz to take this week. The great thing about an online class is you can take the quiz in your pajamas drinking a beer. Which is precisely what happened. This mortified Snark until he saw what yours truly made on the quiz. That's right 100%. Thank-you Dogfish Head Brewing Co. I just hope my instructor, whom I have dubbed Dr. Puff N Stuff, isn't reading this.

The kids have started out on a swim team. They swim three days a week. It's not serving the purpose I intended, which was to tire them out. Instead they are juiced up after an hour of swimming laps in the pool. I'm the one that's tired.

One of my favorite artists, Nina Gordon, has released another album after six years. You can listen to her here . I'm hoping she tours.

Ernesto came in like a lion and has petered out in my backyard. Just non-stop raining. A little more than a drizzle which is just fine with me. People actually kept their kids out of school today even though they knew it was supposed to be a rainstorm. Bad mom! I kicked mine out the door. No hurricane means school. They learn too little anyway.

It doesn't feel like Labor Day is around the corner. Yet it is. Nothing is planned at all. Might take the kiddies to Disney. But I have homework and they have swim practice. So we will laboring on that day.

I'm Wineing Away!

I am a festerer. I realize that is not a word, but I choose to make it one to suit my purposes. My current fester is the temperature that people serve red wine and white wine at. We live in Florida, where the average house temp is 80 degrees. Combine the words "room temperature" with clueless red-wine newbies, and we get warm swill. It pains me to go over to someone's house and have to drink wine at coffee temps. We're not talking mulled wine. The insult in this is I read most Americans drink their wine either too warm or too cold. The winos of the world single us out and make us look stupid. I like to think we are literal--how are we supposed to know that "room temp" means "drafty old chateau"?

I have read over the years that you take white wine out 20 minutes before and put the red wine in. Room temperature for red should be between 55-65 degrees. Anything over 70 means the wine is cooked, and you should just reach for the Mogen David at that point.

The other fester I have about wine is disdain regarding the screw-cap and box. We are talking about something the Austrailian's have done for years. And for those of you that don't know Oz makes damn fine wine. One snotty look at a screw-cap or box from a newbie, and I see red or white (depends on the wine). I want to yell "if you are going to talk, back it up."

As for wine glasses. I have issues. They are nice for drinking expensive wine. For everyday, tumblers are the way to go. Who are we trying to impress? I have a friend who pours it into a plastic tumbler. I laugh, but he has the right idea. We're not drinking premium here (we're not drinking Boone's Farm either).

So make me proud! Drink red at the right temp, and don't be afraid to pour it into a juice glass. What would make me really happy is if you went out and tried some of the wines below:

Black Box Chardonnay---fruit,fruit, fruit. ...
Bonnie Doon---any wine all screw-cap. Delicious!
Hardy's Shiraz box---spicy and lasts forever.
Three Thieves jug of zinfadel---Cute little 1-liter jug. Drink for only a couple of days. What do you want for 10 bucks?
Porto/Bonny Doon ---Rose(Row-zay) (I will clock the next person on the head if I have to hear "Is that white zin?" Did I say white zin?)perfect for that tumbler with Marcona almonds.
Yalumba Viognier.
Jezebel White.