Tag: friends

Wine Tasting with Karl (PRP Wines)

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Last weekend I got to try 9 different wines and a delicious Loud coffee liqueur from PRP Wine thanks to my colleague, Karl Barton. PRP Wine produces high quality, exclusive wines from 65 wineries in 13 countries around the world. Karl delivers a fantastic, professional, educational, and entertaining wine tasting experience.

We started off with a nice white wine that they call the “Porch Pounder” because it’s a great summer wine and easy drinking. It was absolutely delicious. Next was a Hungarian wine nicknamed “Naked in the Pool.” Clearly also another great one for summer! The other two white wines we tried were a German Riesling and an unoaked Chardonnay.

Then we had the reds. Before this tasting, I did not consider myself a red wine drinker, so it was perfect when Karl brought out the Chevalier de Bayard (or Red Chevy) which he described as the red wine for white wine drinkers. It was actually really nice and not quite as intense and tannic as some of the reds I’d tried in the past. We also tried a Pinot Noir from Chile, a red Zinfandel from Lodi, and Tres Magi which is a Spanish red blend made from Merlot and Grenache.

So here’s the crazy part. After the Red Chevy, the other red wines were much more bold and tannic and full-bodied. And I liked them ALL. Clearly I just wasn’t drinking the right kinds of red wine before, but I am definitely a red drinker now. I even poured myself a glass of red and enjoyed it with dinner last night.

One of the other amazing things about these wines is that there are no added sulfites. When you get a headache from drinking too much wine, it’s often caused by sulfites. There will always be some present in wine because they occur naturally during the fermentation process, but bigger wine producers add them in to maintain consistent flavor year to year. All of PRP’s wines are single vintage and the producers do not add sulfites in as a part of their wine-making process. Clearly, I had a decent amount of wine at this tasting and I got no headache whatsoever. Not that night, and not the next morning.

We finished with an Italian dessert wine and the Loud coffee liqueur, both of which were absolutely delicious and truly the icing on the cake to a wonderful evening.

Huge thanks to Karl and PRP Wines for helping create such a wonderful evening of good food and drinks with family and friends. If you’d like to have a wine tasting at your home with Karl, leave a comment below and I will put you in touch!

-Lauren

Brunch at Vintage Brew Co.

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Brunch. One of the best parts of the weekend. We recently visited Vintage Brewing Company at their Capitol East location (previously Tangent) to try out their new brunch menu. Needless to say, we were quite impressed.

We started off with a round of brunch cocktails. We enjoyed a variety of unique signature cocktails such as the Woo Girl 2.0 and Friends of Dorothy. We also tried their award winning Bloody Mary which did not disappoint.

The Woo Girl 2.0 is Hendricks Gin, St. Germaine, Cava, lime juice, and Bitter Truth cucumber bitters. Friends of Dorothy is Plantation Pineapple rum, house-made grenadine, lime juice, ginger beer, mint, and Bittercube Jamaica #2 bitters. These cocktails differed quite a bit from the classic brunch cocktails we’re used to, but we loved the creativity here! We also shared an order of cheese curds.

For our main meal, we couldn’t decide between savory and sweet so we chose both! Our sweet selection was the French toast which came with fresh strawberries and blueberries and was topped with local maple syrup and powdered sugar. To die for! On the savory side of things, we went with the Breakfast Flatbread which was topped with roasted bell peppers, onions, carrots, scrambled eggs, goat cheese, cheddar jack, garlic aioli, and scallions.

After our meal, the general manager gave a quick tour of the new, updated space since the name change. They added a lounge with the classic Vintage fish tank and repainted the space in a lighter color to help it feel more bright and open.

We love the new atmosphere and of course, the new menu! We definitely recommend checking out the new Capitol East location for brunch as soon as you can!

Lauren’s Ideal Self-Care Day

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Yesterday was Lauren’s birthday and she decided to vlog and document her day as she did all her favorite activities that she would include in her ideal self-care day. Read and watch below to experience a day in the life of Lauren.

My day started as any good day should – without an alarm! I slept in until my body decided it was time to wake up, which today was about 9:00 am.

I love breakfast — it’s my favorite meal of the day. Today I started my day with some of my grandma’s homemade banana bread and some citrus green tea. So delicious.

After breakfast, I put on my favorite socks to get cozy, and then took my tea over to the couch to read a chapter or two in my book.

After an hour or so, I decided to brave today’s gloomy, rainy weather to work out. I do a lot of different activities for my workouts, but today it was CycleBar.

After rocking my ride at CycleBar, I made lunch. Apparently today was National Homemade Cookie Day, so for dessert I had one of my grandma’s delicious chocolate chip cookies!

Once I had refueled and taken a shower, I decided to play piano for a while. Today I tried learning a new song — a classic that I’ve always wanted to learn — The Entertainer.

I played around on the piano for a while until I was ready for a break. I decided I was in the mood for some pressed juice from Saints Madison. I headed over and tried a new juice — Fountain of Youth with butterfly pea flower, agave, and lemon . Tasty and beautiful too!

When I got back, I decided to decorate for fall. Once October hits I can finally start to accept that summer is over and fall is here.

Then it was time to kick back, enjoy my juice, and totally relax. I got out my adult coloring books and turned on Netflix.

I ended the day with pizza and wine, aka the perfect ending to a perfect self-care day. Cheers!

There you have it, Lauren’s perfect day. Watch below to experience it all with her firsthand.

Guide to Delicious & Beautiful Smoothie Bowls

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This week we are talking smoothie bowls! This has been a big trend for a while now, so we decided we wanted to share some of our favorite recipes and combinations too!

A good smoothie bowl starts with a good smoothie! Here’s what you’ll need:

  • A base ingredient to help the smoothie be thick and creamy such as bananas or Greek yogurt.
  • A splash of liquid to help get the blender going. You can use a variety of juices but lately we’ve been using non-dairy milks such as almond milk, soy milk, or oat milk.
  • Fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds — pretty much anything else you want to add for taste, color, and nutritional value!

Once you’ve got your smoothie, the next step is toppings! These give your smoothie bowl a variety of tastes and textures, and help it look pretty too!

We usually start with some of the fruits that we included in the actual smoothie. Then we get a little more creative. For example, if we included almond milk in the smoothie, perhaps we would top the smoothie bowl with actual almonds for some added crunch! Use your creativity, the options are ENDLESS!

Below are a few fun recipes to help you get started!

Purple Peaches Eater

  • Fresh peaches
  • Frozen blueberries
  • Frozen blackberries
  • Frozen raspberries
  • Frozen strawberries
  • Oat milk
  • Honey

Give Almond Love to You

  • Fresh banana
  • Frozen strawberries
  • Greek yogurt (we used Chobani Peach)
  • Almond milk

Good luck and happy blending! Let us know your favorite combinations in the comments below!

Peaches & Honey Summer Spritz

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Peach season in Wisconsin usually ends sometime in September so we’re soaking up every ounce of it while we can. With that in mind, this week we are sharing a delicious peaches & honey cocktail!

This recipe is a variation of one developed by Spring44 Distilling and features their fantastic honey vodka. Here’s what you’ll need!

Ingredients:

  • 1 oz Spring44 Distilling Honey Vodka
  • 1 oz peach liqueur
  • lemon or grapefruit sparkling water (we used Klarbrunn’s Citrus Blend!)
  • sliced peaches
  • mint leaves

Directions:

  1. Muddle the honey vodka and peach liqueur with peaches and mint leaves.
  2. Shake with ice and strain into highball glass.
  3. Top with sparkling water.
  4. Garnish with sliced peaches and a sprig of mint.
  5. Enjoy!

Let us know your thoughts in the comments if you try it out! What is your favorite peach recipe for the summer?

Fresh Summer Cucumber Melon Cocktail & Tomato Basil Bruschetta

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We’re putting a fresh, new twist on the classic cucumber melon combo. And with it, we think we’ve found the perfect summer drink to cool off with.

Ingredients (for 4 servings):

Directions:

  1. Place frozen watermelon cubes and cucumber slices into pitcher.
  2. Add gin and lemonade and stir.
  3. Top with sparkling water.
  4. Serve with mint sprig.
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We can’t think of a better summer snack to pair with this cocktail than this easy bruschetta with tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella.

Ingredients:

  • Loaf of french bread
  • Olive oil
  • Fresh garlic or garlic powder
  • 1 tomato (per 4 large slices of bread)
  • Fresh mozzarella balls
  • Fresh basil
  • Balsamic vinegar or vinaigrette

Directions:

  1. Slice bread and rub with clove of garlic if using fresh garlic.
  2. Drizzle with olive oil. If using garlic powder, sprinkle on after olive oil has been poured.
  3. Broil for about 5 minutes or until bread is golden brown.
  4. While the bread is in the oven, dice the tomato(es) and slice the mozzarella and basil.
  5. Remove bread from oven and top with tomato, mozzarella, and basil.
  6. Put back in the oven and broil for about 5 more minutes or until cheese has melted to the level desired.
  7. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar or balsamic vinaigrette and enjoy!

If you try out either of these recipes (or both!), let us know in the comments! We’d love to hear what you think!