Food, Wine, and Amazing people

I worked all day yesterday at the MN Food and Wine Experience. It was so much fun! I only knew one of the people that I was working with, and met seven people from other stores. It was great to hang out with new TJs people. :) Well, we had our beer for breakfast :) It started at 11 am, we were there at ten. We set everything up and then D suggested that we go get out free wine glasses, and then go over to the Stella booth where they were giving away free Stella glasses. As I said, beer for breakfast. We served beer cheese fondue with sourdough baguettes, and chocolate covered nutty bits, and Liebfraumilch, Orvieto, Novella Synergy, and my favorite Nerelo de Bastardo. It was really fun to do really unique wines. Most of the vino there was cab sauv,blanc, merlot, etc. Ours were a sweet German reisling that means Lovely ladies milk, the Orvieto is one of the oldest white wines that there is-it's known as the Pope's wine because it has been supplying the Vatican for hundreds of years, then a Zinfindel based blend with a ton of other grapes in it, and of course the Bastard of the Nerello. This wine is super delicious with big round berry flavors, extremely bold, but oh so smooth. It is made from Nebiolo grapes, which don't have a lot of tanins, not like a cab, plus they age it for three years minimum, so it is delectible. This particular vintage is a 2006, and sadly not as delicious as the 2005 or 04 vintages, but it is still really really good. Anyway. I love nebiolo based wines, but they tend to be really super expensive. I just can't afford to buy a $65 bottle of Borolo. As much as I would like to. So I buy the Bastard. He is under ten :).
Our booth/stand was next to a pizza stand :) and they were super nice. At the end of the night we traded a few bottles for some Pizzas. We also traded for some Shlitz, and we just ended up with a lot of random random things.
Seriously. I have a beer bottle opener that is a man on a kyac. And it is not like a normal bottle opener. It is just a man on a kyac and water, and it is big and rubbery. It is hilarious!
And I also discovered what may now be my favorite brand of beer. Bells beer. MMMMMmmmm. And their labels are really artsy looking and fun. Their pale ale doesn't compare to summit or sierra nevada, but their stouts were delicious, and they had a few ales that were very unique. Fun people working there too.
All in all, it was a great day. I was exhausted. I didn't get any homework done this weekend. I slept through class today. My tummy is twice the size it used to be. And I love it! It was well worth it, and I hope that I get to do it again next year :)