Butterducks Winery

 

So, let's say you go on vacation with the intent of spending every day at the beach.  Because, you know it's April and coastal Georgia and, obviously, it's going to be warm enough and you'll go home all tan and stuff and everyone you know will be totally jealous.  And then you go on said vacation and it's cold and rains half the time.  And you can't go to the beach.  What do you do?

You convince your brother to babysit then take off with your mom and sister-in-law to a local winery for a tasting.

We hit up Butterducks Winery in Guyton, GA.  They offer a complimentary tasting of three wines or you can purchase a six wine tasting for $3 or ten wines for $6.  You get to keep your glass with either of the deluxe tastings.  We decided we'd try six wines.  The (very nice) lady handed us each a sheet with the wines and a description of each.

Picking just six was hard!

I can't remember which wines I tried but I do know the Sangiovese was my favorite.  I also tried a red that I really liked and I'm normally not the biggest fan of red wines.  The only sample I tried that I wasn't crazy about was the super sweet strawberry.  It was just . . . super sweet (I mean, DUH.)  I would've loved it ten years ago but my taste buds have changed and this old gal prefers stuff that's just a little less heavy on the sugar. 

We ended up each purchasing a glass of wine and taking it to sit on the covered patio.  Each glass was $5 so we paid a total of $8: six samplings and one glass of wine.  Pretty good deal! 

The winery also has a gift shop full of all kinds of cute wine-themed items.  If I had found a coastal Georgia sugardaddy while I was out there, I totally would've had him buy me all the "wine a little:  you'll feel better" and "Mommy's sippy cup" merchandise. 

I would most definitely recommend the Butterducks winery if you're ever in the Savannah area and looking for a little something to do.  I mean, it's not beer on the beach but it'll do . . .

Put the World Away for a Minute

The thing with vacation is that you go and you have a great time.  You splash around on the beach and you spend time with family and you get away from the stress of everyday life for a minute. 

But then you have to go home.

Home is where there is laundry and those everyday life stressors.

I'm not going to lie, I've had a rough week.  Rough to the tune of guess who went and bought five bags of clearance Easter candy the other night?  THIS GIRL!  Nothing even major happened to make it "rough."  It's just been the transition back to reality with a couple sucker punches along the way.  Not fun.

How about a few more beach pictures so I can revel in the happy of the weekend just a tiny bit longer?

K2 and my nephew last Thursday, the day it was way too cold to actually be out there.  The big boys packed it in and were ready to get the hey hey out of there, but not these two.  They would've stayed for hours, even in the cold and wind.  Total beach bums.  Totally come by it honestly.

 

Me and my mom

By the way -- earlier on this particular day, she said something to the kids about how she was an inch or two taller than me.  HA!

 

With my brother

ALERT THE PRESSES: I'm pretty sure we made it through this entire trip without a single argument.  I KNOW.

 

See that HUGE shoe in the foreground?

Belongs to J.

WHO IS SEVEN.

And it FITS him.

 

 

 



I want to go back!

Worth It.

Back in October, I wrote a post about why you should go to the beach then.

Six months later and I was back at the beach.  But I won't be writing a post about why you should go in April.  Because you shouldn't.  Unless you want to freeze your chi-chi's off.

We headed to Tybee Island last Thursday, full of enthusiasm and optimism.  The forecast didn't look great but, come ON, it was the BEACH!  We'd be fun, right?

Wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

We stayed long enough for me to drink - and by drink I mean guzzle - ONE beer.  Just ONE!  And that was too long.

It.was.cold.

It rained the next two days.

Cleared up and was bright and sunny for Easter Sunday.  The temperatures were still only in the 60's but we had to go back anyway.  This will probably be the only beach trip my kids and I get this year so we wanted some sun and sand.

It was still chilly but that didn't phase the kids AT ALL.  They ran straight for the water, splashed around, and had a good time.  Never mind that Mom over here was yelling, "don't get more than your feet in!"

 



They had fun, though, and that's all that really matters.  I won't mention the fact that both J and K2 have been coughing and "snotting" since Monday morning . . .

Worth it.

Overheard

So I wrote a seriously boring entry about what's been going on in our lives lately (synopsis: J had an MRI done last week; K2 turned four a week and a half ago; K1 graduates from kindergarten one month from today; we're leaving this afternoon: east coast bound) but it was so boring that I practically put myself to sleep while writing it.

Instead, I thought I'd share a few interesting things you would've overheard if you had been at my house any time lately.

K1: "My birthday is May 9th.  And yours is May 19th."
Me: "Yup."
K1: "And I'll be six and you'll be . . . THIRTY FOUR."
Me: "Jesus, I can't believe I'm going to be that old."
K1: "That's not super old.  I mean, it's old but it's not like Gigi old."
J: "It IS old!  She lived in the 90's!"

** I want to preface this one by saying I don't really stress race to my kids but I hope they'll identify more with being biracial than either "just" black or "just" white.**
K1: "Why don't we celebrate April Fool's Day?  Is it because we're not black?"
Me: *Dying*
** And I'll footnote it by saying we don't "celebrate" April Fool's Day because I have seven and five year old boys and I'd rather staple my tongue or step on a rusty nail than hear "Hey, someone's standing behind you!  APRIL FOOL!" 28343829 times per day.

K2: "NO!"
Me: "Don't tell me 'no!' Remember I'm going to pop you every time you say no!"
K2: "Nuh-uh!  NEVER!"

Me: "Just so you guys know, it's not supposed to be THAT warm on Thursday.  We'll still go to the beach but we probably won't be able to get in the water."
J: "I'm getting in the water unless I see penguins."

K1: "Who is the McDonald's guy?  Oh wait.  It's Barack O'Donald, right?"

Me: "You're a silly goose!"
K2: "I AM NOT!  I AM KAWIS!" *Tears* "I AM KAWIS, MOMMY.  I AM.  I AM NOT GOOSE!"

Neighbor Kid: "J cursed at me!"
Me: "What did he say?"
Neighbor Kid: "The F-word!"
Me: "What the? How do you even KNOW the F-word?"
J: "I learned it from her!" *Points at my friend*
Neighbor Kid: "Nuh-uh!  He learned it from ME!"
** Needless to say, we're no longer hanging around that cretin.

Me: "OHMYGOSH, J!  You left your jacket laying in the yard?  Good grief.  We may be white trash hillbillies but our yard doesn't have to LOOK like it!"

RP Tracks

Another midtown Memphis bar food review!

A friend and I headed over to RP Tracks a few weeks ago to have a couple drinks, eat some good food, and watch the Florida/ Dayton game (interestingly, the game was going on in Memphis which is a big reason why we decided to stay far away from downtown and FedEx Forum.  Figured the crowds would be CRAY CRAY.)  It was my first visit to Tracks but my friend had been several times.

So this place is "famous" for their bar-b-q tofu.  And I thought about it.  I really, really thought about it.

I thought hard about it.

But I just couldn't.

I mean, I go to a bar for, you know, BAR FOOD.  I do not go to eat tofu. 

I decided to try the buffalo chicken quesadilla.  I mean, I love buffalo sauce and chicken and quesadillas and where there is buffalo sauce there is ranch dressing.  And where there is ranch dressing there is Brandi going, "WOO HOO!  OVAH HEEEE-UH RANCH DRESSING!"  The quesadilla was, first off, HUGE.  I have a big appetite and was a couple beers in but could only eat half of what was on my plate.  I had no intention on taking the leftovers home -- not because it wasn't absolutely delish -- but because it WAS super yummy and I knew I would be in my kitchen at 3:00 in the morning licking buffalo sauce off my fingers and, HELLO, not what my thighs need!  I told the waiter I would pass on taking it to go and he was, like, offended.  For the first time ever, I had a waiter INSIST I take my leftovers home with me.  "Oh no, you have to take it.  I'm bringing you a to go box anyway."  Um, okay?

My friend went for the steakhouse burger (#because GOUDA) and fries.  I had a bite of the burger and a few fries -- both delicious.  And, for the record, this friend also claimed to have tried the BBQ tofu and proclaimed it to be, "well, there's nothing BAD at this place at all."  I'm guessing that's a ringing endorsement?

We also split an order of the meat and cheese dip for an appetizer.  It was pretty good though nothing just absolutely amazing.  Pretty much your standard bar queso.  It WAS super good when we dipped the fries in it though (#becauseFAT.)

As far as drinks go, I went with a Blue Moon (duh!)  They didn't have it on tap but they did bring a glass garnished with an orange slice along with my bottle.  My friend initially ordered an IPA that was on the drink menu.  The waiter urged him to sample it first ("it's not your standard IPA.") He ended up going with something else and, after trying the sample myself, I don't blame him.  I'm not your biggest IPA fan anyway but that stuff was just . . . no.

The place is a total dive.  You don't go into any bar called "Tracks" and expect fine dining though, right?  Plus, I'm a total fan of dives.  If I had any complaint at all it would be our waiter.  I can't believe I'm saying this but he was over attentive.  To the point that he was plain annoying.  Granted, we were there at around 5:00 on a Saturday and the place was pretty much d-e-a-d.  We were his only table and, therefore, his only source of entertainment I suppose.  And I can concede that I'd rather have a waiter constantly in my face than one who never refills drinks or brings out cold food.

All in all, I plan on making it back to Tracks in the future.  Will I try the BBQ Tofu?  Ummmm . . . But I can't wait to check them out for brunch one of these days.  (What the heck is a Man-mosa???)