<p>OK, barkeep -- pour me a tall one! Just hit the "send" button on S's first college application. Honestly, by the time I double & triple checked everything, made sure the correct version of his essay & resume were uploaded, figured out how to get my computer to print a preview copy (had to do with pop-ups), etc., etc. -- I am ready!!!!!!!!!! Since this is one of his "safety" schools, I wasn't quite as freaked out as I will be when we send his EA application to his top choice. At least I now have a better handle on how this whole thing works.</p>
<p>CBBB: Cheers!!!!!</p>
<p>CBBB, I am having a flashback. L'chaim!</p>
<p>Congrats, CBBB! The fun begins.</p>
<p>so binx, what happened with dinner/wine/beer/ trick or treaters/ German visitors last night?</p>
<p>H called me in the afternoon and said he was bringing his German boss, but no one else. I didn't have time to run around to a bunch of stores, so I just went to Publix. I called my S (in DC) and told him the recommendations of my invisible friends, which he approved of. Also suggested that I buy a German beer, to offer a choice - although we were pretty sure he would choose the American beer out of politeness - It's a German thing to drink the local brew. So I bought a six-pack of Sweetwater 420 and a 6-pack of Warsteiner. I learned that Americans don't drink a lot of dunkel (dark) beer, because I had trouble finding any.</p>
<p>As for wines, my S agreed that a California wine was best for the situation, and felt that I should easily be able to get a drinkable one for $20 or less. He recommended I get one of the Coppola wines. I found a claret for $18.99, which he thought would be good.</p>
<p>Then our guest arrived (late, he got lost) with two bottles of Stone Cellars merlot. So we ended up opening one of those. He said he had no idea if they were good or not, but at least by using his choice, I couldn't be blamed! (I had some, but I couldn't tell you if it were good or not. Tasted like wine to my refined palate....) I had a momentary panic because I didn't know if I owned a corkscrew, but found one in a drawer. No idea where it came from!</p>
<p>Our guest expressed high approval of my having bought the Warsteiner, but true to form, he drank a Sweetwater. He said it was good, but said so faintly... My H and my brother-in-law (who came by trick-or-treating with my niece) both had a Warsteiner and thought it was really good.</p>
<p>Someplace here in the alley I can drop off 2½ bottles of wine and 9 bottles of beer? (How long does an open bottle of wine keep, anyway?)</p>
<p>We didn't have an overwhelming number of trick-or-treaters - a few dozen. Just enough to interrupt dinner regularly with the doorbell. I think our guest enjoyed seeing the children. He asked us if we knew them all, and we told him we didn't know any of them. I think that surprised him - that they were all strangers gamely ringing our doorbell and asking for candy. We had some really cute kids. A couple boys said "Happy Birthday" instead of trick-or-treat, so we made them sing. They did, gamely, and we gave them extra candy. One of our early goblins was a preschool boy dressed as an Indian chief with full headdress. His father had to talk him through the steps -- "What do you say? Hold out your bag. Now what do you say?" It was a nice informal tutorial for our guest! We had a good mix of cute, silly, scarey, etc. In Germany, they have just begun introducing Halloween, but it is all scary and ugly, so getting to see princesses and such was nice.</p>
<p>I wasn't going to do a jack-o-lantern, but at the last minute decided I needed one. Publix and Kroger were out of pumpkins! So I ended up buying a plastic one that plugs in. Fooled a lot of people. Glad I did it, though, because jack-o-lanterns haven't really made it to Germany, so that attracted some attention, too.</p>
<p>binx, after all the planning, how funny would it have been to have had no screwdriver...</p>
<p>Wine keeps for ages but lie it down so the cork stays wet and put it somewhere cool.</p>
<p>If you give it away I'll chip in all the unclaimed snickers bars from last night that are CALLING to me like little chocolatey sirens.</p>
<p>binx, I can tell you of an alley right up 400 (wink wink) that you could leave your stash!</p>
<p>Wine does keep for ages, SB.... but not an open bottle of wine.</p>
<p>I realize how you might have missed that little codicil to binx's question... after all, how often do most of us Alley regulars have to worry about the half-life of an open bottle of wine? :eek:</p>
<p>binx, just a couple of days... really... for an open bottle and some purists would disagree with that. It probably won't actually spoil/go to vinegar for even longer than that. You can poach some fish in it, steam some shellfish, cook some rice in it....</p>
<p>Or set it on the bar here in the Alley. Someone will put it to use.</p>
<p>eagle eyed, jmmom... the type who notices which way the duvet is facing....</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>You can put that leftover wine in a stew or coq au vin recipe. Poires au vin (pears poached in wine) is good too. It won't stay good much beyond a week once it's opened.</p>
<p>Good memory, SB. But it was DH who caught the little duvet cover give-away.</p>
<p>To all others: you had to be here about umpty pages ago to know about this one ;).</p>
<p>agree with mamthmom. </p>
<p>If you have a beef stew you like, make it and pour in what's left of the wine instead of part of the liquid you usually use. Let us know what you think about it!</p>
<p>note: binx, when you cook it, the alcohol goes away.</p>
<p>We had exactly 1 kid come to our door for Halloween! Our new location (we moved 2 years ago) isn't really conducive to the whole Trick or Treat routine, but last year we had about 10 kids. I figured since this year Halloween fell on a Friday, and it was pretty warm, we'd have at least that many, if not more. So, I bought candy in appropriate quantities. Needless to say, we had lots of leftovers. I packed it all off w/ S for after his waterpolo game -- but he brought a lot of it home!!! Seems other moms had the same idea -- offload the candy onto the team.</p>
<p>I did indeed put the candy in a bowl with the porch light on, and it was gone when we came back (the candy, not the bowl or the little table it was on!) No idea if it lasted two hours or two minutes.</p>
<p>Around here if we have any wine left over...we drink it! Even a meal of various leftovers feels sort of fancy if we have wine with it. :)</p>
<p>Well it's 12:20 a.m. here in Georgia, and I just turned the big 50!!! Actually hurt me to even type that number. 40 didn't bother me one bit, but this one sucks! Here's to me raising my virtual dirty Bombay martini for my pity party! </p>
<p>Bring on the Botox!!!</p>
<p>Happy Birthday to Ga Mom!</p>
<p>One of my aunts was from Georgia and she always seemed to be the youngest of the many aunties. Sort of a flirty Southern Belle type. You can do that, can't you?</p>
<p>Come to think of it she WAS the youngest of the aunties. Never mind. :D</p>
<p>Bringing up from other-than-page-1...</p>
<p>Guess we were all too busy watching TV last night to show up in the Alley. </p>
<p>Things can get back to normal now. Plenty of empty Barcaloungers here. The hot tub has been cleaned in your absence, and the bowls are restocked with peanuts.</p>
<p>Come on in to either celebrate or cry in your beer! ;)</p>
<p>Edit: I had them leave up the red, white, & blue decorations. Looks sort of festive still.</p>
<p>I loved the story of the 106 year old voter, and what she'd seen in her life time. I'm struck that my youngest son, so close to the beginning of his lifetime, is seeing this.</p>
<p>Champagne!</p>