Last night found me at
Obladee Wine Bar, a casual environment sp
ecializing in carefully selected wines and artisanal cheese and charcuterie.
I have no idea what I just wrote… I stole it off their website!
Suffice it to say we sipped on wonderful wines while eating fantastic food and it was a lovely evening in a quaint little bar packed with interesting folks.
We spent the evening sitting around, enjoying one another’s company… three friends I knew and three I didn’t… chit chatting about life in general even though they have babies far younger than mine and much talk revolved around potty training and play groups. I’m full of advice and could have probably contributed more to the conversation but was more interested in the wine I was drinking, the handsome man sitting at the bar sans wedding band and to be truly honest was thrilled to bits that my kids are past the age that I’m worried about pink eye. Though come to think of it, there hasn’t been an outbreak of pink eye in this house in forever and now I’m really wishing I had one of those cheese boards they brought our food out on so I can knock on it!
The bar’s name is fantastic and considering I haven’t been able to get the damn song out of my head for the last twenty four hours I’m pretty sure I won’t forget it anytime soon. For folks like me who have no idea how a Wine Bar works… here’s how our night went…
We arrived in the quaint little place across from the Misty Moon…. ummmm…. make that the Discovery Center, found ourselves a comfy place to sit in the window, told the waiter his glasses looked wonderful on him (he asked, they were new), decided the window seat was a little chilly for this time of year, headed to a new location where there was an altogether different good looking waiter, hunkered down to look at a small printed menu over a dimly lit candle where no one seemed to know how to order so instead… chit chatted until the handsome waiter came back so we could ask for help… he all too willing to lend a hand!
There were a ton of wines listed and I didn’t know where to start but opted to do something different than drink my same ol’, same ol’ Pinot Grigio. They had these “Wine Flights” and it’s quite possible the whole world knows what that means but me… but the idea is you get three small glasses of wine to sample for $15. Worked for me! My samples included ‘09 Zenato Soave Classico, ‘10 Lealtanza Rioja and ’09 Laxas Albariño Rías (which really doesn’t mean anything to me except I kept note because my friend George will ask). Also, based on the pricing, I’m only assuming those dates were 2009 and 2010 not 1909 and 1910 but one never knows! It was a great way to sample a few wines I’d not heard of but really I chose the sampling because when our server pronounced the “wines in flight” it sounded like he was saying Suave and Luscious… which I am both.
Next… the cheese boards
From an extensive list of cheeses and meats you pick three items… I’m talking amazing local cheeses like Avonlea Clothbound Cheddar (I’ve actually seen this stuff being made), Dutchman’s Dragon’s Breath (not my favorite of the Dutchman’s cheese but what do I know), Le Cindrillon (holy shit goats make good cheese), Ran-Cher Acres Gouda (yum) and wonderful prosciutto, smoked salmon, ham to name just a few of the items on the menu… seriously all things wonderful in one place! It arrived on this amazing cheese board (the boards themselves are the fabulous Larch Wood cheese boards from the Margaree in case you’re wondering what to get me for my birthday) displayed beautifully with fabulous bread from Juliens’s, pepper jelly and chutney, olives and gherkins (which I had a hard time eating but more because of a family nickname than anything else.) We devoured one board… then ordered a second!
Here’s how Obladee works… you eat, you drink, you talk about potties in a lovely atmosphere and you call it a night. A lovely, wonderful, we should do it more often, enjoyable night.
Just for the record… some kids just aren’t ready to potty train and there’s no need to push them because I promise they’ll figure it out eventually… on the other hand, they’re smarter than us and it’s possible they know it’s driving you crazy and it’s the one little bit of control they have over you! Also, summer’s coming and it will make the whole task easier when they aren’t wearing so many clothes and you can leave them outside to wet themselves rather than doing it on the couch, kids will do anything for stickers, boys love to dunk cheerios, “magic water” is blue water that turns green when you pee in it and sometimes the little padded seat you attach to your toilet is better than the wee little potty chairs that squish their tiny little bottoms and make them uncomfortable. Also, don’t keep a ceramic vase of dried flowers in your bathroom if you have a boy because dried flowers are much more fun to pee in than toilets. And… my daughter spent so much time on the potty she learned to read before she could pee and reading has helped her out in life a lot more than peeing has though I openly admit, I’m glad she finally learned to pee.
I don’t have any advice on wine.
excellent writing! Enjoyed today's blog.
Thanks!-Ticker