Beer, baseball & vino...

I had a great trip home a couple of weekends ago, but it was nice to be back in KC.  Last weekend we took in the Cards/Royals game on Saturday.  I was really hoping to go Friday night as there were many KC celebs in town for a charity poker tournament...and they were all at the game on Friday for a celebrity wiffle ball game.  These celebs included some of my faves...Eric Stonestreet and Paul Rudd, just to name a few!  Sadly I did not get to attend the wiffle ball game and drool over Paul Rudd.  However, we did go Saturday and tailgate before the game, which I've grown to appreciate.  I LOVE sitting around the parking lot with a couple of brews while grilling hotdogs and people-watching, one of my favorite past times!!!  It was a great afternoon for tailgating...cloudy & breezy...not hot at all!  Here's a couple of pics from the game.

A sea of red at the Big K...

Jeff and Jen...

...and us, of course, faithfully wearing our Cards attire!

 

We've been tearing up the grill lately grilling some items that we haven't before.  Sunday we grilled scallops for the first time with some tangy sauce.  Last night we grilled a pork tenderloin that had marinated in a rub all day.  They were both fabulous!  I love when new recipes turn our right. 

Here's a pic of the scallops. The brew in the background is the coveted, newly released, Boulevard Love Child #2.  It's a sour beer that they've been working on for awhile.  We first had it at a recent beer fest and loved it!  I'm not a fan of every sour yet, but I sure loved this one.  It's so sought after in KC that you can only buy one at a time...and it's quite pricey too!

Monday night vino was our vice of choice as we headed to Cellar Rat for a wine tasting that we had bought from Groupon.  I had originally purchased it before we moved here...and after rescheduling several times, we finally were able to make it to the tasting.  They have several that you can choose from but they fill up quite fast as they only allow around 14 people at each tasting.  The class we attended was called "$10 vs. $100 Syrah/Shiraz".  They had a distributor conducting the class.  It was set up as a blind tasting of 6 different wines.  Even the distributor was blind tasting!  The pours were nice, and we tasted each of the 6 wines by themselves and then with cheese, which makes them taste quite different.  We each voted on our favorite wines, and then also on which wine was $10 and which was $100. 

The wine voted most favorite, which was also our favorite, was Chocolate Box Cherry Chocolate, which tastes nothing like it sounds.  Most of us voted that it was the $100 wine, but it was actually only $19 (the second least expensive).  So we feel that we won, since we could afford to buy our favorite wine of the night!!  LOL!  Love the vintage label!

My second favorite wine was Molly Dooker Carnival of Love.  This I voted to be between $30-40.  It actually turned out to be the $100 wine!!

It was quite a fun night.  We hope to attend another of their classes soon!  It was informative, low key and fun!  I'll leave you with three fun facts that I learned while at the tasting:

• Cristal is the only brand of champagne that doesn't have a punt in the bottom of the bottle.
• Only serve hard cheese with red wines.  Soft cheese will make the wine taste tinny.
• The longer the cork, the more the winemaker feels it will age.

Horses, Family & Kidneys...Oh my!

This weekend I left Chad behind and headed home to The Lou.  I had vacation to burn (but Chad did not), and what better way to do it then to spend it with family and friends!  Unfortunately I did not take barely any pics.  I must get better about this!!

Friday I met up with the Jefferson's clan (Judy, Vicki & Angie), and we even added a few more...Kristine & Tasha.  Angie & Vicki even brought their families!  It was so great to see everyone!!!  I had been missing them so much!  We've begun to make friends in our new home, but nothing is as good as the old ones.  We had a way of gathering for impromptu Jefferson's dinners.  I knew that I would miss these gatherings, but I didn't realize how much until these last couple of months!  Unfortunately Ashley was out of town for her father's birthday, so I'm still missing her.  I'm hoping to see her soon!  (Hint, hint)
After Jefferson's a few of us went to Fairmont for a little horse racing and people watching.  I did well at the track.  It would have been even better if I'd bet more than $2 on a race.  Ha!  Here's the one and only pic from that night...

Saturday, Mom and I hit the stores in hopes that we would find a dress for her for the wedding.  I originally thought that dress shopping would be easier for a beach wedding, but it appears it's much more difficult for a Mother of the Bride. Even though we didn't actually come away with a clear winner, I think we made progress!  


Saturday evening we headed to Alphonso's Pizzeria to celebrate Father's Day, Mother's Day and my birthday.  I'm probably forgetting something else we haven't celebrated.  LOL!  Here's pic from that night...minus John who's behind the camera.

Sunday started out with breakfast at the Happy Cow, a little dive in Caseyville.  Every Sunday, my grandparents get together there with my grandfather's siblings.  It's a "whoever can make it" kind of gathering.  It was quite the crowd for Father's Day!  The remainder of the day I made my rounds to various Fillback households.  I just about saw everyone I wanted to see except for my cousin, Mike, and his family.  That was disappointing, but I was quite happy to see my other cousin's, Kristina and Scott, and one of my uncles, Dale.  I hadn't seen Kristina since sometime last year.  Since we last saw each other, we've both gotten engaged and one of us is pregnant.  (I'll give you a hint...it's not me.  LOL!)  Sunday ended with dinner at Dad's...a great Sunday!


Today I made a pit stop at Barnes Hospital before heading home to KC.  One of my oldest and dearest friends, Missy, received a kidney transplant on Sunday. She has only been on the kidney transplant list for 2.5 months and just recently started dialysis.  It's a miracle that this happened so quickly for her!!!!  What an amazing gift, and I'm so happy that I could be in town for it!  This opens new doors for her and her beautiful family!  Love ya, Miss!!!


It was so wonderful to spend a relaxing, but busy weekend with family and friends.  I had been craving time with all of them lately!  I'm blessed to have them in my life!