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See this house? It's going to be mine soon. Or at least that's what I'm hoping. No, I'm not buying it. I'm going to win it. HGTV is giving away this "Dream Home" in Truckee, CA which is in North Lake Tahoe. It's two and a half hours from where we live in Mill Valley, and the town where many of our ski friends have their second homes. I. WANT. THIS. HOUSE. I've been registering for the contest every day. Haven't missed a day, because what if that is day from which they pick the winner. That would suck. I fantasize about throwing summer parties, spending Christmas in Tahoe with my family, and letting our dogs run like maniacs in the woods. Our tiny little bland condo in Mill Valley is the polar opposite of this home. It has no personality, warmth and style. We don't belong there, but we're stuck there. See how beautiful it is? I can smell the pine trees....... I know I am potentially setting myself up for disappointment....

I got the chance to taste this wine yesterday in a blind taste test. The nose was earthy, and barn-like, with hints of hay. Not exactly my favorite scent. The flavor was similar, with just a hint of blackberry fruit. The wine smelled like a pinot noir, but looked like a cab. It was a cab. In fact, it was the 2005 Silver Oak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, a bottle which retails for $125. The wine was a bit too cold when Wilfred opened it for us to taste. As it warmed up the flavor of the grape came through a bit more. Of course at this point he had also revealed what the wine was. I thought it tasted better at room temperature, versus when he first opened it. Or did I think it was better because it was Silver Oak? I don't know. This is one of the important reasons wine judges taste wine blind, you don't want to be influenced by a brands reputation and what you think it should taste like. Wilfred rated the wine 88 points, which is not as high as you would hope, or e...

Living in San Francisco you're introduced to all kinds of cool things - including interesting, and tasty, cocktails! Who can pass up one called the Cable Car! It's the signature drink from celeb bartender Tony Abou-Ganim. The Cable Car is Tony's signature cocktail which he created in 1996 as a signature cocktail for the Starlight Room , a stunning nightclub and cocktail lounge atop the historic Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco. Its name comes from the geographic location of its house of origin … One of the city’s landmark properties, the Sir Francis Drake is located along the world famous Nob Hill cable car tracks, and its Starlight Room is affectionately referred to as the lounge that can be found “between the stars and the cable cars.” Cable Car Cocktail Ingredients: 1 ½ ounce Captain Morgan Spiced Rum ¾ ounce Orange Curacao 1 ½ ounce fresh lemon sour * Directions: In an ice filled mixing glass add Captain Morgan, orange curacao and f...

One of the perks to the Jump Start MD program is you get a body scan on your first visit to tell you just how chubby you've gotten. Everyone wants to know how much their torso weighs, right? And yes, this is a perk. 'Cuz you don't get this at Weight Watchers. I got my second body scan at my 6-week weigh-in on Tuesday. The InBody machine can magically weigh your body limb by limb. I now know how much each arm, leg and my torso weighs. Mine weighs 44 pounds in case you were curious. It was 46 when I started. I also know my lean body mass, body fat mass (ick) and more. The good news is I've lost weight. The bad news is I need to lose more body fat, and add more muscle.  I'm sure you know what that means. I have to exercise. Ugh. I was really loving the first 6 weeks of the program where they told us we shouldn't exercise while our bodies adjusted to the decrease in calories. I guess the party's over. I'm going to have to move my limbs. I...

I've learned a lot of things on my new diet. In addition to drinking water I have to start my day with breakfast. You're probably thinking "Uh, doesn't everyone eat breakfast?" Well, I am not one of those people. My poor mom used to try desperately to feed me breakfast in high school. I would grab the toast and toss it in the bushes every day. I'm sure the birds loved the cold, soggy, buttery toast. I'm just not hungry first thing in the morning. Or at least I didn't used to be hungry. I now have to eat a protein packed breakfast every morning within 30 minutes of waking up. My choices are:  2 eggs or greek yogurt. I like Greek yogurt about as much as I like goat cheese. (Which tastes like dirty old goat. Blech.) I cannot stand how tart and sour Greek Yogurt is. I'm shocked it's so popular. So, that leaves me with eggs. I like eggs. So I'm ok with it. Here's my favorite way to make creamy scrambled eggs. I can't remember...

One of the hardest parts of my new diet is the amount of water I have to drink each day. We are supposed to drink 100oz of liquid - most of it water. Prior to this diet, I didn't drink 100 oz of liquid in a week. Ok, that's a slight exaggeration. But very slight. I would have coffee in the morning and a glass of water with lunch, and a glass, or two, of wine when I got home. How was I functioning? The first few days of drinking gobs of water was a major struggle. I felt like I was drowning! Plus the water bottle I was using was made of aluminum and I couldn't see how much I was drinking. I need to see progress. I guess I'm really goal-oriented. And just slightly competitive. Give me a challenge and I am all over it. I got a nice little surprise from Don at Christmas. He gave me this nifty new water bottle which holds 32oz. and ice (big plus) and I just have to fill it 3x each day. My daily goal is to refill it at 10am, 2pm, and 6pm. Otherwise, I won't mak...

I blamed my weight gain on being busy, too much alcohol, and menopause. What I learned after joining JumpStart MD was that I was eating way too many carbs. Every meal included foods which were making me fat! Things like rice, carrots, bread, tortilla chips, popcorn, acorn squash, peas, corn, and potatoes. Ok, I know tortilla chips are not good for you, but I had no idea popcorn and carrots were on the naughty list. This is me last November. Argh! I managed to gain 20 POUNDS in two years. I had every size black pant in my closet to deal with my expanding torso! I finally couldn't take it anymore. I was busting out of my largest pants and I refused to buy the next size. It would be really embarrassing going to work in my pajama pants. Especially since I had maxed out the elastic on them too. How is that even possible? I joined Jump Start MD right before Christmas out of pure desperation. I heard my favorite radio DJs on KFOG   talk about the program every day, raving about ...

I bet you've been wondering where the heck I've been this past year. Well, I've been a busy little bee writing about cocktails, and wine and hanging out with Mr. Clooney. Yes, George! And Jeff Arnett who is the master distiller for Jack Daniel's, and Tito, of Tito's vodka. It was a crazy (fun) year. I guess I had so much fun I forgot about the old blog here. 'Cuz I didn't write one single word. Not one. Not even. "Hello, still here. Just busy drinking wine." So rude of me! It's like the neighbor you were friends with who suddenly went away. But was still there. So let's have some bubbly to celebrate my return! Here's a sweet little treat I discovered from my friends at Coppola Winery. It's sparkling wine in a can. With a straw. It's delicious and so fun for parties, hanging out at the beach, or just enjoying at home when you want some bubbly but don't want to open a bottle. It didn't bring me any luck yesterday w...