We've never done something big for Valentine's Day, which is only a few days after Jon's birthday. But this year I talked to my best friend, Inna (the one that's about to have a baby), and she told me that she and her husband once went to Portsmouth, NH for a weekend and had an amazing time. Jon and I were feeling stressed and overwhelmed from work and life, so it was the perfect little getaway. We got a co-worker to doggie-sit for us and took off to Portsmouth.
Portsmouth is gorgeous! If you are ever looking for a little get away (and live nearby) or if you live far away but want to visit a quaint little town, Portsmouth, NH is your kind of place.
This quaint little town has everything for a romantic getaway, or even a nice weekend with some girl friends: good food, cute shops, amazing wine, and beautiful scenery. Some of our favorite places were The Friendly Toast (there's another location in Boston area now!), Ristorante Massimo, Popovers on the Square, and Cava.
Oh the food...mmm...I can barely stop myself from drooling right now. Anyways, a bunch of the shops had some fun things like hilarious cards, dog treats (we got some v-day presents for Travis and Cailey), and entertaining tourist traps. We had a really good time just walking around the streets, drinking coffee, and stopping in various shops to get souvenirs for ourselves. One of the shops that we sopped in was a cheese and wine shop, and they had a tasting!
I love love love wine tastings! Like food, wine is something that I love and enjoy tasting varieties of. We went in and had an amazing time tasting chocolate flavored wine, a red sparkling wine (we bought a bottle of this as well that I'll blog about when we open it - it's delicious!), and some red Zinfandel. I was still day-dreaming about the tasting when I decided to browse the isles of carefully arranged wine and tasting their cheese and crackers when I stumbled on a rack of Lodi Appelation wines, as well as M. Cossentino wine. These vineyards are among my favorites! I'm dying to visit them next time we are in CA. In the meantime, I settle for buying these somewhat pricey bottles of wine. Naturally, Jon and I bought a bottle of Earthquake, Seven Deadly Zins, and CigarZin from Cosentino.
Jon and I had the CigarZin before vacation so I'll have to blog about it another time. Tonight we opened a bottle of Earthquake red Zinfandel. And let me tell you - it is delicious. We enjoy a bolder taste in our red wines, so if you usually drink Merlot or Pinot Noir, this is probably not your kind of wine. But if you prefer a bottle of red zinfandel, a good Cab, or a nice thick Malbec, then this would be right up your alley.
There is nothing like taking your cutter and slicing the top of the wrapper in a perfect little circle.
Admiring the top of that cork makes my insides squirm.
Then I use my electric wine opener that my little sister gave me for Christmas and voila!
Oh yuck...please ignore that my fingers are all cracked and bleeding...I just washed my hands about 50 times because I was cooking chicken and Jon won't let me touch a single surface unless I've washed my hands twice.
Anyways, here is my delicious bottle of wine.
It is magically delicious. Now I am off to drink my wine...and make another post about dinner (the one that made my fingers crack).
Oddly enough, I've never made it to Portsmouth. My family has a house in Andover, NH that we go to every summer, but, dunno, just never strayed. Will have to try the wine!
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