alexandriacardinals

Well, people ask me about it.  No, really!  I don’t know why?  Do you think it’s because it is featured a lot here?

We have been to numerous, dare I say hundreds, of wine tastings over the years.  We have also been to numerous wineries and vineyards.  As a result of these experiences, I can say without fear of contradiction that I can recognize at the single glance the difference between a red wine and a white wine.  That does come with experience.

Nevertheless, I am not a wine snob.  Being a wine snob requires work and study.  I am not necessarily fond of either.  I enjoy tasting wine.  But the next day I’d be hard pressed to remember the names of the wines I tasted.  For the most part I usually prefer to try something new.

There is no such thing as the “right” wine or the “best” wine.  As in everything else in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  If you like anti-snob, less expensive bottles of wine, good for you!  It’s all a matter of personal taste.  Coke . . . or Pepsi?  You decide.

I can recommend . . . because I have opinions.  It’s nice if they’re valued, but they don’t have to be.  The super and I have a strong preference for dry red wines.  I like them to be so dry as to be dusty.  Some people don’t.  I like Lady Gaga, some people . . . well, everybody should like Lady Gaga.

In the dry red family, my (and usually the super’s) favorites will be in this order: Malbec, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon.  I certainly understand that others are more likely to appreciate Merlot or Pinot Noir or Burgundy or . . . there are many.

We similarly prefer dry, and usually light, in the white wines.  Something to drink in the summer.  We discovered New Age a couple years ago – a light white, only 9% alcohol, that you drink over ice with a slice of lime.  Refreshing for those hot, humid days.  But our general whites will be Sauvignon Blancs, Semillons, Pinot Grigios, and Chardonnays.  If you like your wines a little sweeter, Rieslings, Gewurtztraminers, and Muscats will rule the day.

[Not a white wine . . . but apparently helpful in singing the National Anthem at girls’ hockey games.]

[Scarlett Johansson treasures her Champagne.]

And the ultimate whites will always rule the day.  Whom amongst us does not love Champagne?  But the master of all, the nectar of the gods, are the Sauternes.  The latter are really hard to find, often sold in half bottles, and are normally beyond the pocketbook of the sane shopper.  Made of Nobel Rot, they are a very sweet wine, designed to be sipped as an aperitif, not be spoiled by, horrors, thinking of something to eat with them.  A drink to be savored, and treasured, solely on its own.  If you’re feeling a little flush, and can find a half bottle in the $30.00 range, go for it!

[The incredible edible Sauterne.]

Of course we have our favorites.  Within the last year, I believe, we discovered what has become my all-time favorite at a wine tasting at our very own SAWA.  We remarked at the time that it just jumped out at us – clearly the best wine of the tasting.  We buy it often now.   It’s about a quarter again more expensive than your average priced dinner wines, but we’re getting too old not to enjoy what we really like.  It’s Don David, a Malbec from Argentina.  It’s a totally well-rounded full-bodied red that I like more than wines I’ve tasted at more than twice its price.  I would recommend it to anyone without hesitation.

Minnesota, hail to thee!  Locally, we have Carlos Creek Winery, which has been honored by some as the best winery in the state.  But, I hear you say, the state is Minnesota?  That’s true, and Carlos Creek would not be able to compete with the big worldwide wineries using the standard wine grapes.  Carlos Creek can, however, compete with Minnesota “invented” grapes.  The University of Minnesota has now produced several varietals that can survive the rigors of a Minnesota winter.  So, for example, Carlos Creek can grow in its own vineyard the Marquette grape . . . and then make a wine from that grape that’s being made at not a lot of other wineries, at least so far.  And from that grape the winery has produced Marquette wine, that I would stack up against any of the other reds I’ve mention herein.

[Marquette]

[More Minnesota grape wines from Carlos Creek.]

Wine is meant to be enjoyed with friends, with food, with music.  It probably should not be used to start your lawn mower, to wash the cat, or to clean your computer keyboard.

Associated Press ranked the Top 10 Rivalry Trophies in College Football and Gophers play for the Top 3!!

1. Paul Bunyan’s Axe (Minnesota-Wisconsin game)
2. Floyd of Rosedale (Iowa-Minnesota)
3. Little Brown Jug (Minnesota-Michigan)

Article by: ALEX BEAM , Boston Globe Updated: April 18, 2014 – 7:16 PM

 “They are shooting at our regiment,” a friend remarked.

The beckoning New Longevity, so ardently hyped by Big Pharma and orthopedic quacks, has no allure for me. I can’t see myself among those burnished, glossified AARP oldsters bicycling around artificial “water features” in cookie-cutter communities in or around South Carolina. I refuse to keep my brain “young” with “fitness software” from outfits like Lumosity.com. I’m planning to be old and cranky, the sooner the better.

I’ll tell you what doesn’t flow from death-awareness: My definition of wasting time has changed. I don’t see staring into space, riding my bike or binge-watching some DVDs as a waste of time. I have friends who play a lot of Solitaire on their laptops and complain about it constantly: “Oh, I’m wasting time.” Really? If Solitaire relaxes you, then relax. It’s your time now. Spend it as you like.

[Somebody posted our fair city on Facebook about a week ago.  I don’t recall who it was?  If you know, please advise so that I may give proper accreditation.  Nice mid-November photo.]

[So, you may be wondering what this has to do with anything?  Good question.]

[Now mostly known as being the current resident in the HQ’s girlhood home . . .]

[But he was there for the Beaujolais Nouveau Wine Dash.  This internationally-recognized event has now washed up on our fair shores.  Here’s what the Echo Press had to say:  A new type of run added a dash of winter fun to Alexandria Thursday night.  Organized by Broadway Bistro, Downtown and Plaza Liquors and Sixth Avenue Wine and Ale, the event took place on Sixth Avenue, between Broadway and Hawthorne Street. It was a fundraising event for the local United Way.  Servers from local restaurants raced with a tray of plastic wine glasses to celebrate the release of the new Beaujolais, a wine produced in France that is released for sale all over the world annually on the third Thursday of November.]

[We even had major media coverage . . . ]

[And the mayor was there . . . ]

[And here’s how we do it.]

[And they’re off!!!]

[There were three heats – and a “halo of cold!”]

[We have a winner!!  SAWA represented by proprietor Diahnn Ness.  🙂  ]

[And then it was off to the RCC where eventually we had another winner!  🙂  ]

[“The Voices” ready for our first game against someone our own size.  Detroit Lakes is a fellow class A team and in our section.]

[Our Cards, 3-1-1 so far against the big teams.]

[Hanah up from her nap just in time for the game.]

[Mari has ceded Anthem singing duties to Roger for as long as he “keeps winning.”]

[Lauren has new line friends.  We heard rumors of some changes – it’s early in the season, time to see who does and doesn’t click together.]

[Nicole, as usual.]

[And here’s the big change, moving Little Rev back to her defense position.]

[And Taylor Coker (30), junior goalie, making her first ever varsity start.  She played very well – two of the goals against her were on power plays.]

[You may have noticed, no JV coverage.  We were too late after the wine dash.  It probably wasn’t all that exciting (except for the players), we won 12 – 1.]

[A now well-rested Hanah chases after the puck.]

[And here’s the fun part, Ms. Revering had numerous opportunities to score as a forward in the first 5 games but hadn’t until an empty-netter in the previous game.  So, back at her natural defense position for this game, she scored two goals . . . in the first period!  😉  ]

[And here’s the new “Baby Bird” line, composed of 8th-graders McKenna Ellingson (24) and Alexis Heckert (20) with freshman Kristin Trosvig (15).]

[And here’s what has made the Cards so effective so far – not a lot of teams can use three lines, particularly not for the whole game.  But the Cards have Sam Klimek (37, above), Michaela Swenson (34), and Kaila Dewanz (7) for that . . . with relief appearances by Mackenzie Abrahamson (17) and McKenna Schroeder (28).  We have a lot of “Macs” on the team.]

[McKenzie “Little Rev” Revering, usually referred to as Kenzie to cut down on the “Mac” overlaps.]

[Cards swarm, Little Rev launches a slapper, Laker goalie goes down – was that Rev’s 2nd goal?]

[And here is the Michaela, Sam, Kaila line.]

[Must be easier to get her photo now – defense on offense not usually lost in a crowd.]

[A Mari flurry – I don’t charge extra for that.]

[The “Baby Bird” line had it in the zone, then Lauren came on for a close call.]

[The Klimek line is back out.]

[And in the 2nd period, Kristin gets her first varsity goal.]

[The defense pair of Karina Carlsen (31), junior, and Allison O’Kane (36), freshman.]

[And Hanah got the game-winning goal short-handed!  😉  ]

[Mari and Hanah in on goal.]

[Mackenzie out with Michaela.]

[Sam and Lauren?  Must be in a line change.]

[Time-out!  Where we going for the post-game eats?]

[We’ll end with Nicole.  Why not?  Anyway, I don’t think it was our best game.  DL pushed us pretty good so we’ll have to remember that for section purposes.  It’s not going to be easy.  Then the next night, Friday, we went to Willmar to take on their Cards.  It was a conference game and Willmar had started 2 – 0 in conference.  I listened to a good part of the game, and it sounded like we played really well.  We scored on three power plays enroute to a 4 – 0 win.  We are now 5-1-1 heading into the holidays.  The team plays its usual Orono and Mound-Westonka “doubleheader” in the Cities over Thanksgiving weekend.  This will be a real test as, as usual, both these teams are ranked in the top 10 in the state.  This will be the first time in 3 years we haven’t gone down for it.  We don’t like to wander far from home at night in the winter anymore – “far from home” is about a 3-block radius now.]

A youth with his first cigar makes himself sick – a youth with his first girl makes other people sick.  ~  Mary Wilson Little

[Lest you forgot, and just for fun, The Biddies know how to travel in style!]

Up next:  Maybe this . . .

Not hockey, yet . . .

[Erik Schultz was flying solo at SAWA on Thursday night . . . but when he spotted a former member of the Hotdishes in the audience, he had to invite Mary Lou Thunselle up to join him in a song.  🙂  ]

Now hockey . . .

[The Competition beat us to the game Friday night.  Of course, at my age and girth I ain’t climbing up one of those things anyway!]

[April Jost (5), sophomore forward, battles a Sartell/Sauk Rapids-Rice Stormin’ Sabre in the JV game.  I’m taking a wild guess that she’s varsity goalie Amy’s sister.]

[Kristin Trosvig (15), freshman forward, in the JV game.  Kristin, and other underclassmen who play on the varsity, can play one period in the JV game.  Kinda gets them warmed up, I guess.  😉  ]

[Jade Bollman (9), sophomore forward, also a legacy whose older sister was a Card.]

[Kristin]

[Onna O’Connor (32), sophomore forward, in on goal with Jade.]

[It’s a scramble!!]

[Marisa Larson (25), senior defense.]

[Ms. Trosvig scored near the end of the game, with Kaia Illies (13), sophomore wing, but the JVers absorbed their first loss, 3 – 1.]

[Warming up before the varsity game, Allison O’Kane (36), freshman defense.]

[Can you name this shooter?]

[Allison lets go a slapper . . . ]

[As does senior defense, Nicole Bartels (23).]

[Now everybody shoot . . . Sam Klimek (37), junior forward; McKenna Ellingson (24), 8th-grade forward; and Alexis Heckert (20), 8th-grade forward.]

[Rapid fire warm-ups.  A chance to show off the ole high, hard shot!]

[So, who are these guys?  Well, this would be our first conference game, and our 4th game of the year against all class AA teams.  The Stormin’ Sabres are the defending conference champs (11 – 1 last year), and they were returning a lot of those players . . . big players!  This would be a real test for our mighty mites.]

[Coach threw us a curve ball here.  I wasn’t going to shoot player intros here because I already had in the 1st two home games.  But this time he started Hanah Hansen’s line, showing we don’t really designate 1st, 2nd, or 3rd lines because they all play.  So I missed Hanah until she had turned to greet her teammates.]

[Kristin, all ready to go after a period with the JV’s.]

[Mari Wosepka (18), junior forward.]

[Nicole]

[Kaitlin Leary (26), sophomore defense.]

[Amy Jost (33), junior goalie.]

[Mari turned the Anthem duties back to Super Fan Roger Riley.  And for this game, at Super Fan urging  (ha!), finally made its season debut over the PA system.]

[Stormin’ Sabres who?]

[Kristin and Mari in on goal.]

[Karina Carlsen (31), junior defense, with Hanah and Kristin.]

[Asleep at the switch, I missed Nicole’s 1st period goal here.  She deked a couple of defenders and fired a nice wrister from about 15 feet out.]

[The Cards swarmed like bees that first period and had the Stormin’ Sabres on their heels.  I think they called a time-out then to slow our momentum.]

[Hanah’s line at the start of the 2nd period.  The Stormin’ Sabres can claim this period in which they tied the score.]

[Memories of their years together as defense partners, Lauren Niska (21), junior, and McKenzie Revering (29), sophomore, are now learning to play forward together.]

[But on the power play, Little Rev will drop back to her familiar position at the point with Nicole.]

[Mari feeds Nicole.]

[Liking this Hanah series, if I do say so myself!  🙂  ]

[Kristin, one on four?]

[Mari on goal . . . ]

[She threatened several times.]

[I thought the Cards controlled the 3rd.  Pretty impressive with two 8th-graders and two freshmen in the rotation against a “veteran” team.  I think our speed, with 3 lines, wore them down a bit.]

[On to OT, Lauren’s in on goal.]

[Kristin here, but McKenzie came oh so close twice to winning the game.]

[With momentum on our side, we had to kill a penalty for the last minute of OT.  The game ends in a tie if neither team scores in overtime.  All-in-all, I thought another good game for the Cards . . . they’re really building expectations as the season progresses.  🙂   ]

Meanwhile, back at the winery . . .

[The super always posts a “Missing you at . . .” missive on Facebook.  This time for the Salty Dogs of Annie, Greg, Erik, and Tom, once again reminding us of our terrific local talent.  🙂   ]

Meanwhile, back at beautiful Lake Darling . . .

[Sunday sunrise, with two eagles back in our tree, temperature one degree below zero.]

Meanwhile, back at the winery (what, again?) . . .

[Sunday afternoon for a lovely wine club pick up and soiree!  🙂  ]

As soon as someone is identified as an unsung hero, he no longer is.  ~  George Carlin

Up next:  Whatever will be, will be.

[Tuesday, the morning of the game, life among our feathered friends around our lakeside cottonwood.]

[As usual, we were among the early arrivals.  We enjoy watching the JV games too.  Here “The Voice” is in his aerie doing a little pre-game stop-and-chat with head coach Blair Hovel.]

[Coaches Niska and Arola address the JV’s.  I believe they’re addressed as “ladies.”]

[It’s a face-off!]

[Onna O’Connor (32) and Kristen Trosvig (15) head into the zone . . .]

[Leading to a tying goal by Trihanna Olson (14), junior center.]

[Another meeting, the gist of which was no doubt score another goal.]

[Kristin and April Jost (5), sophomore forward, enter the zone and Kristin gets a shot on goal.]

[April is joined by Kaia Illies (13), sophomore forward.]

[April gave us a go ahead goal!  🙂  ]

[The River Hawks pulled their goalie at the end and the Cards couldn’t clear our zone.  The tying goal was scored.  Good even game, the Cards were short a defenseman, but Sarah Finley (1), sophomore goalie, did a nice job.  The JV is undefeated through 3 games.]

[On to the varsity, Nicole Bartels (23) coming off a two-goal game, including the winner, against North Metro on Saturday.]

[Just warmin’ up.]

[North Wright County, huh?]

[So, what do the kids in the South do for fun?]

[Let’s skate in circles some more . . .]

[Ms. Bartels, an elegant skater, belly-flopped on the blue line when they first came on the ice.  Not to embarrass her – she laughed – but it happens to everybody.  I’m sure she heard about it from her teammates though.  😉   ]

[Some more circles . . . ]

[Saddle up, ladies!]

[Lauren Niska (21), at this time was not aware she would get two goals and an assist and be named player-of-the-game!  🙂  ]

[Ms. Bartels]

[McKenna Ellingson (24), at this time not aware she would score her first ever varsity goal.]

[Kaitlin Leary (26), I owed her a good picture.]

[McKenzie Revering (29), she “drives the bus.”]

[Amy Jost (33), the protector and gate guard.]

[Well, not all of them, but the most that would fit in this photo.]

[LET’S PLAY HOCKEY!!]

[Once again, trying to create a hole in the middle of the defensive line for Nicole to dart through.]

[Mari Wosepka (18) sang the National Anthem with kudos from the visiting fans.]

[Hanah Hansen (11), while a star in her own right is also known as a grandniece (as I recall) of Oscar-nominated actor, John Hawkes.]

[We started fast with lots of pressure from the beginning.  This was our 3rd-straight game against a BIG class opponent with no practices in between.]

[Already heading to the bench for a goal celebration . . . ]

[Lauren’s first of the game.  I had a perfect line on it – great hard shot right over the goalie’s right shoulder into the far upper corner of the net.]

[McKenna’s first varsity goal – an 8th-grader!  🙂  ]

[Kaitlin and Nicole, the final protectors for Ms, Jost.]

[Now Kristin’s in on goal.  She got an assist in this game.  In the first 3 games, we have 10 players in the scorer’s circle.  That’s a nice balance to have.]

[Ooops, the River Hawks try to break out – Nicole comes with them.]

[Looks like Sam Klimek (37) just missed getting wood on that one.]

[But we’re keeping it in the zone.]

[Keep an eye on it . . .]

[Then Lauren got her 2nd goal on a rebound.]

[And we’re back in again.  We were really flying the first two periods.]

[Dominant, so far.]

[We got sloppy early in the 3rd and didn’t clear the puck.  They got a goal on a deflected shot early in the 3rd period.  And the hardest lead to hold is a two-goal lead?]

[The play was pretty even in the 3rd.  I don’t think we had the same intensity, but that’s hard to keep up for a whole game.]

[We had some chances . . . ]

[McKenna taking a power play face-off . . . ]

[And that was, I believe, when Mari scored a power play goal that put the game away.]

[We win!  And we’ll see you again on Friday night.]

[Wednesday, the morning after the game, life among our feathered friends around the lakeside cottonwood. Third day in a row of all day (off and on) snow, and now the lake ice is forming. The eagle pair is here. They have been here for as long as we have (sometimes there are three . . . kids?) – they live 20 years in the wild.  At least we suspect they are a couple, this is about the only time of the year we see them. We suspect they nest over by Arrowwood, less than a mile from here. So we have eagles, swans, geese, coots, mallards, and possibly assorted others.]

There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot.  ~ Steven Wright

Up next:  More hockey, likely.  We host Sartell/Sauk Rapids – Rice tomorrow night.