A Free Night Out

On Thursday evening Lee and I went to "A Taste of the Little City," a charity event featuring the robust foods and wines from the Sacramento region. My company had free tickets for the event, so we didn't have to pay a dime. Even though it was free, Lee and I considered not going.

It was mid-week, and we were both exhausted and stressed from house hunting. I voted that we just stay home and nap. (One of my most favorite pastimes now is napping. Lee, understandably, votes to get out and do things since he's usually trapped at home. But me, I like to sleep. I never get enough sleep!) Anyway, we decided that it was more important to hang out together - without discussing houses or the kid - and socialize together. So we went and wound up really having a good time.

The event was held at Safetyville, a miniature version of Sacramento where the streets and buildings (even a capital building) are built on a smaller scale. The "streets" were lined with stalls and booths of local eateries, wineries, and breweries. Oh! And there was a court dedicated to sweets! Yeah! We ate ribs, beans, bread, olive oil tasting, pizza, pot stickers, pasta. We drank red wines, white wines, dessert wines, wheat beers, hoppy beers, and coffee. For dessert we had toffee, cake samples, ice cream, and chocolate dipped strawberries, pound cakes and brownies. It sounds like a lot, but everything was in bite sized portions. It was really fun to mix and match.

I was particularly happy to find a wine booth with supremely excellent wines. All of their samples were superb. Even Lee liked them, including the dessert wine which he typically loathes. We're going to try to visit their winery sometime this year. Anyone want to come?

Lee was particularly happy to find the Lost Coast Brewery booth. The gentleman pouring samples was eccentric and fun. He gave recipes for "beer cocktails" which was "all the rage right now." Okay, well we didn't get the memo but his recipes did sound interesting. We'll have to try them sometime.

We had a great time getting out. And we were in much better spirits when we left. Ahhh, we needed that break...