i want to spend my lifetime loving you

So far, Big Kahuna tempranillo is my Cheap-o Red Wine of the Year. It is $1.99 at Fresh & Easy. It goes down really smoothly. It is a robust wine because it comes from Spain. Most importantly, it does not taste cheap.

I also like the blue surfboard label and twisty cap. I am just that shallow.

everyday, i'm shuffling.

I haven't reviewed a 10-dollah wine for the longest time.

Truth is, I've been drinking wines that are over $20.00 a bottle. Some, I even purchased in Napa while winery-hopping with Dorena. Ooo, gourmet! Ooo, chi-chi!

Back in June, on a first-timer trip at the awesome-blossom Whole Foods Market Blossom Hill, I took notice of this $8.99 bottle of sulfite-free table wine called Our Daily Red.

Maybe my fine arts background and my religion inspired me to pick it up. Or maybe my cheap-skatedness did.

Either way, I'm glad I did. The stuff tastes good! It went down rather smoothly, and what do you know? I didn't have a sneezing fit while drinking it. Could I be allergic to sulfites?

Check out the back label:

feel the buzz and hum along.

I am truly happy to brag about four wines that did not end up down the drain!

Bolla chianti, $6.95 on sale at CVS/Pharmacy

Nice flavour!

Piccinini chianti, $7.99 at Lucky Supermarket

Omigah, YUM!

Fish Eye cabernet sauvignon, $4.99 at Lucky Supermarket

This one almost scared me because it doesn't have a cork. Instead, it has a metal twisty cap. Even the super-cheap crappy wines I've tried had corks. So, it came as a huge surprise that this stuff tasted deeelicious. I'm definitely going to get this in a box! :)

Mad Housewife cabernet sauvignon, $7.99 at Zanotto's

Isn't this the cutest label EVER? And the wine is good, too!

Even the back label is nice!

Love don't pay no bills.

Having learnt that the $1.99 wines at Lucky are not my thing, I decided to try a $3.99 wine at Trader Joe's. Two dollars may make a difference, right?

Mount Linden cabernet sauvignon.

Such a pretty label. It looked promising.

After two glasses, this is what I ended up doing:

It wasn't much better than the Fox Brook wines I had blogged about a while back.

From now on, the only time I'm buying super-cheap wine is when it is marked down to rock-bottom prices.

Right now, I'm drinking a glass of good wine. I'll post more about it on another day.

Another one bites the dust.

The Fox Brook merlot didn't work out.




Life is too short to drink crappy wine.

It's just a flesh wound!

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."
This is a serious what-the-heck pose.
I was straightening my hair or pushing up my glasses or something before realising, durr, the camera timer was about to go off.




Whee~!

cardigan: Nordstrom Rack.....tanktop: Kohls.....skirt: Ross
shoes: Payless.....ladybug pendant: self-assembled

***

Cheap-o red wine of the week:

Columbia Crest Grand Estates cabernet sauvignon, $6.99 at Zanotto's

Yummy!

(Those are wine stains on the label, by the way.)

....also, he's a ninja!

I totally cheesed it up in today's pics.



cardigan: PacSun.....tanktop: H&M.....skirt: Ross
shoes: Payless.....bracelets: home-made

Maria's apartment complex had this random fence, so the following pose was totally appropriate.


***

Lucky supermarket carries a line of $1.99 wines called Fox Brook. After doing a little searching on the web, I learnt that Fox Brook is owned by the same folks who put out Charles Shaw, aka Two-Buck Chuck.

I was so excited to try this wine because of the price. But after drinking half of the bottle of cab sauv over this past weekend, this is what I ended up doing tonight:


:(

I hope Fox Brook merlot fares better.

September 5, 2009 outfit + cheap-o red wines

Saturday, I went to Sacramento to hang out with Rachel and her husband Shawn.

I made sure to get a picture of my outfit before hitting the road.

cardigan: Loehmann's.....dress: Converse One Star @ Target
kitten-heels: Chinese Laundry, Macy's

purple + turquoise = why not? :)
(I'm going to tag this post under 'teal' because I feel like it.)

Things we did:

- Rachel and I watched Shawn play this cute and funny game called "Fat Princess" on PS3. The best part of the game was the credits!

- We had dinner at Paesano's in Midtown. Their fettuccine alfredo was deeelicious!

- We bought bon bons and macarons at Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates. It's so great that there's a fine chocolate shop in downtown Sac. :)

- We bought cheap-o red wine at Safeway.

- Rachel and I had wine and chocolate on the front porch because it was so nice outside. Her downstairs neighbour Jason joined us, and we listened to girly pop dance music on his new Blackberry.

- Rachel and I both proceeded to get stupid-drunk from two bottles of cheap-o red wine.

- Singing along with "Rock Band" while stupid-drunk is FUN!

***

Cheap-o red wines of the week:

Toasted Head cabernet sauvignon, $6.98 with club card at Safeway

Hi, Rachel!

It was Shawn's idea to buy this one because of the bear. He's obsessed with bears. And who wouldn't like a wine whose mascot is a bear that shoots flames out of its mouth? This stuff was good.

Smoking Loon merlot, $7.98 with club card at Safeway

Hi, Rachel!
Hi, Jason!

We bought this one because of the bold label. The wine itself was nice.

And, yes, Rachel and I polished off the bottles in under two hours.

Here I am, a walking primrose, wondering when I'm going to see you again.

Today, I stepped out of my comfort zone by wearing a green low-cut top with a heavily patterned black & white skirt.

I still wore a sweater because the top is sleeveless, and sleeveless doesn't jive with the dress code.

cardigan: Nordstrom.....top: Ross.....skirt: Ross
shoes: Nine West.....bracelet: Wet Seal
right-hand ring: trillion-cut peridot silver ring, but worn on my middle finger.





***

Cheap-o red wine of the week:
Insatiable cabernet sauvignon, $5.98 with club card at Safeway


This stuff is yummy! Really yummy!
Brian and I polished this bottle off in two nights. Yes, so much yum!

"About Leina" - installment the second

Today's installment: drinks ten-dollar red wines.

(Note: I happen to be drinking a glass of this week's cheap-o red wine as I write this post.)

I was never one for wines growing up. The only wine I could bear to sip was communion wine since it was after all, the blood of Christ. At a Santa Clara County dispatchers banquet ten or nine years ago (I'm not a dispatcher, by the way, my s.o. is.), I barely drank three-quarters of a glass of red wine and was pulled over driving home. Thank goodness, the kind officer didn't give me a ticket.

Church wine was white wine, so I could tolerate it and liked to cook with it. (If you're curious, St. Bede Church used Christian Brothers wine back in the 1980s and 1990s.) Red wine burns my throat and just makes me drunk way too fast. I always thought that the only useful application for red wine was beef stroganoff. If I had that kind of mentality, well, what changed my mind about red wine?

This past June, Brian and I were staying at the Fairmont in downtown SJ the night before our wedding, and when we got to the room, on the table was a complimentary bottle of wine from the hotel manager. Stone Cellars cabernet sauvignon. We were so exhausted from driving around, doing last minute errands, that this cab sauv was the best red wine we had ever tasted. We relaxed and were ready for what tomorrow was going to bring us. Yeah, that changed my mind forever.

I have a thing for ten-dollar red wines because of the red wine we stocked up on for our honeymoon cruise. At the Publix supermarket in Cape Canaveral, we picked up three bottles of red wine, each one for ten-dollars or less. Rex Goliath merlot, Red Diamond cabernet sauvignon, and BV cabernet sauvignon. For cheap wines, they were all yummy. And most importantly, they didn't burn my throat.

Because I'm always looking out for red wine deals, I figure I'd have a regular feature called "Cheap-o red wine of the week." I don't have an educated and refined wine palate that will let me discern notes and aromas, but if the wine tastes good and doesn't burn my throat, I will post about it!

***
Cheap-o red wine of the week:
Fetzer Vineyards cabernet sauvignon, $5.99 with the club card at Safeway

Good stuff!

I'm on the line. One open mind. This is my four-leaf clover.

Two years ago, my little brother gave me three cotton/cashmere sweaters from PacSun in teal, grey, and brown. I wear the first two colours to death, and today was the first time I ever wore the brown one. I'm so drawn to super-bright colours and dark depressing colours, that brown was just weird to me.

I'm on a mission to find a teal skirt to wear with this brown cardi.

cardigan: PacSun.....secret tanktop: H&M.....skirt: Ross
shoes: Payless

Oh, how I love the shiny tone-on-tone buttons!

***
Bonus!

Cheap-o red wine of the week:
Bella Sera chianti, marked down to $6.99 at CVS/Pharmacy

I think I have the Asian glow in this pic.
(Of course, I had a glass before taking this photo.)

I had to try this wine because 1. it was marked down, and 2. the importer is based in Hayward. Bay Area, represent! This was the first time I've ever had chianti, and, because it was pretty good, I'm ready to try pricier ones.