vin et fromage

last night i was the hostess of our first official wine and cheese night. most of us had been saying how it would be nice to get together on a weeknight for that, so i decided to take the bull by the balls and spread the word- my place, wednesday night, 9ish. i knew people liked the idea and they asked what they could bring, but i wasn't expecting too much because cheese is an essential part of holding a wine and cheese night and is quite expensive and not too easy to find here, aside from american cheese, camembert, brie, mozzarella, and philly cream cheese. in other words, the extra-processed, soft stuff.

so i had some brie and laughing cow that i ended up picking up from a wine and cheese shop behind my school last night (side note: they have blocks of pepper jack and cheddar and swiss cheese slices there!) plus i had a bottle of merlot and riesling. then i was inspired by some tomatoes i found at 7-11 and decided to make bruschetta. mmm.

but man i was surprised by how people came through for this! they showed up with bags full of food and wine. on the menu we had assorted crackers, 3 baguettes, bruschetta, cheddar cheese (first time i had it in 3 months- soooo good), feta (also soooo good), brie, a creamy chive cheese, laughing cow (also mini squares in assorted flavors), babybel, green california grapes, lindor balls, and dark chocolate. plus, i'm sure there's probably one or two things i can't remember. as for wine, melissa and i randomly had the same bottle of merlot (but it was actually really good so that worked out well), bordeaux, cabernet, shiraz, and of course we can't forget the jug of carlo rossi white wine that tom and rika brought. that jug definitely felt like home, but i was sad to hear it cost about $20 here at costco... whereas you could easily get it for $6 back home.

and i can't forget to mention those in attendence- in alphabetical order: alisun, jay, melissa, pat, rika, and sean aka tom cruise.

rika and tom got so into the idea of wine and cheese that they dressed up for the occasion:



we just had to take a picture... tell me it doesn't scream "homecoming..." well, except for the jug of wine that tom is holding.

of course we also had the automatic timer to take a group shot. you may look at the picture and say "tanya why do you look like a moron?"- it's only because tom was trying to feed me a hunk of cheddar cheese off of a knife. of course, i'm going to ignore the fact that you're probably now thinking "but tanya, you always look like a moron!"



and i'm sorry but this picture is too awesome to not put up- i'd just love to know what pat was thinking at that moment: