Argyle Winery is always popular with our group of friends, and we’re lucky that it’s located right in the heart of downtown Dundee. Like many other wineries, they had a special tasting set up for Memorial Day weekend and I’m so glad we went!
Wine Country Picnic: The Seven Essentials
Memorial Weekend in the Wine Country is a big wine tasting weekend in the Willamette Valley. Most wineries open up their doors in celebration of spring and have some sort of special tasting; many even release new wines. We had a few friends in town to join us for wine tasting on Saturday, so The Renaissance Man and I decided to put together a Wine Country Picnic. We picked out our seven essential food pairings for a picnic in wine country.
Babica Hen Café–Kicking off Memorial Day Weekend
Thursday night was the kickoff to our Memorial Day Weekend! The Renaissance Man and I both took Friday off work so that we could maximize our weekend, be on the look out for upcoming yard improvement posts. To celebrate we decided to try out the Babica Hen Café. Driving by on OR99W, you’ll notice their large vegetable garden and friendly chickens.
Get Out The Vote! May Primary Election
Just a friendly reminder that ballots are due today for the Oregon Primary Election. Go Vote! Make sure your voice is heard and do your part to contribute. I come from a proud family of voters, and I remember my Mom taking me to get registered when I turned eighteen! Happy Voting!
The Newberg Dundee Bypass: Fill Dirt and the First Bridge!
If you’ve been to Dundee, chances are you’ve sat in traffic and waited, and waited, and waited…and maybe even thought to yourself, “Is any wine going to be left when I get there?”
Well the Oregon Department of Transportation along with numerous local, state, and federal partners are doing their best to fix one of the worst traffic jams in the Willamette Valley. You can follow much of the progress via the ODOT project website, Highway 99W Newberg Dundee Bypass and they have a great video explaining the work done to date.
Is anything better than kids playing baseball in the park?
All morning, I could hear the roar of a crowd, the crack of a bat, and general excitement coming from The Billick Dundee School Park. As I spent my morning out on our patio moving pots around, repotting things, and planting several starts, the sporadic cheers had me smiling!
I continued to work away in the yard and was happy with my progress; I now have two lovely pots with different kinds of mint, and am looking forward to mojitos later in the summer. Our basil plants are starting to peak their heads out of the ground, and the strawberry pot is going wild!
Adding a Brood Box to Noir
I’ve been pressing my husband a.k.a. The Renaissance Man to name the hives. We’ve had them for about a month now, and not having names was starting to bother me. I was tired of saying, “You know that hive on the left was really active today” or “The hive on the right had lots of bees sitting on the porch.” In an effort to move the process along, I proposed that we name the hives Pinot Noir (the left hive) and Pinot Gris (the right hive). To my surprise, The Renaissance Man agreed, but wanted to shorten things up, and so we settle on “Noir” and “Gris.”
Wood-fired Pork & Fennel Ragout with Penne Pasta
Since moving to Dundee we’ve eaten a fair share of meals at Red Hills Market. The first week we moved in we slept on the floor (because the furniture hadn’t arrived yet), and ate at Red Hills Market every. single. night! It was wonderful, and a memory I hold onto with love.
Spending the Day with My Mom
Mother’s Day was a total success this year! We had my family over for brunch, and The Renaissance Man certainly out did himself with the menu. We had a fruit platter, mimosas, latkes with apple sauce and sour cream, bacon, and a ham, spinach, and gruyere cheese frittata! My mouth waters just thinking about it.
Our morning started off early so that we could make a quick batch of banana bread since we had accumulated quite the collection of smelly black bananas. We slightly tweaked a recipe from our friend Ann, and wow did the house smell amazing! The trick is to sugar coat the inside of the baking tin and sprinkle a healthy amount of sugar on top to get a nice crunchy crust.
Women in the Trades, High School Girls’ Day Career Fair
I met a really fantastic woman named Terri Wiley a few months back through a mutual friend. Terri works as the marketing director and grant writer for an organization called Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. Every year Oregon Tradeswoman puts on a Career Fair and has been doing so for the last 22 years! I was so intrigued, that I had to go check it out and decided to volunteer at the High School Girls’ Day. It was one of those experiences where you leave feeling totally jazzed and excited about the future for the next generation of women. Women in the Trades totally rock!
