It's All About Free Food

Okay, I feel obligated to tell you all upfront.  We are not out of money yet.  It's safe to read the following...or is it? BWAHAHA!

Now, on to a story.

A while ago, Howdy was invited to a wine tasting.  [Howdy works for a liquor store]  Free wine was good, but this event also promised FREE FOOD.  We went without hesitation.

What a weird event.  Picture this...a tiny wine distributor...set in a semi-industrial space right next to a picturesque railroad track.  We went inside and there was a tiny table set with some food and two large tables set with...WINE.  This tasting was basically pour-your-own.  Which proved to be very interesting, since most of the folks there knew instinctively which wines were the best and gravitated to them as soon as they were opened.  Heard of Prosecco?  Yum!  These bottles were found empty almost immediately.  [New Years is coming...try something different!  But, I digress.]  Howdy has a much better palate than mine.  Honest.  I will drink almost any swill that's set in front of me, but he seems to be able to actually taste the flavors professed in the wine propaganda.

Which leads me to the funny part of my story.  At this point, Howdy has almost finished a nine week wine course offered by his employer and his head is so full of wine knowledge, you can practically stomp on it like a ripe grape.  So, he pours a little taste of this particular wine into a glass for me...he has already sampled this one and knows what he is talking about at this point.  [Me, I have been swilling whatever stuff I think will go with the mediocre fare on the "buffet", which means basically anything available at the bottom of the bottle.]  Do you know where this is going?  It's like one of those bad jokes where only the perp is in on it.  So, I take a sniff and Howdy says, "what do you smell?"  I know this is all-important, but it's one of those non-wine smells for me...something I've smelled before, but not in wine.  I profess my ignorance.  Howdy says, "they talked in wine class about this...it's...

BARNYARD"

I shit* you not.  Apparently, there is "eau de farm" available in your wine glass along with "ripe berries" "honey" "oak" and the other ubiquitous offerings.   [This wine was an obscure Italian Chianti, not one of the offerings in the little straw baskets, so don't be afraid.  I thought you might ask.]  Well, of course, with this prompting, I was unable to actually DRINK the wine is this glass and we went on to mock other selections for awhile.

Fast forward a half hour or so.  We are standing out on the front steps of the semi-industrial space with Daughter the Younger, who is auditioning for her part in a drama.  I cannot resist.  We have been allowing her to sniff and sip the offerings at home for awhile now, so I send Howdy in for a sample of "vino di fattoria".  Howdy hands it over to her in the glass and asks her what she smells.  Like most teens, she is immediately suspicious.  However, the prospect of victory is too tantalizing for her and she takes a whiff.  Her answer?

"It smells like COW POO."

So, she is amazed when we proclaim her the victor and praise her cow poo smell detecting skills!  How cool is it that we have a kid who is able to detect this aroma in wine?  I am dreaming of future female sommelier positions already!  We are high-fiving each other out on the front steps when we decide that maybe that looks a little odd and go back inside for another round.   What fun can be had here in Houston for little or no money?

Hope life's fun where you're at!  

*OMG!  I didn't even mean this horrible pun.  LOLOL!  And Sorry.