Who is the heck is St. Valentine anyway?

I'm always fascinated each time a holiday rolls around how and why we have come to celebrate it. Why do we give each other chocolates and go out to fancy dinners on February the 14th? Who the heck is St.Valentine anyways and what did he do? Well, (according to Wikipedia) Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14, celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.

The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs*, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines.") The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. 

* Valentine was a holy priest in Rome, who, with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs in the persecution under Claudius II. He was apprehended, and sent by the emperor to the prefect of Rome, who on finding all his promises to make him renounce his faith in effectual, commended him to be beaten with clubs, and afterwards, to be beheaded, which was executed on Feb. 14th, about the year 270. 

OK good to know, now at least I have a better idea of what this holiday is all about and who St. Valentine is. This truly is one of my favorite holidays because it includes lots of  food, wine and tons of chocolate. And if there is one group of people that know about  all of the above it would be the Italians. Italy has to be one of the most romantic places to be in the world for Valentine's Day and Italians really know how to love. Whether it's their love affair with food, wine, or each other,  they are categorically  a passionate and romantic group of people. I remember when Markette and I were at NIAF's 35th Anniversary Convention and Gala celebrating 35 years of the Italian American community interviewing all the Italiano's, from ESPN's Tony Reali to Mama DePandi. So much food and fun all in one room! 

Here are some helpful and romantic Italian phrases you can use! 


Mio amore-my love
Tesoro mio-my darling
Passerotto mio-my little bird
Mi manchi-I missy you
Ho bisogno-I need you
Ti adoro-I adore you
Sei la mia vita-you are my life
Mi vuoi sposare? -will you marry me? 


Ciao bella!

Besos xoxoxo,

Vanessa

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DC Wine & Food Festival and Wines w. Funny Names

It's time to break out the bottle opener, guys and gals...

Who's gonna share this bottle of
Little Black Black Dress Wine with me?

Because the 12th Annual International Wine & Food Festival is coming back to DC from February 10-13 at the Ronald Reagan Building.

Event highlights include the two-day Grand Tasting, which is the centerpiece of the event. More than 100 international and domestic wineries will sample some 600 wines. In addition, gourmet food vendors will sample new products, while local chefs team up with wineries to serve up tasty samples of regional cuisines (and something tells me there will be Maryland crabs somewhere in the mix!)

Tickets range from $35 to $140, so it ain't cheap. But the exquisite wine, chocolate and gourmet food samplings from the area's top chefs may just make it a guilty pleasure worth indulging in. 

What's in a name? Apparently, a lot of attitude

You might also get a kick out of browsing some of the wines with funny names that may be on exhibit, including Little Black Dress Wines, Bad Boy Red (photographed below), Pinot Evil, and the infamously named "Bitch" wines (photographed above).

My, oh, my! Now, I'm no sommelier but I tend to be drawn to the 'reds' and 'whites' with fun-loving names (makes me curious), versus the $30,000 bottles of wine coveted by connoisseurs of the culinary kind.

What do you think? Are you in favor of traditional wine names or do you get down with the Two Buck Chuck and other wines with funny names?

Leave me a comment below... and I'll see you in February at the festival!

xoxo,

Markette

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Taste of Georgetown and our Excellent Adventure!

MARKETTE AND VANESSA'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

So it turns out that Markette and I are just a pair of  adrenaline junkie thrill- seekers. Markette  has ridden the world's longest floorless roller coaster at Kings Dominion called THE DOMINATOR. Remember that? LOL. 

Well maybe at the time she was a little nervous to say the least--but since then she's toughened up and is ready for  some more action. This video alone has more than 60,000 views from Youtube.

MARKETTE RIDING "THE DOMINATOR"

I decided to take the plunge --albeit at 15,000 feet last year  in sin city. Yes I went skydiving and jumped right out of a jet plane. It was the biggest thrill of my life. I never thought that I would be able to go through with it! But I did.  And I have the crazy proof.  Now I'm ready for some more action.

VANESSA JUMPING OUT OF A PLANE!!! 

So now we're turning to our fans. What should we do next? What can top skydiving and and riding the world's longest floorless roller coaster? Let us know! Send us an email to dconheels@gmail.com and tell us why and what you think we should do to get our adrenaline pumping. Maybe something to do with snowboarding, hiking, or  a flying trapeze? What crazy adrenaline pumping thing have you done that you never thought you would?

TASTE OF GEORGETOWN

I can now officially say that I have tasted my way through Georgetown... and it was delicious! This past weekend was the 17th Annual Taste of Georgetown held on the major and historical cross streets of  M& Wisconsin. From 11am-4pm anyone with an appetite and a little bit of patience (this year the lines were long) could sample some of the best dishes from over 25 of the very best restaurants in G-town.  Single tasting tickets were $5 or you could purchase a five ticket tasting sampler for $20. 

New restaurants  to look out for are Muncheez mania--a late night spot  that will stay open for the for students who are up late studying or up late partying. Either way they can hit up Muncheez mania  that will specialize in flatbreads,  falafel sandwiches, and wraps.  And fellow relative newcomer that was serving up some of the sweetest crepes  was Crepe Amour located on M street. They featured the Nutella Crepe (gooey and decadent amounts of Hazelnut chocolate), the Bananalicious (Nutella and Bananas) and the Fraise Amour (Nutella and Strawberies) Is your mouth watering yet? 

Libby and Douglas Freeman of Arlington, VA said it was there first time attending the Taste of Georgetown. They were trying the sage gnocchi and butternut squash from Paolos' Ristorante. Once piece of advice they did say was to COME EARLY! 

(pictured left) Libby Freeman (pictured right) Douglas Freeman

Kyla and Emma Silver came all the way from the Shenandoah Valley just to get a little taste of Georgetown. This was their second year attending the areas  premiere food and wine festival. This year over 12,000 people attended. It was a gorgeous autumn day so the lines were long and the food was running out. The key says Mrs. Silver--hit up the short lines first and eat your food while you wait in the longer lines. I spotted this pink duo while they were in a very long line for Old Glory BBQ.

(pictured left ) Kyla Silver (pictured right) Emma Silver

It all started on the lawn of the Grace Church in 1993 to help raise both awareness and additional money to fund the homeless assistance programs of the Georgetown Ministry Center.

Kevin Barone, Lisa Pfenninger and Lucia Castro were trying the pumpkin cheesecake from one of the best Italian restaurants in D.C.  Filomena's. They said that the long lines were moving pretty well and that everyone was very friendly.

There was a celebrity judging panel on hand to judge--Most Colorful Dish, Best Use Of Spices, Dish That Made You Go "MMMM", Most Delicious Way to Get a Cavity. 

Judging Panel:

Nycci Nellis, TheListAreYouOnIt.com & Dishing It Out Radio

Amanda McClements, Metrocurean.com

Samy K, HOT 99.5 Radio, the Kane Show

Max Browb, Washington City Paper's Restaurant Rater winner. 


And the winners are... drum roll please...


Most Colorful Dish: Muncheez Mania - falafel wrap
Best Use of Spices: Neyla - all dishes (chicken shawarma sliders, hummus, baba ghannoug, etc.)
Dish That Made You Go "Mmm": Fahrenheit (at the Ritz Carlton Georgetown) - fire grilled sweet chili wings with cool cucumber mint sauce
Most Creative Dish: J. Paul's - chorizo corn dog with shrimp slaw
Most Delicious Way to get a Cavity: Hook - campfire s'mores
People's Choice: Filomena Ristorante - beef brisket ravioli with a dolcetto wine and crimini mushroom sauce

For a list of all the restaurants that participated this year go to www.TasteOfGeorgetown.com  AND you can also get some of the great recipes right  HERE

Besos xoxoxoxo

Vanessa =) 

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