My family loves a party.
To say the least.
Last Saturday would have been my dad’s 59th birthday.  I froze him in my head at 52… it’s weird to think he would have been almost 60 this year.  It may seem weird to some people, but we decided to have a little party in his honor with some close good family friends.
My dad loved people.  He also loved good food and good wine.  We made sure all were present!  We laid out snacks while prepping the grilled goods.  Cheese, crackers, soppressata, grapes, and figs:
I brought a bottle of wine I’d obtained from that time I hijacked a wine tour in Montalcino, Italy a few years ago.  I have a nasty habit of hoarding wine.  “Special” bottles stay in my wine fridge of way too long and I let them go bad.  Life is short!  Drink the good wine… and share it with those you love!
This bottle was perfect.  A 2006 Brunello di Montalcino from il Cocco, full of memories.
We drank more wine. Â A bottle I brought mom from my recent trip to Burgundy – another delicious treat.
We made more snacks. Â Heirloom tomato salad with cotija cheese and basil. Â There was a balsamic reduction added post-pic.
Finally dinner was served. Â We had a little bit of everything. Â (Read: Mom and I are single-handedly keeping Whole Foods in business.)
I made my watermelon cotija salad.  We smoked lamb and salmon on the Big Green Egg.  There was bread.  Mushrooms sautéed in red wine.  More wine.
It was a marvelous evening, full of old memories blended with new fuzzy ones.
Sunday morning I miiiiiight have had a slight hangover (how much wine did we drink?!).  In lieu of bouncing out of bed to do my grocery shopping, I did a little shopping from my couch.  With coffee.  Lots of coffee.
I order a lot of staple items from iHerb – it’s great for hard-to-find stuff and they have the best prices!  My order included:
- Aminos – They go in my “cocktail” every morning. Love the energy boost!
- Banana Flour – This is new to me… looks too cool to pass up!
- Peanut Flour – It’s defatted peanuts. In the words of the hot sauce lady, “I put that shit on everything.”
- Xylitol – This is my favorite plant-based sugar substitute for baking. It’s also good for the teeth!
Use my discount code – USO924 – for $5-10 off your order!
Having recovered from my hangover, I set out for my weekly grocery trip.  I hit Atlanta’s massive Your DeKalb Farmer’s Market.  Somehow I ended up in the wine aisle…
YDFM doesn’t allow photos but I couldn’t resist a pic of this:
Whaaaat?!  This might be worse than drinking white zin (which I admittedly drank the hell out of my Sophomore year of college).  I elected not to find out.  LOL!
***
My liver and I are actually glad it’s Monday.
Does your family love to entertain?
What is your favorite wine?
Wait, that wine in the last picture is for real??? I love that you had a party to celebrate your Dad and to remember him. Looks and sounds like it was fabulous.
Can you believe it?! I saw it at the grocery store.
Your family is SO like mine. I mean, I spent the last 2 (or 4? 6?) weekends partying.
All that food – I especially love the cheese/fig/everything platter! Platters and wine. So perfect. Ok, maybe Prosecco for me. Or Gin. Hehe.
We had plenty! You should have come over. 🙂
Such a beautiful idea to have a party to celebrate your Dad. That heirloom tomato salad looks amazing. I love heirloom tomatoes.
Our dads would have gotten along so well- it’s crazy how similar they sound from the wine appreciation to their age & even star sign (my dad’s birthday was August 21st). Lately I’ve been hooked on Moscato Rose- love the fruity flavour :)!
I think WE would get along so well! 🙂
I love that you still celebrate your dad’s birthday. And wine for dummies isn’t good stuff?? Sounds classy to me.
What a credit you are to papa. Drink some wine on my behalf because wine is nasty.
LEgit just my shipment from iherb just then. BCAA’s and casein for life. And by life I mean the next 3 weeks.
I’m going to buy you Wine for Dummies.
You’ll love banana flour! Its amazing!
I think its pretty awesome that you still celebrate your dad like that. Our family is big on get togethers too, but I live too far away to make any of them which stinks a lot of the time. The older I get the more important I realize it is to be close to family. My five year plan moves me a little closer to home than I am now!
Thanks! I hope you o make it close. My other sister lives across the country and we miss her.
<3 <3 <3
everything about this.
And wish Id met your dad as I LOVE LOVE PEOPLE too.
xo
I kind of celebrate my dad’s birthday. We share the same one, so whatever I’m doing I always send a toast to my dad. I get a kick out of the wine for dummies (though I can’t exactly imagine drinking any of it!).
That’s so cool you shared a day…. how special. 🙂
It’s unfortunate I had a TERRIBLE experience with iHerb. I don’t think I’ll be ordering from them again.
And happy birthday to your dad! Think of him as another year wiser but still young. 🙂
Oh no! Sorry to hear that… I’ve always been really impressed.
Did you see that wine at the Dekalb Farmer’s Market?
I saw it there too! I too passed it up 🙂
Yup. I passed as well. 🙂
I’m glad you could all honor your dad with a party!
With the last wine…I think you’d have to BE a dummy to try it! 😉
LMAO! Agreed.
Such an awesome way to honor your dad and enjoy time with your family. I love it!
What a great way to honor and remember your dad!
I am sure your dad was there partying with you in spirit 🙂
I like to think so. 🙂
I love the idea of celebrating your dad’s life. When one of my best friends in high school passed away, we had a celebration of her life ‘party’ instead of a funeral, since she hated that word. Such a great tribute to the lost loved one, and a good reminder to enjoy what we’ve got now! Everything looks delish, as expected 🙂
That’s what we did after the funeral too. I’m sure some people thought we were nuts, but we had the house full til the wee hours of the morning.
What a great birthday! My dad is 60 now! How the heck did that happen!?
yes we LOVE to entertain (um, well, I do. and mom does. everyone comes to my place or hers…)
and this is the best reason to have a party. I have celebrated my Dad so many times in this year of not having him around, and will continue to.
Happy Monday XXO
I love it every time I see you toasting him. We are lucky to have had dad’s so worthy of cheering.
I think it is amazing that you guys do that! I love fig too, I need to get some! Looks like a great party and thanks for the discount code! I headed over now 🙂
Thanks! Figs are the best – I could eat them like candy!
That’s really sweet – I think it’s wonderful to celebrate those who’ve passed instead of mourning; while it hurts it’s helpful to remember their joy and the good. 🙂 The food all looks yummy and so does the wine! I need some right now; be a doll and pour me a glass :'( Happy Monday Laura! -Iva
Come on over and I’ll gladly share a glass (or to) with you! 😉
Growing up we didn’t entertain much but now my husband and I love to entertain and wine/drinks are always involved! I love that y’all celebrated your dad in such a grand fashion!!!
I think the worst wine I ever drank was in grad school (many times straight from the bottle – classy!!) – Boone’s Farm – actually calling it wine is a bit of a stretch!!!
Hahaha – my first fake ID purchase in college was Boone’s Strawberry Fields. I think it’s actually a “malt beverage.”
Sounds like an epicly wine-filled weekend– I approve. And that wine bottle is hilarious, but white zinfandel is never okay!! Happy belated to your dad, I’m sure he would have loved this celebration.
I’m going to raise my glass to your dad tonight! Love that you celebrate him. Love you bro
You’re the best brother ever. Love you.
Banana flour! Even I’m intrigued.
Cheers to your Dad.
It wouldn’t be as awesome of a #publicbanana though.
I’ve never heard of the Wine for Dummies wine, BUT I will say that the Wine for Dummies book is totally legit. It’s the textbook for the Cornell Hotel School’s wine tasting class, and it has a ton of really comprehensive info – highly recommended 🙂
I can get on board with the books… but the actual wine? I can’t imagine where they get the grapes!
That is really cool that you celebrate your Dad and his memory!
On Saturday night, I drank a whole bottle of wine by myself (and I’m not even a drinker!). It wasn’t until I crawled out of bed at 11am on Sunday that I hadn’t eaten anything since 1pm the previous day. Oops. This is why drinking is a bad idea!
Ouch! I usually have the opposite problem with eating… a bottle of wine and I ready to eat alllll the burgers.
THIS MAYYYYYYY come as a shock to you but I have not had a drink in about 12 years at this point. That being said, I seriously am always kind of a little drunk……. I have enough bruises that make it look as if I have gotten in a lot of fights with alcohol. lol
Ummmm… what were you doing twerking on an Irish bar then???
Because I have KAHUNAS! LOL!
This was a great idea. A celebration of life– after life. My brother passed and his birthday are still a bit hard for my family and I but I would love to start doing this in a few years. Really touched by this, thanks for sharing.
PS- I hear ya on the white zin though… I cringe when I see grown folk drinking that (Especially men for some reason. I’m gender role afflicted). I think Arbor mist or a wine cooler is more exceptable than white zin.
So sorry to hear about your brother… losing a sibling must be a terrible thing to deal with. xoxo
Happy birthday to your dad. I’m sorry that he passed at such a young age… that’s around my dad’s age (he’s going to be 51 in Feb.) and I can’t imagine losing him. I think it’s so awesome that you had a party for him that he would have loved <333
Thanks Allie! I loved getting to know my dad (and still my mom) in their 50s… we became tight friends!
Favorite wine? You know I hate that question, but maybe del dotto? Yes, I know that’s a winery, but that’s as narrow as I get right now. 🙂
I know, I know… I hate it too. Maybe I should have asked for the “go to” you bring to a dinner party. Like those $15-20 bottle you know won’t disappoint.
Happy birthday to your dad! I think it’s so neat your family still celebrates him so well…and what a way to do it – with good food, wine and people you love. Sending celebrations from up north! And one day we’ll share a glass together for many reasons in life. 🙂
Thanks Bon! I would love, love, love to raise a glass with you one day! Are you going to come to Blend on CO?
What a great way to celebrate your day 🙂
Omg, I LOVE the Dekalb Farmers Market. I always end up spending hours in there and, I tend to buy/spend more than anticipated but that place it amazing!