Hostess Gift

The first one in NC was a genuine success. Of course, we missed the fam and normal 80 degree temperatures in SD, but it was special nonetheless. Thanksgiving has come and gone along with Black Friday. Now as I wait for Cyber Monday, I'm putting away all things fall and hopefully by Monday the house will look like...as cousin Ian says, "Santa threw up in it." Thanksgiving was a great success and just in case I lose my directions for my superbly moist turkey that was perfectly cooked in my counter top roaster, I'm including a link here. That, my friends, is the solution to only having one oven when you are hosting the Thanksgiving dinner. BTW, the way you get dinner on the table at 4:58 when dinner is scheduled at 5:00, is to have a list...and follow it!

Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad

I also wanted to share with you the most wonderful hostess gift. It's so good in fact, you'll need to buy two. One for her and one for you. No one brought me this gift, but I did serve it yesterday. I found it on my own many years ago. However, I haven't had much luck seeing it around until now. It's Champagne...well not really. It's Cava. Cava is the term for sparkling wine in Spain. We can technically only call Champagne, Champagne. Champagne is the region in France that it comes from. It also refers to the method that is used to make it, méthode champenoise. In this method, the best method, the wine is fermented in the bottle,  the actual bottle that you purchase it in. Now, back to Cava and what makes this Cava so special is that it is made using the Champagne method. So you will get this beautiful bottle of sparkling wine that tastes great and is a great value. Your hostess will think you spent a fortune, and she will have the beautiful bottle to keep long after the wine is gone. She can use it for olive oil or dish soap if she gets one of those little pourer thingies, or she can make a bottle lamp like I did, if she's crafty.

Segura Viudas Reserva Heredad is a sparkling wine that always gets rave reviews. It is one of my personal favorites. Especially the price point. I got mine at Lowe's Foods for $21. Once upon a time they sold it at Trader Joe's. I would highly suggest putting in the effort to find some, you won't be dissapointed. Imagine what a great Christmas gift it would make!