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Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As you well know, Ireland has stolen my heart over and over and over again. We don’t do much for the holiday at all, though I am sure there will be a pint of Guinness and a viewing of The Quiet Man at some point. I’ve visited Ireland over 20 times and written extensively about it, so for your St. Patrick’s Day reading, just a few blog posts on Ireland:

 

Afternoon Tea at the Meyrick HotelAshford CastleBallyconneely

Ballynahinch Castle

Belfast in Photos

The Burren and Kinvara – hiking in Ireland

Bushmill’s Distillery

Colorful Images from Ireland

Giant’s Causeway and North Antrim

Galway Saturday MarketGalway – Spirit One Spa and Sheridan’s Wine BarHiking in Connemara

Hiking Errisbeg in Roundstone

Kinsale, Ireland’s Gourmet Capital

Kylemore Abbey

O’Grady’s Barna Pier

Photos of Galway

Sligo

 

 

Galway Bay Sunset

Perhaps our celebrating started earlier this month, with a special Guinness Open Gate Brewery Night to view The Brewers Project. Guinness actually brought the real, original recipe book to Boston for the event, and Artists for Humanity was filled with delicious Guinness beers, food, and cheer.

Open Gate Brewery   Guinness art

Guinness has had a knack for great advertising since its beginning, and it was fun to browse the colorful pieces and take replica postcards home.

Guinness Art

It was also fun to taste the many beers that they had available. We tried Guinness Blonde, Guinness West Indies Porter, and my favorite of the night which isn’t actually available for sale, the 1798 Limited Edition. west indies porter

 

Guinness 1798

Guinness quite obviously knows its beer, and they were all really good. I coveted these beautiful Guinness flute-like glasses. Unfortunately they weren’t for sale either.

Guinness flutes

In time for St. Patrick’s Day, Guinness was showing off some fun special edition cans, and they had an archivist from St. James’s Gate in Dublin showing us the recipe book, which we could not photograph.

Guinness Special Edition Cans

Once we made our rounds of tasting and grabbed a pint of the black stuff, we headed to the very generously stocked food table for some yummy snacks including soft pretzels and a variety of toppings. Passes appetizers also kept us fed throughout. cheese and fruit

soft pretzels

Guinness knows how to put on a great event, and we really enjoyed a taste of Ireland in Boston.

Tags: beer, events, Food, Guinness, Ireland, St. Patrick's Day

Spring is in the air, business is booming, and I have a renewed energy for blogging and life in general. I love the life that a tropical vacation can breathe back into you! When I received an invitation to attend the first Innovation Conference for Boston Business Women on May 9, I jumped at the chance. It looks like it will be an incredible opportunity to network and learn.

Boston Business Women Innovation Conference

Early bird registration is happening now. Read more below, or register now!

On Monday, May 9 2016, The Boston Business Women will host Boston’s first Innovation Conference for Boston Women, by Boston Women. The 2016 conference will take at the Westin Copley Hotel in Boston and include panels of experts covering several topics, including: money mindset, the secrets to success from Boston’s best, personal branding, and how to master the work-life balance. The secured keynote address for 2016 is Arianna Huffington, President and Editor in Chief of The Huffington Post. The conference will take place from 10am-4pm with a vendor/exhibitor hall, a meditation lounge, and a professional networking station.

Need more info? Here are 10 reasons to attend.

I hope to see you there!

Tags: Boston, Boston blogger, business, events, women

Last Saturday we attended the Boston Wine Expo with press tickets generously provided by the Expo. It had been several years since I had attended; I typically go out of town for the long weekend and was glad to be able to browse and do some wine tasting this year!

Boston Wine Expo

The Expo is loved by many because of the enormous number of vendors. It’s a great place to discover new foods, wines, and other products to fall in love with, but it is also overwhelming at times! As soon as we walked in, I was looking every which way, trying to decide where to taste first. It really is best to go into a wine expo with a plan on what tables you want to visit most.

We snaked our way through the aisles of tables, and below are just a few of the highlights of my experience.

Truchard ChardonnayTruchard Chardonnay – I loved this wine for its hint of oak and citrus, and I loved even more that the winery owners were pouring it themselves. They were so sweet, and I have their card in hand for my next trip to Napa.

IMG_2711 

Barolo is hard to pass up!

 

Chamisal Vineyards Chardonnay

Unoaked Chardonnay is often a go-to summer wine for us; Chardonnay haters still often love it! I enjoyed this one from Chamisal Vineyards and it was a good reminder I want to explore the Central Coast of California and its wine. So many wine regions, not enough time!

Anna Codorniu

While expanding my wine knowledge and palate is important to me, so are bubbles. I always seek out the bubbly at events, and I loved these Anna Codorniu minis. How cute are they?

Gloria Ferrer is a must-visit when we are in Sonoma County, and of course we stopped by the table for a tasting. The winemaker often attends these events, and it makes all the difference. I love Gloria Ferrer wines, I love their property in Sonoma County, and they win me over every time.

Gloria Ferrer

There were many tables representing various regions of Italy, and I tried some Prosecco that I liked; I am not always a fan of Prosecco as I often find it to be too sweet or to have a fake pear flavor that I don’t love.

prosecco minis This table had a mix of Cava and Prosecco from Premier Estates, and I preferred the Cava, though could definitely see how a fan of sweeter wines would like the Prosecco.

prosecco

I stopped by to meet the people behind VinoVersal wine club, which I will be reviewing soon. It was great to meet them and to try some of the wines from my wine club review box, all delicious and from Salento, a region of Italy I know nothing about!

VinoVersal Wine Club

wines from Marche

I also loved this table, featuring wines from Marche. We have family in Marche (read about their amazing home here), and the region has great wine and sentimental value to me!

One of the downfalls of the wine expo experience, which I often find with big wine events, is that many of the people pouring either weren’t very knowledgeable or not very interested in the wines they were pouring. I get very excited and have lots of questions/love hearing wine stories, so my favorite tables are those with people really connected to the winery they represent.

Sugar Bob's Smoked Maple Syrup One thing I found impressive about the Boston Wine Expo was the huge amount of food offered. We ended up not needing lunch after all of the samples, and it helps to keep you in check when surrounded by wine!

My client, the Olive Connection sells this Sugar Bob’s Smoked Maple Syrup, and I stopped by to say hi and for a taste. It is smoky, sweet, and delicious, really great in cocktails!

smoked maple syrup

I also visited The Olive Table, another friend of the Olive Connection. They are doing an event together on March 23 in Brookline!

The Olive Table

We never miss a chance to eat Kerrygold cheese. We have all of these cheeses at home, but it’s always fun to chat with the Kerrygold rep and taste cheeses with wine samples. I love Kerrygold!

Kerrygold cheese

Montilio’s Bakery had an amazing array of sweets for when we had enough cheese and wine.

Montilio's  

I have been in love with Waterford Crystal probably since I first visited Waterford Ireland when I was a kid, and I just stared at these beautiful pieces, picturing them at my home, and realizing I would break them within a week. Still, they are pieces of art, and what makes a great wine even better than gorgeous Irish crystal?

Waterford Crystal

Overall I really enjoyed the Boston Wine Expo. There was so much to see and taste. I recommend getting there early and having a plan to get the most out of your experience. I look forward to next year’s Expo.

 

I received complimentary passes to the wine expo. All opinions are my own.

Tags: Boston, Boston blogger, Boston Wine Expo, Food, foodie, wine, wine and food pairing, wine expo, wine tasting

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