Champagne Wednesdays

Photos found via Bodie and Fou

Everyone needs a sacred place. Ash and I talked this morning about how I am meant for a studio life. You know, the little studio in the backyard where creative endeavours flourish and champagne is taken midday, mid-word, mid-serenity. I love how he indulges me. The photos above are artist Shanna Murray’s personal indulgence: a small studio in light seaside hues whose walls are papered with the pages of Pride and Prejudice. I love that. What book would you choose to surround yourself with? I can almost smell the soft, dusty perfume that all those old pages would add to the room. Beautiful.

So, what does this all have to do with Champagne? Nothing really, except Ms. Austen’s title got me thinking about the various feelings of pride and prejudice I hold about Champagne. For instance, the lovely bottle of Italian champagne that continues to claim real estate in our wine fridge. We just can’t seem to bring ourselves to pop it. As if something would be lost instead of gained. I hear this a lot. Whenever I explain Champagne Wednesdays to someone new, they always says “yeah, we have a couple bottles in our house. Don’t know what we’ve been saving it for.”

What’s the pride in having champagne on hand? Ever-ready for celebration, with no celebration ever good enough. What are you saving it for?

Jen

PS; Shanna Murray has an Etsy store

Hot Rocks. Heart shaped rocks. Filing through rocks on a beach called Sombrio.

For today’s Champagne Wednesday, I’m raising my glass to a homemade red.

Yes, all those of you who’ve suffered through Uncle So-and-So’s special bathtub brew, go ahead and cringe now. But I swear it - one of my dearest life-friends, Jaimie, has been trying her hand at homemade wines too. And they’re pretty darn good.

Ash and I were lucky enough to sample her first, Gypsy Spit, on our trip to Victoria to see Cirque de Soliel. Now, the Smith-Windsor clan is relocated to Prince Albert and (not to spare a minute Jaimie and Al!), I’ve heard word there’s a second edition. A red wine named Sombrio.

How much fun to name your wines with all the memories and places that you slip too anyway on that second or third or fourth glass? Here, Jaimie, is your label:

Breath-taking. Then and now.

Jen xo

Photo credits 1) www.corikindred.com/journal 2) http://www.bryntassell.ca

Parachutes of white canvas hidden from the street.

Tables dressed with linen.

French music. Fresh Flowers.

Food sans ego.

Gallery Cafe and Catering at the Vancouver Art Museum.

Champagne $5.50 and Kir Royale $5.00

Happy Wednesday.

Love affairs are wonderful things, and not always necessarily with your betrothed.

For me, it’s chandeliers. A kind of light not so different from the firefly-bubbles in a good champagne.

Here are a few that set me alight:

From Absolutely Beautiful Things

From Paper & Ink Studio

From Velocity Art & Design

Happy Champagne Wednesday. I toast to you tonight.

Jen

No actual champagne, that is. But I promise, we were still very champagne-like in spirit.

You see, Ash had a craving for sweet and sour pork. So, wandering we went down Commercial Drive with Whiskey in tow to scope out Chongqing (the Szechuan place on the corner of Commercial and 12th that has really great take-out). The only problem is that our champagne vision involved a patio. And Chinese restaurants rarely have patios. It’s true, think of any you know (fusion doesn’t count). Also, it turned out Ashleah’s craving was very specific and did not include “restaurant” Chinese food at all, but “mall” Chinese food (which I actually refuse to assign an ethnicity). So wandering onwards we went, finally ending up at the very opposite end of Commercial (as often happens when we are hungry and trying to make a decision) at a place called Zawa. And yes, we were going to have champagne, but Sleeman’s were on for $3.99/pint. The place was empty, and slightly disjointed with its trendy sign outside and old pub style interior (complete with crazy-haired man eating the $13.99 New York Steak special). Anyway, they have a huge patio. And the owner was nice enough to turn on the heater just for us so Whiskey didn’t have t wait in the car. The waitress was spacey in this oddly charming way and, against all better judgment, we liked the place so much we ordered bruschetta, just because we wanted to give them some business. And you know what? The Bruschetta was pretty good. With balsamic drizzle and roasted cloves of garlic and, sure, a dead looking salad garnish, but who’s perfect? And isn’t that the Champagne spirit? Not waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect place but just raising your glass to the person or place you love and saying, this is perfect enough right now.

since I started blogging. Taking the time to admire a package…

before ripping it open. Taking long sips of cold champagne…

and photos so I can keep tasting it.

This is the bottle of champagne that was waiting for me behind the concierge desk of the Hotel Vancouver. Part of my champagne-infused race around town before I found Ash, crystal flutes in hand, in the middle of a UBC field (talk about flavour-infused).

Champagne, real champagne, has a lightness that makes even the best sparkling wine taste cloudy. And after last week’s rendezvous with Veuve Cliqout, and this week’s affair with Pol Roger, I am really starting to think I should get engaged every month.

This particular French champagne is the Pol Roger Extra Cuvee de Reserve. Right away, you’ll take on an air of elegance, which is only proper since it comes in its own silver box (doesn’t champagne feel like a gift anyway?) and has one of those irresitable “by appointment of the Queen” stamps. I think it’s what you’d call “dry.” Definitely not sweet, teetering on the verge of tart, but overall resting on crisp and airy and a royal pain when you find the bottle is done all too quickly.

For us, it will always be special though. The cork went into my drawer full of other special corks. Looking back, I wish I’d thought to save labels instead.

PS: the package is from my current focus of crafting-envy , Lovely Design. I saw her address files on Apartment Therapy and then in the one-and-only Martha Stewart Wedding magazine. I seized the moment to indulge in my e-commerce addiction, and found these card packs to be one of her only items in stock. Can you believe my surprise (and smile) when I got the package and the return address was Surrey, BC??? I was so excited for her! Let me introduce you…

Alright, off to work!

Jen

A slow, hazy start to Champagne Wednesday. A fridge in Paris. Probably in a convenience store. Nowhere in Paris is too lowly for a cooler full of champagne. No one would dare say you are being too extravagant.

Last night we went to Brock House for a site visit. If you, or some you know, is interested in event planning (and have the slightest bit of sales savvy or common sense), I recommend you run with your resume in hand to the nearest wedding venue. They need your help. Desperately.

Thanks Jen for this dreamy polaroid.

Sometimes, I joke that Champagne Wednesdays can lead to mild headache Thursdays. There is really only one way to avoid this. Actually, come to think of it, there are three ways:

1) Share the bottle with friends. Champagne splits four ways just as easily as two. For example, last night we went to Matt and Kim’s house in North Vancouver for dinner. After baby Ethan went to sleep, we cracked open a bottle of champagne and poured it into four perfect quadrants of celebration. It may actually taste better this way. There are more glasses to clink.

2) Don’t forget to eat. Ash and I practice a somewhat laissez-faire attitude toward food and wine pairings. But it’s definitely true that certain foods bring a champagne to life. Kim’s strawberry salad with herb goat cheese and toasted almonds demonstrated this quite nicely. And, all matching principles aside, there is just something special about the act of preparing food for friends that folds the very essence of Champagne Wednesdays into a meal.

3) Meet my friend, Veuve Clicqout. I just like the name. Say it five times and you’ll feel like you’re talking in a secret dialect of pleasure. And it’s true: Veuve Cliqout equals pleasure. It’s an equation you should just remember. Write it down. Say it again. Whatever you need to do.

Toblerone and Strawberry Gelato also equal pleasure. This was our take on chocolate covered strawberries.

I am so glad I asked for the to-go cups. They were a nice touch and cut down dramatically on dishes. I think they make gelato taste better in the way that Starbucks can only really be enjoyed out of a to-go cup.

Thanks so much for a fun night, Matt and Kim! See you Saturday we hope!

Jen

If you’re interested: I just read in Vitamin V that Martha Sturdy is having her Spring Factory Sale on Monday, May 5th from 8am to 5pm (12 w. 5th Ave). Do you really need a better reason to be late for work?

But then comes Champagne Wednesday and suddenly…

…the world is looking good again!

Tonight we’re off to Matt and Kim’s for a bbq. We won’t forget the bubbly!

Jen

A few of my favourite Vancouver hot spots for champagne sipping on a Wednesday night:

1) Bacchus Piano Lounge in the Wedgewood hotel - I love the masculine feel of this place. Oversized chairs, wood that’s dark and sturdy, the mature waitresses in their tight, black cigar dresses (I’m not sure if that’s an actual kind of dress but if you go, you’ll get what I mean). Champagne cocktails with French names abound.

2) 900 West lounge…yes, another hotel. But who could live without a night or two sipping martinis in the grand Hotel Vancouver lobby bar? Not to mention the free hors dourves between 4:30 and 6:00pm, or the live jazz after 8:00opm. I particularly love the crowd this place attracts. Eccentrics abound.

3) La Notte is one of those restaurants you can drive by a million times and never quite register. But you should. It’s good. Really good. Plus, you can get a piccolo of Henkel for $6.00. One for you and one for him. The insalata mista is a favourite as is the cute living room atmosphere with its white table clothes and Italian waiters. Plus, I love everything in Dunbar.

4) Jericho Beach, as seen from the comfort of your back seat with a down comforter and a laptop playing a guilty pleasure movie rental (we like the Bourne Trilogy). Best to sip champagne out of covert plastic cups, and not too much! Pretzels and the best chocolate you can buy make nice friends.

Enjoy!

Jen

xo