Hippocratic Oats

Flashback: Post Step 1 Celebration

January 30, 2012 at 7:41 pm 2 comments

Oh Syracuse. Why must you look like this?

Instead, let’s think back to a warmer time of year. A time when I just had taken the Step I exam. A time when my hair was a different shade, and I had yet to step foot on the wards. After arguably the two most stressful months of my life, I was ready to NOT study for a little while. I was in need of a major party. And what better way to celebrate than a wine tour and a week in Boston?!?!

I found a groupon with a tour company called Experience! The Finger Lakes. The specific tour I decided on was called Vinifera Varieties: Wines of the Seneca Lake   Banana Belt. Two of my favorite people in the world (my mom and Michele) joined me for a day in wine country. We started off in Ithaca where we met our tour guide and boarded our tour van.

On the van, we each received a reusable Experience! The Finger Lakes water bottle. It’s always good to hydrate!

First stop: Standing Stone Vineyards. Look at that view of the lake.

We started out by taking a tour of the winery.

We even got to do a barrel tasting.

Let’s just say as cool as it was to drink from the barrel, I like my wine from the bottle.

After the tour it was time to start the tasting. We sat down at a few tables they had set up for with LOTS of bread. First lesson of the day: I LOVE gewurztraminer.

Mmm brie!

Michele taking some photos for her blog.

Some of my favorites.

Next stop: Penguin Bay Winery

Bring on the bubbly!

At this winery we not only tried a bunch of champagnes, but we also learned how to properly open a bottle. My favorite wine and cheese pairing of the day was the combination of the Swedish Hill Spumante Blush and Yancey’s Fancy Strawberry chardonnay cheese.

On to the next stop! Red Newt Cellars

Another excellent pairing but it wasn’t of the wine and cheese variety. At this winery they combined a goat cheese with herbs and honey. Holy cow this was so good I wanted to take it to Vegas and marry it!

Last stop: Damiani Wine Cellars. It was time for dessert! At this winery we paired various chocolates with wines. Yum!

The chocolates came from Hedonist Artisan Chocolates of Rochester.

After a day of fantastic wine and food, I enjoyed one last view of the lake.

All of the purchases throughout the day.

All of my purchases from the day.

After the wine tour, Michele and I headed to Boston for a week of fun times including a 4th of July celebration and lots of quality couch time. One of my favorite things we did over the course of the week was visit a little store called Kickass Cupcakes.

This place was AWESOME. The different flavors were so creative and everything looked delicious.

Michele and I couldn’t pick just one so we decided to buy a bunch and have a cupcake feast.

With our wine purchases, we also made some of Emily’s Dangerous Sangria.

And spent some quality time with Renate watching John’s 3D TV.

What better way to celebrate the boards being over than food, wine, and some of my best friends?

Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: .