Southern Sweet Tea Popsicles

When my popsicle molds first came in the mail, I was ecstatic. I pulled them out right away and got to work.  My roommate Dalton loves making sweet tea, at our house we can go through a gallon a day without even noticing.  So of course when I saw the sweet tea in the fridge I figured it was automatically a great idea to make them into popsicles!

I brewed some tea and made sure to make it extra strong because right from the beginning I was worried that the tea flavor may not come through as strong when frozen.  Made sure to put a good amount of sugar in it, because I like my sweet tea sweet dang it!  I poured my extra strong, delicious sweet tea into the molds.  I made sure to soak the popsicle sticks in warm water to keep them from floating for about twenty minutes. The popsicle molds that I bought came with a lid that you can insert the popsicle sticks into and it holds them in place so they don't fall to the side.

One thing that I realized after taking the popsicles out of the mold is that I put the sticks in a little too far into the popsicles.  I had a short little stub of a stick to hold onto - luckily the popsicles were so refreshing and awesome that I could care less.  Definitely a lesson learned for next time though!

These are so so Yummy!!

Project Lydia - Helping Ugandan Women

Project Lydia began in 2009 by my aunt Julie and uncle Cliff Pash, christian missionaries serving in Uganda Africa. The project helps local widows and abandoned women overcome adversity and thrive in every area of their lives.  Through Project Lydia widows and abandoned wives who live in remote villages in Uganda make one-of-a-kind, handcrafted necklaces, baskets, and dolls. Necklaces are made from recycled paper which is cut into long strips and individually rolled. The colors you see are the colors that are in the paper. The process of creating a piece of beaded jewelry from hand-rolling the bead to assembly, takes about a week. Many women lives have been transformed through Project Lydia as they gain resources to buy seed for their gardens, send their children to school, purchase medical care, and improve their housing. 

I have three of these necklackes, and I love them, they're beautiful.  I reccomend that everyone go to the Project Lydia website (http://www.projectlydia.org/, or just click the link above) and contribute to helping widows and abandoned wives improve their life, send their children to school, and afford medicine and food to care for their families in Uganda!! 

The Untamed Fury of the Albino Rhino

Albino Rhino is a 2009 Ablarino.  This wine boasts of the lively, acidic, sweet, bright flavors of peach and apricot.  88% Albarino and 12% Riesling.  13.7% Alcohol.   Wine Woot never ceases to amaze me with their comedic and entertaining labels from their cellars in Monterey County. Even their corks have the infamous exclamation point and say "wine woot" on the side.  I love it. I was given this bottle as a gift.

7 out of 10
The scent of this wine is close to that of a Pinot Grigio, fruitfully acidic smelling.  The first flavors to hit my palate were overwhelmingly those of a mix of apricot and peach, along with a little pear slid in there as well.   The dry flavors linger on your tongue, and as I sip it I wish I had some crisp green apples and caramel dip to enjoy with it, but for now I suppose I will settle for a little goat cheese and basalmic vinegar (which happens to go deliciously well).

San Antonio Sweet Red Deliciousness

This Cardinale is a red wine from the San Antonio winery in the Los Angeles area. Since 1917 the San Antonio winery has won numerous medals and international awards.  In keeping with their four generations of wine making tradition, Cardinale is a dark sweet red wine with lovely aromas of ripe berries.  Should be served chilled. Alcohol content 12%. Visit www.sanantoniowinery.com.

9 out of 10
The first impression of this wine is that it doesn't taste like wine, you will feel as if you are sipping grape juice.  I would think that this would be a perfect starter red wine for amateur wine drinkers. This wine is very, very sweet and smells exactly the way it tastes.   Not only is it neither dry nor bitter, but is one of the smoothest drinking wines I have tasted.

We got this wine at Bevmo (San Diego's local liquor warehouse) for $8.99, so if you're looking for a sweet sweet bargain [wink, wink] then check this one out.

Allie insists that this is her absolute favorite wine!! =)