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We walked around the garden of our B&B this morning…enjoying the fresh air and sunshine before getting in the car to head to our next destination. Once in the car…instead of driving somewhere for breakfast…the car suddenly turned into the driveway of a winery called Morris Wines (www.morriswines.com). Hmmmm…is it bad to have wine before breakfast?
The Morris Winery was very well-known for their sweet wines…ports and specifically Tokay’s and Muscat’s. We had a lot of fun learning the difference in both process and taste. Muscat and Tokay are both grape varietals which is where the name comes from, and are actually very similar in process…the taste however differs. The muscat grape is a red grape and therefore has more of an auburn color…its flavor characteristics are of raisin or prunes, fruit-cake and is very sweet with a syrupy feel in the mouth. The Tokay which is a white grape has more of a golden amber color and its flavor characteristics are of toffee, caramel and butterscotch…it is also very sweet and syrupy. Both types of fortified wines may sit in big barrels for many years and with time the flavor grows more complex…not from the oak in the barrel but just from the grape varietal sitting for so long. The women working the counter lined up bottles of 4 different vintages of both a Muscat and a Tokay ranging from 10 years to over 50 years old. We also shared with her a port we had purchased from Tahbilk Winery (www.tahbilk.com.au) while we were tasting wine in Victoria. We ended up buying a very nice Muscat which was about 25 years old.
After our sweet wine breakfast, we drove the few minutes to the village and walked a couple of blocks looking for a place to eat. We found a little place which advertised homemade food. Giff ordered a lamb pie and I ordered lasagna and we sat outside on the street people watching. After lunch we made one more quick stop before leaving town, St Leonard’s Winery (www.prbwines.com.au). It was closed yesterday but open today. After tasting their few wines we decided we really didn’t like them…but their tasting room was nice and we walked through part of their wine storage looking at their big and old wine barrels.
We finally got on the road to our next B&B which was a good 3 hours away. It was close to dinner time when we arrived at the Schonegg Guesthouse (www.schonegg.com.au). We checked in and were shown our room labeled the Pinot Noir room…yes, we had driven to another wine region in Australia! After we settled in, the host invited us into the lounge where she had little complimentary finger foods and a complimentary local glass of wine. We sat and looked over various brochures, ate our snack and listened to the relaxing music. We are only staying at this place for one night but could easily stay for a week.
It was starting to get late so we drove down the street to a local pub for a light dinner. We had a pizza and salad with a couple of beers. The food was exactly what would be expected from a pub. Giff’s allergies started to flare up so we went back to our Pinot Noir room and Giff crawled into bed to get some sleep while I did some “work” on the computer. Tomorrow, we will explore this wine region called, Murrumbateman.
Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
View all posts by Brandey Kabat
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