Blog Master G

Though my 30th birthday party set the party bar pretty high, this year was also pretty freakin’ awesome.

Jen masterminded yet another great event — the Wine Snob Smackdown ’08 — this time pairing 7 wines with 7 cheeses and challenging party-goers to a blind taste test. Rather than asking everyone to bring the usual 2 bottles of wine, as we normally do for Saratoga Wine Club, we asked people to contribute $7 to the pot, which would be split between the winner and my Team in Training fundraising efforts.

The wines were excellent, the cheese pairings perfect, and the food of the evening was delightful (triple combo of Mama Mia’s, Jen’s tortellini and cheese selections, and Alexis’ lasagne — thanks, everyone!). Nature treated us all to an amazing sunset (thanks to Patricia for discovering it and calling everyone to the porch to enjoy). Later in the evening, we reminisced about my party last year and I fired up my video roast, so we all enjoyed some great laughs — it’s hilarious every time, no matter how many times I see it.

Vinnie and Mara took the unofficial prize for playing the part of biggest wine snobs of the evening, dressed to the nines:

And what birthday party would be complete without a Penis Pokey book (thanks, Seth & Niki!) or a birthday pie (thanks, Mrs. A!)? Not mine!

As Jen was worried might happen, I ended up winning the contest with 8 total points (4 correctly identified wines & 4 of 7 wine trivia points); all the money collected that evening went to the cause. Thank you again to our awesome friends for a great time and for helping us raise nearly $400 for the LLS!