Blue Chickens

Wine Art Wednesday... our weekly art/wine therapy session was in full swing with seven returning attendees: Joan, Naty, Audrey, Jen, Denise, Gina, (and me; Lauren) and we welcomed a first timer at this week's get together as well, Marjon. While a newbie to the group, she certainly was no newbie to art-- she is a great artist! Her website is www.babyroompaintings.com. Within minutes she was part of our family and was regaling us with stories of the Netherlands, where she is originally from. (Like indoor skiing and snowboarding facilities that are there! How cool!) When asked what brought her to live in the US, she explained that she was only intending to visit, but then fell in love, and now is married and living in Connecticut!  This sparked conversations about international living and we traded stories about the process of getting interviewed to prove you're really married when getting a green card in the US. In Marjon's case it was easy, she explained that she showed them e-mail history for years and countless pictures of their wedding and all their adventures together and explained that the interviewer basically took one glance at them and knew they were the real deal--haha!

For dinner, Naty prepared an amazing split pea soup and paella. My mouth is watering just remembering how good they both were! 

(Photos courtesy of Gina!)

On the topic of food, we talked about how they say you can change your tastes within 12 times of tasting something--So let's say for example if you originally don't like a food, it's said you can learn to like it if you continue to try it and each time tell yourself "yum! this is delicious!" This sparked stories of interesting foods we've eaten when traveling. Naty said she really enjoys eating authentic cuisine when traveling, and we all agreed. Naty and Marjon shared experiences of eating raw herring in the Netherlands.  Joan told us of blue chicken.... Apparently, a chicken whose skin is actually blue?! We had to look this up to see for ourselves:

 (taken from = http://www.eatingclubvancouver.com)

(Image courtesy of http://www.fowlvisions.com/)

We also talked about "aquavit"-- and thought it would be a good question to post on the blog. Does anyone out there know what "acquavit" is exactly? None of us knew!

Later in the evening, when Jen complimented my skirt, I started demo-ing how it actually could be worn as 4 different dresses, 3 different skirts, a shawl, a cape, etc.... the options are endless! I was actually wearing this amazing wrap by Angelrox, a designer in Brooklyn  (www.angelrox.com) 

Some quotes of the evening: "double fisting sangria" ... "mmmm beet water" .... "I don't have ice cream, but I have goat's milk or sour cream!"

xoxo,
Lauren