Happy New Cheers - Sparkly Wines by Mandasaurus!

I'm a fan of bubbles. And even though New Year's Eve is awfully attached to bubbly, I feel like good, interesting, not-gross sparkling wine is challenging to come by. So here are my ideas - all cheap, all delicious.

• Right this minute I'm sipping Albero from Trader Joe's. It's a Spanish sparkling white wine. It comes with a champagne cork (the kind you pull out without a corkscrew), but not a lot of pop (that just makes good safety sense). The taste is pretty easy - dry but not at all gasp-inducing, grapefruit notes, nothing complicated. Since it was less than $5 I could definitely see adding orange or cranberry juice to this. Or Chambord! Perfect!
• Trader Joe's Vihno Verde - Vinho Verde means green wine, literally. It's Portuguese - and like a Portuguese guy I dated it's fun, it's simple, it's easy. These (tall, green) bottles sell for $3.99 at Trader Joe's. I like this wine because it's very summery. I think I drink about a dozen bottles of it between May and August each year. While it certainly goes down easy it's also flavorful with lots of lemon and freshness, fizz and a bit of sweetness. Vihno Verdes do not come with champagne corks so you need a traditional corkscrew to open them. They're still fizzy and definitely worthwhile.
• I drank another Vihno Verde at Thanksgiving with my family. It was similarly fresh, citrus-y and delightful. I really enjoy the fizz as well as the fresh flavor.
  
• Cook's Extra Dry is readily available at Jewel (or your local big box grocery) for an appallingly low price. It's not a showy drink at all, but it does the job as a sparkling wine. I would wholeheartedly suggest this as a mixer or as something to pour into everyone's flute at midnight. B likes Cook's Spumante because he's a fiend for the sweet wines. It's also just fine as decent option for the sugar maniacs at your party.
• Korbel was the Mandasaurus family's drink of Christmas Day morning. We had mimosas (OJ and sparkling wine) with the traditional sparkling white wine first. Then we concocted some Poinsettias with cranberry juice and Korbel sparkling rose wine which were dry but yummy with a neat mauve color.
• Sparkling red wine is an interesting bird. The sparkle adds a lot of refreshing-ness to red wine. The sort that I've tried was also from Trader Joe's and it was really nice. We enjoyed it with a baked pasta dish which certainly called for red wine, but the sparkle gave the whole meal a little more kick with some berry flavors and honest-to-goodness zest. This wine comes with a champagne cork.
  

If you're not sparkly-inclined try one of these concoctions - remember: always pour mixers before bubbly to keep the fizz going!

• Cranberry and sparkling wine - called a poinsettia during Christmas, call it whatever you want!
• Mimosa - OJ and sparkling wine. Superb.
• Liquor and sparkling wine: try a berry liquor like Chambord (that's called a Cham-Cham!) or whatever you like.
• Toss some berries or fruit parts (I'm thinking clementine segments) in the glass just to contribute a little more flavor to the cheap stuff.
• Do the same with herbs - basil or mint - interesting!

Let me know if you stumble upon something neat. Happy celebrating!

Wanted: A good bank

I'm seriously asking for advice, friends of Mandasaurus.

I'm currently a WaMu customer. I love WaMu - great customer service, easy online bill-pay, free checking, fun advertisements that make me feel cool banking there.

WaMu is turning into Chase Bank - boo! I don't hate Chase at all, but I just don't see what's so great about them. And I try my best to be a conscious bank patron.

In Boston I banked with Wainwright Community Bank. Wainwright is known to my friends and I as the Big Gay Bank because it's incredibly socially conscious, well-designed (The banks themselves were beautiful and all different - modern and colorful, industrial, etc. What a treat!) and staffed by a diverse group of people.

In DC I ficklely chose PNC Bank which allows free ATMs anyplace - big draw, but in the end not a tremendous bank customer service-wise.

I came to WaMu on the recommendation of a friend. And now I'm asking for friends to help me again. Any ideas?

My new bank must:

• Have a great website and tremendous online banking capabilities. I'm utterly obsessed with checking my balances online, so this is key.
• Show excellent customer service, but not necessarily a walk-up branch (you're a contender ING!). I want someone to talk to when I'm confused or if (like happened last spring) my organizational madness detects a suspicious transaction (turns out my card number was pilfered and someone used my account to get gas and groceries in the suburbs! Hrmph! WaMu solved this situation swiftly.)
• Have something great happening - social consciousness is great (green policies, better-than-average practices with non-discrimination, whatever).
• Offer a savings account with a good interest rate and not too many rules.
  

Suggestions welcome! Thanks, friends!

Look at me go!

Here's the promised picture of me running the Jingle Bell 5K - just in time for me to prepare for the New Year's 5K on January 1 at 11 a.m.

Runners get a free beer afterward - whoo-hoo!

Victory! In a winter wonderland

Did you know that it's snowy here in Chicago? Yes, in the winter it's cold, snowy, icy and windy. 

And when you drive places around here (like my boss does every day, from Indiana!) there is traffic. Yuck.

Actually, I'm pretty confident that traffic persists in Chicago in all types of weather for all possible reasons (my favorite reason for traffic from B: "It's Friday. There's always traffic on Fridays in Chicago."), but that's beside the point.

The point is that when the forecast says that snow will falling or roads will be icy or whatever, you should make plans to NOT drive in or around Chicago. Often during the weather forecast the weather official actually says too. They sometimes say: "It will be snowing tomorrow. Don't drive if you can avoid it. There will be delays. And traffic."

Yesterday when about four inches of snow fell upon Chicago it took my boss four hours to drive home to Indiana! Four hours!

It took me exactly 30 minutes on the train to get to Trader Joes where I sampled a meatball, bought three bottles of wine and some cookies. Within four hours after I left work I shopped, romped through the snow, did laundry, talked to my mom on the phone and made a pot of soup. Delicious. 

Whoo-hoo! In one last bit of El-related cheer - Julie B, B and I are going to hop on the CTA Santa Express this weekend! Ho-ho-ho!

Feeling like a champ!

The Jingle Bell 5K that I complained about for the last few days was actually quite awesome. Sure, it was absolutely freezing and I was so bundled up that I was sweaty, but seriously I had a wonderful time.

The race started at the Merchandise Mart, an easy zip down the Brown Line, and winded down wide city streets. I paced myself really well and besides stopping for a shoe-tie and sip of water I ran the whole time.

I finished with my best time yet - 35:25! Hooray!

B took some photos of me and I'll post those soon.

Now I just need to take this positivity and keep it rolling for the New Year's Day 5K...

Who's idea was this?

Who ever thought that running a 5K race every month of the year was a good idea? 

It's snowing and feels like 15 degrees outside right now, and that's nothing compared to tomorrow when I'm taking the El downtown to run 3 miles at 9 a.m. It's supposed to be zero. Zero! Eeeeek!

I'm rethinking this brilliant plan of mine, seriously. Still, it could be very, very fun. Right?