Catch up on episode 2 of the podcast before episode 3 comes out tomorrow at 4pm EST!
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Tag Archives: wine
Tom Hiddleston IRL | Poppin’ Bottles & Culture
Episode 1 of the podcast went live last Friday. Did you enjoy it?
Feel free to contribute to our podcast wine fund here.
Home of Poppin’ Bottles & Culture
I’ve been a bit silent on the blog for a few weeks, but if you follow me on social media, you’re already aware that it’s because I’ve been working on starting a podcast with my friend actress Meggy Hai Trang!
The podcast will be a fun tipsy chat about all things pop culture. During each episode, we’ll sip on wine while discussing movies, music, celebs and loads more.
Check out the trailer on your favorite podcast platform. The first official episode goes live tomorrow, August 13, 2021! Give us a good rating if you enjoy it 🍷
Winter 2021 Valentine’s Day Wine & Dine Playlist
Although restaurants across NYC are reopening for indoor dining this Valentine’s Day weekend (and Lunar New Year), I think most people are going to play it safe and just order take out.
In the event that you decide to have Valentine’s Day dinner in the safety of your home, I’ve made the perfect playlist to serve as the soundtrack to your lovely quarantine feast.
You can play it while you’re cooking, put it on repeat as you set the table for you and your Valentine, or snuggle up with some wine and crank up the volume while you wait for your food to be delivered.
Whatever the situation may be, enjoy this winter’s flavorful Valentine’s Day Wine & Dine Playlist!
1. Hunger, Rhye. Let’s work up an appetite.
2. Yummy, Justin Bieber. The lyrics speak for themselves.
3. Buy You A Drank (Shawty Snappin’), T-Pain ft. Yung Joc. Good thing you’re already home 😉
4. I Got the Juice, Janelle Monáe ft. Pharrell Williams. 🍋🍑🍒🍓
5. Wasabi, Little Mix. She’s “sweet and salty.”
6. Cake by the Ocean, DNCE. Keep on hoping and maybe it might happen 🤞🏽
7. Chocolate, Maluma. A lil bit of Latin sweetness.
8. Cherry, Lana del Rey. “My cherries and wine, rosemary and thyme…”
9. Moon Sugar, Night Beds. Sweet tooth.
10. Simple & Sweet, Jon Bellion. One final serenade.
Have a Happy and Safe Valentine’s Day!
May Favorites: Post Malone’s Rosé & HTGAWM Series Finale
Before you begin reading this post, please ensure that you have done at least one of the following:
Signed a petition regarding justice for George Floyd & Breonna Taylor
Donated to a charity supporting Black Lives Matter
Safely participated in a protest (only if you are healthy enough to be outdoors)
Supported a BIPOC-owned business
If not, please do not come back to this blog until you have completed one of the aforementioned things.
#BLM
The world better not experience a week like the last week of May 2020 ever again.
Despite all the ways May went wrong, I was still able to find some amazing things last month that’ll put a smile on your face, if only for a few moments.
Let’s get to it:
Favorite News Articles
1. Post Malone is launching a brand of rosé. I feel like I’m the only person who is super hype about this!
2. Hamilton the musical will stream on Disney+ in July! CHRISTMAS IN JULY!
3. The law wouldn’t let Baby Musk keep his name. But not even an intervention from the state could change it enough.
Favorite Music
1. “Passion” by RAC feat. Louis the Child. “We’re pieces of the universe…”
#TWBT: Let’s Talk About the 2018 Autumn Tippler
I’ve known about the NYC Tipplers by Craft Hospitality for some time now, but I’m not really one to drink a lot at once so I turned my friends down when they asked me to join them for the Winter Tippler this year.
However, I decided to try it out for the 2018 Autumn Tippler and it was so much fun!
Quick rundown of how the Tippler works: You purchase a Tippler passbook online via the main website or on Eventbrite (I got mine on Eventbrite). The passbook contains each of the participating venues and the names of the cocktails they will have for the Tippler on individual pages which will be stamped or signed once redeemed for the drink. The Tippler runs for a certain amount of weeks (the Autumn Tippler ran from October 1-November 15). Any day, beginning on the first day of the Tippler, you can pick up your passbook from your selected pick-up location (which is one of the bars participating in the Tippler) and then go on your merry way redeeming your drinks!
My pickup location was e’s Bar in Manhattan. I did the Tippler with a large group of friends, which made it so much more exciting.
Below is a little photo diary of the venues I got to try cocktails from. The venues that I didn’t get to visit are featured at the end of this in Instagram posts from Abi, one of the friends I did the Tippler with.
e’s Bar, White Wine Mojito
I’m a huge fan of white wine so this was absolutely amazing! Super simple and super delicious! I’m so glad this was the pickup location because this drink set the bar pretty high.
Mad River Bar & Grill, The Creamsicle
Tastes like orange cream soda! Hello again, childhood 🙂
Ousia, El Gobernador PPP
I’ve never had peppercorn before this, but it’s definitely interesting on the taste buds and makes a really aesthetically pleasing garnish. Still wondering where the fourth “P” is in the name (pisco, pomegranate, pineapple, pink peppercorn).
The Late Late, Mrs. Robinson
The bitterness of grapefruit was a little stronger than I would have liked but this wasn’t bad.
Wicked Willy’s, Spiked Cider
Perfectly sweet spiked cinnamon-y hot cider treat! The cinnamon stick could have been longer though.
Jojo’s Philosophy, The Georgetowner
Me: *Sips* “Oh this is strong. Pablo’s gonna love this.”
Pablo: “Yeah, but it tastes bad.”
I love Jojo’s for everything else except this. LAWD. IT. WAS. AWFUL! ESPECIALLY THE WHISKEY DRENCHED PINEAPPLES.
Hold Fast Kitchen & Spirits, Hold Fast To Your Dreams
Almost as bad as The Georgetowner from Jojo’s minus the awful whiskey soaked pineapple. Also, what’s going on with this garnish?
Hudson Station, Raspberry Lemonade
Tastes like a jolly rancher! So, so good!
McGettigans, Cosmo (originally supposed to be Goslings Dark and Storms)
They didn’t have the ingredients for the drink that was listed for the Tippler so the bartender gave us cosmos instead. Delicious fruity cranberry and vodka goodness!
The Astorian, Classic Gin Forward Martinez
The gin was pretty strong but it tasted waaayyy more bearable than the Hold Fast To Your Dreams and The Georgetowner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqYzw0igE3F/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqRFYHqgdXi/
Overall, I think this was a really great way to explore NYC’s cocktail scene. I’ll probably do the Tippler again next season!
Gallery Mondays: Freeport Spirits
I’ve been dabbling in a bit of historical fiction writing over the last couple of months. I recently wrote a short story about pirates, so when I came across this photo in my camera roll I decided it was fitting for this week’s Gallery Mondays.
This seafaring scene was found on the wall outside of Freeport Spirits in Long Island. I see it every Sunday on the way to church, so I recently snapped a photo of it.
One of the three ships in this art piece looks like a pirate ship. I wonder if this scene is based on real events, and if so, did the pirates make it onto land in Freeport?
I wonder which ship is carrying the barrels of wine…
Gallery Mondays: ‘Private Passage’
I just had a housewarming party on Friday, so I’m out of wine, and this week’s Gallery Mondays is reminding me I have to go by some more!
Anyway, I saw this really cool wine bottle one day while sitting at Pier 96 in NYC. It’s called Private Passage, and it was created by Malcolm Cochran.
I’m kind of upset now, because I just did some research on the bottle and realized the inside of it is a replica of an interior stateroom on the ocean liner Queen Mary. AND I DIDN’T KNOW WHILE I WAS THERE SO I DIDN’T LOOK THROUGH ANY OF THE HOLES TO SEE IT.
I’ll probably go back soon because clearly I have some unfinished business with that wine bottle.
3 Mics @ Lynn Redgrave Theater
*POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINK
On Friday night, my friend Karina and I went out for a little night on the town.
After scrolling through Today Tix earlier that week, I found 3 Mics, a comedy show featuring former co-creator of the Chapelle Show Neal Brennan.
The premise of the show is Neal Brennan’s ability to alternate between three microphones, showcasing his abilities as a versatile comedian. One of the three mics were for one-liners, another for long-form jokes about topics such as race and student loan debt, and the last one for his journey as a writer and performer. Before switching to a new mic, the lights would fade out and Neal took a sip from one of the three water bottles in each microphone cradle.
1 man, 3 mics.
The show took place at Lynn Redgrave Theater in Greenwich Village. Karina and I took the M train to get there from Queens, and it was a pretty smooth ride.
We got to the theater around 9pm, and the show started at 9:30. I’d forgotten to tell Karina that there were no drinks at this venue, much less a bar area. I don’t understand how a venue for comedy thinks it’s okay to not have a liquor license. Someone fix this! Karina had intended to pay me back for the tickets by getting me a drink, but we had to go elsewhere for that.
The best part was realizing we’d only paid $1o each for obstructed view seats (which weren’t obstructed at all) to see a show by a comedian that once worked alongside Dave Chapelle. How insane!
Obstructed view? SOLD.
To say Karina fell head over heels for Neal Brennan is an understatement. Regardless of how depressing Neal’s life is when it comes to feeling emotion, he’s a great standup comedian with a lot of feel-good energy. Our favorite joke of his involved male and female hormones.
“With women, estrogen is like, ‘Let’s drink some wine and go on Etsy,'” he said. Then he imitated testosterone, which he compares to a jail inmate, by pulling the bar stool closer to do a few push ups.
It was great. Best $20 I spent on a night of entertainment to date.
Karina and I at 3 Mics
After the show, we went to meet some of Karina’s friends at Diablo Royale. I had The Luci, which was sparkling wine mixed with a frozen margarita. Karina had a classic margarita.
The Luci and a margarita classic at Diablo Royale
After a hunt to satisfy Karina’s late night sushi craving, we got on a train decked out as the set of Starz series Outlander.
Karina with a portrait of Outlander’s King Louis XV (Lionel Lingelser)
We couldn’t resist taking a few pics.
Overall, we had a great night. I’ll definitely be using Today Tix more often.
Photo Diary: Marisa Perry Atelier Bourbon & Baubles Event
Never did it dawn on me that jewels and spirits might be the perfect combo.
I was invited to the Bourbon & Baubles event at Marisa Perry Atelier, a jewelry shop in the West Village of NYC, on February 11th. The event was part bourbon tasting and part jewelry perusing.
I’m not much of a bourbon fan so I settled on some sparkling pomegranate to start and then moved up to a sparkly white wine I didn’t catch the name of. When I asked for the wine, the bartender looked at me weird and asked “How old are you?”
“I’m 21,” I told him. He just stared at me. “Do you want to see my I.D.?”
I never get carded at intimate events like this, but I wasn’t leaving that table without my white wine, so I pulled my wallet out.
Just then, Marisa Perry walked by in her gorgeous red dress and purple pumps.
“Are you serious?” she asked when she saw me taking my I.D. out of my wallet.
“She looks 17!” the bartender exclaimed.
Marisa then gave me a side hug and laughed. “Take it as a compliment, darling. I’d be jumping over tables if someone asked me for my I.D.”
Yes, Marisa Perry hugged me. She’s is officially the coolest jewelry shop owner I’ve ever met.
Since none of the friends I invited were able to make it, I had way too much time on my hands to take photos at the event. I hereby present to you the bourbon, the baubles, and the adorable chocolate lab.
My sparkly white wine.
Jewels by Marisa Perry’s husband/co-owner of the shop.
Heart shaped sugar cookie!
Max, Marisa’s chocolate lab. She was trying so hard to find crumbs all over the floor to eat!
Learn more about Marisa Perry Atelier at www.marisaperry.com.
