La Beaujolais Nouveau est arrive!!!!

Yes, it IS November. Drinking some Beaujolais Nouveau takes me back 20 years to NYC where I first discovered--and embraced--this tradition.

Third Thursday in November?
Check.
12:01 a.m.?
Check.
Crack open the Beaujolais Nouveau 2008 and let's have a party.

This year I did something a little different--I escorted the "first" case of Georges DeBouef BN 2008 to Casa Casuarina (former home of Gianni Versace in South Beach) on the back of a Harley in a Biker Brigade. It was for a good cause (City Harvest, City Meals on Wheels and Share Our Strength all benefited), and it was great fun. Whenever I get to spend a fun day like this, I remember what a great crowd and what great fun chefs are (I have momentary lapses of wanting to be back in the kitchen, but I lie down, drink more Beaujolais and it passes) and that sometimes you need to pause in the madness, raise a glass and just enjoy your company. Here's a shot of everyone anticipating that first pour:We had loads of fun, I got to celebrate my first Harley Davidson ride behind handsome, talented
chef Beto DiCarlo of Cafe Ragazzi in Surfside, and I got loads of photos. I almost won a cute little mini-bike (almost: my name was in the pot--we all almost won...only one person DID)...and I got to see inside the gates of the fabulous Casa Casuarina.

I'll close now, because it's my BIRTHDAY. I will share that I am 49. I try not to bug about it. In my head, I am that 25 y.o. drinking Beaujolais Nouveau with her lost friends (Claudia, Rich, Ray, Sharon, Marianne, Andy and oh-so-many others) in NYC til all hours of the night...ordering the first bottles of BN to drink with steak and pommes frites and arguing with the manager over the price of the bottle! (Remember that, Ray? I do!)...Sigh. Time does march on, doesn't it?