A Sweet & Savory Bachelorette Party

This is the wonderful way in which I spent my weekend.  It all started a few months ago when JJ’s bestie got engaged and he was announced as “Man of Honour” so part of these duties includes planning and hosting the bachelorette party.  This has been the subject of many conversations this spring and summer as we planned.  The end result was perfection.  The weather was the nicest day of the summer, everyone had a great time and the food and wine were equally amazing!

Pic. JJ & Shauna – Besties

Our Friday started off with shopping and prepping all the food. A trip to Brickworks for oils, Whittamore’s Farm for veggies and fruit, Rowe Farms for the meats, Harvest Wagon for fresh juice and lastly Leslieville Cheese Market for the cheese and gluten free bread goodies…and we can’t forget the LCBO for champagne (which I sampled on Friday night while cooking…that may or may not have been a good idea). With all the shopping done we started to create the menu for the day:

Strawberry & Basil salad with minced onions and walnut oil dressing

Grilled Buttered Corn,  Zucchini and Onion salad with cilantro

Caprese salad created with Heirloom Tomato’s & Buffalo Mozzarella on toasted crostini’s

HOT Peach salsa with celery, cilantro and lime juice

The prepping took us well in to the night and me well into the bottle of champagne (gulp) but we pulled it off.  Packed up our coolers went to bed ready for the day of fun touring wineries in Niagara on the Lake.

The Limo picked us up at 11:00am after the group had already been treated to Mimosa’s, fruit, nuts and some yummy baked goodies so needless to say we were primed to go! Into the huge limo we all jumped and the wine started to flow into our first stop on the tour Hernder Estates.  I love everything about this winery, the beautiful manicured grounds, the old barn you can tour around in to the tasting room which is full of very friendly knowledgeable people.  We had a cheese picnic on the side patio of the winery and enjoyed their Riesling and Cabernet Merlot.

Stop number two brought us to Marynissen Estates, as the limo pulled up the owner ran out, “are you the ones who called?”  Yes that was us, so she scoped up the group for a history lesson on the region and their wine.  While this was happening JJ & I where preparing our lunch feast of all the salad’s above. This was by far the most relaxing atmosphere I have had the chance to enjoy.  As we were eating our picnic lunch the sun was shining, you could hear the russell of the leaves, and we were surrounded by a beautiful garden-perfection. The winery welcomes bike tours and we watched a bunch roll in while we were eating. The attention we received from the staff here was bang on! They know customer service.

As our afternoon tour was ending we jumped back in our limo for the trip to Kitchener. Time was passed drinking all the lovely wines we purchased and playing trivia.  Our night came to a close sitting in a friend’s backyard, catching up and talking about life, love and all things a Bachelorette should know before taking the big plunge.  Good luck Shauna although you won’t need it!