"Saving Room" for Sparkling Spice

There ALWAYS seems to be wine and beer tastings happening (you are often met coming up from the garage with a cup of wine)…even at 11:00 AM when you’re not sure if it is a good idea to be sampling so many different types of champagne and sparkling wine when you’ve hardly eaten anything so far that day and just come from working out and walking around the store drinking results in impulse purchases…

*Reason #1 why I hate the Whole Foods in Austin? They often have amazing sales on things you’ve always wanted to try, and then you try them and wonder how you’ll ever be able to live without them…and weep a little bit because you know you’re going to suffer from “cost vs. desire” heart strains later on.

They had a special deal that day whereby if you said “Happy Sparkling!” at checkout, you got a 20% discount on your sparkling wine.So, obviously, I had to buy one. I had never had a sparkling Riesling before, but YUM! The deals didn’t end there, as I stopped by the Savory Spice Shop to utilize a Groupon I had bought a few weeks ago, paying $7.00 to get $15.00 worth of spices.Now y’all know I am hopelessly devoted to Penzey’s, but I was willing to bend a little in my devotions as the Savory Spice Shop is so close to my house….and it was adorable inside!I figured to maximize my money, I’d go for a spice blend or two, since I love putting them on, well, EVERYTHING (but most notably, my veggies). Lucky me, I ended up with not one or two in my bag……but THREE! [And I only had to pay 26 cents!]After utilizing the “sniff testers,” I settled on the Capitol Hill Seasoning which has dried shallots, chives, and dill in it (among other herbs), the Table Mountain All-Purpose Seasoning, which has everything from paprika to Greek oregano to coriander to dill and thyme…
…and the salt-free Renaissance Gardens Seasoning which has bell pepper, onion, tomato powder, shallots, spinach, lemon peel…and a whole lot of other things I am too tired to try and squint to read.
[I've already used 'em all, and I am VERY happy with my purchases...but again, as with the Whole Foods cost vs. desire issue, I'm seriously going to become spoiled...and probably end up "needing" to buy more varieties to try....]

The rest of the New Year’s Eve festivities continued with dinner at Takoba with my roommate (more on that later y’all, but I had some delicious pork tacos, nopales, and a yummy bacon-lentil soup), after which I moseyed on over to another friends’ house to ring in the new year…twice. [Once for the East Coast...and once for Central Time. ]

Luckily for me, I didn’t have to think at all about what to bring (aside from that sparkling Riesling) because when I had returned home to Austin, I’d had an amazing care package* waiting for me from Tricia @ Saving Room For Dessert! Considering the size of the peanut butter and chocolate-pecan Fantasy Fudge I found….

*Sent because I e-mailed her with the subject line “Texans Love Treats” after reading her blog every day in December and drooling over the confections she was creating! Hey, I’m not afraid to ask for what I want.…I was more than willing to share with my friends at the party. [Although I definitely kept some at home, too. ]In case you are wondering just how good this fudge is…my roommate first said, “Sarah, why the heck did you cut the pieces so big? There is NO WAY I can eat all of it,” and then, two minutes later, said, “Hmm. OK, I guess it’s not that hard,” as she reached for another piece.

What I didn’t take to the party?

Seriously, I had a discussion with my roommates about whether or not the host of the party was “toffee-worthy.”