Free Days at Houston Museums!

I found out that some of the museums in the Houston area offer FREE days. I think this is a fantastic way for families to share some time learning about history, science, art, etc while not breaking the bank. Below are the museums and current free days as of this writing.

General Admission Only

• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum - FREE Monday 10 am - 5 pm
• Children's Museum of Houston - FREE Thursday 5 – 8 pm
• The Health Museum - FREE Thursday 2 – 5 pm
• The John C. Freeman Weather Museum - FREE Thursday 12 – 4 pm
• Houston Museum of Natural Science - FREE Tuesday after 2 pm
• Houston Zoo - Every Month! The Houston Zoo will offer free admission to guests on the first Tuesday of every month from 2 p.m. until closing.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - FREE Thursday 10 am – 9 pm

The following museums are free all the time:

• Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum
• Contemporary Arts Museum Houston
• Holocaust Museum Houston
• Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
• Houston Center for Photography
• The Jung Center of Houston
• Lawndale Art Center
• The Menil Collection
• Rice University Art Gallery
• Rothko Chapel

Pac-man Vintage glass - Get Ready!

Again, another enjoyable vintage glass from my collection. This one is Pac-man featuring "Bashful" nicknamed Inky, who is real shy and may run away. The entire glass is a Pac-man maze with fruit around the bottom.
I love this glass. It is from AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service) in 1980 in conjunction with Bally Midway Manufacturing Company. This morning I enjoyed my Welch's Grape Juice in it. Hee hee.

NYE and Fiorosa Vino Spumante Dolce

Last year for New Year's Eve, we enjoyed a bottle of Raspberry sparkling wine from the Queen Creek Olive Oil Mill. This year we are far from Arizona, so we went searching for something similar.
At our local Specs we found this Vila Rogole Fiorosa Vino Spumante Dolce recommended by the guy at Specs. It is a sweet sparkling wine from Italy. He said it has a good balance without being too sweet. Well, we tried it and it was drinkable. I think it was sweeter than I wanted, and it's hard to match something when you already have a taste in mind from a previous product.
At around $15 a bottle, it was a pretty good alternative to regular champagne. It does have it's downfall, it was horrible mixed with o.j. for morning mimosas. I guess I can't have an easy to drink, sweet sparking wine/champagne AND delicious mixer for mimosas. There's always next NYE.

Yuengling - America's Oldest Brewery

Yuengling! American's Oldest Brewery! This is not my favorite in a can, but when you can only get it East of the Mississippi, you take what you can get! A great, refreshing, clean, crisp beer. I prefer the lager, but the black and tan is fabulous, too!
Now if I could just get someone to mail me some! Yeah!

E.T. Vintage Glass

I own some vintage glassware from when we were kids. This is one of my favorites that I enjoy drinking my morning juice from. It is a 1982 aafes E.T. The Extra Terrestrial drinking glass from Universal Studios. The one side has E.T. dressed for Halloween with "Be Good" written underneath. The other side has the E.T. and Elliot fingers touching with the movie title underneath.
I have seen these glasses sell for $6 each on eBay, but I really enjoy drinking from these more than I would enjoy selling them.

Christian Audigier Syrah 2007 by Montpeyroux Estates

We received this bottle of syrah in October 2009 from some great friends for our wedding. I didn't open it until December 2011. It wasn't that I was saving it for some special occasion, or allowing it to age...I just wasn't sure what Christian Audigier/Ed Hardy had when it comes to wine.
Christian Audigier partnered with Montpeyroux Estates from France to create these wines. It is imported by Shaw-Ross International Importers in Mirimar, Florida.
I was pleasantly surprised. Although it is a twist top - not a deal breaker for me - it was a rich red color with a spicy aroma.
The taste was pleasant and not too dry. It starts with a berry flavor and moves into a little bit of spice. The web site on the bottle (www.myspace.com/thecoolwine) is a myspace page (Really?!? myspace?!?!) and when you go to it, it doesn't allow you to view anything unless you are a "friend." So check out the line of wines HERE.
I am looking for the Chardonnay since the description is "buttery."

Madria Sangria - Modesto, California

Madria Sangria Tradicional Fresh Citrus is a sweet red sangria best enjoyed chilled with cut up fruit added. I like small pieces of apple, pear, orange slices and even watermelon or strawberries. This wine has flavors of orange, lemon and lime and is terrific with fruit or alone.
It is a sweet red wine and I enjoy it alone. This big ass bottle was compliments of Mom. Sangria is her favorite, and she pretty picky about her wine.
Visit their website HERE.

D.H. Lescombes Ratafia - sweet white table wine Deming, New Mexico

D.H. Lescombes Ratafia is a sweet white table wine out of Deming, New Mexico. I have enjoyed this wine before and find it is sweet - it is a dessert wine, after all - but not overpoweringly so. It is meant for pairing with dessert like cheesecake or tres leches, however I have enjoyed it with pork roast, which when paired with the sweetness of fruit, is wonderful. Remember, “Pork chops and applesauce!”?

The bottles are wonderfully different. I have this one with a Dia de los Muertos like skull on the front, but I also have a Koi fish on another bottle. Although they are just stickers and not painted on, the bottles are an unusual shape and the designs make great décor for the kitchen or bar.

Visit them at their website HERE.