The Swear Jar.

A couple of months ago my very good friend and co-worker Breeyn and I were at work. We were going about our shifts as usual, being silly and making each other laugh, when she started to tell a story about her sleeping experience the night before (Or lack there of). She was staying at her boyfriend's place who has a pool in his backyard and a couple of rowdy roomates. She was trying to sleep but couldn't because one of his roomates decided it would be a good idea to go for a midnight swim with some friends. Amongst these friends were men and women all of whom were drunk and I guess thought it sounded really sexy to swear like a sailor. Poor Breeyn looked out the window to see who was out there and give them heck for being so loud when she saw one of his roomates was not wearing any clothing and had a body that resembles Peter Griffin from The Family Guy. She was so shocked by this that she quickly looked away and went back to bed with the image of Peter Griffin's naked body burned into her retinas.

Of course by this time I'm laughing hysterically while she describes what he looked like shuddering while she's trying to speak. I pull myself together and she tells me that there was actually a point to the story. Swearing. These women her boyfriend's roomate was hanging out with swore like truckers the entire night and Breeyn couldn't help but wonder if that is what she sounds like when she's at the restaurant. It is so unattractive but working in the industry that we do it's really hard not to pick up the bad habit. We decided that we would start a swear jar at work and we would trust each other to be honest about it at home too. The fee was $0.25 per swear. Over the next couple of weeks we realized how much we were swearing and made a very conscious effort to kick the habit. Ok, so we didn't completely kick the habit but we at least got the conversational swearing under control. We decided that the money the jar accumulated would go toward one fabulous bottle of wine to reward us for cutting back quite a bit.

We purchased a bottle of the 2002 St. Hallett Old Block Shiraz from the Barossa Valley for about $50. We decanted the wine for a couple of hours before drinking it. I bought some cheese and treats to enjoy with the wine as well which I found at the Bulk Cheese Warehouse, along with a cheesecake I purchased at Calories Bakery and Restaurant.

The wine was a really dark purple colour. I started to swirl the glass and instantly I could smell chocolate. When I tasted the wine it was very full bodied with very strong smooth tannins. The chocolate taste followed onto the palate but there were also strong flavours of plums and raspberries. The finish lingered for quite a while with a slightly smoky taste.

Overall this was a really well balanced wine and I strongly recommend it to anyone who has an extra $50 lying around. It would be a great wine to save for a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary, or perhaps a Tuesday ;).

Cheers,
Andrea