Archive for the ‘Holidays’ Category

A little green drop'll do yee...

In honor of the most celebrated Irish holiday of the year, St. Patrick’s Day, Domaine Chandon has created a green sparkling bubbly. This festive wine is also the preferred drink of the White House in 2009 and a revived tradition at the winery. If you are lucky enough to be in Napa Valley on St. Patrick’s Day make sure to stop by Domaine Chandon for a complimentary glass of green sparkling at their romantic winery in Yountville (And also one of the most romantic wineries featured in Romantic Napa Valley: An Insider’s Guide for Couples.

If you can’t drop into the winery then have fun creating your own green sparkling wine by using a flavorless, organic green food coloring. Right after you open the bottle, add a drop or two to color the vino green and then use traditional champagne flutes to serve the wine at your party to proudly display the joyful color. This idea is even better to implement if you happen to be getting married on St. Patrick’s Day or are having another romantic-related party such as an engagement party or anniversary to celebrate. It’s a guaranteed hit and a festive way to spread the luck of the Irish without having to kiss the blarney stone.

For more on Autumn Millhouse and her book Romantic Napa Valley, An Insider’s Guide for Couples, click here.

About Autumn

Autumn Millhouse is an award-winning travel writer who specializes in wine, food and romantic getaways. She is also an international trekker who has wined and dined across the globe from Barcelona to Beijing . A self-proclaimed “hopeless-romantic” and author of Romantic Napa Valley: An Insider’s Guide for Couples, Autumn also has a bi-monthly column called “Love Vines” published in Napa Valley Life Magazine. She resides in Napa Valley where she cultivates her wine and food relationships with top chefs, winemakers and a slew of other foodies. Besides, sniffing, swirling and sipping wine daily, Autumn is currently working on her next travel book Romantic Sonoma Valley: An Insider’s Guide for Couples.

Tonight: O’Reillys, San Francisco 3.17.10

It’s noon on St. Patrick’s Day, you are getting a myriad of emails from your friends, many who are leaving the office not to return until the next day:

“Duuuude…..meet you at the Irish Bank at 4, it’s going to be EPIC! [lol!!!]“

You conjure up a quick visual: a Marina-infused emporium of the Financial District’s Phi Kappa Sigma set, spilled pints, and speakers blaring U2, a  line that goes for miles just to get a drink. Irish whiskey in a plastic cup. Girls squealing OH MY GOD!!!!!  You have a chat with yourself, your Irish ancestors, and your conscience, and wonder why you can’t turn back the clock to a more heartfelt St. Patrick’s Day when you were growing up:  With set dancing and jigs, Irish tenors in the back ground, corned beef and cabbage, little kids running around screaming bloody murder and flogging each other senseless, Jameson’s Irish coffees and Guinness all around, and everyone belting out off key tunes. Great uncles talking about WW2 stuff. A green cake with a leprechaun on it, shamrocks on the front door. Your grandfather in a Glen Plaid Pendleton with a green carnation singing Danny Boy. You ask yourself if you can really brave this Irish Bank business as you hang your head in nostalgia recalling family St. Patrick’s day celebrations of yore, and then PING! Another email hits your In Box.

Okay, let’s look at this new social opportunity:

“Hey, gal, let’s do St. Patrick’s Day a little differently: Proud sons of Sligo, and SF’s own, The Hooks, joined by Colm O’ Riain at O’Reilly’s in North Beach promises to be a Celtic Caelie of the highest order. Let’s go!”

Going, going, gone. SOLD! To the girl who was on the fence about going out into the nefarious and commercial world of St. Patrick’s Day in San Francisco.

The Deets:

The Hooks play at 8 pm in what promises to be the ultimate date night blitz of rock, punk, and Irish Trad. See Colm O’Riain at 430pm (meet you there!) and have a nice pint of Guinness while listening to  haunting traditional fiddle. Admission is free before 5 pm and $10 after 5 pm. There will be traditional set dancing and music, and O’Reilly’s is blocking off the street, so it promises to be more of a Caelie than a booze fest (although for those who desire that, there is a well appointed bar and restaurant). The O’Reilly family puts on the famed SF Oyster fest and had a lovely after party following the Pogues show last Oct. and are indeed a class act. Thank you O’Reilly’s for offering us an alternative!

Bring your sweetie to a barn burner with The Hooks. Great at parties, pre-events or even your wedding (they dominated Operation Aisle Style Alterna-Bridal Fashion Event) – and have a hot date with The Hooks.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona dár gcairde agus teaghlach!

The brothers Mullligan: adopted by Anti-Bride

About

The Hooks New Album - ‘Everything Is Golden’

The Hooks new album ‘Everything Is Golden’ is a maelstrom of sound. Low-fi gritty garage band punk blends modern rock with with a dash of traditional Irish folk sensibilities.

‘Everything is Golden’ mashes up influences from many countries: Ireland’s famous sense of black humor and literary exploits, America’s rock n’ roll roots to Russia’s Bolshevik trad.

‘The Commuter’ is an anthem for the working class hero who knows all too well the drudgery of heading every day to a cubicle forming a cycle of banality that never ends for the wage slave. ‘So May Questions’ has been described as ‘a song Tarantino would use in a bank heist scene.’

‘Everything Is Golden’s’ folky cadence starts off in Moscow and moves and ends up on a rollicking joy ride straight to hell.

Album release is slated for May 2010.

WEB:
www.thehooksmusic.com
www.myspace.com/thehooks
http://thehooks.fanbridge.com

BLOG:
http://twitter.com/THEHOOKS
www.facebook.com Search: The Hooks
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/TheHooks
http://www.interpunk.com/item.cfm?Item=64578&
http://thehooks.bandcamp.com/