V-Day

Lots of good things come from Valentine's Day. Little worded candy hearts, warm fuzzy chick-flicks, annual performances of the Vagina Monologues...

Still, I'm not crazy about the holiday. For one thing, I find it to be a sorry excuse to make people buy each other things they don't need. Plus, everyone who's not in a relationship is constantly reminded of that fact, hourly.

And if you are in a relationship, you can't even try to go out for a nice dinner because the wait for a restaurant table is rid-ic-u-louuuuuuus. Half the time the joint is so packed that service is way below par, anyway.

But, ahah, sparkling rosé. That is a way to celebrate being loved.

And homemade fondue doesn't look that difficult, either.

My suggestion: skip the crowded restaurant trip. Don't sit alone pondering over your last break up. Grab a good friend or a significant other and a good bottle of sparkling rosé. Make something useful of your v-day.

Careful with the bubbly stuff.

I always wanted to shake up a bottle of champagne, popping the cork in that celebratory, slow-motion movie kinda way.

Of course, I've never had the extra money to blow on a bottle of champagne just to spill half of it on the floor. But I did get to open a bottle of champagne recently, and to my surprise (and slight disappointment), the cork was a twist-off.

(I should specify that technically, I was drinking "sparking wine" since to call it "champagne" it would have to originate from the Champagne region of France. Fun wine fact.)

Apparently, opening a bottle of champagne the old fashioned way can be dangerous.

A twist off champagne cork. Safe. Innovative. The people of the wine industry never stop the wheels from turning, do they? Dom Perignon would be proud.

P.S. The wine itself: André, Calif.; extra dry, extra yummy. The cost is a mystery, as it was leftover and unwanted from my family's holiday stash (one of the best ways, in my opinion, to obtain wine). But I'm confident that it runs fairly low.