Wine and Food Festival.. at home

The Food Network is hosting its 8th annual South Beach Wine and Food Festival. The event is February 19th until the 22nd. The event boasts the top chefs and winemakers. They offer wine seminars, dinner events hosted by famous chefs, daytime events, even family events.

The catch? Ticket prices. With prices starting at $100, I wonder if the festival is going to attract large crowds like years before. With the economy being the way that it is, I can find no justification in spending this kind of money. Yes, I would love to go and rub elbows with wine connoisseurs and culinary aficionados and see the likes of Rachael Ray (she makes cooking seem so easy!). But alas, as a college student I just don't see it happening.

What I have decided instead is to have my own mini-festival at home. My girlfriends are coming over to my apartment this weekend and we're going to have a night of fine wine and delectable cuisine, and of course great conversation. The extent of my cooking involves boiling water and throwing in pasta, so we're going to keep things simple: Manchego cheese, crackers, hummus, and anything else that we can whip up quickly.

This will be completely different from our usual Fridays. After a stressful week of school, hanging out with my girlfriends is something I look forward to. We’ll actually be able to talk, instead of yelling at each other because the music is blaring inside the club. It is definitely a welcomed change from the club scene that I'm slowly losing interest in. Wait, did I just type that?