How to Open Wine

Sometimes life calls for creative means of problem solving. In the last few weeks of living in our house without our shipments from Brasil, without having everything we left in the US sorted through and organized yet, and without having finished my "replacement" shopping from our big moving sale in Brasil, we've found that more often than not we don't have what we need at the moment we need it (or we know we have it but can't, for the life of us, find it at the moment we need it).

A couple weeks ago was the perfect example. After a day full of cleaning and sorting, I wanted a glass of wine. Not a complicated request. My dear hubby had even picked up a couple bottles the previous night while at the grocery store. As he went to open it and pour us both a nice glass of the red stuff, it occurred to us that we had no idea where our corkscrew was located.

After poking around at the cork with his pocket knife for a couple minutes, Eric went scrounging around the garage and came back with a solution.

Observe, How to Open a Bottle of Wine:

1. Drill a pilot hole with your Craftsman 19.2 volt cordless drill. (A note from the engineer: The Dewalt, obviously, would have been overkill here. No need to pull out the big boys, it's just a puny little cork.)

2. Screw in a coarse-threaded garage hook. (One made for hanging bikes is especially handy as it gives you a nice big handle to work with).



3. Pull out the cork.
(Looking at your wife like you're the most brilliant man alive is totally optional. But a nice touch. Really wish I had captured that moment to share too.)

Now, if you happen to not be married to a man with a well stocked garage and a tendency towards improvisation . . . I guess you could just go out and buy a corkscrew. But that wouldn't be much fun now, would it?

P.S. You will be happy to know that since these photos were taken, I have acquired a snazzy new cork puller that also cuts the foil for you. It's pretty darn fancy. Eric is a little upset he doesn't get to use his cordless drill in my kitchen anymore though.