This is a special edition of Friday Favorites here on the blog. Instead of listing out all of my favorite discoveries of the week like I usually do, this news encompasses all four Friday Favorite themes. Plus I have a special giveaway to go with this week’s announcement! This past weekend my husband and I announced…
Food and Wine Pairing
Friday Favorites – the ultimate Mother’s Day menu, memories of The Cure, and a Giveaway!
A roundup of some of my favorite things from the past week in the categories of wine, food, travel and lifestyle. Since this past weekend was Mother’s Day, many of the items that topped the list this week are, naturally, a result of a memorable weekend. LIFESTYLE My weekend began with my husband presenting me…
Friday Favorites — Sweet Moscato, Ribs, Nemo, and Toddler Mishaps
First of all I need to point out the elephant in the room – my pictures this week. My least favorite moment of this week was when my toddlers decided to make my Canon EOS Rebel XTi their new toy (i.e. they broke it). I think my kids are mind readers and knew I was…
Wine and food are a great match for Ribera del Duero
I was first introduced to the wines of Ribera del Duero several years ago while vacationing in the Adirondack Mountains in Lake Placid, New York. My husband and I were still just discovering our love for wines made from Tempranillo, and one stood out on the menu of the restaurant we were dining at. I…
Friday Favorites — Gratitude
With so many horrible events that occurred this week it was hard to focus on “favorites”. But if anything positive came out of this week, it was thoughts of gratitude. Feeling thankful for everything I have in my life. Appreciating both the big and little things. TRAVEL A weekend in Boston. We went…
Brisket Bruschetta Recipe: Great for Leftover Brisket
Brisket Bruschetta is a light and delicious use for any leftover beef brisket you may have after a big BBQ or event. Shred some brisket, mix in your favorite BBQ sauce, and top onto a toasted baguette slice for a unique meaty treat! My husband’s eyes are bigger than his stomach. He often has grand…
Friday Favorites – Guilty pleasures
Some of my favorites from the past week. Wine Kramer Vineyards 2010 Brut Sparkling Wine Yamhill-Carlton, Oregon 12.5% abv | $26 (media sample) I had several opportunities to taste this wine when I was in Oregon for the Wine Bloggers Conference last summer, including the two additional days I spent touring the town of…
In search of kuna in Zagreb I discover a Wine Bar instead
I arrived in Zagreb alone, two days before the International Wine Tourism Conference (IWINETC) was set to begin and the day before I had anything on my schedule. Traveling long distances and across five time zones can take a lot out of you. All I wanted to do when I arrived was take a nap with…
Apple Cider Mimosas and Pumpkin Pancakes – Expressing gratitude through wine and food
Last week after Hurricane Sandy viciously rampaged through the east coast I received several calls and texts from friends and family back west. After the initial “are you okay?”, they all immediately reminded me that since moving to New England just two years ago we have experienced two hurricanes, two massive power outages (the worst…
Makin’ Gnocchi – The Recipe
Up until this weekend if you had asked me about making homemade gnocchi my answer would have been “sure, if by homemade you mean cutting open a vacuumed sealed pack purchased at Trader Joe’s then throwing them into boiling water, then yes I have”. Only there’s nothing truly homemade about that process and in fact…
Wine and Food Pairing: It’s not poppycock
Today I am speaking at the 4th annual American Wine Bloggers Conference in Charlottesville, Virginia on the topic of Wine & Food Pairing so I thought I’d let you in on some of the goods. As soon as I have a link to the video of the presentation I promise to post it here… even…
Open That Bottle Night, part II: Even special wines are meant to be opened
This past Saturday I did something I’ve been putting off for a long time. Inspired by Open That Bottle Night (OTBN) I opened two bottles of wine that I never quite found the right occasion to do so. They were not my most expensive, rare, or oldest wines. They were just wines that had a…
Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad — a must try summer salad
I went berry picking with a friend the other day at Kruger’s Farm on Sauvie Island and after picking an abundance of raspberries we perused their market for additional goodies when I spotted a 10 lb bag of beets. Mind you, I’ve never bought raw beets before, and have just recently grown fond of them. …
WillaKenzie, Aquariva and a Great Food & Wine Pairing
Trying to explore as much Oregon as I can before moving to the Northeast, I accepted an invitation to a wine and food pairing lunch a couple weeks back hosted by WillaKenzie Estate Winery. Lunch consisted of a five-course food and wine pairing prepared by Chef Andy Arndt of Aquariva that turned out to be…
Pairing Wine with Food: The Basics
While preparing for a recent Intro to Wine and Food pairing class I polled a few friends and family members from outside the area to ask what would they want to learn about if they took a class on wine and food paring. Their responses were quite humbling to me. I was prepared for them to…
Meeting Tom Mackey from St. Francis Winery…
… and a stroll down memory lane Most wine lovers have quite a few bottles of wine that they would categorize as “most memorable” wines. Some have many, others have one or two. I’d have to say I’ve had many great wines in my life, but few have left a mark on me that I…
Chef Mavro
… And one of my first major food epiphanies. I’ve had a couple of food epiphanies in my life, but none more memorable than my first experience at Chef Mavro in Honolulu. A few years ago while visiting the island of Oahu I quickly grew tired of the many overpriced mediocre dining options on Waikiki Beach where we…
Mumm Napa
Winter is apparently in full effect this week in Portland, with temperatures as low as the teens (brrr), and guess what’s in my glass… bubbles. Yes, bubbles indeed! Just because it’s cold that doesn’t keep me from drinking bubbly this time of the year. I am of the school of thought that bubbles are appropriate…
Finding My Muse: The Condado de Haza Ribera Del Duero
Wine Blogging Wednesday #63 This months Wine Blogging Wednesday topic, selected by Rob Bralow of Wine Post, was to choose a wine you know well and have enjoyed many times, but have never written about. In addition we were supposed to time how long we enjoyed the wine, and take double that amount of time…
Curried Butternut Squash Soup & Viognier
The rumors are true. Fall has officially arrived. And while most people are giddy and talking about the beautiful fall weather, colors, and activities, I continue to mourn the death of another summer and dread the fact that I have to retire my flip flops and tank tops for another nine months in place of…
The freshest Pizza Margherita you’ll ever try!
It is late August and I suddenly find myself with an overabundance of tomatoes and basil in my garden. Trying to figure out something fun to do with them I decided to make a homemade Pizza Margherita. I was so blown away by the simplicity of this recipe and yet how incredibly delicious it came…
Who’s Your Julia?
I woke up yesterday in a pretty crappy mood. After moping around the house for a while feeling sad, for no apparent reason, I decided I needed to cheer myself up so I treated myself to a movie, Julie & Julia, all by myself. It was “that” kind of day. I’ve been waiting for months…
Dinner at Beast
I dine out a lot. But in all honesty, I tend to go to some of the same restaurants over and over again. Call me a creature of habit. But last weekend I finally had the opportunity to go to one of Portland’s most talked about restaurants, Beast. Beast is certainly a restaurant all of…