Holiday parties are in full swing, and if you should find yourself in a rut trying to figure out which wines to drink you’re not alone. It can be an intimidating topic for many. My advice is don’t think too deeply about it. Pairing wine with holiday foods is no different than any style of…
Food and Wine Pairing
Smoked Buffalo Turkey Dip
The absolute BEST use for leftover turkey is this Smoked Buffalo Turkey Dip! I thought I knew what the ultimate use for leftover Thanksgiving turkey was. I was wrong. It’s this dip! Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey It’s inevitable, if you’re going to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving or any holiday, you’re going to find yourselves with…
Burger Wines — what does that even mean?
What food do you think has more variations, a burger or a pizza? This is a question I spent way too much time thinking about the other night, thus prompting this post. (The photo above is of one of my favorite burger recipes — Turkey Burgers with Bacon Paste. A recipe I wrote for the…
Red Ridge Farms Annual Harvest Dinner, and why you should explore olive oils
A few years ago a good friend gave my hubby and I a gift pack that included several locally made olive oils and vinegars for Christmas. When we opened it she mentioned she gave several other friends and family members the same pack and joked that we would probably be the only ones to actually…
Uses for leftover smoked beef brisket – Smoked Beef Brisket Chili (recipe and wine pairing)
An incredible use for leftover smoked brisket — Smoked Beef Brisket Chili! This recipe may be worth even smoking a brisket for, just to use the meat in this (controversial) chili with the leftover brisket. This chili has not only won us several competitions, but we’ve had several readers email us to tell us this recipe has won…
Friday Favorites — food, friends, and an award winning recipe
A weekly roundup of some of my favorite things this week in the categories of wine, food, travel, and lifestyle. This was indeed a week full of “favorites”. Well, my absolute favorite part of the week was getting to spend it with some good friends who were visiting from California with their toddler who is…
A hidden gem in Murcia, Spain – Monastrell
Arriving into Murcia, Spain, last month I wasn’t sure what to expect. What had been written about the region in the past didn’t shed much positive light on the wines, especially Monastrell — the regions signature varietal. I had recently become fond of a particular rosé from the region, and at the least I figured…
Friday Favorites – On the road again…
I apologize for missing last week’s Friday Favorites post. I was en route back to the US after spending a week in the Murcia region of Spain (you can see a preview of that trip here). The week since I returned has been a juggling act balancing work, kids, and packing up our house in…
Friday Favorites – Celebrating a big announcement, and a special Oregon-themed giveaway!
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…