We just heard about the Organic Wine Company… “All of the wines are Earth-friendly, made in partnership with nature from certified organically grown grapes. They are free of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and other synthetic chemicals, and essential natural preservatives like sulfur dioxide are kept to a minimum. In the cellar, modern and traditional techniques are combined, producing the best possible wines with the fewest detrimental effects on the environment. Grapes are often picked by hand and the wine made gently, with minimal handling and filtration.” I don’t know that I’ve ever had organic wine, but this looks like a good site to click around in for a while and look around – just thought I’d pass it along!
[Tags: wine, organic, organic food]
2004 Blackstone Chardonnay
Wanted to post this quick review before we forgot! The 2004 Blackstone Chardonnay (Monterey County) was an excellent, and rich wine. Rather velvety and strong, but went well with the hard-ish Portugese cheese and crackers that we conveniently had on hand. We might have been a little less ‘affected’ had we had the wine with a full meal (which we’d had much earlier), but as it was, the evening went quite well anyway – LOL.
I’d recommend it for hearty chicken meals, and maybe pastas with heavy cream sauce, and garlic bread too – something on that order.
[Tags: wine, California, Blackstone Winery, Chardonnay, wine review]
Aye, That’s The Rub!
The other day in the supermarket we stumbled upon a really good sale for steaks and so were obliged to bring some home, of course. We fired up the grill and rubbed them with a concoction that a friend of ours had put together and bottled as a gift: dehydrated onion, salt, chili poweder, cumin, and black pepper. They came out wonderfully, medium rare with just enough spice to add flavor but not to overpower the meat itself. To round out the meal we had organic apple sauce and some home-made steak fries. Just one of those meals where everything comes together perfectly. (Sorry – no photos this time!)
[Tags: food, food blog, steak, dinner, foodie]
Flapjacks Restaurant
Flapjacks is one of the best breakfast and lunch restuarants I’ve ever
had the pleasure to eat in. It’s independently owned, and located in the
tiny town of Tres Pinos, California (pop 500).
We had lunch there the other day, Kristen ordered a cheeseburger which
was literally oozing melted (real) cheese, and I ordered the grilled
chicken sandwich which came with onions, peppers, avocado and Monterey
Jack. Did I same came with? Actually smothered would be more accurate.
Instead of one grilled hard slab of chicken breast, there were tasty
grilled chunks of chicken buried in the above mentioned toppings. I
couldn’t even see the bottom of my sandwich, which was thoughtfully
served with a steak knife, since there was no human way to actually pick
it up and eat it.
Both the sandwich and burger were served on a hearty sourdough roll. I’m
often disappointed at the quality of breads in many restaurants, even
some of the expensive restaurants out here serve bread that doesn’t even
equal our local supermarket’s. These rolls were delicious though, dense
and chewy, with a nice tangy flavor.
If you should find yourself visiting Pinnacles National Monument or just
cruising down Highway 25, then Flapjacks is by far the best restaurant along the way. The only drawback is that they’re only open until 2pm, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
[Tags: food, restaurant, California, breakfast, lunch]
Delicious Souvenirs!
Our friend Tom went trapsing across Europe recently and brought us back some terrific stuff, making sure they were things we couldn’t get here in the states. Thanks Tom! I’ve immortalized your gifts in another watercolor vignette (after all, everything but the keychain is edible and won’t last forever!):
From left to right: Eiffel Tower keychain (a must-have souvenir, of course), Bouquet garni (seasoning pouches for sauces), Edmond Fallot White Wine Vinegar with Herbs from Provence, a jar of rum-soaked crepes, Apricot & Almond Milk Confiture, Michel Cluizel Noir Infini 99% (now THAT is DARK chocolate – we’ve been warned to let it melt in the mouth but do NOT bite down, or we may die right there), and Lindt 85% Cacao Dark Chocolate (for those times when 99% might be a BIT too much.) Mmmmm… souvenirs!
[Tags: food, France, crepes, herb vinegar, chocolate]
A Taste of Camelot
We tried a Cabernet Sauvignon from Camelot Wines which cost us about $8.00. I must admit for an inexpensive wine it had a great flavor: fruity and rich with no noticeable after taste. Definitely a wine I would buy again.
[Tags: Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Camelot
Pasta Pants
Today I realized that I had unofficially adopted a certain pair of pants as ‘pasta pants’. They’re a light grey heathered sweatpant-type of pants. And how did this come about? Because making homemade pasta while you’re wearing dark or black pants is just an invitation to disaster. There’s just way too much flour flying around during the process. Even wearing an apron doesn’t do it 100%. And while my pasta pants may still have flour-y spots all over after the fettucine is done and drying on the rack, I’ll never, ever know for sure. Ignorance IS bliss!
Wild Harvest Hamburger
Just wanted to pop in and mention the delicious organic (grass fed, I think too) hamburger we got (on sale!) the other day, from ‘Wild Harvest’. It came in one of those square vacuum-sealed packages and made the most delicious hamburgers – it’s amazing the difference between regular old grocery store meat and this kind. I’d go on, but really, it was just a really tasty burger – more… er… tasteful… than regular meat too. Anyway – highly recommended. And maybe next time there’s a sale we’ll get a little exotic and try Wild Harvest’s square of ‘bison’ meat. Bison! Go figure.
Chocolate Birthday Cake
John’s birthday is on the winter solstice, so we always have birthday cake during the holiday season. This year I just got a bit creative with a box mix:
Dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate icing (chocolate is a hard ‘color’ to get right in photos!). I trimmed the rounded top off the bottom layer, cubed it, and then sprinkled it over the finished frosted cake. Then I took a Special Dark bar and shaved the dark chocolate over the entire cake, as well as the cake plate. (Good thing John likes chocolate – LOL!)
Maximum Deflection Cereal
I think I might have found the breakfast cereal with the highest amount of liquid deflective capabilities – Safeway Organics Brand Oat Bran Flakes. And by that I mean, when I poured the milk into the bowl of cereal, it went EVERYWHERE, all at once. Not just a singular deflected stream – more like a beam of laser light getting broken into a million rays. *grin*