Food & Parties; Parties & Food

I'm back!! It has been crazy here with work, parties, family and trip planning. Since it has been way too long since I have posted I will get right too it. We had a wonderful, busy November. I made lots of good food, The Chef was home (YAY!!) for Thanksgiving and cooked an incredible dinner for his girls and we drank lots of good wine. I will start with the food....

I have been obsessed with brioche lately. So, so yummy! A bread you don't even need to butter because it takes so much butter in the dough?!? I'm in LOVE!! I made brioche and decided to make one loaf of bread and take the rest of the dough and make sticky buns. They were tasty!

After the sticky buns, I figured I had already been in the kitchen all morning, I might as well make a day of it. I decided to make Lasagne alla Bolognese.

Of course I had no Ragu alla Bolognese or Bechamel sauce so The Girl and I spent an insane amount of time cooking that day. But it was so worth it when this bad boy came out of the oven....

A friend in the wine industry had accepted a new job in a new town so there was a great "going away" party for Miss J. There were lots of wines to drink (of course)

My favorites were the 2005 Piroutte Cabernet Sauvignon from Longshadows and the 2006 Sucker Punch from Giant. Of course the 2005 Chateau Mangot was very good as well!!

The Girl and I made apple butter out of Honeycrisp apples a few days later. There are so many great apples here in Washington but my all time favorite is the Honeycrisp. Just the right amount of acidity and sweetness. They also make a great apple butter!! We canned a few pints to add to our pantry of strawberry, blackberry and nectarine jams. Now we had even more reason to make brioche!! :)

Before we knew it Thanksgiving was here. The Chef is not normally home for holidays. With his job, you never know and one of the bosses needs to be there, right?!? But this year we were lucky and he had the day off. We had the traditional fare of turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, veggies, mashed potatoes and giblet gravy. Of course our cranberry sauce is real cranberries simmered with ginger and lemongrass (totally not out of a can! Ick!!) Our dressing is also not out of a box. The Girl helped tear up the old bread.

Day old hoagie rolls, handfuls of herbs from my herb garden and homemade stock made for a very, very tasty dressing!

It was a great meal. Of course there was bubbly and wine as well but this was all about the food.

It was so nice to relax at home with The Girl and just enjoy our little family. It seems we are pulled in so many different directions, especially at this time of year, that is was incredibly nice to slow down.

Of course the quiet never lasts long and it was off to the races again to get ready for Christmas and our Europe trip. We can't complain though. We have a very wonderful life and are incredibly lucky to have what we have and be able to do what we love.

Falling Leaves, Pumpkins & Costumes

The leaves have started to change! It is so beautiful in the Pacific Northwest in the fall. Especially when the sun is out. Surprisingly, there are a lot of sunny days here in the fall. The Girl likes to stomp on the dried leaves. Of course, this job is taken very seriously and it can take us up to an hour to get to the mail box and back since every leaf MUST be stomped! I try and take advantage of the gorgeous days and get out in the fresh air and play. We walk to the park as often as possible. Our plants on the porch have been flowering like crazy with all of the sunny weather as well.

For the rainy days we have had, we have been stuck in the house. We pulled out the "princess castle" tent and set it up in the living room. Mama (me) had to be inside of it as The Girl piled all of her favorite things into it and on top of me. Care Bear figures, bracelets, blankets, pillows and stuffed animals add up fast!

It had been raining for a week, at least, when we got a lucky break and the day we were going to the pumpkin patch turned out sunny!! Yay!! We decided to go to Fall City Farms again this year. They have a pumpkin patch, cows, goats and a donkey. They also decorate the shop area with pumpkins.

The pumpkin patch wasn't too muddy but a lot of the pumpkins were rotten or had rotten spots on them, ick!! It was also pretty cold but such a lovely day. The Girl chose her pumpkin pretty quick. She definitely knows what she wants!

Nathan and I took a little longer to select our pumpkins but we all finally found some that we liked. We loaded them up in the wheelbarrow and headed back to the farm. One of the reasons we decided to go back to this particular farm was because of the apple cider. Last year, they had the best cider we had ever had. It was truly incredible. This year it was $10 a gallon (!!!) but we went ahead and got a gallon since it was so good. Once we got home and opened it up, it was juice, not cider. There were no spices to speak of. So very disappointing and maddening! And for $10 no less! I hated to dump it down the drain so I froze it to use in cooking later and went and got some real cider which only cost me $4 a gallon.

We have a party at work the Friday before Halloween called Hallo-WINE. Clever, right?! :) It is a block party with the other wineries in our building, where everyone dresses up and drinks wine. It is a blast! Our "before" picture above shows Julie, myself, Lindsey and Nina as our normal, everyday selves.....

....and then MADNESS!! From left to right: Me as Freddie Mercury, Nina as Pat Benatar, Lindsey as a flapper and Julie as David Bowie. Pretty awesome, right?? We got crazy busy and really needed some beer after work so we went to the mexican food place up the street after work. There was a DJ there and all of the people that were at our party were there. There was dancing, drinking and eating. So much fun!! So much in fact that some of us got hurt and didn't even know it until the next morning :)

Then it was trick or treating with The Girl. She dressed up as Olivia. She was so cute!! She wasn't sure what to think when we first started but when she realized all she had to do was knock on a door, say Trick or Treat and she got candy, there was no stopping her! She would have knocked on every door in the city if we had let her. My girl is so food driven it's almost embarrassing. She is so much like her mama and daddy :)

And just like that, October was gone. We are now 2 months away from our Europe trip and I'm starting to freak out a little over everything that still needs to be done before we go. I try and clam myself with dreaming of all the fantastic food and wine we will be eating in Paris, Rome, Le Marche and Venice. And all the pictures I will be taking. That reminds me of another thing to add to the list, more memory cards for the camera......

Good Friends, Good Wine, Good Food

Saturday was my friend, Nina's birthday. We won't get into how old she is but she is a lot younger than me! :) We both worked that day at the tasting room so we decided to have a "birthday party" all day :) We started with the above Breakfast of Champions. Nina was a good sport and wore her tiny, silver, glittery cowboy hat all day. And when I say tiny, I mean tiny! Since she periodically looks at this blog, I will refrain from posting a picture of it  :) 

Being such a good birthday girl, Nina made reservations for a group of us to go to dinner at Volterra in Ballard that night. Volterra does great Italian food. There were so many different plates of food, it was hard to keep track of it all. There was duck confit, beet salads, crispy chicken, wild boar tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce, braised lamb shank, rabbit and a few I am forgetting. It was crazy!

Nina also brought the wine (she's such a planner). She brought a magnum of Betz Family Winery 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon. So, so good! Supple, silky smooth, beautiful tannins throughout, nice fruit.

After dinner we walked a few blocks to Bastille for after dinner cocktails. Bastille is a beautiful French style cafe and bar. They have gorgeous paintings and a beautiful chandelier.

It was a fun night filled with laughs, wine and food. Thank you Nina for inviting us to your birthday party!! :)

I *Heart* Fall

It's already heading into fall here in the Pacific Northwest. The leaves are starting to change, the mornings and nights almost cold, but we have also had beautiful, clear, warm days. We started our fall season off with the best caramel apple EVER!!! It was a huge honeycrisp dipped in top grade caramel. There were 3 of us eating this monster and we still didn't finish it. Of course The Girl only wanted the caramel :)

We went blackberry picking a couple of weeks ago. When we got to our favorite spot, we found out the city had cut back the brambles about 6 feet! Now you had to trip over cut brambles AND fight the spiders for the good berries. The berries were still green and small. With the great weather it didn't take them long to ripen up though. Today was "jam making day".

I dropped The Girl at "school" and got all my shopping done early so I could get the berries put up before I had to pick up the little one. It started off a little rough. My mind just wasn't in the task I was attempting to do. If anybody had been listening they would have thought I was crazy. Talking to myself and running in circles!

I finally pulled it together and got on with it. Berries and sugar everywhere! My food mill is a little small for something like this but it worked out in the long run. I can't stand those huge blackberry seeds sticking in my teeth as I try and eat. Drives me crazy!! And those of you who know me, know how level headed I always am ;)

Ooopps!!! The process is not always pretty but the results are delicious. How I managed to do this, I have no idea. One minute it was a nice slow boil and the next it was lava all over the place. Oh alright, I was texting.....about food......to a girl as weird and geeky about this stuff as I am.....moving on......

I somehow managed to accomplish my mission. Nobody was hurt and the jam is yummy. I love fall, now bring on the soups and homemade bread!!

Glutton

The plan was simple enough. Get together for dinner at our house to open up and consume some lovely older wines. I had a bottle of 1998 Reserve Schramsburg Sparkling and Nina had a 1987 Chateau Clerc Milon. Both needed to be drank before they turned. We were going to do a simple cheese plate for the sparkler and a nice beef tenderloin for the Bordeaux, maybe a sweet and simple port to finish off the meal. Then The Chef got a hold of the menu.....

We had a nice starter of cured meats, lovely cheeses and seasoned almonds brought by Nina and Luke. The sparkling was so, so good! Red apple was the overwhelming smell while I was pouring it but once the air got on a little more of it, it went to yeast with a slight touch of apple. Nice, small bubbles, dry and light. A really fabulous wine! The Girl got her first taste of high end sparkling wine :)

Then it was on to the salad course. Heirloom roma tomatoes, bibb lettuce and a homemade sherry vinegrette. We opened a bottle of 2008 Chaleur Estate from DeLille Cellars. A beautiful white blend.

Next came the sweetbreads. So good with a Calvados cream sauce!! Another first for The Girl, her first taste of sweetbreads. She didn't mind them but didn't care for the cream sauce.

We were so excited to have the Bordeaux! We were a little concerned when the cork looked a little worse for wear when the foil came off. It went through quite a few changes as it was decanting. Ass, barnyard and dark red fruits were all mentioned. It was incredible!!! I am very glad Nina decided to share with us. It went wonderfully with our tenderloin, seared fois gras and lobster tail. But a wine like this goes with anything, right!?

We then started in on a bottle of 2005 Arrowood Cabernet Sauvignon. Again, YUM! We decided on a bottle of Torii Mor 2005 Port for our "dessert". It was like having a fig in a glass. Nina and I thought it was a little off but the guys thought it was fine.

The graveyard......

It was a good night. Good food, good wines, good friends. After the shameless over-indulgence last night my body needed something decent today. After a nice sweat, all I wanted was a fruit and veggie smoothie! Dinner needed to be quick, easy and somewhat healthy. So I made a quinoa, spinach and feta soup.

I LOVE this soup! And so does The Girl.....

Building....

That's right, I finally broke down and decided to blog. Since everybody has been doing it for ages, I figured I better catch up. It will be a little hard to follow since this blog won't be about any one thing in particular. It will be just what the title says....My Life, My Loves (for you non-Italian speakers out there)  So if pictures of food, wine bottles, plants, places traveled and the cutest 2 year old ever is what you are looking for, YOU HAVE FOUND IT!! Enjoy :)