A Meal Made for Pinot Noir

Pork Chops Stuffed with Cherries & Mushrooms, Grilled Salad on the Side If there ever was a meal constructed for Pinot Noir, this would be it!  The combination of cherries and mushrooms echo the main aromas and flavors of the wine.  The pork is a nice medium body, not too heavy, not too light, also … Continue reading

“Learn to Love Beets” Pizza

Beets on Pizza?  Why? Growing up, beets were a regular item at our dinner table.  Let’s just say I did not grow to be a fan.  When I left home to go to college I thought: “I never have to eat beets again!”  After 35+ beetless years, I decided I should really give them a … Continue reading

Trouble at the Intersection of Food & Wine

(A new monthly wine writing challenge comes from the Armchair Sommelier this month, with “Trouble” as our challenge topic) As my interest in wine & food has grown, trouble has come from places I never expected. Imagined trouble: the expense of wine purchases.  As interest grows, so grows the price per bottle and the number … Continue reading

Do Big Rich Cabs Really Go With Steak?

A wine dinner is a great opportunity to challenge your assumptions.  With an open mind, you might be surprised!  My confession?  I thought I would hate all the big, rich cabs.  To my surprise, several were very nice.  Now I just need to figure out how to ferret them out. After juggling multiple work schedules, … Continue reading

Wilderness Wine

Fine wine and premium Scotch too. Can You Take Wine on a Wilderness Trip? Most wilderness areas prohibit glass containers of any kind.  What’s a wine loving camper to do?  We just spent seven days in the Scapegoat Mountain Wilderness in Montana with the help of an excellent professional outfitter, K lazy 3.  Before the … Continue reading

CSA Box Meets Kitchen Garden

One of the best challenges with the CSA has been figuring out how to use new ingredients, not necessarily the ones we would choose while shopping at the farmers market.  Watermelon radishes are beautiful and they offer a nice crunch.  The radish tops make nice hearty salad greens. However, they are pepper bombs when raw! … Continue reading

Watermelon Radish Salad & Lioco Rosé

A refreshing glass of rosé and a nice salad are just right on a hot summer night.  Continuing on our local theme, much of this salad is built from a our CSA box and local farmer’s market produce.  The combination of peppery crunch from the radishes, the sweet fruit and the salty feta provide satisfying … Continue reading

Spring Pea Basil Risotto and a Pair of Piedmont Wines

I might not choose to serve risotto on the hottest day of the summer, but it makes a fine dinner on days when the A/C is off and the windows are open.  Risotto’s historic home is the Piedmont area of Italy, so we decided to match the meal with wines from the same area.  We … Continue reading

CSA Meatless Monday: Wines for Sriracha Sauce

One Pan Curried Kale Medley Today’s Meatless Monday recipe is a spicy one pan meal featuring ingredients from our CSA box.  Sriracha sauce is pretty spicy, but we found a couple of wines that gracefully handled the heat. Jean-Paul Brun Terres Dorees Beaujolais 2011 ($14) There are very few red wines that pair nicely with … Continue reading

Transportation: Where Wine has Taken Me

Fellow blogger and virtual friend, Jeff at The Drunken Cyclist, has issued a challenge to blog about the topic of “Wine and Transportation” in any way we see fit.  I’d like to tell you how wine has been the vehicle to take me to several new places over the last three years. What Do I … Continue reading