Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese, Walnuts & Black Pepper

May 16, 2007 - This weekend my friend April was having an appetizer potluck birthday party in the park. I wasn't sure what I was going to make, so I got up early and went to the farmer's market to see if I could find something that inspired me. I ended up getting sidetracked on my way to the market and ended up not having too much time. - 12 Comments

Southern (Indian) Thanksgiving

Nov 21, 2009 - Tandoori turkey in the oven   For a few years now I've wanted to try to marry the traditional Southern Indian food my husband grew up enjoying with Thanksgiving as I know it (Southern girl with a love of spice and heat). So this year I did a trial run of a tandoori-style turkey made in the oven. By next year I hope to build my own tandoor, or at least grill this guy, because it needs a little more heat to crisp up properly. - 6 Comments

Flichman Vineyards

Nov 12, 2009 - I recently had a chance to attend a wine tasting for Flichman from Argentina.  I especially enjoyed the experience because I had a chance to chat with the winemaker, Luis Cabral de Almeida.  From my standpoint, it didn't hurt that he was pretty hot also. We began with a bottle of their Chardonnay for $8.  Frankly I didn't want to taste a bottle of $8 Chardonnay as I hate that overly oaked buttery flavor of vanilla predominating, but I was pleasantly surprised.  It was delightful and easily equal to wines I have enjoyed at twice the price.  In fact every one of the wines' price points was spectacular.  Although there were some I preferred more than others, I enjoyed all of them. All the others, with the exception of an interesting and delightful champagne (for about $8!!) all the rest were red.  In fact, even the champagne was made in part from Malbec also! - 0 Comments

Why Does Some White Pepper Smell Incredibly Unpleasant?

Oct 12, 2009 - I have several varieties of pepper including black, green and white. I have used white in the past and enjoyed the flavor, however, the recent batch I bought smells as if I just entered a barnyard that has not been cleaned recently! YUCK! - 0 Comments

Older Bordeaux tasting notes

Oct 14, 2009 - I haven't seen any posts in ths area for quite some time so I hope no one will mind my notes on a recent tasting.    I had the opportunity recently to taste a few of the many good bottles from the 80's and the results were delicious. I tasted an 83 Boyd Cantenac and Prieure Lichine both from Margaux, an 82 Lanessan from the haut medoc and finally an 85 Lynch Bages which is a Pauillac.  The bottles had been stored reasonably well and the fills were very good, although the two Margaux had corks which were almost wet to the top and crumbled.  Having just found a bottle from 1998 which was leaking in a case of my own, there can be no better advice than to constantly monitor your wines, especially if they are still in a wooden case. While 82 Bordeaux put Robert Parker on the map (he declared it the wine of the century) and subsequently led the way to his favorable word on any review raising the price of wine,  it was fun looking back and seeing what these were all about.   Though fortuitously donated by another cellar, I was looking forward to tasting mature wines I had never been able to experience when they were young.  Each was carefully standing upright for 4 days and then decanted carefully one hour before serving. - 0 Comments