Happy Holidays!

...from Every Meal A Feast.

Paradise Picks

It's been fun meeting and hanging out a bit with Marty Paradise, who's a wine geek/foodie/chef... and author of the book Paradise Picks. Marty has gone around to Sonoma and Napa county wineries and picked his favorites. The book also contains great recipes from the winemakers for food pairings with each selected wine.

And it gets better: Each winery mentioned in the book will give a book owner a complimentary wine tasting for two. The book retails for $25, yet the tasting savings easily run several hundred dollars. In other words, SCORE!

To contact Marty for a copy of his book, or to set up a private wine tasting with him as a guide, send him an email at: paradisewines4me@yahoo.com.

Ciao!

I'm Dreaming of a White...

...pizza?!?

Yes! I had this killer White Pizza made by my friend Deniese recently at The Wine Country Inn. It's very tasty and -- surprise -- goes perfectly with a medium-bodied red wine.

D's White Pizza

1 bulb garlic

1 boboli crust

olive oil

sliced green olives

1 cup Italian cheese blend

1/2 cup jack cheese

4 oz brie

Chop garlic. Saute in saucepan with olive oil until golden and soft.

Spread olive oil, then garlic, on the boboli crust.

Cut brie evenly into chunks and distribute evenly on crust.

Add jack cheese, olives, and Italian blend cheeses.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

Cool five minutes, then cut and serve.

Enjoy!

Ah, the holidays. Time to splurge with a...

Chocolate Martini
The Goods
1/4 cup Scharffen Berger unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup boiling water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup artisan vodka (for the chocolate liqueur) Note: We recommend Charbay

Desired amount of artisan vodka (for the martini base)

The How-To
Make the chocolate liqueur: combine the cocoa powder and boiling water, stirring to dissolve the cocoa. Set aside.
Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
Stir the sugar syrup into the cocoa mixture and add 1 cup of vodka. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a container with a lid.
Refrigerate overnight.
Remove from refrigerator when ready to serve, then stir the liqueur well and strain it once again through a fine-mesh strainer.

Make the martini: For each one, pour 2 parts chocolate liqueur and 1 part vodka into a shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and pour into a glass. Enjoy!

And for those of you who have your own chocolate recipe, check this out:

http://www.chocolateadventurecontest.com/

Ciao!

Crab!

Yes, it's crab season, and yours truly plus et all ventured Friday night to Silverado Brewing Company just north of St. Helena in the Napa Valley for some seriously fresh -- and tasty -- crab. I was speaking to the owner earlier in the week, and he assured me that those babies were in the water just a day or so ago. Crab selections at SBC include crab bisque, crab cakes, crab louie, crab cioppino, rock salt roasted crab, and whole cracked crab. I went for the cakes and the whole crab. Both were delicious. Best of all, SBC has beer made on-site that's refreshing, fresh, and best of all, tasty. Check em out sometime.

A New Holiday Tradition

I'm happy to share with Every Meal A Feast readers that, yes, our Thanksgiving turkey turned out perfectly -- once again -- thanks to our Ronco "Showtime" rotisserie. Is life good or what?

I also wanted to share one of those... magical moments. Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving. I'd worked in the morning, then had the p.m. off to get ready for our Thanksgiving, which meant cooking. So I made Grandma Polk's sweet potato casserole. That got me thinking about Grandma Polk, who passed away 15 years ago, which got me thinking about my siblings, so I called them. Guess what they were doing? That's right: Tracy in Athens, Texas, was... making sweet potato casserole, as was my brother, Toby, in Knoxville, Tennessee. That felt so, well, cool. Here we were separated by thousands of miles... yet connected via cooking. In fact, I want to try to replicate this at Christmas or at least next Thanksgiving: my clan all cooking the same dish at the same time, and hooking up via phone (as well as email, etc.) while we're doing it. It's not the same as being together for the holiday, but hey, it was pretty @*&^%$ close.

Here's Grandma Polk's sweet potato casserole recipe:

2.5 pounds sweet potatoes (or yams), boiled and mashed

Add:

1/2 stick melted butter

2 cups milk

1/2 tablespoon nutmeg

1/4 tablespoon cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar (I use honey)

1 scant teaspoon salt

Mix well, then bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes.

And let me be the first to wish you a Happy Holiday this holiday season.

It's SHOWTIME

Ah, yes, tomorrow is the BIG DAY: Thanksgiving. I have SO much to be thankful for here in Every Meal A Feast land. While the cooking begins this afternoon, tomorrow will be D-day for the tur-kay. And how, pray tell, do we cook our turkey. Why of course, in our Ron Popeil Ronco "Showtime" rotisserie. And it's awesome!

First, the story. Of course, when I saw the rotisserie commercial on TV, I was sold. And of course, G. DIDN'T want me to buy this baby. But cooler heads prevailed, as they say, and I'm happy to report that the rotisserie has been one of our best cooking-related purchases EVER. It's wonderful. Here are some the reasons we love the rotisserie:

* The food tastes wonderful -- very moist and tender

* It makes the whole house smell wonderful while its turning away...

* It's healthier, as the fat drips off

* It's fun to watch

Now, it can be a bit of a pain to clean up, and we are limited to no more than a 12-lb turkey. But hey, it's perfect for our fam, and is now a central part of our Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Consider a Ronco rotisserie: we love ours!

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Let's Go Cook...

ITALIAN. O.K., so Jimmy Z and MS, I have a proposal to make to you two: IF any of the three of us wins our poker points tournament and IF that person makes, say, more than $100,000 in the WSOP event, that person takes the three of us on a cooking/eating/drinking adventure to Italy. Hmmm... How could we set this up? Wait, how about we simply join a Let's Go Cook Italian already-set up adventure? Yes!

I've gotten to know Diane DeFilip (see pic), who owns and runs Let's Go Cook Italian. Man, this sounds SO fun. She leads three cooking excursions to Italy--one to Tuscany, the other to Rome. The 2009 dates are:

Sept 19 - 24: Tuscany

Sept 26 - Oct 1: Tuscany

Oct 3 - 8: Rome

The trips include all sorts of breakfasts, lunches, cooking classes, etc. And deluxe accommodations, including in Rome at the Villa Campestri and in Rome at the Duke Hotel.

Guys, what do you say: are we "on"? Italy, cooking, eating, drinking.... Why, those Europeans also are big smokers -- we can probably light up the cigars right there after dinner!

And the Winner Is...

Every Meal A Feast is still savoring the fun blind-tasting olive oil taste-off Saturday night held at The Wine Country Inn (for info, see my previous post). And the winner? None other than...

Harris Ranch Napa Valley. Their Rutherford Hill Estate Reserve olive oil (organic, extra virgin) was the hands-down winner. I tasted this olive oil, and it is great -- great aroma, looks appealing, and packs tons of flavor, including that "peppery" kick on the roof of your mouth after swallowing. Here's how the Harris Ranch folks describe this oil on their web site:

our signature offering, is a mature, full-flavored balance between a quick blast of grass and a lingering, creamy, herbaceous finish – with a memorable, but non-abrasive, grind of white pepper in-between. It gently warms the throat as it strikes tones of freshly-crushed olives, tomato leaf, and sweet apples.

Harris Ranch Napa Valley is own and run by the brother-sister team of Jody Harris and Gingy Harris Gable. They founded the company in 1999 after finding, on their grandparents' property in the Napa Valley, a grove of Mission olive trees planted in approximately the 1920s. Anyway, congratulations to the Harris Ranch Napa Valley folks. And if you'd like to purchase a bottle of this award-winning olive oil, which retails for $38 for the 500ml size, simply visit their web site at: http://www.hrnv.net/.

Ciao!

Tasting Olive Oil

Wow, Every Meal A Feast had a wonderful time on Saturday at the Wine Country Inn during their Ode to the Olive olive oil tasting event. Three celebrity judges blind-tasted four Napa Valley olive oils, all the while educating spectators on what they were looking for, etc. (see the end for the winner).
Celebrity judge Diane DeFilipi of Let's Go Cook Italian (at left in picture) led the discussion. Here's what she mentioned as desirable flavor characteristics to look for:

* Fruity roundness--pleasant spicy fruit flavor

* Bitter/sharp -- a tartness pleasant on the tongue

* Robust/peppery/picante -- a slight "burning's sensation in the mouth/throat

Here are ways to identify defective and/or low-quality olive oils:

* almost tasteless

* "musty" flavor

* colorless

* odorless

* vinegar-like taste

* "fusty" flavor (rotting fruit was used...)

* "muddy" flavor (indicating contact with tank sediment)

* aroma of wax, varnish, or old salami (indicating oxidation)

All in all, very cool stuff. Oh, and the winner was... well, I'm not going to spoil the surprise NOW. The winner will be announced this Wednesday. Ciao.

Ode to the Olive Kicks Off

Long anticipated in Every Meal A Feast land, the Ode to the Olive celebration at the Wine Country Inn kicks off today with festivities at the Inn beginning at 4:30 p.m. This four-day long will feature all kinds of great olive dishes and olive oils to taste, along with fun events each day. Here's a quick summary of highlights:

~ Thursday: 'Ode to the Martini' event with Charbay Winery and Distillery (and makers of Charbay vodka)

~ Friday: Olive oil tasting with Long Meadow Ranch

~ Saturday: Olive Oil taste-off featuring celebrity judges Jim Smith, innkeeper at the Wine Country Inn, Diane De Filipi, owner of Let's Go Cook Italian, and Lars Kronmark, a chef at the Culinary Institute of America.

All events take place from 4:30-6:00 p.m., and are free to the public.

For more information, contact the Wine Country Inn:

Wine Country Inn

tel: 707-963-7077

romance@winecountryinn.com

Licking My Wounds...

Wow, had an absolutely BRUTAL night at poker last night... In Tourney 1, lost two straight hands in which I was a 93% favorite (other person had three outs out of 44 remaining cards). Then did my magical running-into-pocket-Aces-with-pocket-Jacks trick, always a fun -- and abrupt -- ride. So in serious licking-the-wounds mode this morning, and hence am daydreaming about a special upcoming dinner at the French Laundry in Yountville. Apparently French Laundry wonder chef Tom Keller is hooking up with a friend to each produce 10 alternating courses, or a 20-course meal in all. Wow, wouldn't that be something!

You want details? Sure? The dinner will take place December 9th at the French Laundry. For reservations, call 312-867-0110.

Oh, yeah: this little baby will only set you back $1,500 per person (though wine, tax, and tip are included).

A boy can dream, yes?

One Month and Counting...

No, not for Thanksgiving. And no, not for Christmas. Today marks the only-one-more-month-to-go mark for... the December 5 anniversary of the repeal of prohibition! That's right, on Dec 5 we will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the repeal of prohibition, the law which made it illegal to make, drink, or transport alcohol. Needless to say, this has all kinds of (to this Every Meal A Feast maker) cool history, which you can check out here.

And, apparently, there's even a Prohibition Party still in existence (?) today.... Wow. (What FUN they must be....)

Anyway, wheels-are-in-motion for a special Every Meal A Feast Prohibition Party. Stay tuned for more info.

Shopping!

O.K., O.K.--surprise, surprise, I was a chef for Halloween, complete with my gotten-at-the-CIA toque (no pics--sorry!). To buy my chef coat, I wandered over to Rohnert Park to visit Castino Restaurant Equipment and Supply. Wow, it's a fun place (for foodies) to kill a few minutes/hours. It's a warehouse setting with row after row of all things cooking/restaurant related. You want a heavy duty mixer? Bingo. A selection of knives? Gotten? Those little yellow and red squeeze bottles? Yeah!

Anyway, I spent some fun time there, grabbed my chef coat, and left...with a wish list of goodies for my Christmas list! Check em out sometime:

Castino Restaurant Equipment and Supply

50 Utility Court

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

CastinoSolutions.com

707-585-3566

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Every Meal A Feast (ah, that selfish cat!)...

Bistro Blues

I'm a positive kind of guy; the purpose of Every Meal A Feast certainly isn't to pan people or places. Still, if something quacks like a duck and walks like a duck... I gotta call it a duck.

Case in point: Dinner Saturday night at K&L Bistro, in downtown Sebastopol. Now O.K., I get it that it's modeled after a French bistro, meaning small, tight, cramped, great 'everyday' food, and a somewhat, shall we say, indifferent attitude regarding service. And I get it that last year K&L earned a Michelin star, putting it on the map and meaning that the place is always packed and that, well, they don't really need you to come to dinner, thank you very much. Still, would it hurt to try just a little harder?

We showed up at 7:00 p.m. for our, well, 7:00 p.m. reservations. The place was packed. And no free table. So we had to wait... for a good 15-20 minutes. Plus, no one suggested we have a drink at the bar (let alone offer us a complimentary glass of something, to tied us over). After we were seated came another wait for the waitress to find us. By the time it was 7:38, and we hadn't even ordered, I had G and I on a two-minute alert: I was two minutes away from getting up and walking out. (Not that anyone would've cared.)

But the waitress did find us a minute or so later, and low and behold, we were ultimately given wine and then, later, food. And it was great. G. had the steak frites (I'm not a ribeye fan; too fatty for me), while I had the house made boudin blanc sausages. They were very good. I also had a wonderful warm chocolate torte for dessert.

So... Good food, a little cramped and loud, and indifferent, at best service -- THIS is a one-star joint? Not in my book. I realize we hit them right at the Saturday night rush. Still, I want to go where I feel welcome. K&L simply doesn't need you -- no web site; the head chef and owner, Lucas Martin, cooks in a t-shirt and jeans; the wait staff is, in my opinion, marginal at best (though she did apologize for bringing my espresso after I had finished my dessert -- gee, I am the only one who's ever ordered coffee with dessert???). Anyway, glad I went once, won't go again. (Not that they care.)

Notes from the Vineyard_Part 2

In my last post, Every Meal A Feast shared how much grapes, and ultimately wine, an acre of vineyards typically produces. So want to grow your own grapes? Here's a typical planting cycle, courtesy of my friends at Nord Vineyards.

Year 1: Plant

Year 2: Grown

Year 3: Harvest 1 ton/acre

Year 4: Harvest 2 tons/acre

Year 5: Harvest 3.5 tons/acre

Year 6: Full production

The beauty, of course, is that with the proper care, grapevines can produce for 50+ years. Anyway, with a little patience...

Notes from the Vineyard_Part 1

With the 2008 Napa Valley grape harvest and 2008 Sonoma County grape harvest winding down, I thought I'd share some fun vineyard-grape-wine facts and figures, courtesy of my friends at Nord Vineyards.

* A typical acre of vines produces about 4 tons per acre.

* A ton of grapes produces 160 gallons of wine.

* A barrel holds 59 gallons of wine, or, at 2.5 gallons per case, about 25 cases of wine.

* Thus, 4 tons makes 640 gallons of wine, which is about 250 cases per acre.

Now let's take this one step further. Say a wine has a retail price of $20 per bottle. That's $240 per case. So each acre of grapes produces a total of $60,000 worth of wine -- $240 times 250 cases. Wow!

Calistoga Inn

Ahhhh, yes, the food and wine business can be BRUTAL at times. I mean, absolutely BRUTAL. Check this out. My friends and I at the Wine Country Inn are already busy preparing for several holiday get-togethers (including the Ode to the Olive celebration in November and a return guest reunion in January and February). Dinners are involved, and because it'll be the holidays, we want to splurge a bit, so that means musical entertainment of the soothing and cool type. So yours truly had -- and I mean had -- to go check out a certain guitar player last week who was playing at the Calistoga Inn.

O.k., so I get there at about six p.m. ... and learn that he doesn't start until 6:30 p.m. I had already ordered a glass of wine (come on!), so I couldn't sit there drinking on an empty stomach, right? So dinner became, as they say, involved. And that meant six oysters on the half-shell with a delicious Moscatel-shallot vinaigrette (Moscatel is primarily a Spanish wine made from the Muscat grape), and then a wonderful risotto with -- check this out -- field mushrooms. If there's a more enticing two-word combination in the English language than field mushrooms, I don't know what it is.

Anyway, the meal was fantastic, and the outdoor patio with lights and music simply spectacular. (Come to think of it, I never did make it inside the Inn, which apparently was built in 1882, and now has a brewery on site, too.) Anyway, check out the Calistoga Inn sometime. Sit on the outdoor patio. Enjoy a delicious meal.

And oh, yes -- listen the music.

Ah, Breakfast...Eye-Openers

Still thinking about Saveur's October all-breakfast issue. Of course, they talk about eye-openers, including Ernest Hemingway's favorite dubbed "Death in the Afternoon": part absinthe, part champagne. My favorite morning drink (besides coffee, of course): a mimosa, which (to my taste) is half orange juice, half champagne. Of course, now with the gardens bursting forth (see pic), perhaps we need a Bloody Mary, with some Charbay (of course) vodka. Ciao.

Ah, Breakfast

O.K., time for another food confession (albeit, a mild one): while I love dinner, I really, really love breakfast. There's nothing better to me than a big, leisurely Sunday brunch with great eggs, some potatoes, an English muffin, and great coffee. Yes!

I've been thinking about breakfast a lot of late, as it's the featured item in the October issue of Saveur magazine. One thing did pop out. I love peanut butter. But Nutella? Apparently, according to Saveur, this was introduced to the world in the 1940's by Italian pastry maker Pietro Ferrero. It was inspired by gianduja, a paste-like confection of chocolate and hazelnuts native to Italy's Piedmont region. Anyway, I'm now on a quest: to track down some Nutella, try it, and see if I like it more than peanut butter. I know, I know, not the most exciting thing to ever happen in Every Meal A Feast land. But this is about breakfast, man, and thus this becomes a worthwhile, even noble, quest. Stay tuned.

Holiday Happenings

Yes, Fall has arrived, and at Every Meal A Feast we want to savor every delicious moment: the cooler weather, the leaves turning and on the ground, the last of the heirloom tomatoes... But we also can't help thinking about the coming holiday season. Here are two events we'll be attending to celebrate... well, all that's good about life. Both events take place at the Wine Country Inn, in the Napa Valley.

Ode to the Olive

Ode to the Olive runs November 12-15. This will be a fun time with various olive oil tastings, cooking demonstrations, olive oil producer tours, and more. The Ode to the Olive will culminate on Saturday, November 15, with a cocktail party (complete with stuffed olives!) and an olive oil tasting competition. In addition to the bragging rights, the winning olive oil will become the Wine Country Inn's featured olive oil for 2009. Check out the Inn's web site for more information.

New Year's Eve Party

What? A New Year's Eve Party that's... complimentary? Oh, wait--they simply raise the room rates, right? Wrong! On December 31, the Wine Country Inn will be throwing a complimentary (for Inn guests that night) New Year's Eve party in the Inn's cozy (real fire!) common room. Goodies will include cocktails, wine, a midnight champagne toast, and a dessert bar. It'll be an excellent -- and safe -- way to celebrate the New Year. We plan on going out to a nice -- and early -- dinner, then celebrating in the cozy confines of the Inn's common room. And then it'll be a simple walk back to our room. Nice! Anyway, for more info click here; for reservations, call the Inn toll-free at 1-888-465-4608 or visit their web site. Ciao!

Liquid Gold

Olive Oil: Liquid Gold for the Heart and Soul

Every Meal A Feast had a wonderful time recently visiting Rachael Casey (see pic) at her home in the mountains above St. Helena where she and her husband Bill make their own premium extra virgin olive oil under the Poplar Hill label. It was wonderful not only to see Rachael's wonderful home and gardens and tour the olive trees, but also -- of course! -- taste their olive oil.

I learned several cool facts about olive oils, including that at olive oil tastings, judges use blue glasses to hide the color of the oil, because the color has nothing to do with its taste or quality, and that an olive oil should be used within two years of bottling, and ideally one year.

Anyway, check out their web site for other info, recipes, and of course info on how to visit or buy.

P.S. And stay tuned for a BIG announcement. (Want a hint? O.K. -- Ode to the Olive)

I'm waxing poetic today.... October -- and fall -- almost here. Soon, Mother's Apple Pie, holiday parties, New Year's Eve. Holiday meals with family. Menus being mulled right now (though they remain virtually the same every year). My personal wish now, as September leaves us: to not just find but create magic in every meal through these final three magical months of the year.

Rosemary Syrup

Have you had this experience, where you go to a restaurant or spend a day eating and drinking a variety of great food, yet ONE THING stands out, even... haunts you? That happened to me during my day-long cooking/eating/drinking adventure with Chef John Ash recently at the Culinary Institute of America. What stunned me -- and the others in my group -- was a simple Rosemary Syrup, which we served over bundt cake-type dessert (the name of which I've forgotten -- sorry). Anyway, try this clear concoction sometime over cake... cornbread... fish... chicken... etc. (And please note, this is John's recipe, not mine; he gets all the credit -- I'm just the 'fan'.)

Rosemary Syrup

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup dry white wine

1/3 cup water

3 tablespoons Rosemary leaves

1 Bay leaf

1/2 tablespoon whole peppercorns

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Combine all in a saucepan, stir, then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool, strain, then refrigerate. Serve chilled.

Two Events

Here are two cool events that crossed the Every Meal A Feast radar. The first, an olive/olive oil festival:

And on October 8, the Sonoma County Library has its annual "Chocolates and Cinema" fundraiser at the Rialto Cinema. This is always a fun--and delicious--event.

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Movie: Casablanca

Tickets: $30 for 1; $50 per couple

To purchase tickets, call 576-7079

I Get My Toque On

Many of you Every Meal A Feast FROTB (Frequent Readers of This Blog) know that I have a restaurant fantasy. Mind you, my fantasy runs to the opening and running and, well, hanging out parts of the restaurant business. Not the cooking, in other words. But that doesn't mean that I don't like to cook, nor that I'll pass up a chance to cook like the pros.

Which is what I did last Tuesday at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone (CIA). Wow, they have a FANTASTIC four-day culinary program called Sophisticated Palate. Wow, wow, wow. It's one part cooking, one part dining, one part wine tasting, and about four parts cool. I mean, does it get any better than being in a CIA kitchen, in a full chef's uniform*, cooking with some cool people and a CIA Chef AND legendary Sonoma County chef John Ash? No! (For a little more on this, check out my previous posts: Hanging with John and The Art of Presentation.)

Cooking with Chef Ash was great. (See the pic above -- that's me showing Chef Ash a thing or two.) I learned some great techniques not only about cooking, but also about simple things like using garlic three ways, and the proper way to hold and use a knife.

We cooked all morning, ate our lunch, then went to an olive oil producer. (More on that later...) That evening, then, we ate dinner at the CIA's Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant with an expert on food and wine pairings. I finally stumbled home about 11:00 p.m. dizzy with all I had taken in -- food, wine, and otherwise -- from an amazing day. Save your pennies. Get a second job, if you have to. Go to the track and bet on that long shot. Just do whatever you can to attend the Sophisticated Palate course. It's a foodie's paradise.

(*The full chef's attire is clogs, chef pants, a chef's jacket, a toque [hat], apron, and two -- not three, not one, two -- hand towels placed in your apron string.)

P.S. How did I get to attend for one day? Well, it helps to have friends in the right places. T--I OWE you big-time!!!

The Art of Presentation

Yes, I'm still reeling a bit (in a good way) from my Tuesday adventure with John Ash at the Culinary Institute of America (see my previous post). In addition to the cooking and the eating, one of the parts of the day I enjoyed the most was John's presentation to us on, well, presentation, in this case when plating and serving food. It was fascinating to listen to what he tries to achieve for his presentations, and some of his suggestions for when we're in the kitchen. Here are some of the highlights:

* Your goal should be to have the plate of food "seduce the eye." In other words, you want your presentation to look fabulous, not just rely on taste.

* Attempt to have one or more elements of surprise. John said that we're all "intrigued by the sense of discovery." One way to do this is to pair items in an unusual way.

* Attempt to have a "visual storyline" where the eye moves from one food item to another to another. Note that most humans read from left to right, so that's normally how we view food. Also, try to avoid the "bulls eye" affect, where the mail element is right in the center of the plate.

* For variety and sense of play, make all the foods on a plate different cuts and sizes. You want, in other words, a variety not just of tastes and textures, but also shapes.

Coming soon: Cooking with John (aka, I Get My Toque On)

Hanging with John

Wow, did I have fun Tuesday: hung around at the Culinary Institute of America doing a little cooking, a little wine tasting, and then dinner with some great people, including someone named, uh, John Ash. That's right, the John Ash (see pic), of John Ash and Co fame and famed teacher, author and chef. (He has a VERY cool web site; check it out: ChefJohnAsh.com)

It was a blast (though I'm completely exhausted today). I'll go into more details soon, but let me begin by talking about our dinner last night at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. We started with "Today's Temptations", a series of small bites that included a humus dish and a pate. And then:

First Course

Summer Harvest Farms Tomato Salad

Second Course

California Red Snapper

Main Course

Ribeye off the Grill

Dessert

Peach and Ginger Souffle with Creme Angalise

It was a fantastic meal. I didn't particularly care for the ribeye (a bit fatty for my taste), but the snapper was incredible, and who can't get enough heirloom tomatoes this time of year.

Oh, and what's "John" like? Amazing approachable and likable, a great teacher, a man obviously passionate about all things food-related. All in all, a day-- and meal -- I won't forget.

Next time: John and I in the kitchen (and I have the pics to prove it)

At the Station

O.K., so I'm a bit embarrassed to say that yours truly from Every Meal A Feast had never eaten at La Gare Restaurant in Santa Rosa's historic Old Railroad Square... until this past Saturday evening. La Gare, of course, is one of Santa Rosa's mainstays, and has been consistently voted one of the "most romantic dining spots" in the Santa Rosa area.

The meal? In a word: fabulous. G. had the Filet de Boeuf Wellington Tenderloin, which was outstanding, and I had the pork schnitzel special. The accompanying sauce was WOW. I also love the fact that La Gare has a good offering of wines by the half-bottle (perfect for the 'She's a white, I'm a red' couple...). All in all, fantastic food and a great experience.

I do have to say, though, that the "most romantic" has me a bit puzzled. Yes, the interior is dark, and cozy. But the tables are also very close together, making it not only somewhat loud, but also difficult for the waiters to negotiate. (Yes, during the meal, we heard at least two things fall/tip over.) But forget the romantic stuff; go for the food!