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!

Viva Mexico!

Normally I eat light at breakfast—the morning is my heavy work and “thinking” time, and I don’t like to be bogged down after having eaten a heavy meal. That all changes, of course, when I visit The Wine Country Inn!

Chef Guy prepares a great breakfast, the cornerstone of which is one of his great egg casserole dishes. Recently I was there and had the Mexican Quiche. Esta perfecto! Here’s the recipe, should you want to indulge:

Chef Guy’s Mexican Quiche
(serves 6-8)

1 lb chorizo sausage, sans casings
2 medium onions, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
¼ diced fresh mild chilies
10 eggs
2 cups milk or half-and-half
1 can (about 2 ¼ oz) sliced ripe olives, drained
1 can (about 8 ¾ oz) whole kernel corn
3 cups (about 12 oz) shredded Jack cheese
Avocado, tomato slices, and cilantro sprigs for garnish

Crumble chorizo into a wide frying pan and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until browned. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until soft (about four minutes). Discard fat. Stir in salt, pepper, and chilies. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until blended. Stir in the chorizo mixture, olives, corn, and cheese. Spread mixture evenly in a greased 10x15-inch rimmed baking pan.

Bake in a 350F oven until a knife inserted in center comes out clean (about 30 minutes). Let stand for 10 minutes. To serve, cut into squares, and garnish with tomato, avocado, and cilantro sprigs.

Enjoy!

You Ladies are EXPENSIVE!

Brrrrr -- it's been cold of late in the mornings! And that means potential frost damage to -- be still your heart -- our grapes. Yesterday I was on my way to that awesome Napa Valley lodging site, The Wine Country Inn, when I saw all the various keep-the-vines-frost-free "things" going: big fans whirring away (to circulate air), sprinklers spitting, portable pots puffing out warm smoke, etc. Later, talking to my friends at Nord Vineyards, who own or manage 900 Napa Valley vineyard acres, I learned several things, including:

* The Nords believe they've lost about 10% (or 90 acres) of grapevine buds

* Spring frost can't kill the grapevines, it can only damage the new growth, and thus make those vines not produce any grapes that year

Foreground, warming pots; background, sprinklers

Well, 90 acres doesn't sound like a whole lot, does it? But I did the math: you get approximately 4 tons of grapes per acre, which translates into about 250 cases of wine per acre. Say each bottle is $25, that's $300 per case. So each acre produces about $76,800 of wine. Multiple that by 90 acres... and that's $6,912,000 in lost revenue to wineries, grape growers, etc. Ouch! Mother Nature (one of the "Ladies" referred to in the title) can be humbling, and expensive, force! Anyway, keep warm this weekend, and know that the vineyard management folks are working hard to keep the vineyards warm, too.

The Attack of the $1,200 Waffle Machine

When does a new waffle machine cost $1,200+? Read on!

As a few FROTB know, I pay for my food and wine adventures as a marketing guy. One of my longest and best clients is The Wine Country Inn in St. Helena, in the heart of the Napa Valley. Now everyday as part of being a guest there, guests are treated to a gourmet breakfast, which usually consists of one hot egg dish and then other goodies like granola, fruit, muffins and breads, etc. Now it's a great breakfast, and people love it. However, if you're a frequent visitor to the Inn, or are staying for, say four or five straight days, well, a little variety would be nice too. So we decided to add a new waffle machine to the breakfast mix. Simple, right? Wrong!

Here's what happened. We had to put the waffle machine, and all the goodies that go with it, on a table next to the main breakfast table. Well, this is wine country, so it had to be just the right table--an antique, the same height as the existing table, etc. That took two months and $400 to solve. And then guess what? After we got the table all set up, we discovered one more "little" thing--there wasn't an outlet near the table. So we had to bring in the electrician to, well, you know. So when it was all said and done, the darn waffle machine came out to being about $1,200. Ouch!

Now there is some good news, though. Waffles at breakfast have been a HUGE hit with our guests. And no one's even burned themselves yet, either. I mean, is life good or what?

So the moral of this story? Waffling can be expensive!

Happy Holidays!

...to you and yours, this holiday season, from Every Meal A Feast.

Sugar, Sugar

In the window at the The Model Bakery

Lights at the Inn

The driveway leading to the Wine Country Inn

Olive Ole'

Yes, the 2007 Napa Valley grape harvest has come and gone, as has the 2007 Sonoma County grape harvest. But there's another harvest going on right now still: olives!

I was hanging out with my friend Maury recently, who's the groundskeeper at The Wine Country Inn in St. Helena, and he stepped me through the process they go through to harvest and cure the olives from the 25+ olive trees on the Inn's property. I found it fascinating! Hope you do too.

First, the olives are picked green. (Apparently, if they have any color at all, they're "too far gone".) Next, the olives, which are very toxic, are soaked in huge plastic garbage cans in LYE. That's right, bleach, lye, the bad stuff (the Inn uses Red Devil Drain Opener). According to Maury, you mix 8 oz. of lye per five gallons of water. The olives soak for six to eight hours in this lye/water mixture, until they turn a straw color all the way to the pit.

Next, the olives are then soaked in water for six to eight DAYS to get all the lye out. These olives need to be stirred every hour, and the water changed every four hours.

So how do you know if you've soaked out all the lye? Someone (!) has to taste them! Yes: If they burn your lips, they need more soakin!

Anyway, I found it quite fascinating. And once the olives have soaked thoroughly, they are then put into a brine/lemon juice solution and canned. And of course, you can add goodies to impart onto the olives other great flavors, such as rosemary and garlic (my personal favorite).

Needless to say, it's a pretty labor-intensive process. But Maury says these Wine Country Inn olives are the best he's ever had. And I have to agree.

BTW: Maury has his own blog about the various garden goings-on at the Inn. If you're interested, check it out.

Where to stay in Napa Valley

Here's an insider's Napa Valley tip: the place to stay is The Wine Country Inn, which is just north of St. Helena. The rooms are fantastic, the grounds like a mini-garden of Eden, plus, they have an awesome breakfast each morning. "Chef Guy" usually makes an egg dish (my favorite is "death by cheese") and homemade muffins and cookies, there's a make-your-own waffle station, plus the Inn makes its own special-double-secret recipe granola. Check it out: http://www.winecountryinn.com/