Valentines at the Shetler's

These people crack me up! The dinner was thrown together because they were short on time... Check out this menu! It would take me months to come up with food like this (3 to be exact) and it wouldn't taste as good :)

Let's start by saying the wine competition was white wine. White wine? Mark said the food was too light to pair with red, so white it was.

APPETIZERS

Salmon Dip on Hearts of Celery,
Cheddar Pennies,
Shrimp Cakes (I'm allergic to shellfish) with Red Pepper Spread,

SALAD

I don't know what it's called, but it was yummy

MAIN COURSE

Corn Crab Chowder (and Shrimp Chowder for me) with Avocado Chunks and Cilantro Puree, 
Sourdough Garlic Bread,

DESSERT

Lemon Mousse with Raspberries










WINES

1st Wades with Tamber Bay, Chardonnay, 2014

2nd Shetlers with Lambert Bridge, Viognier, 2014

3rd Gilberts with Rombauer, Chardonnay, 2015

A Visit to Peru at the Shetler's

I just don't know how these people do it? Mark had a procedure to his shoulder the week of their dinner party, yet he still managed to prepare a feast (with a lot of help from Melissa of course). She'd given him a Peruvian cookbook for a present, so there ya go... he made a Peruvian dinner. Naturally that called for a Cabernet Sauvignon from South America :)

This time we did something a little different. We brought our house-guests from Italy, Gianluca and Egle. We don't usually have additional guests at our parties, and this is the first time we invited them to compete... they came in second place!!!

We started with Chilcanos:
Chilcano de Pisco and Sauvignon Blanc (no photo)

Then we had three different types of Ceviche:

Ceviche Clasico

Ceviche de Mango

Ceviche de Champinones

Then an Aperitivo:
Pastel de Chocio

Plato Principal:
Papas Rellenas

Pechugas de Pollo con Salsa de Quinua

Ensalada de Vegetales

Postre
Alfajor Clasico con Dulce de Leche
Helado de Canela y Coco

1st - Cruz Alta 2012, Argentina (Wades)
2nd - Medalla Real 2012, Chile (Fersinis)
3rd - de Gras 2013, Chile (Gilberts)
4th - Mascota Vineyards 2013, Argentina (Shetlers)






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Taste of Germany at the Shetler's

The Shetlers decided to produce a German feast and requested Zinfandel for the competing wine.
It was cool how they made a menu with German on one side and English on the other. I ate as little as possible that day because I knew I was in for a gastronomical event. I wanted to be prepared!

I started by combining the bratwurst with the German mushroom brie. I’m a mustard lover so I indulged in the homemade pretzels with several mustards to choose from.

The decanted wine was brought in at the same time as the fresh green pea soup with a little mound of crunchy bacon on top. I made my wine decision immediately.

Then came the beef pot roast and cheese spatzel with green beans. I changed my wine decision.

Dinner was followed by a four layer Black Forest cake. My wine decision wavered like a child who wants three toys at once.

The Shetlers had a 2012 Brandlin Zin, the Wades had a 2012 Rombauer Zin, and we ironically had the 2011 Fiddletown Rombauer Zin (mainly because we’d already brought the regular Rombauer Zin in the past and won). So true to history the Napa Rombauer won!

Chocolate!

So when Mark and Melissa told us to bring a bottle of wine that would pair with chocolate, I questioned them. “So you want a dessert wine?” But no . . . they were preparing a four course meal, each made with the ingredient of cocoa in it. I've honestly had little experience with cocoa in regular food, other than Mole Negro.

The first course was the cheese platter. The one that knocked my socks off was the Mt. Tam triple cream brie with dark chocolate balsamic glaze drizzled over it. I really dug into the orange spiced cocoa glazed mixed nuts. Okay Heidi stop eating. Gotta save room for dinner.

The spinach and pecan salad was gorgeous. I think salad can be gorgeous, but then again I love food. This was tossed in a chocolate-based vinaigrette. I bet they got the balsamic at the olive oil store up in Murphy’s, in Calaveras County. I use a chocolate balsamic mixed with espresso balsamic and chipotle olive oil to marinate filet mignon. They placed fresh thinly-sliced pears around the plate. Perfect.

Dinner was so pretty I forgot to take a picture! Asparagus tossed with prosciutto and cocoa nibs, mushroom cocoa ragout on crostini, and a little mountain of Italian Dolce Forte over Casarecce Pasta. Talk about an all-out assault on the senses. Not only did I not know what to think of the food flavors, but I couldn’t settle on a wine.

Then dessert. By then I was stuffed, but I managed to eat most of it anyway. They’d made this really dense low-flour brownie and stored it the freezer. According to Mark, they had taken a bite of the brownie while was still frozen, and loved it! So voila, that’s how they served it, with chocolate sorbet and fresh raspberries.

Each carafe of wine changed with each course, and with each portion. I changed my mind several times and ended up adding up the winning vote from each course for a grand total. The  2010 Klinker Brick Zinfandel held its ground through each course and Mark and Melissa took the Gold. Gamba Zinfandel 2010 came in second, and Bjorn Barbera came in third. Each wine was outstanding in its own right, but paring with the food was the competition.

Next Wine Tribe event is at our house. Based on our recent visit to Italy you can guess what it will be J

French Theme at Dan & Denise's

Bon Appetit

Denise invited us in, and with a wave of her hand she said, ‘An ode to Julia’. Using Julia Child’s extensive cookbooks, Dan and Denise created an elegant French meal. I don’t know why, but I’m always surprised when other people go through a great deal of trouble to make every aspect of a meal from scratch. I just wasn’t raised that way. My mom made meals from cans, boxes, and from whatever she had in the garden. For example I’ve never made Pate du Campagne in my life.



That Cornichon is this amazing little pastry stuffed with
brie and bits of fruit.I ate too many.





This was my first experience with

Endive Salad. It’s one I plan to

repeat. I thought the endive had a

nice texture, and of course anything

with Roguefort is good!







The French Onion Soup was the best I’ve ever tasted period. It might be the way their daughter diced up the onions J





The Beef Bourguinon was so good I

asked for extra to take home. 

That way I could relive the

experience the next week at work.



And of course they finished with

dessert . . . I tasted the cake,but

I was so full by then I managed

two bites.





They challenged us to bring a French Blended wine. Unfortunately, Joe heard Italian Blend . . . we sampled for 2 weeks before settling on one, only to find out it was supposed to be French. I didn’t have time to taste any French wine, so I just bought a bottle from Bel Aire that had a cool label with a chicken on it J La Vieille Ferme. It was only 9 bucks, but it was good . . . third place, but good! Mark and Melissa took home the medal with Les Halos De Jupiter from Chateauneuf-Du Pape. Dan and Denises was D66! Couldn’t tell you much more than that except we drank every drop and it came in 2^nd.

“People who love to eat are Always the best people.” Julia Child



French Theme at the Cabin



The cabin



We were nervous, but it was our turn to produce the feast. My Step-Mom, Kathy, inspired me with another French dish; tourtiere (meat pie). We followed what is becoming tradition and invited the Wine Tribe to the cabin in Calaveras. We were a little worried about snow, but it stayed clear for us. Snow to look at, but not to slosh through. Plenty of firewood, food, and wine.



Cheese



We found a French wine to serve with the hors d'oeuvres. I decided to be serious about the cheese and chose only French creations (Grand Affinage Compte Herie Mons Affinage, Explorateur Triple Crème Brie, and Young Mimolette Isagny St. Mere). I set out salami rolled in herbs de province and another in crushed pepper. Imported mustard from Dijon France for dipping (Trader Joes).



Goat cheese layered with beets



Joe and I were at a winery in Sutter Creek and I found a recipe on a postcard for beets layered with goat cheese. I don’t know if that is a French dish, but it sure was fun to make as a sort of salad.



Tourtiere



I made a practice run with the tourtiere and fell in love with the softer flavors of allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. After much trial and error I decided on carrots glazed with whiskey and brown sugar, and toasted Brussels sprouts tossed with balsamic reduction and craisens (dried cranberries).



Dessert is NOT my forte, so I bought little French tarts and a late harvest Zin from Villa Toscana which never got opened. Even we have our limit.

Ah, the wine you ask . . . We chose Merlot for our tasting. When I first started tasting wineback in the 80's Merlot was a “transition” wine from rosé to red. It was light and fruity. Now it is returning to its ancient roots as a big bold varietal with almost no tannins. It was hard to find a truly traditional merlot, but HourGlass in Napa created a great bottle, so we bought it. Mark and Melissa brought Twomey, Dan and Denise chose Ehlers Estate.

Of course it was a close race, as always, but we won. The gold medal is hanging in my kitchen until the next gathering.

When we go to the cabin we extend the festivities to Saturday night, and I cook my spaghetti. This time Denise made her homemade crackers (amazingly delicious) and Mark made this chocolaty cake with a chocolate sauce drizzled over it. We put out the challenge to come up with the best wine to pair with the spaghetti. This may sound easy, but its not. My spaghetti is spicy. It wasn’t easy, but we had 3 spicy, firm wines to choose from. Believe it or not Michael David’s Seven Deadly Zins won over some pretty expensive wine. It just goes to show that American spaghetti is a truly peasant meal!