A Review - Mounts Family Winery, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma
This post is about one particular winery, Mounts Family Winery, in a really tiny viticultural region that by geography produces some of THE best wines in the country. Throw a stone in any direction and you will find yourself sipping some of the very best the region has to offer distilled conveniently into a long stemmed wide bellied glass. So, why then did I choose this particular one to showcase?
To answer that question, I need to draw some background story on that debate, the culture and history of Sonoma and how it all ties together with that viscous delicious liquid in my glass that sipped when overlooking the vast fields of grapes left me a believer and then again reinforced that same faith when I repeated it in the cool recesses of my home nearly a year later.
Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post. I really love their wines and think they are worth an experience!
Continue reading my experience by clicking the button below.
The Marriage of Curry and Irish
Hello there! That was surely the last blog headline you expected to pop into your feed on St. Patrick's day. Spice and Irish are the two words least expected to be juxtaposed. But, yet they make a rather curiously amiable couple.
Now, I am going to tell you a winding story.... So bear with me.
We all know that Indian cuisine is fairly ubiquitous around the world. There is always a small restaurant somewhere that proffers up piping hot, spicy creations whether from the stove or the brick oven. Yet, not all curries are equal, nor Indian. The first time I realized this was in Japan. Japanese cuisine is inherently not consumed by spices. And, unlike our British and Irish neighbors their cuisine has not been tormented with being boring or bland. Somehow, they make up for the spice with freshness and awesome precision. Sorry, I digress. I was talking about curry. So, the Japanese cuisine has a curry which simply goes by the name 'curry'.
A Cake Named Content
I was typing a really long draft post with a lot of questions and introspective comments, bordering on the existential. Then, I was going to connect how the current state of the food blogging world is representative of the chaotically complex we all seem to be leading. You know, it was going to a be an intense and verbose way of linking to why my cake today is.
Then, I realized, that this whole existentialism of the food blogging world was something that I want to write about separately. And, the point of this cake is the elegance of simple and I would complete shatter that with the verbosity of my expostulations.
Savory Pumpkin Pie
My interest is still towards creating a more sustainable ecosystem. What I am working on now is a collaborative approach the goal of which education, awareness and independent choices. I hope to deliver this through an several biased, multi-perspective platform that creates room for discussion and debate leading to a collectively better understanding of all issues.
I am still clarifying the concept and in the middle of putting together the infrastructure and framework for the online platform. But, if any of you is interested in getting involved, please drop me a note and I would love to collaborate.
That's really what is on my mind. So, I am going dive right into the photos and leave you with the recipe for this simple vegetarian pie that surprises you in flavor and more-ness. The secret is the contrast of the crunch of the pastry and succulence of the filling.
Southern Comfort for Strength
My absolute winter favorite is collard greens. I love eating them for their flavor but I love them even more for the irony that I associate with it. You see, for me, collard green is a distinctive Southern comfort. I don't get it often because I want to perpetuate the myth of its luxury that I have created for myself. When I do, I inevitably slow cook it, overall hours, or even days, drawing out the flavors into the dish and building up the anticipation of that climactic first taste.
This dish here I cooked for 24 hours. No, that is not an exaggeration. My sincere gratitude to whoever invented the slow cooker. It is a cook's best companion any time of the year, but, particularly in winter. It is cheap, energy efficient and versatile. And, it is perfect for cooking collard greens. Your southern mama may not approve of this new fangled device but give her a taste of this Ham Hock Cured Collard Greens and I'll bet she will be wanting one of them cookers herself!
Read more and find out the story of this dish.