A Break

Consider this blog to be (temporarily?) on hiatus. I appreciate the three of you who take the time to read and respond but I need to focus on a couple of other projects right now.

Fix-It-Fridays: Breakfast On-The-Go

My tummy, much like my brain, takes awhile to wake up in the morning. It's next to impossible for me to eat anything before I leave the house in the morning, meaning I have to grab something at the office.

The additional difficulty for me is fitting a grab-and-go breakfast in with my diet plan. The best way for me to lose weight is limit my carbs substantially. This means no bagel, toast, english muffin, granola bar, breakfast sandwich, hashbrowns.

So, fix it! What's your on-the-go breakfast plan? Any suggestions for something easy I can prepare ahead of time or even just bring along to work?

A Tale of Two Chardonnays

Two Charonnays. Both light, fruity and non-oaky. Both lovely with crabcakes.

The one on the left, 2008 Charles Shaw International (from Australia). The one on the right, 2008 Millerick Road. The one on the left, picked up at the local Trader Joe's. The one on right, flown back from the actual Larson Family Winery in Sonoma, Ca. The one on the left, $3. The one on the right, $18.

In a blind test, I'm not sure which I'd pick though you can be sure which most people would turn their nose up at if they saw the bottle. Truthfully, I'd say you can't go wrong with either one.

Tomato, Basil & Mozzarella Sandwich

This is one of my favorite sandwiches EVER and so simple!

The tomato and basil were grown in our own backyard. The bread came from a vendor at the farmer's market. We toasted it up, just crusty on the outside, still soft and chewy on the inside, brushed on a small amount of olive oil and some balsamic vinegar, topped with the tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella (from Trader Joe's).

Perfection.

What's your favorite sandwich?

Pine Station Red Table Wine

This is another bottle we purchased on our trip to California. Milat Estate Winery is a tiny little family-run winery.

The Pine Station Red Table Wine is described on their site as:

Full bodied, with rich aromas and flavors. Excellent house red that exhibits black fruit from the Cabernet, raspberry and clove from the Zinfandel, and a subtle softness from the Merlot. A great everyday wine.

A great casual red, it would probably go well with just about anything though we paired it with pizza. Personally, I'm a big fan of Cabernet and Zinfandel so anything combining the two is a good start for me. I'm not sure I'd continuously buy it in the store for $18 per bottle if this came from a major supplier but this one had a more sentimental draw since we picked it up in person. Definitely worth a try if you're rambling through Napa. And definitely worth a visit - we had a blast at the tasting where we met one of the brothers that operates the place.

Grilled Pizza

Here's one of our latest culinary obsessions - making our own pizza.

Yeah, we've made our own pizza for years but always using pre-made crusts. Now, we're rolling the dough ourselves and it feels like we're doing so much more. Of course, we're also making a total mess of things so I don't know that more is better. But it sure is yummy!

This particular pizza concoction was sloppingly transferred to the pizza stone and transported to the grill. Look at the awesome mess I Joe made by rolling the dough in more of an oval so it ended up hanging off the one side!

Toppings on this one are homemade basil pesto, sundried tomatoes, grilled chicken and fresh mozzarella. Mmmm, so yummy. See how the cheese even turned nice and golden? That there is the result of almost burning it pure skill.

Since then, we've also made a ham, onion, thyme and Gruyere pizza but we did that one in the oven. We had better luck with the crust not looking like a mutilated tire on that one but I forgot to take photos before we dug into it.

Mmm, pizza...

Fix-It-Fridays: How to Boil an Egg

There's more than one way to skin a cat (is that an inappropriate reference for a foodish blog?) and there's more than one way to hard boil an egg.

Some people claim a very specific method to boiling eggs. They even make a very specific little uni-tasker for this purpose - the egg timer! Yet there's no method to my madness. Sometimes I bring the water to a boil first. Sometimes I throw the eggs in before it boils. I don't set any timers so I just boil them until I remember to go back and turn the stove off. Usually this is before all the water has evaporated from the pan. Is it possible to boil eggs for to long?

I've always wondered if there's a correct technique and yet I rarely have problems.

So, fix it! What's your version of the proper way to boil an egg? Do you add anything to the water? Submerge in cold water? Peel while still hot or wait until they cool down?

Gordon Ramsay's Escalopes of Chicken

For those of you who pay attention, this was originally posted on ShowMyFace on July 21. But I've made it several times since then, including last night, and it seemed worth reposting to this site.

On Friday, I took a mental health day from work. It was kinda necessary and I made great use of it but doing a lot of nothing.

Part of the nothing involved watching a couple of shows on the DVR. That is when I saw this:



If you can't watch the YouTube video because your employer makes you ask permission to pee blocks YT or if you choose to be disagreeable by not watching it because you want me to punch you in the face, here's what you're missing: Gordon Ramsay making an absolutely mouth-watering chicken dish complete with basil, tomato and fresh mozzarella.

Now, basil, tomato and fresh mozzarella are one of my favorite flavor combinations. Joe's also a fan so when I showed him the video, he agreed - we must make this!

Sunday night was the night. The video gave enough information that I could make it straight from that but I managed to find the exact recipe online. After a bit of translating (the only important bit is that 200°C is roughly 400°F), we were underway. I made sure to swear adequately at Joe while I was cooking - I don't think Gordon Ramsay recipes work any other way.

It was a quick dish, a simple dish, and an amazing dish. The only thing we did differently is that I used fresh basil from our garden even where the recipe called for dried and I used about half a cup of dry white wine when we were cooking up the tomato/sauce mixture. Oh, and I skipped his sides. Because it's my kitchen, you $%^@ing donut, and I wanted too!

The results? See for yourself:



Beautiful and delicious. Even Joe agreed that it was worth being called a stupid donkey if it meant he could eat this for dinner!

Now, $%@& off, all of ya!

Programming Note: Gordon's back on tv starting tonight - it's a new season of Hell's Kitchen. I'll be there!

Fix-It-Fridays: Grilled Cheese

As the weather begins to turn towards Fall, I start to think of comfort foods. On a crisp afternoon, I'm not sure anything is better than a nice bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese available for dipping. So today's "Fix-It" is grilled cheese. Because as much as everybody loves it unless they are weirdos, there are a million different ways to make it. From the bread to the cheese to other additives (tomatoes or peppers?) to the cooking method, the variations are endless.

Our favorite cheese is probably Jarlsberg, as inspired by the movie The Devil Wears Prada. It's a very mild cheese with a delightful amount of melt. If that's not available (but we usually have it on hand), we'll use Velveeta. Velveeta may be unnatural but there is something about the melty gooeyness of Velveeta "cheese product" that makes a lovely grilled cheese.

I'll admit to using whatever bread we have around - usually plain old sandwich bread - slathered in a lot of butter. Most often my cooking method is either a frying pan on the stove or our beloved Cuisinart Griddler. It's a much more squishy sandwich but still very yummy.

If we plan ahead, we're much more likely to experiment with other cheeses and breads. I haven't done much as far as adding things to the cheese other than occasionally some ham but I imagine tomatoes would be very yummy.

So, fix it! Tell me about your grilled cheese sandwich. Inspire our comfort food so we can be prepared for the falling leaves and frosty afternoons.

2007 Altos R Tempranillo

2007 Altos R Tempranillo
La Rioja region of Spain

This bottle of wine was included in our most recent Wall Street Journal Wine Club shipment.

The Altos R Tempranillo was a very smooth dry red and we paired it with spicy tacos. I'd like to try it with some lamb or bison. Though it was aged in French oak, the taste was not oaky at all. I'm finding I'm not a huge fan of heavy oak taste so that was a positive for me.

Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing trying to review wines but I liked this one. It is listed around $15/bottle which seems like a very fair price for the bottle. I'd totally buy it again.

Lots of wine posts to come, by the way. We visited Napa and Sonoma recently and I have much to report! And so we begin "Winey Wednesday" - I have enough wines in the house to keep the posts coming for at least 3 months at this point.

Cilantro

I've heard there are two kinds of people in this world: I'm one of those who can't stand cilantro. Joe brought home our CSA/farm delivery this week and before he even had it sat down on the counter I could tell there was cilantro in it.

It doesn't taste soapy to me but it still tastes mightily unpleasant. I adore salsa but nothing ruins a batch for me quicker than finding it full of this leafy green stuff.

Note my cilantro is all wilty in the photo? This is because it took me a full ten days to work up enough cold in my nose intestinal fortitude to drag it from the fridge to snap its mugshot.

Know what's sad? I'm not even sure if Joe likes it or not. I'm so opposed, I didn't bother finding out or even attempting to do anything with it. I meant to bring it to work in case someone at the office might be more inclined (I'm not a fan of letting things go to waste) but I couldn't imagine being trapped in a car with it for my twenty minute commute.

Sorry, cilantro, you're no friend of mine.

Do you have an herb that you're violently opposed to or am I the only one so horribly offended by green flavoring-thingys?

Amish Friendship Bread

A couple of weeks ago we were visiting with a friend and his family for the evening. When it came time for dessert, I not only received a sweet treat but a total blast from the past - Amish Friendship Bread. She served us up a nice warm helping and also sent me home with a starter so I could make my own. When I mentioned this to a pal from Texas, she had never heard of it so I thought it might be worth sharing.

Here are the instructions/recipe:

Amish Friendship Bread

This is more than a recipe - it's a way of thinking. In our hi-tech world almost everything comes prepackaged and designed for instant gratification. So where does a recipe that takes ten days to make fit in? Maybe it's a touchstone to our past - to those days not so very long ago when everything we did took time and where a bread that took 10 days to make was not as extraordinary as it seems today.

The recipe comes to us from Mrs. Norma Condon of Los Angeles. Amish Friendship Bread is a great bread for the holidays. When you've made your bread, you can give your friends a sample and the starter that made it! Then your friends can make their own and pass it along to their friends. This is why the bread is called "friendship bread". It makes a great homemade birthday and Christmas present. Church groups and hospitals have spread a lot of love and cheer by making Amish Friendship Bread for their members. Many people make it regularly just because it tastes so good!

Amish Friendship Bread is a genuine starter bread. If you know someone with a starter, you are in luck. For those of you without access to a starter, we've done our research and found a great option. It's a special starter in powder form that can be activated with flour and water; it's safe, very inexpensive and we can send it to you. Starter for Amish Friendship Bread (G-110)

The Recipe

Important Note: Don't use metal spoons or equipment. Do not refrigerate. Use only glazed ceramic or plastic bowls or containers.

Required Main Ingredient
1 cup live yeast starter (see above)

day 1:
Do nothing with the starter.

days 2-5:
Stir with a wooden spoon.

day 6:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup milk. Stir with a wooden spoon.

days 7-9:
Stir with a wooden spoon.

Day 10:
Add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Stir. Take out 3 cups and place 1 cup each into three separate plastic containers. Give one cup and a copy of this recipe to three friends. To the balance (a little over one cup) of the batter, add the following ingredients and mix well.

1 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

In a separate bowl combine the following dry ingredients and mix well:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 - (5.1 oz) box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 tsp salt )
1 cup nuts (optional)

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix and pour into two well-greased and cinnamon sugared bread pans. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

When I made mine, I just poured everything into a traditional-sized glass cake pan to bake. After an hour I turned the oven off and left the cake to finish baking in the ambient heat.

Also, the friend who gave me the starter told me she routinely freezes her starter so she always has some. I now have three plastic baggies of starter in the freezer just waiting to thaw on day 0 and then start at day 1 again.

Part of me does wonder how all that milk sitting out at room temperature doesn't develop some kind of mad cow disease or bovine flu and kill us all but I guess years and years of history can't be wrong, right? Just ask the Native Americans!

I know the photo isn't great and makes the bread appear dry - however it's very moist. I'd say it's really a misnomer to call it a bread because it's really much more of a cake consistency.

We've enjoyed this both with a bit of vanilla ice cream in the evening or in the morning with some butter alongside our coffee. The sweet cinnamon flavor works well in both situations.

I grew up in Upstate New York - not that far from the Pennsylvania Dutch Country so I'm fairly familiar with the culture and some of their crafts/yummies. I'm interested in hearing if you've heard of this before, as well as a bit of geographical information.

Sweet Strawberry Bruschetta

This weekend, I enjoyed a lovely lunch while visiting a winery. Even though I had ordered bruschetta from room service at the hotel the night before, Joe decided he wanted to try the cafe's "sweet bruschetta" as an appetizer. So glad we did! And since it was so delicious (and so simple!) I did my best to recreate it at home last night.

I started by toasting thin slices of a French baguette. I only left them in long enough to be just crunchy on the outside but still soft inside.

Next, I applied a generous amount of spreadable goat cheese. I topped this with a few bacon bits and some thinly sliced strawberries.

To finish it off, I drizzled with a bit of honey and some balsamic vinegar.

The result was very good. Next time, I'll reduce the balsamic to make more of a glaze - the taste was close but the consistency should've been more syrupy. The only other difference I really noticed between my version and the one served at the winery was the quality of ingredients. Joe bought the only kind of spreadable goat cheese available at the grocery store (I'm sure we can find better if we make an effort) and our waiter actually stated that they made theirs fresh from goats on the farm. And in order to avoid cooking a lot of bacon, I used the real bacon bits sold with the salad toppers. I'm sure their balsamic was higher quality as well.

But it was still a very tasty reproduction. With a little tweaking, we will make it again!

Fix-It-Fridays: Tasty Salad

This week's edition of "Fix-It-Friday" tackles a dinner staple - salad.

What's your favorite salad? What do you like to add on top? What are you favorite dressings?

I like to use spinach for my salad greens. My favorite 'recipe' for salad involves spinach, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, and a homemade dressing based on red wine vinegar. There's also some sort of cheese but I can't remember what kind.

For my "standard" salad during the week, I usually add Craisins, red onion, feta, and a bit of balsamic vinegar/olive oil.

Yes, you'll notice a bit of a trend there. I try to keep my dressing simple - a little oil and vinegar. I have a recipe for balsamic dressing that involves the addition of mustard and garlic. For store-bought dressings, I try to stick to the "lighter" dressings but I try to avoid them.

So, weigh in with your thoughts on greens!

That's pretty fresh! (Lobstergram)

Friday nights, we like to wind down with a nice dinner and a bottle of wine. Joe will usually stop and pick up something on the way home depending on the mood. Usually this means something for the grill but sometimes it's pizza, wings, or any other number of things.

This week, he told me "I've got dinner covered for Friday - it will be delivered during the day and then we'll cook it when I get home." Arriving home from work, I found a big white styrofoam box (in addition to a cardboard Amazon box) on the front porch and brought it inside to the kitchen table. My guess? Some sort of steak delivery.

As I waited for Joe to show up, I sat at the kitchen table reading blogs and twittering away.

That's when I heard it. Something was moving inside a package I had brought in from the porch. I assumed it must be the Amazon box making noise so I took that one out to the garage.

Again, I heard the scratching.

Joe: Hello?
me: Are you going to be home soon?
Joe: I'm at the checkout line now with the wine. Why?
me: I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I think something got into the box of dinner - it's making noises.
Joe: Noises?
me: Yes, like something's moving in there.
Joe: It will be ok, I'll be home soon.

Certain that dinner was ruined, I poked through the pantry for a back-up plan. Fortunately, the backup plan was unnecessary once Joe opened the box and showed me what was inside:

Looks like one of them got sick on the trip. But yes, two LIVE Maine lobsters, overnighted to our door.

Now, I've never boiled live lobster before though it's something I've always wanted to do. Very exciting! I also thought it was going to be a lot of work (and mess). Mostly, I stood back and took photos (and drank wine) while Joe did the cooking.





And after a delicious dinner of lobster (which, yes, I made Joe do all the cracking and dissecting because it was LOOKING at me! I am weak he likes to feel like a big manly provider), Joe presents dessert:

Yes, apparently cooking live lobster wasn't enough adventure for one evening. We needed to finish it up by eating a puppy for dessert. And it was quite tasty. I'm more of a cat person anyways.

And there you have it - my husband, who is far too busy to have read my blog this week, managed to create his very own Lobster Incident. Mo and Blognut would be so proud!

Smurf-Flavored Ice Cream

Thanks for the input on Easter dinner menus. In the end, we went with pasta - I made alfredo sauce, tossed in some cubed chicken, mixed in a box of frozen spinach (chopped) and served it over rigatoni noodles. Add some bread and it was delicious and ridiculously fattening - exactly what a holiday meal should be!

For dessert, we broke out the ice cream maker. We have a Cuisinart that we keep in the freezer so it's ready to go at all times. I made a basic vanilla ice cream, adding about 1/2 tsp of mint extract and an unspecified amount of blue food coloring. After 25 minutes, I added some pastel M&M candies. Joe's a fiend for sprinkles (don't ask) so we topped off with that.

It looked very Easter-y and tasted quite nice. I couldn't resist a quick picture (with my Hallmark chicky candy dish).

I hope you all had a delicious Easter!

Easter Dinner Menu

I'm in the process of planning our Easter dinner menu.  Like most holidays, it will be just me and Joe (supervised by the cats) for our meal.  While this may sound preferable to hosting a meal for thirty people, it brings about its own unique challenges.

Mainly, we always end up with way too much food.  And since we generally eat quite healthy, we allow holidays to be a time for indulgence.  Great, except with only two diners, that leaves a lot of leftovers.  I should really figure out this whole "freezing food" concept.

One of the advantages is that neither of us are die-hard "traditional holiday meal" people.  Sometimes we do go traditional - we had turkey for Thanksgiving, along with all the trimmings.  And froze about ten pounds of bird afterwards.  Sometimes we make our own traditions - the past few years, we've made prime rib for Christmas.  And sometimes, we just go completely outside the box - pasta, pizza, all appetizers.  One year we had an all-bourbon Thanksgiving and every recipe included bourbon as an ingredient.

The one thing we haven't ever done is eat out.  Well, unless you count the Easter we were driving home from Florida and stopped at Subway for a ham and cheese.

Growing up, we always ate ham, snowflake rolls, mashed potatoes, Gramma's mac and cheese, applesauce (my baby brother would only eat applesauce and rolls for most of his meals) and deviled eggs.  Other random dishes also made the table from time to time but those were the staples.  Desserts were more haphazard though there was almost always chocolate pudding pie.  

This year, I'm considering lasagna at this point.  Or something awesome on the grill.  Joe suggested going out but I really do enjoy preparing our meal together at home and relaxing.  Tell me about your Easter dinners and help me plan my own.

In my basket

I've decided it's Easter Week. I mean, the actual timing of Easter week is caused by planetary alignment and how many times the rabbit sees his shadow in the full moon. I only mean that I've decided any and all posts on this blog this week will relate to Easter.

First post of the week - when you think of an Easter basket, what goes inside? Particular foods or candy? Actual Easter eggs? Non-edible items? Little chickies?

Growing up, my parents the Easter bunny always hid baskets for me and the little bro & sis. However, he left our chocolate on the counter in a special community basket. Supposedly this was because the dog liked to find our baskets and eat the candy. I've been told chocolate isn't good for dogs. Boy must it suck to be a canine. The real reason I think the candy stayed on the counter was because it was easier for my mother eat it that way.

I was always partial to Cadbury creme eggs as a child though now my tastes lean more towards the Cadbury mini-eggs. Another favorite Easter basket addition was always the gift from my grandmother when she came over for dinner. She always bought each of us our own chocolate rabbit and a small jar of peanut butter. That way we could double-dip the bunny without getting yelled at. Oh, the tummy ache I have right now just thinking about it.

So tell me about your Easter basket treasures! I have to imagine there are a lot of individual touches that go well beyond chocolate eggs and purple paper grass.

Fix-It-Fridays: Spice Up My Burger!

I'm feeling optimistic today so I'm going to say that grilling season is just around the corner. I'm fortunate enough to live in a location where we can use our grill almost year-round, which is awesome. But there's still something about warmer temperatures that makes the season feel new.

Today's "Fix-It" is burgers. What do you add to burgers to make them more exciting? Is it something you add to the meat before you cook it? Is it how you dress the cooked burger before serving it? Maybe it's even the meat itself.

Last night, I tried a recipe for Tex-Mex Burgers with Cajun Mayo with the following variations:

• We were running low on Cajun seasoning so I added a bit of cayenne pepper to the burger mix and served with plain mayo
• I used some leftover scallions instead of white onion
• I used Jarlsburg cheese due to availability
• No lettuce, tomato, or buns

I assembled the raw burgers and Joe grilled them up. Next time, I'll make sure we have more Cajun seasoning (I used ours up on the sweet potato fries) and the pepperjack cheese would've been awesome.

These were delicious but now I've created a monster. Joe has declared he will never eat "plain" burgers again. Yeah, wishful thinking.

So, fix it! Share your ideas for sprucing up a regular burger in the comments. Burgers are such a summer staple, I bet there are a lot of great ideas out there.

Chicken with Rotel

Last night, we were on a tight schedule. Joe had to catch a flight and I needed to put dinner on the table ASAP. Added challenge? I had planned on eating chicken by myself and Joe's not a big fan of chicken.

Since Joe finds chicken to be bland and dry, I was determined to put together something a) fast b) tasty c) moist.

Here's what I did:

I pounded out two boneless, skinless chicken breasts and breaded them in a mix of flour and garlic powder. In the meantime, I heated a non-stick skillet with about 1 tablespoon of butter in it. Drop in the chicken, cook it up. Maybe seven minutes.

Next, I poured in about one cup of cheap Chardonnay (I believe it was Vendage). Once it had reduced by about half, I added a can of Rotel, complete with the juice.

Oh, Rotel, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways! I am totally going to post a love letter to Rotel in the near future.

Once most of the liquid, but not all, had simmered off (ten minutes?), I dropped the chicken breasts and remaining tomatoes/chilis on a plate.

Served with a side of spinach salad, it met all three of my requirements. We also drank a bit of the cheap Vendage Chardonnay along with the meal. Joe enjoyed it and didn't even complain about eating chicken. My only disappointment was that there were no leftovers to bring for lunch the next day.

Quick, simple, yummy chicken. Score!

Trivento Select Malbec (2007)

Name: Trivento Select Malbec (2007)
Type: Malbec (red)
Price: Approximately $10
Description: Lovely, a bit sweet, very smooth.
Recommend?: Yes!

Lately, we've been on a kick for Malbecs.  According to Epicurious, Malbec is a red-wine grape originating in France and generally blended with other grapes. Malbec grapes are planted extensively in Argentina and Chile.

Most of the Malbecs that Joe and I have consumed have been from Argentina. I can't remember where we had the first but we've had several out that have been really nice. This past Sunday we were on a mission to purchase a bottle of Malbec to accompany our dinner at home.

Only, our local grocery store, which has an extensive wine section, is geographically-challenged. After an extensive search, we finally found what we were looking for in the section marked "South Africa, New Zealand". No, not so much.

Joe selected a bottle of Trivento Select from 2007. According to the bottle, Trivento means "inspired by the winds" and has something to do with the winds rushing over the mouths of three caves. The bottle also says "Trivento Select Malbec is aged in medium toasted French oak, which dds vanilla aroma and supple tannins to the wine's rich berry flavors."

We found it to be very smooth and just a touch sweet. In fact, it was just sweet enough that I'd recommend it to a friend that's trying to break into red wines but not quite ready for something overly dry. We drank our bottle at dinner along with some Irish cheddar, calamari, potato salad and grilled ribeye steaks.

Delicious. I would totally buy it again. Probably on Friday.

Fix-It-Fridays

Each Friday, I'll post an ingredient, a recipe, a menu, something for you to fix. Maybe it's something that went horribly wrong or maybe it's just totally bland (which is the same as horribly wrong, is it not?). Whatever the case may be, your suggestions for "fixing" it are requested!

Have a topic you'd like to see in this category? Please post it to the comments and I'll schedule it!

My Qualifications as a Sommelier

Here's what I know about wine:

• It's made from grapes.
• It contains alcohol.
• I like it. A lot.

Does this qualify me as a sommelier or expert? Probably not.

I enjoy attending wine tastings and pretend to listen as the sommelier explains what is in my glass. Then I dutifully swirl it around, smell, and down the hatch.

Joe and I began drinking wine approximately seven years ago. We began with Beringer White Zinfandel. Over the years, our tastes have changed and we now tend towards dry red wines. In fact, at this point I'd say a wine cannot be too dry for me but it can definitely be too sweet.

Some of my favorite reds:

• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Pinot Noir
• Côtes du Rhône
• Malbec

I'm not as big of a fan of whites in general but I've been known to enjoy:

• Chardonnay
• Riesling
• Chenin Blanc

I'm definitely not a pretentious wine snob. I don't pretend to know enough about it to ever call myself that. I like to think wine (and many other things) is similar to music: a wide variety of each exists to serve a wide variety of tastes. We're all free to enjoy what we want to enjoy.

All of which is the long way to say - I like what I like. I'll share that here. You may not agree. Or you may. In which case, feel free to tip your sommelier.

About FeastMyFace

Why another blog?

This may come as a bit of a surprise to you but I like to eat. And drink. I enjoy doing this at restaurants and I also really enjoy doing this at home. Honestly, I think I prefer to eat at home - the ingredients (and drinks) are cheaper and half the fun of dinner is the time I spend in the kitchen with my husband, Joe.

I don't have any qualifications. I just like what I like. Upscale, downscale, complicated, simple, ethnic, American, American versions of ethnic.

Rather than clutter up my primary blog, ShowMyFace, I decided to start a separate blog here. Also, if it's a complete failure, I can delete the whole thing like it never happened!

If nothing else, this might be a good way for me to keep track of recipes and things I want to try. Even if nobody out there is reading.

What will I find here?

A bit of everything related to food and drink. Reviews, products, ingredients, recipes, methods, links, photos, thumbs ups and some thumbs downs. If it's at all related to food or drink, it's fair game.

Why FeastMyFace?

Because FeedMyFace, StuffMyFace and InMyFace were already taken. As was everything else I tried.

Anything else we should know?

I'll go ahead and assume most folks will find this blog through ShowMyFace. If not, allow me to introduce myself. I have one husband (Joe), two cats (Tonya & Rusty) and a lot of free time at my day job, which is in IT and not very creative. I'm not sure that there's much else to know!