We were driving slowly into the heart of the ghetto. B was at the wheel avoiding the potholes and filthy, undernourished kids running across the street. I was in the passenger seat, cocking my sawed off shotgun while staring down the kids who were menacingly pulling up their shirts to reveal handguns stuffed in their pants. One more turn and there it was! The huge La Honda sign was a beacon of safety. B sped towards the huge gilt edged warehouse and screeched to a halt between the Grecian planters surrounding the door. "I'll cover you...run!", I yelled as B jumped out of the car and started to madly pump the door handle. "Goddammit, it won't open", he said as I took up position next to him and leveled my gun at some of the kids who cautiously advancing, like a lion stalking it's prey. Suddenly the door opened inward. I whipped my gun around and narrowly missed blowing the top off a well dressed woman at the door. All she said was, "I saw you trying to open the door. Come on in!" And we ran in to enjoy the safety and solace of a good glass of wine. Just another day on the Santa Cruz Mountain Wineries Passport Weekend Trip.
Uh, no, that didn't actually happen, but I bet a lot more people would go along if it was always this exciting. We did actually drive through the ghetto of Redwood City to get to La Honda, a huge, beautiful warehouse. Dominico was also at La Honda because they were having a private event in their own tasting room which is about 10 minutes away. We then drove a tiny highway along with about half of the bay area over to Half Moon Bay to go to a cute little winery called La Nebbia. Finally, we made our way to the grand Thomas Fogarty and then home. The weather was beautiful, the company was excellent (Jeff and Vicky joined us), and the wine was pretty good. Here are my thoughts:
1. La Honda in Redwood City. Overall not impressed with these wines, but the place and the people were nice. They had a taco truck out back. I didn't have any, but Jeff said they were ok. The Pinot "Sequence" and the Cab Syrah "Exponent" were pretty good and fairly inexpensive, but we didn't like them enough to buy them. We did however buy a $10 crescent shaped wine holder that's pretty cool.
2. Dominico. I've been here before and I have liked their wines. Today was no different. The people were very knowledgeable and friendly. The Aglianico ('05) smelled great and was a little spicy. We bought a bottle for $30.
3. La Nebbia in Half Moon Bay. This is a cute little winery out in the boonies of HMB. They have a bottchie ball court and a glass blowing shed. There was even a guy giving glass blowing lessons. Overall, the wines were good, but the dessert wines were too sweet. I liked their sparkling wine (light and fruity) and it was affordable at $13.95. Also good was the Merlot ('05 from Russian River), but it was a little expensive ($29.95). I liked it so much I bought it anyway. They also had the port in the chocolate cup for an extra $2, but I didn't partake because they had already poured us 9 wines.
4. Thomas Fogarty in Woodside. This is a huge compound with a great view. They have excellent wines and great pourers, but their wines are way too expensive. Their '06 Chardonnay was really good (tasted like lemon butter). We didn't get it because it costs a whopping $36.00. The '05 Fat Buck Ridge Santa Cruz Mtns. Estate Syrah was meaty and rich ($48.00). This wine was fantastic! We ended up getting the Barbara and the Gewürtztraminer because they were really good and a little more affordable than most of the wines. This is an interesting winery. It was started by a doctor who invented so kind of heart surgery stint or something like that, so he had a lot of money and started a winery on some prime real estate. Now they are a popular wedding spot in addition to the tasting room and warehouse.
It was a good day.
Happy Tasting!,
Your Wine Nerd
Friday, July 30, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
BBQing for Beginners #2
Scientists think that our ancestors brains started to get bigger once we figured out how to start a fire and cook our meat. Cooked meat is easier to digest, so our digestive tracts got smaller and used less energy while being more efficient. This allowed us to get more energy from our food and have more energy to power our massive brains (even though it may not seem like it, humans do have enormous brains for their body size). Secondly, protein is the one of the building blocks of our body. Protein is a part of our cells and tissues, like muscles, and is used as essential cellular messengers such as hormones. So I figure, with the amount of BBQing I'm doing, I'm going to brilliant by the end of the summer!
Last night I took a page from Alton Brown's book (actually it was a video on foodnetwork.com) and made some steak and vegetables. Check out his grilling videos. He has some good tips for grilling and the basis for my adventure (triple duty marinade) in video form.
Step 1
Marinate 2 NY steaks for 1 hour in a bag with the following ingredients:
4 oz molasses
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes.
At some point you need to accidentally tip the bag so that a while bunch of lime juice spills out and then squirt a whole bunch of lime juice back in the bag in the vain hope that you are adding back what you spilled.
Step 2
Cook the steaks for about 15 minutes on a hot grill. This will give you medium cooked steaks, so cook longer if you like 'em dunner. You're supposed to do this on a stove so that you can reserve the juices for the sauce. I tried to rig a foil pan on the grill, but it just burned the juices. It didn't ruin the meal, but if you want those juices, do this in a pan. Let the steaks rest as you go onto...
Step 3
Dump some olive oil, salt, and pepper (no, not a pinch...a dump!) onto one bunch of asparagus. Cook on a medium heat grill for about 10 minutes. If you find that the asparagus doesn't like to stay on your grill, try a cooling rack on top of the grill. This can be found at any home goods store and is usually used to cool cookies or meat.
Step 4
Boil the marinade for about 4 minutes and then whisk in 2 tbsp red wine, 1 tbsp sesame oil, and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. While this sauce is cooling, stir fry 1 jar of roasted red peppers and 1 head of cabbage in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Once the cabbage wilts, stir in the sauce and enjoy your meal! The cabbage dish was originally meant to be a slaw, but I turned it into something more like a sauerkraut, which is also awesome on bbqed sausages (no really...I just had it!). I was thinking that a little mayo would make this unnecessarily good. If you try it, let me know what you think.
Why let meat rest?
Meat proteins get smaller as they heat up and squeeze out some of the juice. Meat gets drier as it gets hotter. If you cut the meat while it is still super hot, all of that juice that is being squeezed out of the proteins will gush out of the meat and be lost forever. If you let it cool a little bit before cutting, some of the juices will be reabsorbed by the cooling proteins and your meat will stay moist. It should take about 10 minutes for the above steaks and you can save any liquid that leaks out during it's little nap and use it in a sauce!
For more information on meat naps go to The Virtual Webber Bullet. Thanks also to Mental Floss Magazine.
Happy grilling!
Love, Cupcake
Last night I took a page from Alton Brown's book (actually it was a video on foodnetwork.com) and made some steak and vegetables. Check out his grilling videos. He has some good tips for grilling and the basis for my adventure (triple duty marinade) in video form.
Step 1
Marinate 2 NY steaks for 1 hour in a bag with the following ingredients:
4 oz molasses
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp seasoned rice vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes.
At some point you need to accidentally tip the bag so that a while bunch of lime juice spills out and then squirt a whole bunch of lime juice back in the bag in the vain hope that you are adding back what you spilled.
Step 2
Cook the steaks for about 15 minutes on a hot grill. This will give you medium cooked steaks, so cook longer if you like 'em dunner. You're supposed to do this on a stove so that you can reserve the juices for the sauce. I tried to rig a foil pan on the grill, but it just burned the juices. It didn't ruin the meal, but if you want those juices, do this in a pan. Let the steaks rest as you go onto...
Step 3
Dump some olive oil, salt, and pepper (no, not a pinch...a dump!) onto one bunch of asparagus. Cook on a medium heat grill for about 10 minutes. If you find that the asparagus doesn't like to stay on your grill, try a cooling rack on top of the grill. This can be found at any home goods store and is usually used to cool cookies or meat.
Step 4
Boil the marinade for about 4 minutes and then whisk in 2 tbsp red wine, 1 tbsp sesame oil, and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. While this sauce is cooling, stir fry 1 jar of roasted red peppers and 1 head of cabbage in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Once the cabbage wilts, stir in the sauce and enjoy your meal! The cabbage dish was originally meant to be a slaw, but I turned it into something more like a sauerkraut, which is also awesome on bbqed sausages (no really...I just had it!). I was thinking that a little mayo would make this unnecessarily good. If you try it, let me know what you think.
Why let meat rest?
Meat proteins get smaller as they heat up and squeeze out some of the juice. Meat gets drier as it gets hotter. If you cut the meat while it is still super hot, all of that juice that is being squeezed out of the proteins will gush out of the meat and be lost forever. If you let it cool a little bit before cutting, some of the juices will be reabsorbed by the cooling proteins and your meat will stay moist. It should take about 10 minutes for the above steaks and you can save any liquid that leaks out during it's little nap and use it in a sauce!
For more information on meat naps go to The Virtual Webber Bullet. Thanks also to Mental Floss Magazine.
Happy grilling!
Love, Cupcake
Friday, July 2, 2010
BBQing for Beginners (that would be me!)
Ahhhh, summer. That beautiful time of year when you can cook outside at 9 pm over an open flame. I just popped my bbqing cherry tonight and it was FANtastic. Let me tell you about the experience.
My fridge is stocked with all kinds of bbqable goodies this weekend in anticipation of the ZERO people I will have over for 4th of July. Actually, I stocked it so that I could experiment with bbqing and then blog about it. Nerd.
I got some ground lamb (1 lb.), yellow onions (1/2 small), and blue cheese (about 2 tbsp) for the burgers. I chopped the onions real small, crumbled the blue cheese, and mashed everything together into some patties(four medium sized patties). I have a gas grill, so I cooked them over medium high heat for about 10 minutes and then put them on the second rack for about 5 more minutes. Remember to only flip once and never mash the burgers (that's how you lose that tasty juice). They turned out to be perfectly medium and tender, but not as flavorful as I expected. The onions weren't fully cooked and I don't like uncooked onions. Brendan thought it was great, though. If you don't like your onions mixed with meat, I would suggest something I learned from my hero, Alton Brown. Stick three skewers through an onion and then slice in between the skewers. This will give you nice onion slices that won't fall apart on the bbq. Check out foodnetwork.com for a video of Alton demonstrating this.
The next dish was my favorite and definitely the easiest: portabella mushrooms! Most people think that this is a vegetable, but it's actually a fungus...an organism that absorbs chemicals from decomposing matter. And it sure does make em tasty!! Liberally apply oil to the mushrooms, sprinkle a little Cajun seasoning, grill on high heat for 10-15 minutes and you have magic. They should be done when you see them get darker, wrinklier, and start to sweat. These mushrooms are big and meaty, so they are perfect for grilling. I have seen people marinate these babies in all kinds of things, so get crazy!
I want to talk a little bit about hamburgers. Most people immediately go for the beef burger, but there are millions of different variations on burgers: turkey, lamb, beef, salmon, soy, mushroom, pineapple, etc. Vegetarians actually have a lot of choices these days for pre-made soy and vegetable burgers that are quite tasty and healthy. Meat burgers can be pre-made, but homemade is always better. Turkey tends to be leaner than beef because fowl hold most of their fat in a layer above the muscle, while cows hold their fat in a layer above the muscle AND threaded through the muscle. Beef will always have more fat unless you buy the leaner versions which have had some of the fat removed. Also, animals that have been raised on their natural diet are always better. Making animals eat foreign food always does weird things to their bodies which can make it's way to the dinner table. For example, I just learned today that cows are not used to eating corn, so when they are on a corn diet, their stomachs become more acidic to handle the corn. After awhile their stomachs develop acid-resistant e. coli which could make you sick. ew. So get grass fed beef if you can. Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it. Just trying typing "burger" into a search engine and you will get millions of ideas to make that everyday patty transform into a little party for your tastebuds! I want to try the mozzarella stuffed turkey burgers next! mmmm...
Happy grilling!
Your Nerd, Cupcake
My fridge is stocked with all kinds of bbqable goodies this weekend in anticipation of the ZERO people I will have over for 4th of July. Actually, I stocked it so that I could experiment with bbqing and then blog about it. Nerd.
I got some ground lamb (1 lb.), yellow onions (1/2 small), and blue cheese (about 2 tbsp) for the burgers. I chopped the onions real small, crumbled the blue cheese, and mashed everything together into some patties(four medium sized patties). I have a gas grill, so I cooked them over medium high heat for about 10 minutes and then put them on the second rack for about 5 more minutes. Remember to only flip once and never mash the burgers (that's how you lose that tasty juice). They turned out to be perfectly medium and tender, but not as flavorful as I expected. The onions weren't fully cooked and I don't like uncooked onions. Brendan thought it was great, though. If you don't like your onions mixed with meat, I would suggest something I learned from my hero, Alton Brown. Stick three skewers through an onion and then slice in between the skewers. This will give you nice onion slices that won't fall apart on the bbq. Check out foodnetwork.com for a video of Alton demonstrating this.
The next dish was my favorite and definitely the easiest: portabella mushrooms! Most people think that this is a vegetable, but it's actually a fungus...an organism that absorbs chemicals from decomposing matter. And it sure does make em tasty!! Liberally apply oil to the mushrooms, sprinkle a little Cajun seasoning, grill on high heat for 10-15 minutes and you have magic. They should be done when you see them get darker, wrinklier, and start to sweat. These mushrooms are big and meaty, so they are perfect for grilling. I have seen people marinate these babies in all kinds of things, so get crazy!
I want to talk a little bit about hamburgers. Most people immediately go for the beef burger, but there are millions of different variations on burgers: turkey, lamb, beef, salmon, soy, mushroom, pineapple, etc. Vegetarians actually have a lot of choices these days for pre-made soy and vegetable burgers that are quite tasty and healthy. Meat burgers can be pre-made, but homemade is always better. Turkey tends to be leaner than beef because fowl hold most of their fat in a layer above the muscle, while cows hold their fat in a layer above the muscle AND threaded through the muscle. Beef will always have more fat unless you buy the leaner versions which have had some of the fat removed. Also, animals that have been raised on their natural diet are always better. Making animals eat foreign food always does weird things to their bodies which can make it's way to the dinner table. For example, I just learned today that cows are not used to eating corn, so when they are on a corn diet, their stomachs become more acidic to handle the corn. After awhile their stomachs develop acid-resistant e. coli which could make you sick. ew. So get grass fed beef if you can. Anyway you want it, that's the way you need it. Just trying typing "burger" into a search engine and you will get millions of ideas to make that everyday patty transform into a little party for your tastebuds! I want to try the mozzarella stuffed turkey burgers next! mmmm...
Happy grilling!
Your Nerd, Cupcake
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