March 7, 2011 new recipe

Carl made a fabulous Shrimp with Mango, Avocado and Sweet Chili-Ginger Vinaigrette from Epicurious.com. He accompanied with the Roast Brussels Sprouts with Fish Sauce Vinagrette from David Chang's Momofuku--we love this dish, and keep coming back to it.

The wine was a 2009 Domaine de Pellehaut. While this a very nice wine, with grapefruit and peach aromas, I think IO overestimated its ability to balance the very spicy brussels sprouts. Ah well!

February 24, 2011 new recipe

This is Anne's last day before she goes home to France. We will miss her! We had Roasted Tomatillo Shrimp Tacos, which I found on the Cookincanuck's blog. They are very tasty indeed! We decided to have these with Margaritas, instead of wine. It was accompanied by a variant on Spanish rice, with carrots. We learned the technique at La Villa Bonita, from Chef Ana Garcia.

We did toast to a wonderful visit with some New Mexico Gruet Blanc de Blanc sparkling wine, along with a Dulce de Leche and Caramel Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.

Au revoir, Anne!

February 10, 2011 new recipes

This evening we had Seared Corn with Green Chile and Mexican Herbs, from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen, which we have made before. Our new dishes were Rick's Mango Guacamole on a tostada shell, from Fiesta at Rick's, and the Grilled Shrimp with Feta, Cilantro and Lime, from Epicurious.com. They were all delicious, and they went together very nicely. Melissa, Carl's niece, said the shrimp is one of her favorites dishes so far.

Anne is in the photo, as she was a tremendous sous chef! None of these were hard to do, but there were a lot of simultaneous steps, and Anne made sure they all got done.

We had the 2009 Côté Est with this meal--a very nice match!

January 29, 2011 new recipe

Dinner on 1/29/2011. We repeated the African Adobo-Rubbed Tuna Steaks for Melissa, Carl's niece, and her husband Mike, and of course for our friend Dwight. The new dish came from Epicurious.com--Shrimp and Avocado Salad with Grapefruit Salad. They were both great!

We drank Garnacha de Fuego 2009 Old Vine with this meal.

January 27, 2011 new recipe

Dinner on 1/27/2011 was Shrimp and Scallops with Asian Eggplant, which Carl served over rice. This is yet another recipe from Epicurious.com. Epicurious aggregates recipes from a number of sources, and we have been very happy with most of the recipes!

The wine was the 2009 Leitz Out Rheingau Riesling.

January 11, 2011 new recipe

Dinner on 1/11/2011: Camarónes a la Diabla. Carl served this with rice. The recipe is from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's.

January 6, 2011 new recipe

Dinner on 1/6/2011 came from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's. This time Carl did the whole recipe, Achiote-Seared Shrimp with Quick Habanero-Pickled Onions. This was the first time we did the shrimp, but not the first time for the onions (and not the last time, either!).

Simple, and fabulous. We had a Riesling with this, but I don't remember which one.

January 3, 2011 new recipes

Dinner on 1/3/2011 was a tasty yet simple affair. The Quick Habanero-Pickled Onions, was a new recipe for us, from Rick Bayless' Fiesta at Rick's cookbook. The Shrimp From the Devil Priest, from Mario Batali's Molto Italiano, was served over Basmati rice.

Delicious!

The wine was Leitz Out 2009 Rheingau Riesling. Rieslings are fruity, even when they are not sweet, making them a good match for spicy food.