New recipe, May 30, 2014

Tonight's new recipe is the Tommy Gun Cocktail, from the Food and Wine brochure "Mixing It Up."
This is nice, we give it a 4.

New recipes, May 28, 2014

Crushed Beets with Lemon Vinaigrette, and Scallops with Hazelnuts and Warm Sun Gold Tomatoes, both from the June 2014 Bon Appétit. We loved both of these--both get a 5!

Wine: Van Ruiten Chardonnay 2009--a decent, not great match (though it would be hard to match both dishes at once!).

New recipe, May 27, 2014

Skillet Asparagus Salad with Goat Cheese from the May 2014 Cooking Light. This is amazing, an absolute 5! Served with Mushroom Ravioli drizzled with black truffle oil.

Wine: Chateau Brézèmr Côtes du Rhône 2007--a good match

New recipes, May 26, 2014

We have finished 3 days of brewing and have 6 beers fermenting!

Not sure which surprised us more--realizing the half lamb we got last year came with a heart, or accidentally defrosting it. We decided to make a Classic Peruvian dish, Anticuchos de Corazon, from latinabroad.com. It traditionally uses beef heart, but was delicious with lamb. We give this a 5 (use 1 tsp salt, not 1 tbsp!!).

Dinner was Roast Pheasant from the New York Times Cookbook, which we cooked in a steam oven--arillo a Little overcooked, but much moister than many pheasants. We give it a 4. Served with rice, quick sautéed newborn Bok Choy from the garden, and pan seared asparagus.

Wine: Donaine de Garrou Richesse 2002--an excellent match!

New recipe, May 25, 2014

Green Bean Arugula and Clementine Toss from the May 2014 Cooking Light. Good flavors, enjoyable, we give this a 3. Served with a strip steak with truffle salt and boiled new potatoes.  Pretty quick and easy, which was nice after day 2 of beer brewing.

Wine: Muriel Rioja Reserva 2007-a good, not great match

New recipe, May 24, 2014

After a full day of brewing beer, our friends Paulanne and Diane hosted us for a fabulous dinner (5s across the board!) so tonight's new recipe is a cocktail, the Aperol Soda from Dan Murphys. We used a slice of honey mandarin from our tree, which is incredible! This is a nice drink, seems like a great summer patio drink--we give it a 4

New recipe, May 23, 2014

Steak and Asparagus Stir Fry from the May 2014 Cooking Light. We doubled the ginger, garlic, and crushed red pepper, and it was good! It gets a 4!

Wine: Small Gully The Formula Robert's Shiraz 2006