Pre Valentine's Dinner

We had our friends M. and C. over for a little pre-Valentines Day dinner. We popped open a bottle of bubbly and L and and I made this Jamie Oliver quiche - Tiger's Quiche. The photos (and you can not see them because BLOGGER is blogging) do not do it justice - it was fantastic!! Served a light green salad and some warm crusty French bread with it. Fun evening of bubbly, food and friends!

Liquid Comfort

Here is our entry for the Click event over at Jugalbandi!

Pasta ..... Terrible Pasta

Okay, the bad thing about using everything you have in the kitchen is that you eventually run out of the good stuff and are left with the stuff you really do not like - chicken basil sausage that was a terrible hit last month, some left over broccoli and a tiny bit of cheese. Now, I did think it would all come together but the sausage was SOOOO bland, I added a ton of salt and Portuguese peppers, shallots, garlic, pepper - nothing worked! Then I cooked up some whole wheat pasta thinking that would at least add that nice nutty flavor - NOT! I think this was terrible. L. said it is okay - OKAY, he ate about 4 servings - that goes to prove the man will eat anything!

La Festa al Fresco

We were so excited to be part of the La Festa al Freso 2007. So excited that we could not decide on what to bring to Cream Puff's and La Mia Cucina's; so, we brought it all! We started with a beautiful Zucchini Carpaccio (our first time making one - YUMMY) and then moved on to a Portabella Stroganoff and Belgium Endive salad with roguefort cheese. We also brought along some of the wonderful homemade butter that we are getting fat on! As well we decided to tote along a bottle of one of our favorite wines, Block 45! Tutti a tavola!!

Getting Crazy in the Kitchen

Wanted to have fun with The Crazy Kitchen Gadget fun! We just got this new gadget and love it! It is great as it not only is a pourer and keeps the drips off the table and your clothing but it also has a stopper built in, in case you do not want to drink a whole bottle at one setting! The recipe: A good bottle of vino!

Ten Wines to be Tasted .......

We picked up an assorted case of wine today. We each got to add 6 bottles to the case and the only rules were that it had to be something we wanted to drink and it had to be under $10 a bottle ... not $10.99, under $10! When we got home we each picked 5 out of the case (the other two are the token ones for emergencies). The ten we picked we will be featuring in our tasting! After we taste them, we will either keep it or leave it. If, it is a keeper, it will be added to the Best Wines for under $10 list on our blog! Stay tuned ... we have some drinking to do!

Ribs! Ribs! Ribs!

Last night we had our friend W. over for a cookout. Warm evening in the city and we were going to take advantage of our beautiful deck & Weber! Started the evening with a bottle of 2004 Tobin James Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel and a Hummus Platter. The food was great and the wine was FANTASTIC - juicy, jammy and spicy all wrapped up in one! We then grilled up some beef short ribs which I had rubbed down with a Chipotle Pepper and Salt rub, that I made earlier in the day. These ribs are really outstanding - full of flavor!! I am drooling just thinking about it - summer addiction for warm nights on the deck! Served it with an Asian Inspired Slaw that I tossed together and then we popped open a 2004 Tobin James French Camp Vineyard Zinfandel - another winner which really complimented the grilled beef, which was slightly spicy as well as the sweetness in the slaw! We ended the night with chocolate anglefood cake which I bought at Whole Foods and covered it with those great strawberries I have been raving about! Fantastic meal for a warm summer night in the city!!!