More BBQ

Went to another barbeque restaurant here in Virginia for lunch called Rocklands Real Barbegue. I was very surprise how tasty it was. I will have to go back when I need my BBQ fix. If anyone is in the area it is just right up the road, just your GPS because I have no idea how to get there, to many roads here.

Wine Sommelier Maryangelyn recommends "Clayhouse 2008 Adobe White"

Maryangelyn is a friend of mine and she took some time out of her day to recommend this Clayhouse 2008 Adobe White Wine. Maryangenlyn is a wine sommelier and she is also a great chef too!, So go out and try this wine and let me know what you think.





Clayhouse 2008 Adobe White

Vineyard:

The grapes for the 2008 Adobe White came from our Red Cedar Vineyard outside Paso Robles. The calcareous vineyard soils in these white grape blocks are comprised of clay-loam and cobbled sandy loam, and are largely on benchland sites overlooking the Estrella River. Cooler air flows down the benches toward the river at night, helping the grapes retain their crisp acidity.

Winemaking and Cellar Practices:

The 2008 vintage was cooler than normal, with lower than average rainfall and a few tricky spring frosts early in the year. After picking and pressing, we fermented all of the varietals separately, then blended them together after most had reached dryness. The Chardonnay and Roussanne fermented in neutral oak, the other varietals were cold fermented in stainless steel. We stopped the fermentation on some of the Princess in order to leave a touch of sweetness in the finished wine. The final blend is 22% Viognier, 18% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Grenache Blanc, 16% Roussanne, 6% Chardonnay and 5% Chenin Blanc and 16% Princess, which we are unable to list on the label because it is not yet an approved varietal for table wine. We are petitioning the federal government to add it to the list. The final blend was bottled in January and February, 2009.

Characteristics:

The Adobe White is a proprietary blend with a golden straw color, and fine floral notes of orange blossom, lemon citrus and rose petal. Pear, peach and honeydew melon aromas jump from the glass. The creamy mouthfeel comes from a short time on the lees. The mouthwatering fruit flavors are of apple and stone fruit, with nuances of pumpkin pie spice and tea. The finish is crisp, but balanced with a touch of residual sugar.

Harvest date: August 28 - October 4, 2007
Harvest Sugar: 21.9 - 25.9 Brix
pH: 3.23
Total Acidity: .74g/100ml Alcohol: 13.0%
Oak Age: none
Cases Produced: 8000 Bottled: January and February, 2008
Price: around $12/btl

Maryangelyn also recommends this 2007 SYRAH "CENTRAL COAST"

2007 SYRAH “CENTRAL COAST”

This wine is 98% Syrah and 2% Grenache from both Santa Barbara County (67%) and San Luis Obispo County (33%). The breakdown of appellations is Santa Ynez Valley (SYV) 33%, Santa Barbara County (SBC - not in an AVA) 30%, Santa Maria Valley (SMV) 4%, Paso Robles (PR) 32%, and Edna valley (EV) 1% (first crop off our new Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard). The vineyards used, in order of percentage with their AVA, are (and only real wines geeks should read the rest of this sentence): French Camp (PR); Mesa Verde (SYV); Los Alamos (SBC); Chabot (SBC); Carriage (PR); Vogelzang (SYV); Bien Nacido (SMV); Alisos (SBC); Windmill (SYV); Colson Canyon (SBC); Demetria (SYV); Nielson (SMV); and Purisima Mountain (SYV)… that's 17 different vineyards from 5 different AVA's!

The wine is essentially a blend of cool-climate Santa Barbara grapes and warm-climate Paso Robles grapes. The cool-climate fruit gives spice, acidity and balanced alcohol while the warm-climate fruit give softness, roundness, ripeness and more up-front fruit flavors and aromas.

2007 was a fairly cool vintage, in general. The first grapes in this wine to ripen were from French Camp on September 5th, the last were grenache from the Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard on November 5th… that's two full months apart for anyone keeping track! All of the lots were fermented separately, and aged separately, at first, in mostly neutral French oak barrels (the percent of new barrels would be less than 3%). The majority of the blend was made at the first racking in March; the final blend was made before bottling in August 2008. 20,500 cases of 750ml and 3000 cases of 375ml were produced

Eat this and live!

I went the library to check out some healthy eating books and came across this book. It is very interesting and I believe it is a must buy if you are concernd what you are eating or just want to educate yourself more. If your goal is like mine and you want to live to 100 years old then you really should check out this book, you can find it on Amazon for around $7.00


Tonight for Dinner

Tonight I made myself a Garden Burger dinner and it Reminded me of the old days when I worked for a 5 star hotel in Austin. We would be able to make ourselves food after a hard day’s work and whenever I could not think what to make for myself; I would make myself a Garden Burger. It is healthy and not junk food. So today I was at Whole Foods in Arlington, VA and saw they had Garden Burgers, and now they have different flavors. I bought Portabella. It is made with brown rice, onions, portabella mushrooms, crimini mushrooms, spinach, rolled oats, mozzarella cheese and it is not dry, it is juicy vegetable burger. And today I was thinking I would go ahead and try organic rice base cheese. I bought the Swiss flavor cheese and when I got home I opened the package of my rice base cheese Swiss flavor I ate slice to of it to try before putting it on burger and I was really surprise how well it tasted. It tastes just like American cheese with a slight Swiss flavor. It was really good. And to top it off I bought chocolate soy milk, tasted just like regular chocolate milk. Maybe eating healthy doesn’t have to taste bad and maybe it really can taste good. I have to say I really enjoy tonight’s dinner and the best thing about food; there are so many choices out there. I wish I could live long enough to try it all. 

Petit Fours



Petit Fours, not fun to make.

All recipes



Here is a good site for recipes. I like this site, check it out for yourself. If you know of any other sites you might think I am interested in, please let me know.

Trying to keep me in line


Brian and I in one of the labs in Ft. Lee, Va durning one of our events. As you can see Brian was trying his best to keep me in line. We were working on a 4 course meal when someone took this picture. Brian now owns his own restaurant in state of Washington. Maybe if I go and visit I can get a free dinner out of it.

The Food Lover's Compaion



If you were to ask me to pick the one book you should own, I would tell you to get the Food Lover's Companion. It is not a cookbook, it is a food reference book and I could almost guarantee that if you were to walk into any restaurant or hotel kitchen, you would find this book there. I can't live without my Food Lover's Companion and you should not either. (This is the hard cover, the soft cover is a little bit cheaper).

Phillips Seafood Restaurant, Washington, D.C.


Phillips Seafood, includes all you can eat buffet or order off the menu. I went for all I could eat buffet. They had a huge buffet and I sure did not hold back, I went for it all. I think I might of have 3 or 4
plates...but I was not counting.

Five Guys Burgers






Five Guys Burgers, Virgina. I order a Cheese burger and fries. I got a ton a fries and my burger was pretty good. The potatoes are from Surgar Land Idaho.