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Month: March 2018

Annual Survey Time & A Couple Wines

You know, the longer I am blogging, the more I love it.  I sure hope you love it as much as I am.  It has been a while since I sought out more information from my readers. What are you enjoying the most? What needs improvement? Have your wine buying habits changed? What about my recipes?  So it is time for my annual survey.  Please take a few minutes to answer these 13 questions. Your answers are anonymous. Your participation will help me provide you with the posts you most want to read. And it should only take about five minutes. Below…

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Charleston Wine and Food Festival – Part 2

I know it has been a couple of weeks since the Charleston Wine and Food Festival ended but I still wanted to share my experience in the Culinary Village because it is such an essential aspect of the festival. So here is my take on the Village. Let me say from the outset that I had a blast on Sunday and I will definitely be back next year. There are a few aspects of the Culinary Village where I offer what I hope is seen as constructive criticism. That by no means is a bad thing just my humble opinion…

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Happy Hour Appetizers…

…When There is No Time Last Friday, Gary and I had our neighbor and dear friend Natalie over for Happy Hour. It had been months since we had some quality time with just her. But On Friday, the planets aligned and we had nothing on our schedule, and she was kid and boyfriend free. Now don’t get any ideas her kids are amazing, and we love them like our own, and we like her boyfriend too, but we were craving some “Nat time.”  So the three of us got comfy in our three season room (aka Church of the Screened in Porch)…

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Charleston Wine and Food Festival – Part 1

The Charleston Wine and Food Festival (CWFF) has been a mainstay event in town for the past 13 years, but I had yet to attend.  The event tickets are pricey and can add up quickly if you want to dig into the festivities. I decided this year I would stick my toe in the water and go to a couple of events and I am sure glad I did.  Much of my experience this year was through connections with passes, but that will change next year because this was an absolute blast. This year’s festival started on Feb. 28th and ran through to March…

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Confessions of a Wine Geek

I am not exactly sure when this happened, but it has been confirmed by family and friends that I have become a wine geek, aka wine nerd.  This transformation was not intentional, but like most things I do, I went “all in” so I should not be surprised.  For the record, this confession does not also translate into me being a wine snob.  The term “wine snob” implies a condescension of others about their wine drinking habits. Should I ever become a wine snob, I hope someone will take me behind the barn and give me the proper whooping I deserve. I…

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Chicken That Rocks: Dinner for Six Part Two

Last week I shared with you the French Onion Panade which was the first course in my Dinner for Six. Below are the other two dishes that I prepared. This chicken recipe is super easy and because it needs to marinate you can get started on it the day before. And those wedges, OMG, they also could not be easier. Both dishes are perfect with the yogurt sauce. Yes, there is a salad on the plate as well. It was just mixed greens and sliced pears. My vinaigrette was olive oil, lemon and white balsamic vinegar with a smidge of salt.…

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Bottle Shock: Let it Rest

It’s Alive Yep, wine is as “alive” as any other agricultural product and can be affected by temperature fluctuations, movement, oxygen and many other factors. Think about it, wine changes as it ages so why not because it got jostled around on a ship as it crossed the pond from France or even after a week in a UPS truck from California to Charleston. There have been several times when we have purchased a new vintage of a wine that we have traditionally really liked. We pop the cork on that first bottle and think, “WHOA! what happened to this vintage?”…

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