Category: Wine

June 1, 2009

The June issue of Chronogram is out; this time around Medeski and I tasted our way through many local wines. Go here to read all about it.

May 27, 2009

It cooled off after a pretty perfect Holiday weekend, and rain is coming. Good news for the basil seedlings I put in the ground today, and a welcome excuse to get all comforty with the cooking. Yesterday’s smoked sable got our smokerphilia fully engaged, so when asked about any dinner-related desires, the wife quickly pulled some duck breasts from the freezer and nodded expectantly at the porch. Luckily, on our trip to Vermont I had…

May 26, 2009

We had a pretty delightful weekend, and managed to stumble into three consecutive dinners at other peoples’ houses- a refreshing inversion of our normal M.O. We went to Vermont for a couple of nights, and the first night we had grilled venison with polenta and salad (we brought everything from home.) The next evening we headed over to the beautiful new house of some family friends for a terrific meal: grilled halibut and shrimp with…

May 16, 2009

John and I arranged a wine tasting for my next article, and we used the occasion to have a dinner party. I’m not going to write about the wines we tasted, partly because it was for the article and partly because after we did the tasting- during which we dutifully spat- we drank our way through a positively stunning lineup of juice (of which we did not spit out even a little bit.) John made…

April 29, 2009

Sometime last week, before the heat wave, we had one of those perfect spring days that just makes one all giddy, what with all the fecundity and the burgeoning and the blooming and the sweet breezes and such. There was still a chill in the shade, though, so something roasty seemed appropriate, and firing up the grill to celebrate the season seemed pretty mandatory. I spatchcocked a good chicken and gave it a rub of…

April 28, 2009

This will be a quick one, since I’m completely knackered from the continuing herb (now technically herb and fruit) garden which I’ll take pics of when it’s done. Until then, I’m going to try to make some progress posting some of the backlog of meals that lurk on my desktop, mocking me. Since I’m too tired to cook tonight, it’s nice to have some things on hand. A couple of weeks ago, we went to…

April 27, 2009

On a recent trip to a local market, and thanks in no small part to the random peregrinations through the store which the company of a small boy can engender, I happened upon a certain freezer compartment stuffed full of various exotic game meats- many of which are responsibly farm-raised in the vicinity. I was pretty excited, and loaded up our basket with several different cuts from several different beasts: venison, elk, bison, and quail-…

April 2, 2009

We’ve been having mercurial spring weather, pretty much alternating between gorgeous, expansive sun and drenching rain. It’s a good rhythm for the plants, which are burgeoning, but it’s making us a bit nutty. On the nice days I chafe at being in the studio, and on the rainy days the family is cranky and stir-crazy. On just such a day I went to that rarest of places- frying things, for real- and busted out a…

March 29, 2009

This is just another version of most of the dinners we eat in these parts lately. I just don’t have the time to indulge in any geekery, even though I’m getting ideas for some possibly cool dishes. Most of them are going to have to wait until October given the way the scheduling of the shows has worked out. The upside to this is that the garden is happening; I put some seedlings in the…

March 25, 2009

On Friday evening I left Milo with my Brother and walked four whole blocks to Kris and Ken’s place, where Mary was having the Thoreau Wine Society’s first annual dinner for her favorite customers. Kris cooked us a masterful meal, with each dish even more refined than usual- which is saying a great deal. The flavors were laser-sharp and the portions perfect. There were ten of us, which meant that we were able to make…