Well, it’s finally here! Wedding week has arrived. In that light, I bid you farewell for the next few weeks as I manage the madness of the big day and the honeymoon thereafter. I can’t wait to share my adventures with you when I return in the New Year as a married lady! In the meantime, cheers and happy holidays!
In one week I will be here…
How do YOU like to celebrate your best friends birthday?
I, for one, like to invite myself over to her apartment so that she can cook me a lovely dinner and serve me amazing wine while lounging on her beautiful new guest couch, naturally! Geeze, when I put it that way I sound like a kind of horrible friend… But the meal was wonderful without my help and I am very excited to tell you about it! So, on the actual day of my friends birthday she and her hubs traveled to the Sakonnet Winery in Little Compton, RI. They had a wonderful time sampling wine and stayed at an adorable little guest house nearby. I am so proud of my girl, she totally went outside her comfort zone and tried some Chardonnay’s during her tasting! She has always had a strong aversion to the “oakiness” of Chardonnay despite my insistence that not ALL Chards are that “oaky,” but at the request of the wine manager at the vineyard she tried their award-winning “No-oak” Chard. (It’s funny how if feel that I can use made-up words and justify their non-existence by simply putting them in quotes, interesting habit…) She was skeptical, but in the end she loved it! She loved it so much that she bought some extra bottles and served it with the tremendous pasta bake she prepared for us. Roasted veggies, whole wheat penne, smoked mozzarella, fontina, yuuuuum… 
It’s a Giada recipe, you should totally check it out… Anyway, the pairing was perfect! The crisp, non-oakiness of the Chard paired really well with the smoky flavors of the cheese and roasted veggies. And the lightness of the wine was great with the whole wheat pasta, it kind of cleansed the palate with each sip and eliminated that sticky sensation you can sometimes get from wheat pastas or breads. All in all, I give my lady an A++. I sincerely hope you invite us over again soon, perhaps after the wedding so I can really indulge… :) So try the recipe and check out Sakonnet Winery! In a town with a name like “Little Compton,” how could you really go wrong?
This weekend I tried a great new wine from Chilensis. I sampled the Pinot Noir Reserva and was very pleasantly surprised! This Chilean wine set me back $10.99 and delivered a great berry flavor with a smooth finish. There was a hint of spice, but not what you would expect. Instead of a “baking spice” taste there was a strong herbal spice taste, it kind of reminded me of Herbs de Provence. Sounds odd, but it really worked with the wine. We paired the wine with an incredibly nutty goat cheese and apple slices, divine! PS – it was a screw top bottle so I could easily tote it around with me from room to room while finishing up little wedding projects that have somehow taken over my entire house. The cat is going nuts with all the purple and silver ribbons hanging around, we’ve lost a couple of bag tags to his claws already… Only 12 more days!!
Pecan Pie Truffles. Can you even believe how incredible these look? It’s, like, not even fair. Match that with a lovely Pinot Noir, or something sweet perhaps? I am stock piling recipes that I want to try after the wedding and this is going to be first on my list. This will be a happy New Years indeed, finally eating what I’ve been restraining myself from for over a year!!
(photo via)