"I want to go to Napa this weekend - what do you recommend?"
Living in San Francisco, I get asked this far too often. Whether it's guests from out of town or friends in the city, I get asked about Napa often enough that I've started keeping a list of what I've thought of all the wineries I've visited.
So here's a short guide to what I consider when planning or giving recommendations for a wine-focused day trip to Napa, Sonoma, or the many other other wine regions near San Francisco. In the next few days, I'll post my lists of wineries in Napa and Sonoma I've liked and disliked, and places on my To Try list.
Things to Consider While Planning:
First - who's going? Are you and your guests wine snobs, new to wine tasting, or somewhere in between?
On my very first wine tasting trip, my father brought me to Mondavi Winery bright and early at 10 AM for the tour and tasting. It was a wonderful place to start my wine education. At the time I knew just enough about wine to start to be able to discern and describe what I liked about various wines, but I knew next to nothing about how wine is made, and I'd never done a proper wine tasting.
Ever since that experience, I've made Mondavi the first stop on Napa trips for friends who want (or need?) an introduction to wine. The tour provides an intro to the history of the California wine industry, how grapes are grown, and how wine is made. There's a guided tasting included as well.
(They also sell my absolute favorite corkscrew device, which I haven't seen anywhere else.)
That said, if you're planning a trip with someone who's already capable of finding their way through a wine list, Mondavi's tour isn't worth the $25. I don't like Mondavi's wines either.
My other recommendation for a bit of wine education if you're in Napa is Frog's Leap. The education elements are more focused on organic and sustainable farming, but you learn a fair amount about wine along the way. (More to come about Frog's Leap in my Napa post...)
Second - what type of wineries are you looking to see?
When planning, I divide vineyards into a few categories:
-Amazing wine, pure and simple
-Great tours
-Beautiful gardens / architecture / general setting
-Picnic site
-Art gallery
-Food pairing
-Caves
-Sparkling wine
-Places open after 5 PM
(Many wineries fit into more than one of these categories.)
Unless there's another objective for the day (i.e. focusing on a certain varietal) I try to pick four items off the list to get a nice variety of experiences. Usually I'll default to one winery with a tour, one place with simply amazing wine, one stop with nice gardens, and one based on the other person's interest.
Third - how many vineyards? And how early to start?
Living in the SF, it's easy to make a day trip out of many of the wine regions out here. But *ahem* I like my sleep, and it's hard to wake up and rally the troops in order to get an early start.
Usually I find that if I arrive at my first winery by 11 AM, I can comfortably fit in 3 or 4 vineyards/tastings into one day. Any more than that just feels like a rush to drink as much as possible, and that's no way to be. That said, if you skip the tours and just do tastings, plus plan well location-wise, you may be able to make it to 5 or 6(!) wineries in a day.
If you can leave the city early enough to arrive at 10 AM, your first tasting of the day is a Truly Wonderful Thing. It's always nice and quiet, most of the tourists are still having breakfast, and there's just a few other folks in the tasting room.
It's worth noting that most tasting rooms close at 4:30 or 5. There's a handful of places that stay open until 6 PM, but I've found these places tend to have lousy wine. But it may be useful to make note of these places if your group got got off to a late start.
Up next: my list of Napa winery likes / dislikes, and places I want to try.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
French Toast & Berry Sauce - The Finished Product
Here are a few photos of yse & cjr's wonderful french toast & berry sauce from last weekend, plus all of the tasty accoutrements:
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Yogurt and Berries
New contributors!
We've added some friends to help us in our epicurean ways -- Two cityslickers (stina and jdc) and a carnivore/food porn photographer (wm). How exciting!
Monday, May 26, 2008
Popcorn
We used to use an air popper to make popcorn, but after struggling with an air popper that would spew un-popped kernels at us we figured there had to be another way!
Now we use a variation of this recipe from Good Eats. We got rid of the butter and lowered the oil (we use canola because it's what we we have). This is the best popcorn we've ever had. Plus, I estimate the whole amount has about 350-400 calories in it. Split between two people, that's a perfect snack! (Also good for sneaking into movie theaters in a large zip lock bag -- if you're into that short of thing)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup yellow popping corn
2 tbsp canola oil
Topping of your choice (salt, spices, butter -- if you must, etc.)
1. Get a large stainless steel bowl. Why a bowl and not a pot you ask? Well, the bowl has sloped sides and only a small contact area for the fire. This makes it ideally shaped for popcorn. As the popcorn pops the popped kernels climb up the wall, away from the fire and hence do not burn. The un-popped kernels, on the other hand, sink down to the bottom where then can pop (leaving you with fewer un popped kernels!)
2. Put the popcorn and the oil in the bowl and mix.
3. Make a top out aluminum foil (you may need two pieces to cover) and cover the bowl. Cut holes in the top so that the steam can vent.
4. Attach a pair of tongs to the side of the bowl and clamp down making a makeshift handle (if you can find a bowl with a handle or a lip so that the handle sticks out instead of up that would be even better).
5. Put over medium heat and CONSTANTLY agitate to make sure the popped kernels rise and the others sink.
6. Once no more appreciable popping is heard, remove from flame. Sprinkle with popcorn salt or other favorite topping (I really like paprika + cayenne pepper) and enjoy!
Popcorn salt:
You do not need to buy popcorn salt! Simply take some regular salt and put it in a (clean) coffee or spice grinder and grind away. You'll have superfine popcorn salt in seconds! To store, put in a small container with a few un popped popcorn kernels. This will prevent clumping (or rather, allow you to easily break up clumps once they form). This is important as the increased surface area of the salt will be more hygroscopic (i.e. it'll soak up water faster).
Now we use a variation of this recipe from Good Eats. We got rid of the butter and lowered the oil (we use canola because it's what we we have). This is the best popcorn we've ever had. Plus, I estimate the whole amount has about 350-400 calories in it. Split between two people, that's a perfect snack! (Also good for sneaking into movie theaters in a large zip lock bag -- if you're into that short of thing)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup yellow popping corn
2 tbsp canola oil
Topping of your choice (salt, spices, butter -- if you must, etc.)
1. Get a large stainless steel bowl. Why a bowl and not a pot you ask? Well, the bowl has sloped sides and only a small contact area for the fire. This makes it ideally shaped for popcorn. As the popcorn pops the popped kernels climb up the wall, away from the fire and hence do not burn. The un-popped kernels, on the other hand, sink down to the bottom where then can pop (leaving you with fewer un popped kernels!)
2. Put the popcorn and the oil in the bowl and mix.
3. Make a top out aluminum foil (you may need two pieces to cover) and cover the bowl. Cut holes in the top so that the steam can vent.
4. Attach a pair of tongs to the side of the bowl and clamp down making a makeshift handle (if you can find a bowl with a handle or a lip so that the handle sticks out instead of up that would be even better).
5. Put over medium heat and CONSTANTLY agitate to make sure the popped kernels rise and the others sink.
6. Once no more appreciable popping is heard, remove from flame. Sprinkle with popcorn salt or other favorite topping (I really like paprika + cayenne pepper) and enjoy!
Popcorn salt:
You do not need to buy popcorn salt! Simply take some regular salt and put it in a (clean) coffee or spice grinder and grind away. You'll have superfine popcorn salt in seconds! To store, put in a small container with a few un popped popcorn kernels. This will prevent clumping (or rather, allow you to easily break up clumps once they form). This is important as the increased surface area of the salt will be more hygroscopic (i.e. it'll soak up water faster).
Agua Fresca
We bought a large yellow seedless watermelon only to find out that it's a bit 'overripe' on the inside. So, when life hands you overripe watermelon make agua fresca!
We used this recipe. Pretty simple to follow and a really tasty outcome.
All you really need is a blender and some watermelon. The watermelon was a little tricky at first to blend (our blender isn't great), but we just jammed it in with a wooden spoon and it worked like a charm. We didn't have any lime, so we subbed in lemon. Probably better with lime, but lemon was nice too. The mint is also pretty important, in my opinion, but in a pinch you can leave it out.
Here what we started with (minus the ice cubes and cold water) -- Note: we used much more watermelon than illustrated:
Here's the final product:
I like my fruit drinks to be a bit 'pulpy' though cjr prefers a more water-y texture. Ours ended up pulpy because we used a not-so-fine strainer. Use whatever you have (ours was just a plastic pasta strainer) as long as it removes the really large stuff, it'll be fine. Ours was even drinkable through the straw!
EDIT: June 17, 2009
It seems this link doesn't work anymore! So here's the recipe.
Ingredients:
6 to 8 pounds seedless watermelon, rind removed, cut into chunks
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon lime (or lemon) juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey (to taste)
Lime slices and mint leaves for garnish (optional)
1. Place half the watermelon in a blender or food process and pulse. Add half (1 cup) water and continue to pulse until smooth. Using as fine a strainer as you have, strain out all the larger remaining chunks. Repeat for the rest of the watermelon and use the remaining water.
2. Combine the two batches and add the lime/lemon juice and agave nectar/honey to taste.
3. Chill until ready to serve and garnish with sprig of mint and a lime slice.
We used this recipe. Pretty simple to follow and a really tasty outcome.
All you really need is a blender and some watermelon. The watermelon was a little tricky at first to blend (our blender isn't great), but we just jammed it in with a wooden spoon and it worked like a charm. We didn't have any lime, so we subbed in lemon. Probably better with lime, but lemon was nice too. The mint is also pretty important, in my opinion, but in a pinch you can leave it out.
Here what we started with (minus the ice cubes and cold water) -- Note: we used much more watermelon than illustrated:
Here's the final product:
I like my fruit drinks to be a bit 'pulpy' though cjr prefers a more water-y texture. Ours ended up pulpy because we used a not-so-fine strainer. Use whatever you have (ours was just a plastic pasta strainer) as long as it removes the really large stuff, it'll be fine. Ours was even drinkable through the straw!
EDIT: June 17, 2009
It seems this link doesn't work anymore! So here's the recipe.
Ingredients:
6 to 8 pounds seedless watermelon, rind removed, cut into chunks
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon lime (or lemon) juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey (to taste)
Lime slices and mint leaves for garnish (optional)
1. Place half the watermelon in a blender or food process and pulse. Add half (1 cup) water and continue to pulse until smooth. Using as fine a strainer as you have, strain out all the larger remaining chunks. Repeat for the rest of the watermelon and use the remaining water.
2. Combine the two batches and add the lime/lemon juice and agave nectar/honey to taste.
3. Chill until ready to serve and garnish with sprig of mint and a lime slice.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
French Toast & Berry Sauce
We're having cmj and jdc over today for Brunch and we're making our favorite: French toast with berry sauce. We like our French Toast to be pretty soft in the middle -- w/o any dry parts -- and with a nice crisp exterior. Most people subscribe toe the 'custard' method where they mix the egg and the milk and then soak the bread. Since I (yse) do not like egg that much, I prefer to keep the two separate until the very moment before cooking. This method is not for those who have a fear of milk -- especially whole milk. You could try this with 2% but I wouldn't go much lower than that.
I would start by making the Berry Sauce and letting it simmer while you cook your French Toast.
Note, I do not usually measure things so there is tons of wiggle room when it comes to preferences, measurements, etc. Everything is really 'to taste' in my book. Both recipes serve about 4-5 people quite happily. Keep extra berry sauce in the fridge. Makes a great stand in for preserves when necessary.
Berry sauce:
1 bag of frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or mixed berries will do)
1 small lemon (zested and juiced)
1 tsp sugar
In a saucepan (nonstick preferred) add the frozen berries (do not thaw), lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar. Simmer on medium heat until sauce becomes thick. This should take about 15 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently. Berries stain and may splatter if unattended.
It should look kind of like this at the end. Sorry for the steam coming off the pan.
French Toast:
1 loaf challah bread (or brioche if you're feeling fancy) sliced into 3/4 inch slices
2 eggs beaten
milk (at least 3 cups on hand). I always use whole.
ground cinnamon
vanilla extract
butter (for cooking)
optional: powdered sugar for dusting, maple syrup for serving, anything else you like on your French Toast.
1. get two deep, flat containers (or large bowls). In one container place the two beaten eggs.
2. In the other place one cup of milk and then about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract. You may need to replenish the milk mixture as you go, but I always start with about a cup. Note, the cinnamon may not incorporate well, that's okay.
3. Butter a skillet (we used nonstick) and put on medium heat. You may need to re-butter you pan after cooking a set of French toast.
4. While skillet warms, place piece of French toast in milk mixture and then flip. Do not oversoak! You want your bread to be soaked through, not mushy. So one to two seconds on each side is more than enough.
5. Move your piece of toast to the egg mixture and lightly coat. The egg is for sealing in the milk mixture and for browning/crisp outside. If you coat too much, your French Toast to taste like scrambled eggs.
6. Place in the hot, buttered skillet and cook until both sides are just browned and slightly crisp. Then move to serving dish or to the oven (covered) on low heat (250-300 F should do) to keep warm until you're ready to serve. The less time they have to spend in the oven the better.
7. Continue until all pieces are cooked. You can probably fit 2-3 pieces in your skillet each round. So if you're making 12 pieces it should take about 4 rounds to cook your whole loaf.
8. Serve and enjoy!
I would start by making the Berry Sauce and letting it simmer while you cook your French Toast.
Note, I do not usually measure things so there is tons of wiggle room when it comes to preferences, measurements, etc. Everything is really 'to taste' in my book. Both recipes serve about 4-5 people quite happily. Keep extra berry sauce in the fridge. Makes a great stand in for preserves when necessary.
Berry sauce:
1 bag of frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or mixed berries will do)
1 small lemon (zested and juiced)
1 tsp sugar
In a saucepan (nonstick preferred) add the frozen berries (do not thaw), lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar. Simmer on medium heat until sauce becomes thick. This should take about 15 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently. Berries stain and may splatter if unattended.
It should look kind of like this at the end. Sorry for the steam coming off the pan.
French Toast:
1 loaf challah bread (or brioche if you're feeling fancy) sliced into 3/4 inch slices
2 eggs beaten
milk (at least 3 cups on hand). I always use whole.
ground cinnamon
vanilla extract
butter (for cooking)
optional: powdered sugar for dusting, maple syrup for serving, anything else you like on your French Toast.
1. get two deep, flat containers (or large bowls). In one container place the two beaten eggs.
2. In the other place one cup of milk and then about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract. You may need to replenish the milk mixture as you go, but I always start with about a cup. Note, the cinnamon may not incorporate well, that's okay.
3. Butter a skillet (we used nonstick) and put on medium heat. You may need to re-butter you pan after cooking a set of French toast.
4. While skillet warms, place piece of French toast in milk mixture and then flip. Do not oversoak! You want your bread to be soaked through, not mushy. So one to two seconds on each side is more than enough.
5. Move your piece of toast to the egg mixture and lightly coat. The egg is for sealing in the milk mixture and for browning/crisp outside. If you coat too much, your French Toast to taste like scrambled eggs.
6. Place in the hot, buttered skillet and cook until both sides are just browned and slightly crisp. Then move to serving dish or to the oven (covered) on low heat (250-300 F should do) to keep warm until you're ready to serve. The less time they have to spend in the oven the better.
7. Continue until all pieces are cooked. You can probably fit 2-3 pieces in your skillet each round. So if you're making 12 pieces it should take about 4 rounds to cook your whole loaf.
8. Serve and enjoy!
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Trader Joe's
cjr & I (yse) enjoy our neighborhood Trader Joe's probably more than we should.
here are some products that come highly recommended by us:
TJ's brand Greek Yogurt (we go for the 2% kind because it's a nice balance of flavor/calories and it has TONS of protein). Really good with some honey or if you're like me a bit of turbinado sugar and a some cocoa powder.
Soy and Flaxseed Tortilla Chips (surprisingly tasty)
Salsa Authentica
Salsa Verde
Cheese & Green Chile Tamales (frozen)
Pizza Dough (in the refrigerated section)
Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (frozen, feeds two if you have some small side or you are light eaters)
String Cheese -- why should it only be for kids??
The Naan breads in the bread section make a good substitute for a the fluffy Israeli pita I grew up with on the East Coast that I can just not locate in the Bay Area.
Fiberful fruit leather. Tasty and full of fiber! What could be better??
Trader Joe's vintage ale. A good alternative to the more expensive name brands.
Fig breakfast bars. cjr really likes these.
Arborio rice if you can find it for risotto. The TJs employee we spoke to mentioned something about the rice shortage.
Roasted corn and pepper soup (comes in a carton, surprisingly tasty)
cjr also really enjoys the packaged Indian foods for lunch on occasion.
More things to come...
here are some products that come highly recommended by us:
TJ's brand Greek Yogurt (we go for the 2% kind because it's a nice balance of flavor/calories and it has TONS of protein). Really good with some honey or if you're like me a bit of turbinado sugar and a some cocoa powder.
Soy and Flaxseed Tortilla Chips (surprisingly tasty)
Salsa Authentica
Salsa Verde
Cheese & Green Chile Tamales (frozen)
Pizza Dough (in the refrigerated section)
Gnocchi alla Sorrentina (frozen, feeds two if you have some small side or you are light eaters)
String Cheese -- why should it only be for kids??
The Naan breads in the bread section make a good substitute for a the fluffy Israeli pita I grew up with on the East Coast that I can just not locate in the Bay Area.
Fiberful fruit leather. Tasty and full of fiber! What could be better??
Trader Joe's vintage ale. A good alternative to the more expensive name brands.
Fig breakfast bars. cjr really likes these.
Arborio rice if you can find it for risotto. The TJs employee we spoke to mentioned something about the rice shortage.
Roasted corn and pepper soup (comes in a carton, surprisingly tasty)
cjr also really enjoys the packaged Indian foods for lunch on occasion.
More things to come...
First one.
First post. This is our attempt at starting some sort of food related blog for our ramblings/recipes/attempts to recapture long long recipes from my (yse's) childhood.
A lot of our recipes (I would say 99%) are vegetarian. If that's your cup of tea.
We'll see if I can keep this up...
--yse & cjr
A lot of our recipes (I would say 99%) are vegetarian. If that's your cup of tea.
We'll see if I can keep this up...
--yse & cjr
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