Western Flair, Rocky Mountain Air, Let's Cook
Thursday evening we attended a pre-IPNC winemaker’s dinner at Domaine Serene Winery. Many of these dinners were available at various wineries and selecting which one to attend was difficult. We so much enjoyed a visit and VIP Tasting at Domaine Serene last year that we decided this would be our choice. Domaine Serene is owned by Ken and Grace Evenstad who came to the Northern Willamette Valley Oregon in 1989.
Before I dive into writing about the food, wine and events of the INPC, I wanted to post a quick note about our travels on Thursday, starting with the Crescent Cafe.
Nicks Italian Cafe just may be our favorite restaurant. Heading to the International Pinot Noir Celebration, we planned an arrival one day early just so we could dine at Nick’s. We visited Nick’s last year on an Oregon wine tasting trip and the memories of good food, atmosphere and fun were still firmly etched in our memories. I don’t know what it is about Nick’s, but when you’re there, everyone is having such a good time, lots of laughter and lots of smiles.
I’ll never forget inviting the in-laws over for dinner and my Mother-in-law exclaiming, ”This chicken is pretty good for being burnt”. Thus started my quest for a recipe that would produce perfectly grilled chicken, EVERY time.
Don’t you just get flat out grumpy when you’ve slaved over the hot grill, turning, moving, babying each piece of chicken and just when you think everything is perfect take it to the table and bite into a thigh to find that pinkish, not quite done, weird texture thing going on. SHUDDER. And the darn thing looks cooked on the outside.
This recipe turns out great every time. Let’s take a look.
A year ago, if you would have told me that one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants would be stuck in the far east end of the Super Target parking lot in the strip mall at Yosemite and Lincoln, I would have laughed.
This is a great lettuce wrap recipe. Unique and delicious in flavor using Major Gray Mango Chutney.
Thank you Randy Tickle, Colorado State Bank and Trust, for sending me business, thanks to NoNo’s for being in business so I can take care of business and thank Randy for his business.
A client appreciation lunch ended up at NoNo’s Cajun Restaurant in Highlands Ranch. Randy read my blog post about NoNo’s and being the good ol Southern boy that he is, choose NoNo’s for lunch. Not that he’s new to NoNo’s, he’s been going there for years.
Oscar Mayer died at the age of 95. So in honor, let’s all cook up some sort of wieners, or make a bologna sandwich or something - well, I’m thinkin brats, since I already had them purchased and planned for dinner:
Simple. Open up your favorite bottle of beer and pour it into your favorite fry pan, heat the beer and poke a few holes in your favorite brand of brats and let them steep in heated beer for about ten minutes.
Throw em on the grill and brown them until crispy on the outside. Make sure to watch them so they don’t burn. Serve them on your favorite bun and with your favorite summer salad. In this case I made a simple broccoli salad, you know the kind, with a sweet/sour mayonnaise based sauce a combination of broccoli florets, sunflower seeds, raisins, celery, onion etc. Just toss in what sounds good. If anyone wants an exact recipe, I can measure ingredients next time I make it. It’s just vinegar, sugar, mayo, salt and pepper. I will note here that I like to use seasoned Rice Vinegar, or plain old cider vinegar.
Enjoy a blast from the past with this Oscar Mayer Television Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmPRHJd3uHI
Huh? That’s our story and we’re stickin to it!
Two days ago, a Black Vulture was sighted at Castlewood Canyon State Park.
And then I made this Snickerdoodle Ice Cream ….
