little ms foodie

Mentioned in one of my wine newsletters today: <<Lastly, I have a favor to ask- Bryce Bagnall, formerly winemaker at Witness Tree Vineyards, has ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) and he's, well, he's not doing as well as I wish he was. He needs home health care pretty much fulltime now. A group of Oregon wine industry people who like Bryce and want to help formed an organization about a year ago called the S.O.B.s (Supporters of Bryce). If you know Bryce' sense of humor, you'd see that the name's appropriate. You can read about Bryce on his website: http://www.supportersofbryce.org/ To help with his health care, 36 wineries donated Pinot noir to create the St Bartholomew's Pinot noir 03 $25 (no discount). It's a nice, quaffable, fruit forward wine that was made by Bryce, Doug Tunnell of Brick House, Russ Raney of Evesham Wood, Eric Hamacher of Hamacher and Carlton Winemakers Studio, Luisa Ponzi of Ponzi, and heck, I'm sure there were a few more people who showed up to creat the blend who I forgot to mention- sorry guys and gals. About 350 cases were sold by the participating wineries at Thanksgiving. And Jon Bonne wrote about the wine in MSNBC here: http://www.supportersofbryce.org/MSNBC.pdf Jon says: " Tart and full of red berries, the stillfresh wine is a lovely food match. It rounds out nicely on the tongue, and will deepen with a bit of time." Oregon Wine Report says: "Summary: Medium intensity purple fuchsia-blossom color. Excellent, full pinot noir aromas of sweet black cherries and leather, with a gentle overlay of peppery spice. Pleasing light texture carries clear and high-toned tart cherry and red raspberry fruit flavors. At the back of the mouth there is a slight dry woodiness that complements the fruit. Good balance with crisp acidity and nice fine-grained tannin structure. The finish is particularly sweet, reverberating with sour cherry-candy fruitiness." OWR continues: "Comments: Now this is what Oregon should be making more of: good quality, immediately enjoyable, varietally correct pinot noir. The dried cherry fruitiness of this wine makes it both pleasing to sip by itself, and a good candidate for plonking down on the dinner table to pour with everything from spaghetti carbonara, flank steak, or a hunk of salmon—plus, it's a good deal at $25.00 a bottle!" If you want to do a good deed, be a mensch, support a great guy who is on a tight budget and who I'd like to see have a comfortable and well cared for 2005, please buy some wine. 100% of your purchase price goes to Bryce, we just take the shipping charge so we can cover shipping. Order the wine here: http://www.northwest-wine.com/St-Bartholom...Pinot-noir.html I figurethe last 100 cases will cover about what it's going to cost to hire someone to see that Bryce has everything he needs. No more lying on the floor of the van for 2 hours because he can''t reach his cell phone. >> I have had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Bryce as Witness Tree makes some really nice wine. He is one of the most passionate people in the north Willamette Valley. For those of you who have a love of wine and the people who work so hard to create it I urge you to consider purchasing the St. Barts to help Bryce. Wendy

DARN!! We can't do the 22nd because of a friends b-day. We'll really miss doing this with you guys and will look for a full report of the dishes! Have a great time you guys. Wendy

We have the magazine and were really interested in trying some things, brings back great memories of our recent trip. There is an interview with Arzak too. I'm out of town right now but will go thru it when I get back and see if Dayne and I might be able to contribute. Excellent idea Abra!

my MIL gave us a tub of frangos with the new F&N lable on them at xmas. The lable looks really old fashion, I thought maybe they were found in an old basement somewhere! At least now I know they were fresh.

So are restaurant menus like Felix in English or does someone just translate for you?? What I find really interesting is that some of the pictures of food in restaurants looks like what we would order/get in Seattle/San Fran/ NYC/etc. makes a big world seem more managable if you understand?? Thanks for sharing!!!

We met some friends for margarita's after work so dinner needed to be quick and easy when we got home.... left over twice baked butternut squash became ravioli with frozen wontons, in a brown butter sage sauce with some crumbled sausage. actually I guess they became tortalini with a healthy grating of parm!

Burger Bar

when I make BB I usually use a Georges DeBoeuf which I can find for anywhere from $7-$11 a bottle.

haha! Slider Salad!

Welcome to eG hight! my husband also loves the Red Robin burgers!

tonight we had some foie gras on toasted brioche and a glass of sauterne while our dinner cooked. yum!! Then we made the mushroom soup out of Les Halles, I added a bit of thyme and a drizzle of truffle oil to it. It was ok but not a lot of flavor I though. Then I tried a new recipe I found for zuchini gratin which was awesome! Did a pan seared filet mignon wrapped in bacon and then made a nice red wine sauce out of some left over Malbac from last night and some onion confit. the steak was from one of my local butchers and was soooooo tender and tasty. Served with a Snoqualmie 2001 Reserve Cab (WA) Now we are having a 'wack it' orange/peppermint chocolate wedge! haha! well how else would you top off foie and filet?

oh yeah!! what PCL said! how bout a nice glass of Sauterenes with that?

Reese I got the pork belly at Uwajimaya. It's the first time I ever had it so I can't comment all the differences. But it was uncured and the layer of fat was quite thick. I've never had it in a restaurant, are you suppose to eat the fat? (sorry if that is a dumb question!)

hey I don't know if they are opening but thanks for mentioning the name! I drove by last week and saw a sign up but couldn't make out the name. It said they were suppose to be open Dec 2004??

On Dartagnan's site it says this about the Rouen: Also known as the Rhone Duck, this breed has been raised for over a century in France. The duck produces a mature full flavored, rich dark meat.

Seth, I'll be eating at Bouchon on Thurs. night so I'll report on it when I can. Damn!! I'm bummed that there will be no cute little pastries in my future!

I vote that it's called Friends of Chuck, I also vote that we have the initial meeting at Palace. I have had the private room there before and it is fun! I can just imagine the waiters face when the whole table orders the burger. Can we have great wine too?? Oh I love a burger with wine. It's what makes Palace one of my favs instead of Red Mill. haha! Count us in!

So while I was at the gym my honey made the most awesome pizza's! Gaucho pizza from Food & Wine mag- lamb, goat cheese, onion confit (our personal touch), arugula and a drizzle of Spanish EVOO. Served with a nice Malbec. heaven, really! a nice crispy crust- a bit of salt tang, oh I was in heaven!

We went out for dinner with friends and had a front row seat for the fireworks they shoot off the SpaceNeedle in Seattle. We drank a lot of really good wine. Dinner didn't start until 10 so we had a bottle of bubbles at home with some foie gras my honey gave me for Christmas. new years day was also cassoulet, must be a trend, haha! We do different things each year- sometimes we travel, host a party or go out. All very fun and memorable.

That is my feel good read for the day. I love butter and I loved that you were saved by it!

yes and we have eaten very well in Seattle this year, I just don't think they are quite on the same level though. But dinner at Brasa with Anthony Bourdain was really fun! And just recently dinner at Le Gourmand made me very happy!! I haven't been yet but of course it is known to be sooo good. The trek is a long one for us, especially with a few glasses of wine. You need to make reservations a few months in advance so plan accordingly. We are headed to Napa this march and I am going to try my best to get us a seat at the French Laundry, that will make my year for sure!

Chris, you and I are just cassoulet and larbing are way to a great year hu? I also will add more liquid, I thought some parts of the top of mine was a tad dry. I had one last lunch of it today...and was thinking about the fat thing too....lord how this stuff melts and turns things heavenly! Your picture is awesome!!!

Well Doc and I share some of the same: Arzak lunch in July Cal Pep lunch in July- although this is hardly any type of fine dining it was the biggest eating adventure I've had! Babbo dinner in July. I just said last night that I am planning on going to Babbo everytime I'm in nyc. I loved it! Chez Panisse- dinner in Sept Aqua- dinner in Sept damn John your list has me very jealous!!

Since I am quite fond of amuses of veggies and decadent molten chocolate cakes I'm afraid I can not oblige.

That has got to be the best thing I have read all day!! LOL! This is all so interesting to me, thanks again for all your time in doing it. Wendy