The Ravinia Goat Rodeo Picnic Contest and More

As many of you who've been following my blog or my facebook feeds know, we've spent a lot of time at the Ravinia Festival this summer.  I think when all's been said and done we went to 12 concerts this summer. Perhaps our busiest week was the last one when we had six of the twelve events.

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, we went to see Yo Yo Ma and the Goat Rodeo Sessions. That was the evening that we were selected as one of 50 entrants into the Ultimate Picnic Contest. This joint event was co-sponsored by Terlato Wines so part of the judging had to include some Terlato Wines.

The good news is that Terlato has a wide variety of different wines ranging from rally nice Napa Valley and California wines to those found in France and in Italy.  While I had not had one of their wines before, there was enough to choose from that I didn't think we'd have much of a problem.

As it turns out we didn't.  As you may know if you have followed this blog for some time our trip to Paris a couple of years ago was the launching point for this blog (the background photo is a cafe along the Rue Cler in the 7th arrondissement of Paris). It was during that trip that my partner in these adventures developed a love for the wines of the Cotes-du-Rhone.

As it turns out Terlato has a couple of wines from a well-regarded winemaker in the region Michel Chapoutier.  His Belleruche wines are imported by Terlato.  We found these to be very consistently good in our pre-picnic planning.  At the same time I wanted to do something that I thought would be unique -- turn one of the bottles into a candle.  (As it turned out, it wasn't so much of a unique concept.)

Our original plan was to feature a theme of East meets West with the clever use of some Bento boxes.  Unfortunately, Amazon let us down and didn't deliver the boxes in time.  That left us scrambling a bit.

I had ordered a cheese from IGourmet.com that was a selection of Goat Cheeses.  This concert is a unique mix of talents from across many musical genres as Yo Yo Ma has blurred the lines many times. The name of this album -- the Goat Rodeo Sessions -- refers to a situation where the chaotic cannot seemingly be controlled with each person having their personal agenda and direction.  This certainly reflects the nature of this effort.

A cross between bluegrass and classical, elements of jazz with each musician playing elements together in what could be called controlled chaos.

Perhaps that's what my selection of cheeses could be called -- controlled chaos.  I ordered Aracena, Beemster, Midnight Mood and Buenalba for the event.  The Aracena by Dona Manuela is a raw goat's milk cheese from the Andalusia region of Spain. It's a full-flavored cheese full of herb and citrus flavors. It reminds me a little of a nice stinky cheese from France.

The Beemster is a Gouda made entirely of goat's milk.  Apparently there are a number of farmers who keep goats for the locals' enjoyment and so they also produce a goat's milk gouda.  I found this cheese to be a clean, sweet flavored cheese that was very easy to eat.

The Midnight Moon is a relatively new cheese coming from Cypress Grove Chevre. This is a very different cheese both in texture as well as flavor.  It has a nuttiness to it that makes it great to eat on bread or all by itself.

We finished the cheese with a Buenalba with Pimenton.  This cheese is similar to the Spanish Ibores but different in that the Pimenton de la Vera is infused into the goat's milk before setting it in curds.  This is another raw milk cheese.

These cheeses added nicely to the rest of the spread which included an unbelievable fruit tray with champagne grapes, blueberries, strawberries and our new favorite fruit, figs.

There were also olives, chicken salad on baby romaine leaves (really great for picnics) and a rice salad with some of our homegrown tomatoes and a heavenly lemon vinaigrette.

While we didn't win, show or even place, it was a lot of fun.  We really had a lot of people commenting on the quality of the spread and how it was something that they could reproduce themselves pretty easily.

That, I thought, was one of the best parts. I forgot to mention that we also had saucisson, a French dry cured sausage.  It was intriguing enough that one of the judges -- who views himself as mostly vegan -- had to try a bit of it.

Not surprisingly he found it to be quite good!

Perhaps the most difficult part of the whole affair was that we had to wait until after the judging was completed in order to dig into the delicious picnic fair. We certainly learned a lot about this for next year so plans are already in the works.

I'll leave you with some pictures of some of the other entries in the picnic contest. While there were a lot that were amazing entries, very few seemed like they were something to replicate.

I was astounded by the sound of Yo Yo Ma and the other musicians.  While at times it seemed as though they were all headed for a train wreck somewhere through the music, they ended up pulling every piece together. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

Picnics are always fun. What was your favorite picnic this summer?

A Trip Back to Paris

This may be, in fact, the cheapest trip to Paris. Ever.

No I'm not talking about going to Paris, Texas or the 19 or so other towns in the United States named Paris. Unfortunately I'm not in the City of Lights but I'm sitting in a little restaurant in Merrifield, Virginia called Le Pain Quotidien (Our Daily Bread).

I frankly had never heard of it before.  As it turns out it's a chain of restaurants around the world founded by a couple of guys from Belgium. But I digress.

I had come in thinking this was just a French name for another Panera Bread-like company. Don't get me wrong, I really like Panera Bread.  But this took the experience a bit further.

Sitting here drinking a perfectly drawn double espresso, I was writing my other blog when the wild mushroom and goat cheese omelette appeared with a side of French ham and Gruyere cheese. I was transported to a cafe in Paris I ate in two years ago.

The omelette was beautifully prepared.

And it got me thinking.  Up until the omelette arrived, I was not thinking a lot about restaurant at all.  I was just sitting here writing. But . . . the minute the omelette arrived, BAM I was back to Paris.

But this isn't the first time that has happened.  Sometimes it's a glass of wine that takes me back to the vineyard where I first tasted it. I can remember the experience as much as the taste. Other times it's a particular food.

Comfort foods are those things that take us back to times when we felt good. When life was what it should be. I think that's one of the reasons why I love food.  It's not so much the food as the experience and friends and life that is lived around the table.

And that is as it should be.

I'm Thankful for My Friends -- Old and New

Last Thanksgiving was a bit crazy.  Not only was I getting ready to celebrate my 50th birthday (and my twin brother's) we found out on the Monday of Thanksgiving our Thanksgiving Day restaurant reservations had fallen through.

That meant that I ended up hosting two pretty big celebrations in three days.  I won't go into details here (you can read about it in my post The Unexpected Party. This Thanksgiving was a lot more low key.

This Thanksgiving I spent celebrating with family. There were just five of us.  Ok seven if you count the little dog and the 20 lb turkey! Pretty small considering the crowd that was there for last Thanksgiving but it was no less rewarding.

It was nice because it gave me an opportunity to reflect on a year of friends both old and new.  This past August (as you can note from my series on my trip to Sonoma, I had the real privilege to meet and work alongside three BBQ masters, Chris Lilly (from Big Bob Gibson's BBQ), Dr. BBQ (a mainstay on the professional BBQ circuit) and Pete Seghesio.

Not only did I learn a lot about the BBQ, I really had a chance to get to know more folks in the wine business.  Here's what I'm discovering -- I really like these folks.  The Seghesio team are incredible people.  From Pete and Cathy to Dave Meserli, Brandye Alexander, Dana Macaulay, Tony in the tasting room and so many others.

I'm really honored to call them friends not just acquaintances.

This fall I had the unexpected opportunity to not only meet some new friends but visit the great folks at Seghesio's sister vineyard in San Luis Obispo, Chamisal Vineyards.  You can read about the visit in my post A Special Day at Chamisal Vineyards. They're part of the reason for my reflections on my friends.  Our Thanksgiving meal featured the Chamisal's Morrito Pinot Noir.

This incredible wine was the perfect pairing for our turkey dinner.  Because of Michael's gracious tour, I can still see the view to the ocean from this little morro.  The particular terroir of this particular part of the vineyard is distinct.

It's more volcanic type rock than other parts of the vineyard and the hill is steeper.  This produced a wine that begins with a hint of strawberries and then ends with full on cranberry and the Chamisal spice. But more than the perfect pairing, it reminded me again of that special day with my new friends Michael, Alyssa and Andrea (who came in special even though she was recovering from an early fall cold).

So as we enter the holiday season, I just want to say thanks to my old friends and my new friends.  So to all those mentioned and to Bill Frick (Frick Winery), Nicole and Katey Bacigalupi (John Tyler Wines), Brooke at Chamisal and Nancy Santiago and Chistine Kyle from Pine Ridge Winery, a Giant Thank YOU.

You have made this a special year. Not only do you all make fabulous wines but you're some of the best people I know.

Cooking with Wine

Last Christmas I had this wild idea that it would be fun to take a cooking class.  It was a spur of the moment Christmas gift to a friend from a Groupon offer.  Little did I know how difficult it would be for us to take advantage of the certificate.

Not necessarily because of the company but we frankly let the coupon escape our minds for a while.  Then when we remembered my travel schedule made it difficult to take advantage of the certificate.  We finally settled on October 27th, her birthday, as the only day that it would work before the coupon ran out.

Now we know the Chicago area pretty well but I hadn't been to this part of the city before. It's not exactly a location that makes it easy to find or one that screams: "here's the perfect location for a cooking school." It's in an industrial area which I guess makes sense because in the back is a bakery churning out thousands of baguettes every night.

We were going to be completing their Chanel menu which included:

• Starter –Bouchées à la reine

• Entrée – Homemade sausage with boar

• Side – Pomme cuite, Pomme au four

• Dessert – Ile flottante

Cook au Vin provides everything necessary for food and cooking but you need to bring your own wine.  We decided on some French -- yet not so French -- wine.  

Over the past couple of years on our trips back to Sonoma we've found a small little winery, Frick Winery, run by a gentleman who absolutely has a passion for the business. And a passion for French varietals.  He's a member of the Rhone Rangers, a group of wineries that are committed to promoting the wines of the Rhone Valley. 

Bill, who does everything from caring for the vines to making the wine to managing the tasting room, has crafted some really delicious wines.  Including one I had never heard of before: Counoise. After our visit this summer I had purchased a couple of bottles and chose to bring two along for the night. As it turned out, it was a delicious pair to the meal. 

Counoise is pretty rare in the United States but it's one of the primary components of Chateau Neuf de Pape wines. The Frick Estate Counoise begins to set itself apart from other wines from the moment it's poured into a glass.  The brilliant earth red colors and aromas of plums and raspberry along with others start the experience.

Even to my unsophisticated taste, you can pick out strong fruit flavors along with a little spice.  So, while the other "students" arrive we begin with some cheese and pates to go with the wine that we brought.. I'm beginning to wonder if I brought enough.

Even to my unsophisticated taste, you can pick out strong fruit flavors along with a little spice.  So, while the other "students" arrive we begin with some cheese and pates to go with the wine that we brought.. I'm beginning to wonder if I brought enough.

Our classically-trained instructor not only does this but his full-time job is cooking for the Jesuits at Loyola University. And from his stories, they may not earn a lot or own anything but they eat extremely well. But I digress.

The class begins with us working on the dessert first.  Each couple has their own workstation. We're next to the instructor I can see close up what we're supposed to do. It begins by taking a vanilla bean and splitting it down the center and scraping out the seeds for the creme anglais (upon which the meringue sail will float). 

And now is when the dreaded "expert" cook began to rear her ugly head. You know the person -- the one who always has a comment.  In this case, they had taken a couple of cooking classes at Sur la Table and now took it upon herself to ensure the instructor was doing it "the right way." 

While classes are normally limited to six couples, this woman was part of a group of six that pushed the group to fourteen. One group too many to effectively work without bumping elbows.  For the rest of the night we were subjected to listening to her go on and on about this or that. Often missing the instructor's directions because she was talking not listening.

While the others in this group were very pleasant, Miss Know-it-All almost ruined the experience.  I won't provide a blow by blow description of the dinner but suffice it to say I learned more than a few things along the way.  

The best part of this was that the Chef/Instructor did much of the hard work ensuring that the meal was done correctly.  He did say that we did more of the work than other groups.  They primarily came to eat and drink and so they spent most of the time socializing and drinking rather than cooking.  

At the conclusion of the evening, we were all served family style.  Perhaps the most fun -- and something that will be tried at home -- was the sausage making.  

Is this something that I would do again? Probably. But it would mean that all the participants were people in my group. Then again, I might want to spend more of my time drinking and socializing rather than cooking.  At the end of the evening we had made a few new friends, learned some new things and drank some really fabulous wine.  

You can't ask for more than that.

Making the Most of Wine Country, Day 5

It's our last full day in Sonoma before heading back to San Francisco so we wanted to savor this day and extend it to its fullest.  We began by taking advantage of the free breakfast at the Dry Creek Inn. 

While perhaps not the gourmet breakfast we experienced at the Grape Leaf Inn in Healdsburg (what a tremendous place to stay!) it was filling and for those of us with a little Dutch in our heritage it was, well, the best possible thing. 

Free.

Having filled up on the free breakfast, we began the day by heading north into the Alexander Valley to try a couple of new wineries and some old favorites from previous visits.  We began by heading to the Fritz winery. 

The lake below the Fritz Winery

We'd never been to this winery before but it's in a beautiful setting.  The cellars are built into the side of the mountain and the vineyards back up to Lake Sonoma. We arrived just as the tasting room was opening and were the first visitors of the day.  They provide a couple of options for tasting.

Being primarily a red wine drinker, we chose the red wine flight. We chose not to taste the rose but after our tasting at V-M-L I have to say I left regretting that choice.



The entrance to the Fritz Winery

Since it was early, we enjoyed sharing the tasting. Having been the first to arrive for the day, our host was most generous with the pours and providing a few additional tastings as well.  It keeps everyone in a position to enjoy the whole day.

And unlike others, perhaps, the idea of spitting out the wine after tasting is a bit unappealing to me. Like I said . . . with a Dutch heritage we believe in the ol' "waste not want not" philosophy.

For our next visit, we'll plan a little better and make a reservation for a tour of the winery facility.  The visionary founder really embraced the concept of sustainability and built the facility underground.

We really enjoyed their 2010 Russian River Pinot Noir. So after purchasing a couple of bottles (which got the tasting thrown in!) we were on our way.

The view south into Dry Creek Valley from the terrace.

Our next stop was to visit famed winemaker Ed Sbragia's tasting room just below the Lake Sonoma Dam.  With a terrace overlooking both the dam and down into the Dry Creek Valley, the views from the winery are spectacular.  So are the wines.

After an award winning 20 plus year tenure at Beringer Vineyards, Ed and his wife, Jane, purchased the old Lake Sonoma Winery and began their small, family-owned winery on the site.

Our al fresco lunch on the terrace!

While at Beringer, Ed won many accolades for his Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignons.  He's done the same with his own winery as he's crafted, along with his son, Adam, some really fabulous single vineyard cabernets.  I have also really enjoyed his Zinfandel from the La Promessa vineyard to honor a commitment to his father, Gino, to open a family vineyard.

After a tasting of some spectacular red wines we purchased a bottle of his Chardonnay, some cheese, a little salami and some gluten free crackers. Taking that out on the terrace we really enjoyed our al fresco lunch.

It was nice to take a bit of a timeout from the tasting since we had the rest of the day ahead of us. Our next stop was one of my favorite places in Sonoma -- the Frick Winery.  This little winery is owned and operated by Bill Frick.  He's crafting some of the most unusual wines I've every tasted. 

Arriving at the Frick Winery. 

What sets Bill apart from the rest of the winemakers in the region is his focus on French varietals such as Cinsaut, Counoise, Carignane among others and he crafts a number of delicous blends as well as the specific varietals.  One of our favorites is the Cotes-du-Dry Creek a play on the French Cotes du Rhone.

His small tasting room provides an intimate atmosphere.  It's only open on the weekends from 12:30 to 4:30. Why the short hours. Because among other things, he's winemaker, vineyard worker, celler rat, and the host at the tasting room.

This is a winery not to be missed.

When we arrived, we were the only ones in the tasting room which can handle somewhere between six and eight people at a time. His approach to the tasting is quite different. Instead of a pre-determined flight of wines to taste, you can choose a certain number off the menu and make your own wine tasting.

After tasting a number of different wines, we made a couple of purchases. First, because of shipping restrictions we purchased a couple of bottles to bring home with us in addition to the wine we are having shipped.  After a bit of a mix up with my credit card (apparently they were trying to protect me from myself for the second time in the week), I ordered a couple of mixed cases and we purchased a couple of hats and some wine glasses.

Since we only had a little more time, we made our way back to V-M-L winery for a tasting before heading toward the coast. We had visited this winery on our first day.  I was intrigued by the giant-sized Jenga tower outside (an idea worth stealing for my backyard).

We went inside where this time I wasn't going to hold back on the rose wine. While all of their wines were delicious, I really enjoyed something that normally doesn't hit my wine palate. After a nice tasting and the purchase of a couple of bottles, we began the drive down Westside Drive on our way to the ocean. Those of us from the Midwest rarely have this opportunity.  The closest we come are the Great Lakes but they're not really ocean scenic.

But before hitting the ocean we made a quick stop at the Korbel Winery. We did a quick tasting of some of their California Champagne. A quick note about the name. Normally only wine coming from the Champagne region of France can legally be called Champagne but because the historic nature of their wines they can continue to do so.

I must add that Champagne is not among my favorites -- even Champagne from the appropriate region in France. After a few minutes in this beautiful area near the coast we continued our way down to the ocean

I never tire of seeing the ocean -- especially in sun drenched California. We couldn't help be be awed by the views as we drove down Highway 1 along the ocean.

We made several stops including one that allowed us to actually wade into the ocean. The temperature wasn't as mild as I anticipated but it wasn't nearly as cold as a visit a few years ago to Maine.

When you travel from the Midwest and you have an opportunity to dip your toes in an ocean you take advantage of it.  After winding our way down the coast and a couple of stops we made our way back to Healdsburg.  We didn't have any plans for dinner Sunday night and after all that we experienced in just a few short days it was time to catch our breath a little bit.

We stopped at the Healdsburg Safeway and picked up a rotisserie chicken and a few other finger foods and headed back to the Dry Creek Inn.  Over in the Tuscan building there's a beautiful courtyard complete with a gas fireplace.

With a number of different wines from our travels this week, we opened a bottle from the Frick winery and another from Seghesio and relaxed as the sun set and we were ending our time in the Sonoma Wine Country.

Next week I'll let you in on a spot that most folks visiting San Francisco probably don't visit but has great views of the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm already trying to figure out if a week is enough to visit all my favorite wineries on my next visit to Sonoma and still find some new ones.

The Family Celebration

You can choose your friends but not your family.

That old adage about friends and family is absolutely true.  And most of the time it comes out in spades right around a celebration of some sort.

It's too bad because so often we end up ruining the celebrations that should be so special.  

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in the Loux household.  In mid-May I decided to move and in the meantime I've had more travel come up than the first few months of the year combined.  Which is why I didn't get something posted the last few weeks.

My niece graduated from High School in Michigan a week ago and we made the trip up to Michigan to celebrate with her and the family. It seems as though this part of the summer is filled with special celebrations.

Whether it's a wedding, a graduation, a birthday, Mother's and Father's Day we seem to gather to join the celebration.  But sometimes I don't love that they involve family.

That wasn't the case this past weekend but it too often can be.  Everyone has their own idea of how things should go and so often don't want to give up their ideas for the good of the celebration. And, that's a good thing because celebrations so often involve food and wine.

This celebration involved a lot of wonderful food and both family and friends.  It was fun to see all the food coming out.  One of the things I hate to see happen at any party is to run out of food.  I've been to celebrations where there's just enough food.

What so often ends up happening is that people don't end up eating.  They nibble instead of eat.  Especially those come and go as you please type of events. That's exactly what this graduation celebration was all about.  All day Sunday people came and went and filled their plates with food and enjoyed a beverage of their choice.

What I loved was that there was a little bit of everything on the tables. In addition to the pulled pork, BBQ sauce and salsa we brought up, there were two types of meatballs, fruit and vegetables with dip. There were all kinds of chips as well.

No one went away hungry if they didn't want to.

But more than that what I loved most was listening people talk and laugh and share stories together. I watched as my niece greeted everyone with hugs and thank yous. I have a very special place in my heart for all my nieces and nephews.

In the midst of the baggage of life, there's nothing like the unconditional love of the niece or nephew to make you feel OK when the whole world seems to be against you. This was a wonderful celebration of my niece's graduation and I wouldn't have missed for the whole world.

So, Kara, as you embark on this next step in life let me share my congratulations on your success.