Wednesday, June 21, 2006

wine tour pictures and other fabulous things to share...

so the weekend was super rad (obvi). stayed in on friday to regroup, prep wine tour snacks and watch BWE (i hadn't seen it in like 6 weeks and was going through major withdrawl). what did i do instead? oh, cut up a pair of pants and sew them into shorts. yep, i pretty much had myself fooled into thinking i was daniel franco... big surprise. shorts turned out okay (i mean... i wore them the next day but not sure i'll go so far as to dry clean them and wear again). not as fabulous as my "property of alcatraz - reject: too cute" tube top circa '03 - but almost.

all in all an amazing wine tour. we cruised 4 wineries that i had never visited. first stop was J Winery where the only option is a $20 tasting but you get bigger than normal tastes (4 of them) and little food pairings to go with each one. this of course led to my new years resolution for 2007: get better at food & wine pairings. ahh nothing like setting goals i'll never achieve in advance.

second stop was gary farrell which was a beautiful spot with an amazing view. the wine was supposed to be super good but i wasn't feeling it for some reason which got megan theorizing that the worst thing god could do to punish me would be take away my palate. i've since decided that there are way worse things (you know the whole terminal illness in a 3rd world country scenario) but if i couldn't taste anymore i'd definitely be mega-bummed.

third stop was hop kiln where we also had our picnic lunch (whit made quiche - i made the salad). the building was old and fabulously historic... wines were okay. oh, and so was the pulled pork (megan & whit can tell you all about it).

final stop was de la montanya. we roll in and the girl working behind the counter says "whitney?!?..." oh really - it was jill peterson. yep. she was a freshman when we were seniors. gnarly! she was super rad, gave us a million pours and the club discount. gooo beta omega!

anywho tons of pics to share. karly's are here. check out mine here.

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okay - so i know this is old news - but in all fairness i started this post on monday and i really want a picture of sd & sp on my blog - so whatever i'm still posting it. SO... incase you haven't already read about this - you heard it here first (thanks mags for sending the original scoop). and if you want to watch the video: here you go.



my worlds collide

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i had dinner at christian & aileen's on monday and aileen made the yummiest ravioli. i haven't posted a recipe in a while so i thought i'd share it. i guess because i rarely order ravioli at restaurants i haven't ever given the concept much thought. i just assumed they required a pasta machine or something equally as annoying in the time consumption department. hello - wonton wrappers! it seems so obvious and its amazing how light they turn out. from what i could tell, aileen followed the recipe pretty verbatim. she mentioned she's done something similar with sauteed mushrooms instead of the prosciutto which i imagine is equally as fabulous. i'm hoping to feel inspired to give them a try myself - thanks aileen!

PROSCIUTTO RAVIOLI
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
2 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
48 wonton wrappers
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
Freshly grated pecorino

Whisk the ricotta, spinach, prosciutto, egg yolks, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.

Place 1 tablespoon of the ricotta filling in the center of a wonton wrapper. Brush the edge of the wrapper lightly with water. Fold the wrapper in half, enclosing the filling completely and forming a triangle. Pinch the edges to seal. Transfer the ravioli to baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining filling and wrappers. (Can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead; cover and refrigerate.)

Melt the butter in a heavy small skillet over medium heat. Add the oregano and stir 1 minute. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Working in batches, cook the ravioli in a large pot of boiling salted water until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes per batch. Transfer the ravioli to a large shallow bowl.

Pour the oregano butter over the ravioli and toss gently to coat. Sprinkle the pecorino over the ravioli and serve.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh I am so sad I missed the fun trip - it looked amazing, as always...

can't wait for WT'07!

Maggie

3:32 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wine tour recap w/ pics, snoop 'n' taylor, and a yummy ravioli recipe...what could be better!?

Thanks for always keeping me entertained (and informed!!!)

Cara

1:47 PM  

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