Next Vineyard: Robert Mondavi Winery
Stunning day and gorgeous view
Special!
Wine barrels
Those bottles were HUGE!

Admiring the champagne-making tanks
Taking notes
A delicious rose--the bigger glass was the commonly found version and the baby glass was the fancy, more expensive version (that had been aged longer)
Domaine Carneros--known for their champagne
Amazing little bites at the CIA

Napa

The only other thing to note since the Apple/Caramel/Awesome/Spice Cake before I tell you a little about my trip to Napa is our Easter brunch. I really like Easter as far as holidays go because I get to wear something girly and pastel, and because it often involves yummy food and chocolate. We had fourteen people this year in my little 2-bedroom apartment and it was a smashing success! There was totally enough food! We had: biscuits and (actually good) vegetarian gravy, blueberry buttermilk cake, fruit salad, quiche, deviled eggs, mimosas, bacon, mini croissants, and some excellent egg mess with homemade chips. So yum!

Anyway, back to the point of this post: I went to Napa with my mom and another mother/daughter pair for a short weekend getaway. It was my first time to the Napa Valley and hopefully not my last! The highlight for me was sabering open a bottle of champagne (and not hurting anyone or myself, dropping the bottle, or spilling too much), although the entire trip was fabulous. I loved being able to sit down with a sommelier and have them walk me through exactly how they figured out which wine was from where, what the year was, what it smelled like, etc. We saw how and where the wine making was done and got to try quite a bit too. The only downside was realizing that most of them are out of my price range! Oh well, I can dream.

The 5 'S's of Wine Tasting:
1. See. Is the wine red or white? Is there anything in it? Bubbles? What color red or white--dark or light (apparently red wine gets lighter with age and white wines get darker)?
2. Swirl. This apparently increases the surface area so the molecules of smell come out. This is also where you get to see the wine's "legs" (a term I find amusing). When you swirl a glass rather vigorously, you watch where the top edge of the wine has hit the glass and the lines that fall down from that are the legs. The faster and the slower they fall depend on alcohol and sugar content--the faster they fall, the less sugar or alcohol there is, and vice versa.
3. Smell. F.E.W: stands for fruit, earth, and wood: when you smell the wine does it smell really sweet? Then it probably has a lot of fruit in it...a chardonnay often has a more mineral-y smell which can be described as earth.
4. Sip. This is when you confirm or deny your guess of what the wine is like based on the first 3 'S's and you use the F.E.W. words again.
5. Spit or Swallow. Pretty obvious--if you like it, swallow it, if not, spit.

Pictures following!

Julie and Julia Inspires Me: A Fancy Cake

My mom sent me the book Julie and Julia only a little while before the movie came out. I read it right away and really enjoyed it. I'm really bad about going to movies when they're actually playing (thanks to the $3, 21+ theater by my house where you just have to wait a few extra months and then you can enjoy any of the popular movies with a beer), so I didn't see Julie and Julia until a few weeks ago--yes, I'm a little behind the times. Part of the reason I made the roast described in the previous post was to bribe my friend and neighbor to download the movie for me to watch on his fancy TV...I guess it just wasn't his cup of tea (of course he watched it, though). The roast turned out wonderfully, if I do say so myself, but for Julie and Julia, I was just craving some ridiculous, fancy cake. Luckily, we didn't have a roast, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, AND a triple layer buttercream-frosted cake all on the same day, because I don't even think my athlete brother could have handled all that food!

While shopping for roast ingredients, I remembered that apples were in season and picked some of those up. Upon investigating my kitchen, I also realized that I had cream in the fridge. Over the holidays I made Gourmet's Spice Cake with Caramelized Pears and Maple Buttercream and it was spectacular. I figured, "hey, I've got apples and cream--I could make a caramelized apple version with a caramel buttercream!" Well, I realized after the fact that it's surprisingly tricky to find a recipe for caramel buttercream, but that didn't stop me! I just made a regular buttercream with less sugar and then added caramel...yes, rich, I know. Also delicious!

Spice Cake with Caramelized Apples and Caramel Buttercream
For Spice Cake, please see link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spice-Cake-with-Caramelized-Pears-and-Maple-Buttercream-355980
Now ignore the rest of the link and keep reading for the apples and caramel buttercream:

Caramelized Apples:
-4 or 5 apples of whatever brand you like (I believe I used Braeburns)
-1/4 c of red wine (really whatever you have along as long as it's not 2 buck chuck but ideally something fruity
-1-2 tablespoons of sugar (it's mainly to taste...also I used brown because I love brown sugar)
-1-2 tablespoons of butter

-Peel and core apples, then finely chop them
-In a deep-sided cast iron pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter until melting
-Add the apples
-Cook down for a bit and add sugar and red wine as the apples begin to soften
-If the apples start to stick, add a little more butter
-Cook until very tender and sweet

Caramel Buttercream
Caramel Sauce:
*This is my favorite caramel sauce recipe because they are the only one that suggests that you add water to prevent burning. Yes, the caramel takes a little longer to come together, but it's sooo much easier than having to constantly re-do burned caramel.
** I halved the main recipe, but I would even suggest quartering it
-1/2 c white sugar
-2 (it calls for 3 but I don't think you need it) tablespoons butter
-1/4 c heavy whipping cream
-1/4 c water

-Get all your ingredients measured and near you before you start--this makes things easier for you since you have to work quickly.
-In a tall, heavy sauce pan, add the sugar and the water over moderately high heat
-As the sugar beings to melt, stir it vigorously
-As soon as the sugar comes to a boil stop stirring (it's hard, I know)
-Once it looks nice and golden, add the butter and whisk until golden
-Immediately remove from heat and add the cream--whisk until smooth
-Add a pinch of salt if you like

Buttercream:
*any buttercream recipe will do--just add a little less sugar no vanilla
-1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature (use vegetable shortening when pure white icing is needed)
-1/2 cup milk, room temperature
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-2 pounds confectioners' sugar

-Combine all the ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix at slow speed until smooth.

-Add the caramel to taste

To Assemble:

-Cool layers of the cake

-Once cool, lightly frost the bottom layer on the top and add about 1/3-1/2 of the apples

-Repeat with the second layer

-Add the top layer and frost, adding any extra apples after (or just eat them plain).

-Enjoy

*PS-How cool are those colored candles?! We decided to pretend it was Cary Grant's Birthday...I mean, who doesn't like him?! Happy Birthday, Cary!

A Roast

For the first time in my life I made a roast. I'm not even sure if I've really ever eaten a roast before, but when a friend of mine asked if I could make one, I said "Sure, why not!" I probably should have been more nervous about making a roast for someone who had actually grown up eating them, but when it comes to cooking, I have somehow or other convinced myself that I can cook anything, as long as I do enough research on it. Luckily for both myself and Matt, the roast turned out just fine.

Pork Shoulder Roast with Rosemary and Garlic:
-1 4lb pork shoulder for a roast
-several cloves of garlic, sliced in long quarters or thirds
-a big bunch of rosemary
*garlic and rosemary depends on your preference

-Preheat the oven to 375
-Trim the fat off the meat as best you can (and get a sharper knife than I have to make this easier) and make several incisions all over the meat (this is where the rosemary and garlic will go)...really, just stab it all over (but this does not quite sound as nice).
-Stuff the incisions with a piece or two of the sliced garlic and a small bunch of rosemary.
-Season the meat liberally with salt and pepper
-place on a rack in a roasting pan and stick in the over for an hour and a half to two hours or whenever the internal temp reaches the appropriate done-ness for pork.

Fabulous Sides To Accompany a Rosemary-Garlic Roast:
Roasted Asparagus:
-1-2 bundles of asparagus, washed and the ends snapped off
-lemon juice and zest (if you want)
-olive oil
-salt n pepper

-Preheat the oven to 350 or 375 (you can just add these at the end when you take out the pork since they take no time at all)
-Place washed and trimmed asparagus in a pan or on a cookie sheet
-Drizzle olive oil over (to taste--I don't like a whole lot, but that's my preference)
-Season with salt and pepper and zest if using
-Cook for 10-15 min until tender (I would do about 10 since I like mine a little crunchy)
-After removing from the oven, squeeze lemon juice over and serve immediately
Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
-5 russet potatoes or more (I had leftovers but I don't eat a lot)
-maybe 1/2 a cup of milk
-salt n pepper
-smashed garlic--a few cloves or to taste
-2 tablespoons of butter or so

-Put the potatoes in a big pot and cover with water
-Boil until tender (maybe 10 min--not totally sure)
-Once tender, remove from heat and pour off almost all of the water
-If the pot isn't too hot, just use a potato masher or, ideally, a hand mixer to smash and whip them up. You can also use a very deep bowl
*Note-it helps to cut them up a bit before attempting to mash and whip them...if you don't, you may end up with potato pellets attacking you out of the bowl. Woops!
-Add the garlic, butter, and about 1/4 of the milk
-Continue whipping them and season to taste
-I like my potatoes a little chunky, but add more or less milk according to the desired tendency.

More Muffins--Blueberry-Orange

I set out to make another muffin--something besides the blueberry banana ones I've been making--to keep things interesting around here. I settled on a lemon-blueberry buttermilk muffin, which quickly became an orange-blueberry muffin once I realized I didn't have any lemons. Woops! No worries, they turned out just fantastically.

Makes 12 oversized, strange-looking muffins (try for 14-16)

-1/2 c whole wheat flour
-1 1/2 + a little less than 1/4 c (since you add juice at the end) all purpose flour
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/4 tsp salt
-1/2 tablespoons butter
-1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
-1/4 c white sugar (or a little less)
-1/8 c brown sugar (loosely packed)
-1 egg
-1 c buttermilk
-blueberries to taste (I used a little less than half a bag of frozen ones)
-the zest of one orange and the juice of 3/4 of it
-the zest and juice of half a lime (or lemon, which I would have preferred but, alas, did not have)

Preheat the oven to 450
-Mix the dry ingredients (flours, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in a large bowl and set aside
-Mix the butter, applesauce, and egg in a smaller bowl until well mixed
-Add the buttermilk into the egg etc mixture and mix until just combined (don't overmix)
-Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just mixed
-Add the zest and juice
-Add the blueberries
-Fill muffin tins
-Bake for 10-15 min

Trader Joes Wine Tasting

I have a new plan! I'm going to try every single $3.99-$4.99 white wine at Trader Joes. I will rate them. Here's the first of it:
-Trader Joes Easy Drinking White Table Wine ($3.99)-easy to drink, mellow, nothing too thrilling. There are better whites out there at the same price.
-Zarafa Sauvignon Blanc ($3.99 I think)-not a huge fan. It was too metallic almost. Not very smooth, harsh aftertaste.
-Villa Cerrina-Chardonnay-Pinot Grigio blend ($3.99)--I liked this one a lot. It's smooth, easy to drink, and not too sweet.
-Contadino Pinot Grigio ($3.99)-it was OK, nothing thrilling, but fine. Actually, my description should give you a good idea--it wasn't very memorable!
-Rene Barbier, Mediterranian White, Catalunya ($4.99)-I really like this one. It's really easy to drink, very fresh and light-tasting.

So to sum things up, my favorite to least favorite, in order:
1.Rene Barbier Catalunya
2. Villa Cerrina
3. TJs Table Wine
4.Contadino Pinot Grigio
5. Zarafa Sauvignon Blanc.