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 Wednesday was filled with laughter and good cheer as friends and co-workers gathered together to celebrate the holiday at a beautifully decorated restaurant.  We kicked off the festivities with an array of cocktail orders. I chose the Rum Toddy made with Infused Rum and Spiced Apple Cider. It was warm and delicious! The basic concept of infusing is to start with a base liquor such as vodka, rum or gin, then add a single or combination of flavors to it like herbs, spices or fruit flavors. It is quite simple to prepare. Start with a clean mason jar. Add the flavors to the jar and then fill with the spirit of your choice. Cover tightly and shake. Store in a dark place for minimum of 3 days, shaking the mixture a few times a day. Do a taste test after 3 days to determine if it is has reached the flavor you want. When ready, discard the flavoring ingredients, place infusion in a clean jar and store at room temperature. Enjoy!  In addition to a Baby Arugula salad and appetizers for the table, I enjoyed Chocolate Mezzaluna as a main course. The pasta was stuffed with butternut squash ricotta cheese, roasted chestnuts, parsnip puree in a brown butter garlic sage lemon sauce. It was quite unusual and very tasty, although a touch too much lemon in the sauce.  The meal ended with Petits Beignet, served with strawberry preserves, caramel and chocolate sauce.  We were all pleasantly sated by the end of the meal and possibly a few ounces heavier! Have a great Thursday!
Cheers! Penina  Busy, busy, busy. It’s that time of year when there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day. It was a productive Tuesday, but still so much to do!  I finally exhaled when the sun went down and spent a wonderful evening with a good friend, sharing stories over Grey Goose martinis. No time for reviews or chit chat today. I’m racing off to a holiday luncheon. Happy Wednesday!
Cheers! Penina  Yesterday was a laid back kind of Sunday with the NY Sunday Times and the Jets vs. Giants game on the television. It was a wild game with the Jets scoring a touchdown in the last 27 seconds to tie the game. The Jets won 23 to 20 in overtime. I was rooting for the Giants…oh well.  Since it was the first night of Hanukkah, I wanted to be festive so I opened a bottle of Shingleback’s 2011 The Gate Shiraz. I reviewed this wine in June and had every intention of saving the last few bottles to open over the course of several years. However, I couldn’t resist opening another bottle last night! My review is the same as it was in June. “The wine is produced in the McLaren Vale area of South Australia. It scored high points in the 90’s and has won many awards. This full-bodied wine was deep purple with aromas of dark fruit, oak and spices. The palate was a feast of layers, oozing dark jams, cherry, oak, pepper, spices and a hint of vanilla. Silky tannins and a solid backbone gave way to a long finish.” This is an excellent wine with lots of character. I hope I have enough self-control to keep the other bottles under wrap! http://www.shingleback.com  I have a crazy week ahead, but I’ll be back very soon!
Cheers! Penina  It was a lovely weekend filled with birthday and holiday celebrations. I enjoyed attending a few parties without the fuss of my planning and cooking for a change! The various festivities offered catered finger food or buffet style home cooked dishes along with an assortment of wine, champagne and other spirits. I didn’t taste or open any interesting wines over the past few days, but I did enjoy the Veuve Clicquot that was being passed around at one of the parties!  CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE FOR DETAILS As I ease myself back into the world of design and knitting, I’ve been going over some of the “artwear” I have made over the years in the hopes of inspiring and igniting my creative juices again. I came across this sweater that I designed for my niece. It is a basic crew neck sweater that I knitted and then hand embroidered flowers on it to give it a little pizzazz. The sweater has given me a few ideas for some winter hats. It’s a little more work, but worth the effort and end results!  Hanukkah begins at sundown tonight. Potato latkes served with an array of toppings and Soofganiyot (Israeli Doughnuts) are traditional treats served on this holiday. There are many recipes that can be found online or perhaps you have a favorite that you might want to share. If I find my Orange Soofganiyot recipe, I’ll post it. If you are lighting the candles, I wish you a very Happy Hanukkah!
Cheers! Penina  Aside from one soak drenched day this week, the weather has been beautiful. Holiday decorations are going up and some of the homes and properties I have seen are quite magical. I’m starting to think about holiday menus and pairings. The other evening I made a delicious meal of baked Halibut with lemon, olive oil, cherry tomatoes and capers. For the side dish, I sautéed together shallots, sweet potatoes, asparagus and mushrooms. It was a simple dinner, but my guest said it was “restaurant quality”, as he quickly gobbled it all down.  I paired a 2010 Château Lascombes Haut-Médoc de Lascombes to go with the dinner. It is the third label of a Margaux second growth. The wine is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. This Bordeaux blend was deep purple with lovely aromas of blackberry, plums and spices. I found this to be an “earthy” wine and full-bodied. The palate offered dark fruit, plum, spice and hints of oak that carried through to a nice finish. I have a few more bottles that will be opened over the next year or two! www.chateau-lascombes.com  The weekend is here and although I have work to attend to, there are a few holiday parties to drop in on! Have a great Friday!
Cheers! Penina  As I have mentioned time and again, I tend to be a “purist” when it comes to drinking vodka. I like it cold and neat, although I won’t turn my nose up at a well made martini! I remember a few years back sitting at a restaurant bar late in the evening with a friend sampling all the flavored vodkas, gratis the bartender. It was a fruit contest of apple, cherry, orange, lemon, tangerine and peach. Nothing tasted real and most of it was very sweet and syrupy. I was forever cured of wanting any flavored vodka again.  But last evening, I tried American-Made Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka. I reviewed their Zodiac Original potato vodka about a year ago and was very impressed with it. You can read the review at http://thewineknitter.com/1/post/2014/11/day-132.html. So I was quite anxious to taste their newest product. Zodiac Black Cherry Vodka is handcrafted potato vodka, made with natural cherry flavors using 100% locally sourced ingredients in Idaho. The vodka is distilled once and is 70 proof. The color was clear with subtle notes of maraschino cherry and vanilla on the nose. The aromas segued onto the palate giving a little more cherry and heat on the finish. It was not cloyingly sweet, as most fruit flavored vodkas tend to be. It was smooth and easy to drink straight. This vodka would make a great mixer in a cocktail and I’m definitely going to try a Black Cherry Martini with a dash of lemon juice. Yum! www.zodiacvodka.com Have a great Tuesday!
Cheers! Penina  It was a busy weekend and I decided to take a break from the computer…hence no posts. Between decorating a winter wonderland scene in the office window and adorning my home with festive décor as well, I may have gotten caught up in the frenzy of rushing the holiday.  With holiday parties on the horizon, I’ve started thinking about festive “punch bowl” drinks, both warm and cold to serve to guests. Hot toddies, spiced drinks and eggnog recipes are the more traditional ways to go. Most recipes can be found online and can be made with or without alcohol.  Wassail is an English drink traditionally made with hard cider, sugar-roasted apples, brandy and spices and quite popular around the holidays. Wassail gets its name from the Old English term "waes hael", meaning, "be well". The definition of wassail according to one dictionary is “ A salutation or toast given in drinking someone's health or as an expression of goodwill at a festivity.” The Oxford dictionary says “Spiced ale or mulled wine drunk during celebrations for Twelfth Night and Christmas Eve: a mighty bowl of wassail in which the apples were hissing and bubbling.” Works for me! There are many wassail traditions such as “toasting” to good health, wassailing and the blessing of the fruit or trees. Wassaling is the act of visiting neighbors, singing carols and sharing a cup of warm spiced ale. Back in the day, spiced cider was offered as an ancient honor to the fruit trees. Bread or cake was soaked in the wassail and buried at the tree roots or hung from the branches to ensure a good harvest for the coming year. The soaked bread was meant to placate the tree spirits and keep them well fed until the next harvest. Wassail songs are being revived today in pubs and farm throughout England and the old custom of blessing the crops is being revived as well. So, explore some interesting holiday punches to add to the menu at your next party!
Waes Hael! Penina  I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I certainly did! Family and friends filled up my home with good cheer as well as the wonderful aromas of food emanating from the kitchen.  As usual, I made more food than was necessary and now I will have fun getting inventive with all the leftovers. Of course I overdid it with the desserts, so perhaps I’ll put together little dessert packages for a few people today.  Two wines graced the Thanksgiving table yesterday. We opened a 2013 Acrobat Pinot Noir from Oregon and a 2011 I Balzini Black Label. Both wines complemented the meal from appetizers to dessert. I reviewed the I Balzini a few weeks ago. You can read it at http://thewineknitter.com/1/post/2015/11/day-375.html The Acrobat Pinot Noir comes from the King Estate Winery, founded in 1991. The color of the wine was cherry red with aromas of expressive berries and spice. The palate offered smooth and velvety flavors of cherry, plum and cranberry with hints of oak and spice. The finish was long. https://www.kingestate.com It’s a beautiful day and time to start changing the décor inside and outside to acknowledge the upcoming holidays.
Have a great Friday! Cheers! Penina 
Wishing everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving filled with joy and laughter!
Cheers! Penina  Tis the day before Thanksgiving and I’m checking off my list of things to do. I have already made the artichoke dip and Key Lime Pie. The majority of dishes will be made tomorrow morning while the turkey is roasting. I have a Burgundy, Rosé and Chardonnay chilling in the refrigerator and Pinot Noir sitting on the table.  My famous Key Lime Pie! Very yummy!  Last evening I got together with a friend for a pre holiday drink. He poured us ice cold Bootlegger 21 Vodka from the Prohibition Distillery in Roscoe, NY. Brian Facquet and John F.K. Walsh own the distillery. The vodka is 80 proof, 100% corn based and is distilled six times. It was sweet on the nose and carried through to the palate. I found it to be very smooth and clean. They also make gin and bourbon. http://www.prohibitiondistillery.com/ Okay…back to cooking and cleaning!
Happy Wednesday! Cheers! Penina |
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