Organizing the Cellar

When we got home from Wine Country, we were excited to put all our bottles away. However, there really wasn't any rhyme or reason to how they were arranged so A and I decided to get little more organized.

We first took all the wine out of the cellar and started labeling them. We went online to find the prices and the wineries that they came from. We also did a little research into when was a good time to drink the wines or if we should let them age a little. A snapped a pic of me in all my glory surrounded by all my little liquid loves!

Each wine now has a label looking like the one of the left. The first line is the winery (or person) that we got it from, followed by when we received it, the price and and time range in which we should drink it.

We then arranged the wine back in the cellar according to drinkability time. I also added little colored stars to the tops of the bottle to indicate price range. This way I can gauge really quick of I want to grab an expensive or cheap bottle.

I know, I should be all techno-geek and have an excel spreadsheet and track this all on my computer, but I'm so O.C.D. that I would need to always print off fresh copies and our printer is currently out of order due to the price of ink. So, the old fashioned way will work just fine for now.

The Cellar BEFORE

The Cellar AFTER

Wine Celler Bottle Count: 66!

Washington Wine Country - Day 4

We hit 8 more wineries today! I found THE BEST winery in the entire area

(imo), Five Star Cellars. I was semi familiar with the winery as I bought a bottle of their Cab Sauv a few years ago as a Christmas present for my Dad. Their wines are a bit pricey but every wine I tasted today just knocked my socks off. I would have loved to buy a mixed case but then I'd be poor. :P I did however walk away with a 2007 Malbec.

We had a nice picnic lunch today in a local park with some nice picnic staples from Salumiere Cesario. We sat under a tree and watched about 5 squirrels running from branch to branch. It was such a beautifully warm day with nice cloudless blue skies. We also visited a local coffee roastery. Their coffee's were so unique but very good, so we got two iced americano's and 2 bags of coffee for later. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging around the pool and going for occasional dips to cool off.

There has been this poster I've been seeing around some of the wineries. It's a collection of a lot of wine labels from the wineries around here. I just LOVE it and have been looking on the internet for it but couldn't find it and no one was selling it... until today when I walked into one of the wineries and there was my poster on the wall with a price tag on it. I snatched up the LAST copy! Special thanks to my Mom and Dad who bought us this poster for our anniversary! :D

For dinner, we opted for healthy. Our bodies have been screaming at us for eating so unhealthy. We went to a local grocery store, got some lettuce, veggies and rotisserie chicken and had a little make shift salad in our suite. It was sooo good to eat veggies again! We spent the rest of the night watching the sunset and falling asleep to the movie Stripes.

We were really tired today and I felt very wonky. I'm not exercising near as much as I usually do and we have been eating wonderful but unhealthy foods. It all caught up to me today. Although I love it so much here, I am looking forward to going home tomorrow to get back on my schedule. And I miss my kitties!

Tomorrow we head to the local farmers market, hit up a few more wineries that we haven't visited yet, and head back home. Can't wait to drive through all that beauty again!

Wine Bottle Count: 15 +1 for a gift

Washington Wine Country - Day 3

Another great day of wine tasting! We did much better today, hitting 8 wineries today! My favorites were the Cabernet Sauvignon's. I tasted so many fantastic ones and bought 2 that were 100%, one of which was rated a 91 by Wine Spectator. I also bought a great Claret wine. Really, just fantastic wines out here. Napa, eat your heart out.

Before we headed into town for lunch, we drove about 5 miles south so I could get my very first geocache in Oregon. It was a success... right next to a bull pen...fun!

We went to Merchants Delicatessen for lunch and each bought a sandwich. Very delicious. It was fun to sit outside in the middle of downtown and people watch during our lunch break.

After our day of wine tasting had ended, we came back to our suite, changed, and went for a bike ride. We came across a BMX bike path which was pretty extreme for being my first time on one of those. It was a blast. The bike ride was nice with beautiful scenery to look at.

We came back home, showered and left for dinner. All the locals have been raving about Saffron Mediterranean so we went there tonight for dinner....

**Begin Narration by A**

My first impression of the place was, it's small, and crowded. Our waitress, Launa, seated us. She was full of smiles and a great waitress.

We started off with the Mezze Plate of flatbread (which they are known for) and three spreads. The first was a fava bean and pea spread with garlic. It was awesome, and the best of the three. The second was a 'chunky hummus', basically chick peas with a tahini dressing, and the third was a dried date and walnut chutney. The flatbread itself was fantastic. Topped with olive oil and spices.

Michelle picked a nice bottle of wine. A 2006 Haciendo Don Ramon, Temperanillo Rioja.

For dinner I ordered a 'free form' rabbit lasagna. Michelle ordered the goat cheese gnocchi with walla walla sweet onion sausage. They were both ridiculous. Just fantastic. My lasagna was nothing like traditional lasagna. It was not tomato based, but rather mushroom and ricotta. Michelle's gnocchi was even better. Each gnocchi was filled with goat cheese, and the sausage was a perfect match.

For dessert our waitress told us their three offerings for tonight. First was a sampling of their in-house gelatos. Including a honeysuckle and a basil gelato. I have a dehabilitating love of gelato.. but, I had to pass. (I had great ice cream the night before). The second was a custard with a nut crust and strawberries. The last option was a flatbread topped with chocolate, cherries and vanilla ice cream. Launa told us the custard was her favorite, but the flatbread is what they were 'known around town for'. Tough decision. We talked it over and we decided.. that we couldn't decide. We asked Launa to pick for us. She brought us her favorite, the custard. It wasn't a traditional custard, there were no eggs in it. It was just like everything else.. ridiculously fantastic.

I must say though, my favorite part.. was my date. Sitting across from my beautiful wife, any meal would be amazing.

**End Narration by A**

Dinner was late and we didn't get home until 10pm, so we crawled into bed, watched the movie Bolt and drifted to sleep dreaming of little wine glasses dancing in our heads.

Cheers!

Wine Bottle Count: 12

Washington Wine Country - Day 2

We took our time waking up today enjoying the nice scenery and setting aside time to relax. Plus, there is something that seems so wrong with wine tasting at 10am.

We headed downtown Walla Walla to walk around, window shop, and pick up some lunch. We stopped off at Salumiere Cesario, a little gourmet grocery with everything! Gourmet meats, cheeses, breads, oils from all over the world, nuts, olives, wine, teas... you name it, it was there. We got a little $8 "lunch box" which included 1 oz emmenthaler cheese, .5 oz of their homemade salami, a demi baguette, and a small sampling of dried fruit and nut compote. Delicious!!!! Best lunch ever! We popped it in our cooler and headed off to our tastings.

We only made it to 5 wineries today. I was really disappointed at our lack of tastings. It's not that we didn't have the stamina to keep going, but my taste buds were just dying! You know the feeling you have about an hour after you've just burnt your tongue on some hot food? That's how my poor tongue feels, even now, 2 hours later. :( All the red wine will fry your taste buds I suppose.

Spring Valley Vineyard was our first stop. Wines were ok but very expensive. We got a great family history lesson of the 7 generations of wine makers. Very interesting and educational. Seven Hills Winery was our next stop. The wines were really really good, loved them all! We walked out with a refreshing Pinot Gris. Canoe Ridge Vineyard was next on the list. Also fantastic wines but managed to walk away with only a Malbec. We stopped off at Three Rivers Winery (pic on the left) where we enjoyed our "lunch box". The view was just breathtaking and we had the entire outdoor deck to ourselves to have a nice long lunch. We just stared in awe at the giant Blue Mountains and looked over at their private 3-hole golf course. The wines were ok, nothing that took me by surprise but definitely worth coming for the view, a little afternoon golf, and a fun gift shop. At this point our pallet was about finished so we ended our wine tasting at Reininger Winery where they had incredible wines. They had so many wines to taste that we only made it through half before I had to call it quits. It's never a good sign when all the wines start tasting the same. Darn all those tannic reds we had! At any rate, we headed out with a Sangiovese and promises to return once our taste buds had time to rest.

The rest of the afternoon included some little R&R. A took a nap, I blogged. Then we went out to the fresh salt water pool for a little dip and lounged on the chaise lounge chairs to replenish our Vitamin D.

For dinner, we chose to go to CreekTown Cafe. The restaurant uses all local ingredients; from their meats to cheeses and produce. The atmosphere is not as upscale as the food and prices reflect but once I got my food, I didn't even care! A got a King Crab Salad and I got a Strawberry Almond salad. Both pretty good. The crab on A's salad was mouthwatering; like butter! I choose the Roast Pheasant with Morel Mushrooms. No words... really, I just sat through my whole dinner shaking my head in disbelief! It was perfect, like I was eating a piece of Heaven. Seriously the BEST pheasant I've ever had. A had the Kobe Beef which was also very good. Both meals were packed with flavor, very juicy, and prepared like an upscale homemade meal. I would LOVE to pay another visit at this restaurant before we leave.

Anyone who knows A, knows he loves his sweets...especially ice cream! So after dinner we went and got ice cream cones and walked around downtown. Most of the shops were closed by now but there were still tons of people out walking and taking a leisurely bike ride around the town. Suddenly, something caught the corner of my eye. It was one of THE most BEAUTIFUL sunsets I have ever seen! Literally left me weak in the knees. We rushed back to the car to head West to see if we could get a better view. I will attempt to take a picture of the sunsets here to show you.; so many colors and you can see the horizon for MILES and MILES. *sigh* It was a great end to a fantastic day.

Wine Bottle Count: 6

Washington Wine Country - Day 1

The alarm went offf, and in the car we went! Can't think of a better way to celebrate another great year of marriage!

The scenery was just breathtaking! Before we crossed over the Cascade Mountains, there were full, lush green mountains everywhere. I couldn't help but to feel so small and insignificant against the giant landscape. We kept on truckin' up, through, and back down the mountains and as our ears finished popping from the decreasing elevation, we watched the entire landscape change before our eyes. The once green and lush mountains now were brown mou

ntains/giant rolling hills. The temperature went from a cool 68 degrees to an immediate 77 and rising. It was as if we were transformed to a different part of the country. It was still absolutely gorgeous scenery that made the long drive go by very quickly.

Before we knew it, we were seeing a sign welcoming us to Wine Country. We had arrived! We stopped at 4 wineries on the way to Walla Walla. It would have been more but the other ones I had mapped out were closed. Bonair Winery was our first stop. (pic on left) The grounds were absolutely beautiful! Rows and rows and rows of little grapes all perfectly labeled as to indicate the varietal of the grape and a pair of little fat vineyard ducks taking a nap by one of the ponds. Their wine was pretty good. I loved the Merlot and A loved the Cab but we declined the urge to buy anything. Next stop was Paradisos del Sol Winery. What a fun experience that was! The grounds were eclectically decorated with metal art, random signs, and a giant coy pond as we entered the tasting room. There was another couple already there ready to begin their tasting so we joined them. The tastings were accompanied with a food pairing which, if I don't say so myself, were paired to perfection! We were even given the recipes to all the side dishes. The last wine we tried was a Riesling that was paired with a toasted marshmallow. We all were given a little tea candle, a toothpick, and a mini marshmallow. We toasted the marshmallow over the little flame while the pourer explained the history and info about the wine. SO FUN! We walked out with a bottle of their Paradisos Red, a blend claiming to be the worlds best pizza wine. We shall see. :) We made a stop off at Portteus Winery. Nice wines, LOTS of tastings but nothing that knocked my socks off. Perhaps it was the wine pourer that turned us off... he was very strange. Our last winery of the day was Tucker Cellars Winery. Again great wines, but what really surprised me was some of their whites. Typically wines such as a Riesling and Gewurztraminer are really more like sugar water in my opinion but the sweeter wines at Tucker Cellars were wonderfully complex and surprisingly not overly sweet; just crisp and refreshing! We walked out with a Gewurztraminer and one called Indian Summer, a pinot noir rose. MMM!

An hour 1/2 drive southeast and we were at our suite. It is absolutely beautiful! I'll just show you pictures:

Walking through the door. On the end table they left us a bottle of wine!

bed, fireplace, Tv, DVD player...

Bathroom with a tray of goodies!

Shower/Tub Area

We freshened up and headed to our dinner at Whitehouse Crawford. It was a rustic elegant atmosphere with maybe 7 tables of people; not many people out eating upscale dinners on a Wednesday night. We started our dining experience with wine of course! ordering a bottle of wine from Cotes du Rhone in France. For dinner, A and I choose the same Pre Fixe menu. Our salad was a spring salad with wild greens from Oregon, edible flowers and some warm goat cheese on a toasted piece of rustic bread. Main course was grilled lamb loin with chickpeas and spinach. The lamb was cooked to perfection and just melted away in my mouth. Dessert was a twice baked chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and candied orange peel as a garnish. All in all a pretty nice meal. Nothing that knocked my socks off but then again, I'm a tough food critic. :)

After a long day we cam home, crashed, and are now ready to see what another day has in store for us! Stay Tuned!

Wine bottle count: 3

Cooking for my husband pt.2

Week 2, dinner 2 of 4.  If you recall, I decided to cook for my husband for the next four weeks, once a week.  

Last night I decided to make a Cobb Salad.  Nothing fancy, I know, but it's a lot of prep work getting all the ingredients together, and then some more work to make the salad look nice. Here is the finished salad:

Ingredients from left to right: butter lettuce underneath, avocado, almond crusted chicken breast, blue cheese, cucumbers, bacon, hard boiled egg and tomatoes.

I topped it all off with a lime vinaigrette.  It was DELICIOUS and more importantly, A loved it!

I paired the salad with a white wine from The Magnificent Wine Co.  They are a local winemaker in Walla Walla that we will be visiting in June who makes fantastic wines!

This wine is a chardonnay blend:  79% Chardonnay, 6% Muscat Caneli, 5% Pinot Grigio, 5% Gewurztaniner, and 5% Riesling.  It was delicous!

I've got two more meals to prepare.  Anyone have any suggestions or good receipes to share?!

Weekend Update

Friday I worked from home.  I had to sit and wait for our patio furniture to arrive.  It arrived! - and looks awesome!  I'll post before/after pictures soon.  Friday night A and I stayed in and watched the 3rd Indiana Jones movie.  (My FAV Indiana Jones movie!!)  Sean Coney, who I am not a fan of at all, was AMAZING in that movie.  Who knew the 3rd movie would be so funny? Did he win any awards for that movie?  I sure hope so, maybe i'll look up....

Saturday we had a lazy morning, ran some errands, and then did some wine tasting with our friend cbro.  Not that anyone cares about the specifics, but i'd like to have them in writing for my future reference.  

Brian Carter - Great wine! We LOVE their Byzance - Southern France, Rhone-style blend. At $32 a bottle, it's a little pricey but delicious never the less.

Hollywood Hills- Very nice wines.  I felt the bottles were a little overpriced for the quality but it was a pleasant tasting.  (note to self: parents would like this one as there is a cute wine shop around the corner as well as a huge nick-nack store nearby as well.)

J Bookwalter- They had a $10 tasting fee refundable with purchase.  The fee was a little high (most are $5) but they offered 7 tastings.  All wines were good.  I loved 2 of their cabs but not worth the $30+ price tag.  We bought their Subplot No. 22. - 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 18% Malbec, 14% Cabernet Franc, 10% Syrah, 5% Petit Verdot.

Woodhouse Family Cellers- Always a favorite of ours.  They were the ones that introduced us to a Malbec and it was love at first pour!  They had just released their 2003 Malbec so we had to go try it.  It's probably no surprise that we loved it and just had to take home a bottle and welcome it to the family :)

Silverlake- Huuuge winery and tasting room.  It was a little confusing as they were offering several tastings.  We read the different tasting options and decided on the Silverlake Reserve Tasting.  The wines were not impressive and the staff was a little stand off-ish.  I don't think we will be back here.

Matthew Cellers- We almost missed this tasting room on the way back home.  It's almost in the middle of no where.  Their wines were great, but I have to mention their 2005 Red Mountain Syrah.  This wine brought tears to my eyes!  I think it's the best wine i've ever drank thus far in my life.  I was in LOVE!  I was in awe that a Syrah so be so smooth and have such a long finish.  It was beautifully and perfectly crafted as if the grapes were stolen out of Heaven.  So, you want to hear that A bought me a case and we lived happily ever after, right?  At a whopping $55 a bottle, I had to leave my new friend, with a saddened heart.  How could I possibly justify spending $55 on this glorious work of art?  I wouldn't want to open it.. I couldn't bare to drink it!  So, if any billionaire friends or relatives are reading this, and you feel the need to blow $660 on a case of wine for me, by all means....  :D  I'd gratefully and humbly accept your offer ;)

After wine tasting, we broke in our patio furniture with some cigars and some grill fired-pizza. Then watched the newest Indiana Jones movie that came out last year.  A little too si-fi for my taste but interesting never the less. 

Sunday was a GORG!  70 degrees.  We did a lot of yard stuff outside with time left for me to soak in the sun.  I got a little pink YAY!  

Back to work on Monday.... I have 4 people coming in from India that I will be training all week.  Its going to be a long week but great exposure for me.  Hopefully all this hard work will get me a nice lil' promotion this fall!  Here's to hoping!!  :D

We're booked!

I had mentioned in a previous post that we're going to be celebrating our 3rd year anniversary in Walla Walla. Well, we booked our AMAZING hotel/inn last night!

We'll be staying at Walla Walla Inns at the Vineyard. It's a cute little place 10 minutes from down town Walla Walla, overlooking a huge vineyard. *sigh* It's going to be so peaceful and beautiful. Just look at the view!! :

Yes, that's a salt water pool! There are only 5 rooms total so it should be pretty private and peaceful.

Here is a excerpt from their website explaining our room:

The Mountain East Suite is situated in the northeast corner of the main house looking out at the vineyard and the foothills. This suite has it’s own private entry and outdoor sitting area. This suite has a King Size bed with pillow-top mattress and feather bed. The large room has a sitting area to enjoy the amazing sunrises or watch your flat screen television. The bathroom has a large shower/tub. The swimming pool is just around the other side of the house.

We'll be staying 4 nights/5 days. I'm SO excited!!

Weekend Update

It surely was a beautiful weekend! Saturday reached around 60 degrees and Aaron and I decided to choose a bike path near our house and go for a nice bike ride. Well, I rode my bike and Aaron rollerbladed since his bike is being ordered. There are so many bike trails in the Seattle area that I have a feeling our butt's will be glued on our bikes all summer.

Aaron and I are new at the sport. We've been wanting to get bikes for the longest time and finally for Valentines Day, he got me one! We ordered him one as well, a Cannondale F9.

And, of course, we had to buy all the fun acessories. Who wouldn't have fun ridding with a helmet like this? We also bought a water bottles and a car rack. Fun!






We then went to a couple wineries. We first stopped at Senoj and tried their two new wines that will be released next spring. The first one we tried was their 2006 Passport which is a Bordeaux style blend with 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, blended with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot. It was pretty good wine with nice tannins and a smooth finish but I prefer the 2005 Passport. It retails for $30/bottle. A little more than I'd like to spend.


Next was the 2008 Malbec. Some of the wine was bottled for the tasting this weekend but it's still aging in the barrel. It was terribly young but already had a lot of complex flavors. I could really see the potential in the wine and knew it would be fantastic in several years. If we bought some wine that day, we'd get 30% off. WHAT A DEAL! So, we bought 2 bottles of the Malbec but won't have it in our hands until Spring 2010. Their 2006 Malbec sold out so fast, as they only made 70 cases, so it was worth the "pre-order".

TGIF!!!

Whee! It's the weekend! It could not have come any sooner. This weekend seemed to drag on and on and on. Never the less, it's Friday now, no use in reminiscing over the long week.

So, what's a girl to do on a beautiful Seattle weekend? Wine tasting o course. The hubby and I and a friend are going to one of our favorite wineries wineries Senoj for their '08 Malbec and '06 Passport Preview Party. Live music, fantastic wine, catered appetizers... what more could you want? Since we're out, we might just have to stop by a few other wineries ;)

Of course, you can expect a full report Monday morning of our wine tasting experience. Which wines were brilliant? Which were a bust? You'll have to stay tuned! I know, the suspense is killing you....

What are you doing this weekend?