February St. Louis Cellars

Last Tuesday I went to St. Louis Cellars (http://www.saintlouiscellars.com/) for their monthly wine tasting and I was happy to see Angie Ortmann/STLWinegirl (http://www.stlwinegirl.com) there as well. It turns out that she will be teaching classes at the NEXT Cellars wine tasting on Wednesday, March 3rd.

This tasting was a little disappointing from the quality of their previous food offerings since they only served appetizers such as two kinds of cheese, strawberries, chips and salsa, pita bread and hummus, bread slices, and chocolate brownies. All of the food went very quickly and the chocolate brownies were a big hit.

They also moved the serving station to behind one of the kitchen counters and there was quite a bit more traffic altogether.

I was running an hour late so I did my best to catch up with my friends in tastings. It’s hard to get a fair taste in when you’re rushed and the snacks don’t hold up to the wine. The white wines were a little bland but the Salvatore Principe Prosecco sparkling wine from Italy was light and delicious. Only cost $17.99.

I actually skipped one of the reds, the Cab (gasp!), to skip ahead to the dessert wine, which was Chocovine from Holland. They were selling it for $13.99 but I found it in Schnucks for $9.99. I think it tasted like a chocolate milkshake with a hint of red wine!

St. Louis Cellars holiday celebration!

After taking some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am back at it this week with two classes in the same week! I will briefly mention that I ate quite well in Chicago thanks to my family: Local ale house the first night, another delicious turkey dinner by my bro and sister-in-law, and then finished up with a fine meal at a Greek restaurant in the city, called Parthenon (http://www.theparthenon.com/). Each of those places and meals probably deserve their own blog post too. But even blogs need vacation time....

Anyway, tonight I attended my 2nd event at the St. Louis Cellars Wine Club (http://www.saintlouiscellars.com/), which of course makes me an expert by now. Unfortunately, I could not get there right at 5pm so I had to endure the brunt of the crowds that ran pretty thick for the first hour I was there. But I have definitely learned to go with the flow and being polite helps. Grab food while the wine lines are long and that way you'll have a snack while you wait. Make sure you get in the correct line for whites or reds (only two people serving). White wine lines are busiest early in the night while the red wine lines get busier later.

Again, I got to try 4 whites and 4 reds and all the wines were under $20. The Blue Christmas wines were featured (Elvis on the label) as the first (a champagne) and the last (Cabernet Sauvignon) wines of the evening.

My favorite of the whites was the Relax Riesling. I think this was one of the very first Rieslings I ever tasted and it is still among my all time favorites. I felt foolish taking a tasting because I knew I would love it. It definitely outshined the other whites, which included a blend and a Chardonnay. My personal rule of thumb is when picking out a Riesling from a restaurant wine list, always pick the German version. You can't go wrong. Not too sweet, not too dry.

As for the reds, I thought the Meditrina blend was very smooth but my favorite, as usual, was the Beach Dog Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabs are definitely becoming more and more my favorite red wine...I am assuming it is low in tannins?

Before I list out all the wines, let me rave about the food once again this month. I wish they had a list of the foods being offered as well because I've already forgotten the homemade potato chip brand that was offered. I know you can get them at the Wine Merchant too.

Anyway, they had a few familiar favorites from last month: sautéed mushrooms, red pepper hummus, and tortilla chips. New this month were the coconut chicken paired with a peanut dipping sauce, shrimp and cocktail sauce, and French bread topped with olive pate, tomato, and prosciutto.

And for dessert: Several types of cookies, lemon bars with a cream topping, and samples of Mom's Original (http://www.momsoriginals.com/), provided by Taran herself! I met Taran on Twitter and those that know me know that I try to support my friend's (women-owned) businesses. You can also follow them at http://twitter.com/momsoriginals. They are homemade pretzels covered in a variety of chocolate toppings. They make for great Christmas gifts!!

Here's the lineup:
Blue Christmas - Brut Champagne - California - $19.99
*Relax - Riesling - Mosel, Germany - $10.99
Evolution - White Blend - Dundee, Oregon - $19.99
Novellum - Chardonnay - Languedoc, France - $13.99
Indian Creek Christmas Tree- Sweet White & Sweet Red Wines - Augusta, MO - $19.99
Meditrina - Syra/Pinot Noir/ Zinfandel - Oregon - $19.99
*Beach Dog - Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa Valley, California - $8.99
Blue Christmas - Cabernet Sauvignon - Napa Valley, California - $19.99

This Week in Food and Wine

I used to watch “This Week in Baseball” as a kid and made a point to watch it every Saturday morning. I had quite a jam-packed week and now that it’s Friday, I can finally stop and take a look back at my food adventures…

Sunday night, I was invited out to my new favorite restaurant, Three Monkeys, (http://3monkeysstl.com/) introduced to me by my friend Anne. Three Monkeys is located off of Morgan Ford near the Tin Can. Incredible food and portions at a very reasonable price. Since it was the holy day, “Football Sunday”, they have $4 chicken wings and $12 domestic buckets of beer. I made the wise choice of copying my table mates and ordering the “sweet and spicy” version, which we all agreed tasted like General Hso’s chicken. Probably the best wings I have ever had. I keep meaning to go there and have a full meal because I keep hearing how good the food is there!

Tuesday night, the main event was Celtic Thunder at the Fox with my friend Amy, and she kept telling me that we were going to meet her parents for dinner at “that one restaurant”. I thought she was referring to Best Steak House (http://www.beststeakstl.com/) but it turned out we went to Vito’s (http://www.vitosstl.com/) near Saint Louis University. This turned out to be a great surprise because Italian is my favorite food and I have only been there once before for drinks.

I ordered the eggplant cannelloni and it came with ricotta on top. Amy’s parents kept with tradition and ordered the spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer. Amy was also loyal and ordered pizza, which is all she ever orders. Hands down, she was right. The pizza was incredible. My guess is the spices in the sauce that grabbed my attention, but I definitely will have to go back and have pizza there for sure.

Wednesday night also was a pleasant surprise since I ended up skipping out on gym night at the last minute to meet up with my “cheese class” friends. Yes, I’m not the only one who attends EVERY cheese class at the Galleria Whole Foods (http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/st-louis/ ). Speaking of cheese class, the next class is on November 17th but you can have to call the customer service desk to register.

Anyway, my friends are also members of the monthly wine club at St. Louis Cellars (http://www.saintlouiscellars.com/ ) and once a month, they host a special event for members to pick up their wine. At this event, appetizers are served to go along with several wines to taste. This was my first time going in after my friends had raved about the place, mostly about the food! It turns out that St. Louis Cellars also has a deli counter with a wide-variety of freshly made dishes.

The event definitely lived up to the hype. The food counter was a little hard to get to and you could only use napkins but again, it was worth the struggle against the crowd. On one end was hummus, red pepper and traditional, glazed mushrooms, toasted ravioli (stuffed with ricotta – not meat!), cubed cheese, and a couple of others that I know I have forgotten. But the outstanding item of the evening was the turkey and swiss sandwiches on a slightly crispy bun. The bun had some type of honey-glaze, I believe, and it was an incredible melting of flavors with the meat and cheese!! All of us tried to grab as many as we could and they were the first item to run out. It is my hope that they sell full samples of these sandwiches!!!

Of course I couldn’t leave there empty-handed since I had run out of wines at home. Mike and Lara took me to the “Great Wall of Wine” and showed me their favorites, one red (Malbec from Layer Cake) and one white (Torrontes by Crios) and the funny thing is that they are BOTH from Argentina. Mike and Lara are famous for saying that they refuse to buy wine over $20 a bottle because there are just SO many good wines under their limit.

And speaking of wines that are under $20, all the wines that were at the tasting that night were also under the magic limit. Here is the list:

Seguar Viudas Aria – Sparking Wine, Brut Cava, Spain - $12.99

Altanuta – Pinot Grigio, Alta Adige, Italy - $13.99 (This was my favorite…not too sweet, not too dry, as a Pinot Grigio should be!)

Mulderbosch – Chenin Blanc, South Africa - $15.99 (A little too dry for me.)

Valley of the Moon – Chardonnay, Sonoma County, California - $15.99 (Not as sweet as I like my Chard’s to be!)

Jailhouse Rock – Merlot, California - $12.99 (Did you know there is a whole LINE of Elvis Presley wines???!!!)

Evodia – Grenache, Caltayud, Spain - $10.99 (Very smooth.)

Windsor Sonoma – Zinfandel, Sonoma County, California - $19.99 (Also, not too much tannin.)

Now Thursday night was a little bit different. I was actually IN the kitchen for a change. And I mean a BIG change for those of you who know me. I somehow got volunteered to assist my chef/friend, Ashley, in throwing together several dishes for a small party. (Same friend who cooked amazing chili for me.) And I say “throwing” because it’s amazing to see a chef work close up…you have to be quick or else you will get RUN OVER. Hehe

Thankfully, Ashley was very patient and showed me exactly what she wanted me to do since I had never done ANY kind of real cooking before! (I don’t think licking the bowl as a child counts.) First thing, I had to slice avocados and get the pits out. Like everything else, there’s a trick. Wielding a giant knife, scary enough, the avocados are so soft and the pits so hard. Hack at the pit, turn, and wall-ah…it’s out. Then I got to scoop out the insides.

Next task was a little harder…chopping onions. I am guessing there is a trick to that too because I had a lot of difficulty with that one…my eyes were burning so bad…it was hard to see. My pieces were NOT chopped as finely as they should have been but I couldn’t stand it any longer!

Since I was on a roll with the knife, I cut up orange and lemon slices. At this point I was wishing I had paid more attention to my Mom because even that became harder than I thought it should be. I’m probably too much of a perfectionist.

Anyway, after adding the magic spices, I got to mash the whole thing together into one, big green gooey dip. I actually made guacamole! It was really darn good too, except for the giant onion chunks.

After all that chopping, I was off the hook and got to resort to easier tasks such as buttering bread and washing dishes. I felt much safer and more in my comfort zone there. hehe

So maybe if I get tired of computers and social media and sports, perhaps a new career is waiting for me? Don’t worry…won’t be any time soon! My favorite place is still at the table for now.

And today is my day of rest. Stay turned to see what’ll come up for next week’s adventures! Or maybe it’ll be nice and boring for a change?