The Marketing Lush: Entering the Court

My friend, Megan Vogel, runs a marketing + wine website and she published my story about taking the Level 1 Court of Master Sommeliers certification test.

You can check it out here: http://themarketinglush.com/2014/12/29/entering-the-court-studying-wine/

Wittmond Hotel

I didn't really know where I was going when I agreed to a short road trip to the Wittmond Hotel, but I was promised a smorgasbord when we got there so I was in. Some food adventures are a little heavier on the "adventure" side of things.

Wittmond Hotel

Not only had I never been to Brussels, IL before, but I had never been in a car on a ferry before! The unseasonably warm December day and stretches of sunshine really made for a pretty day overall. We drove north of New Town to the Golden Eagle Ferry, where we crossed the Mississippi river. More windy roads awaited us on the other side and I was so glad our friends knew where they were going.

We got the tour of the small town of Brussels on the one main street where you'll find the bank and post office are all one building, right across from the Wittmond Hotel. The hotel was built in 1847 and started out as a trading post built by Conrad Wittmond, a German immigrant. When you first walk in, you pass through the regularly used (and modern) bar, cutting through a "store" full of knick-knacks, and then over to the restaurant side.

The restaurant serves family style meals Friday-Monday so they stop coming with food only when you give in. We tried to have a small breakfast in order to have room!

Before you even sit down, a relish tray is waiting for you! There were beets, carrots, celery, apple rings (this was new to me), corn relish (also new), and peach preserves, which I spread on the hot rolls they brought out. You can see the applesauce on the side as well as the cole slaw below, which I mistakenly filled up on since it was so good.

Relish Tray

Cole Slaw

Then they bring out Chicken Noodle Soup and Sausage. (Unfortunately, Cinnamon Rolls only come out on Sundays.)

Chicken Noodle Soup

Sausage

This probably would have been enough for lunch on most days, but that was just warm up!

Next up was the main course...or should I say courses? There was roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, and the star of the show, fried chicken. My friends were nice and left me the legs! Patience tried to get a little of everything on her plate.

Fried chicken, roast beef, green beans, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy

Then we tried to "save room" for dessert. Luckily, there was nothing chocolate to tempt me, but I did help out and shared the peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream a la mode!

Peach Cobbler

Needless to say, we had to roll home...all the way down to the river. By the time we got back to Missouri, we were all very sleepy.

If you go, make sure you have an appetite raring to go!

Resources:

Wittmond Hotel = http://www.wittmondhotel.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon

Grilled Cheese Latkes

This article was too good not to share. I can't believe I never thought of this before. Truly brilliant!

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/blog/food/2014/12/04/grilled-cheese-latkes/

Wine Folly Cheese and Wine Pairings

Recently I have started subscribing to WineFolley.com and this week there was a post about Wine and Cheese Pairing Ideas.

You know I can never get enough!

http://winefolly.com/tutorial/wine-cheese-pairing-ideas/

PW Pizza O'Fallon Beer Dinner

I am a little sad that this is the last PW Pizza Beer Dinner of the year, but I'm pretty proud that I only missed once. This month, O'Fallon Brewery was featured and they were all new beers to me. I am really high on O'Fallon Brewery right now because they're going to be building a new facility in Maryland Heights, not that far from me!

Menu

We started off with the best salad of the year. While the title claims "Bacon Parmesan Salad", I didn't get much much bacon, and loved all the goodies in the salad with a rich, thick, Ranch-like dressing.

Bacon Parmesan Salad

Oh yeah...it was paired with the Zeke's Pale Ale, nice and light but still a little too hoppy for us.

My favorite beer came next. The Hemp Hop Rye was very mild with an easy finish. The pizza paired with this was very busy with toppings and with flavor since there was chicken, portabella mushrooms, blue cheese and red onion. Everyone tried to fill up on this one.

Marinated Chicken & Portabella Pizza with Hemp Hop Rye

The third pairing of the night put together all the pumpkin flavors. Unfortunately, the pumpkin on the pizza and the beer was really intense. The Imperial Pumpkin is no joke! The Roasted Pumpkin Pizza was topped with goat cheese, caramelized onions, sage, and golden raisins. First time I've ever had raisins on a pizza!

Roasted Pumpkin Pizza with Imperial Pumpkin

Of course the dessert course was Patience's favorite: Pecan Walnut Bread Pudding (really dense!) in a ginger caramel sauce and lemon grass whipped cream with a King Louie Winter Toffee Stout.

Pecan Walnut Bread Pudding with King Louie Winter Toffee Stout

I can't wait to see what breweries are available in 2015!

Resources:

PW Pizza = http://pwpizza.com/

O'Fallon Brewery = http://www.ofallonbrewery.com/

Photos by Patience Scanlon