Wine-O Wednesday: Ken Wright

Ken Wright Cellers offers a really great, reasonably priced Pinot noir.  Their 8 vineyards run throughout northern Oregon and all get consistently good reviews online.  I had the Canary Hill on this particularly lovely evening.

I tried this in Birmingham at Chez Fonfon, which is a great place with upscale French bistro-style cuisine.  Bombshell escargot (seriously, you can't go wrong with escargot... it's an unidentifiable chewy something drenched in butter and smothered in cheese...).  Their menu changes weekly (even online!) and is really playful for Birmingham.  Includes fun things like duck confit, southernized charcuterie, and great daily seafood specials.  I should save this for a Birmingham Bites session...  I last had grilled scallops with a blood orange, pistachio and fennel relish suggested by the waitress and I could've eaten a second one.  Movingggg on:

The website describes the Canary Hill as "Fruit focused (blueberries and cherries), with a modest structure, light tannins and bright acidity." 

I found it very light and fruity with almost no bite/spice to it.  Didn't quite go with my scallops, but that's what my French 75 was for :)  Oui oui!

Hoarders: Condiment Episode

Is this just a personal problem of my fiance's, or do most couples run into this ridiculousness?

You are eye-balling FOUR types of A-1 and SIX types of mustard.  With repeats.  And I don't like or use any of the above, so that's all for one person...  So gross.  AND we just moved in 7 months ago, so this is recent hoarding going on - this shiz was not transported from our previous abode!!

As you can see, I have at least organized the madness.  If I tell P "don't get any more A1!" all he remembers is I said something about A1 and boom - we get another crappy squeeze bottle of nasty flavoring.  

The Curse of the Mini Feet

I've managed to convince myself I should probably have a whole new collection of Resort items for our honeymoon... At least on Pinterest and my blog.

Starting with shoes.  Fun, colorful, sexy and divine resort-appropriate flippity floppities.

I was devastated to find that these Dolce Vita Archers don't come in less than a 6.  So devastated I wrote them a letter.  Occasionally the Jew in me takes over.  And by occasionally, I mean whenever there is a deal/sale/steal to be had, especially when I have been bamboozled.  In this case, said bamboozling came via zappos.com.  I searched high and low for these babies - honestly any of the 4 below would do, but especially the nautical striped ones and the turquoise/zebra puppies.  Zappos said they had them.  In a 5.  All of them.  Until you commit to adding them to your bag.  I COMMITTED.  Then "whoops - not available - please choose another color."  Except it happens with every color.  I was led astray.  I shed a tear.  


It happens all the time.  I am constantly punished for my midgety petite feet. Just because I can still fit in those plastic bedazzled heels that come in cardboard purple chests (you know, the pre-k prom ones) doesn't mean I don't like pretty big girl shoesies.  Here are some more pretty shoes - mint and peachy, just in time for this season from Sam Edelman:

Guess what size they don't have them in.  Correct.  Only colors available in 5 were black and silver.  The boring ones.

There is a rumor that small feet girls get "all the good sales items."  Let me dis-spell this once and for all.  The crap on those shelves is from last season - 2 years ago.  It's been collecting dust since Aunt Mildred thought Crocs were the next big thing.  And in her demographic... they were.

I have literally gone into malls - entire malls (and I have witnesses) and asked them to bring all their 5s to me to let me see if anything is satisfactory.  3 pairs of hodge podge later (a cowboy boot - just one, flip flops and some glitter heels), I always leave empty handed - drooling over the Michael Kors, the BCBGs, and -sad to say- the Jessica Simpsons I could add to my collection of unique artifacts if only my poor little feet would grow.  

You hookers and your size 8 boats don't know how good you've got it.

Wishes & Wants: J. Crew Jewelry

Loving all the fun jewelry at J. Crew right now! Especially the fun enameled froggy pieces! So cute!

And with 40% off final sale (code "get40") I may just scoop up the little lobster for myself... for Valentine's Day... obvi.

Epic Battle!

P and I were driving to go see his parents in Sandy Springs when we saw a group of people through the trees at Blackburn Park acting oddly. It was a big group of 100 or so kind of milling around in a clump. We thought maybe it was an extra large rugby match or even a group of protestors.

Oh no.

It was a battle. An epic battle.

If it wasn't for the classic film Role Models (ha) I wouldn't have known what the hell was going on. Thank god for Shawn William Scott, because we had stumbled upon a LARP war. Live Action Role Playing - these people were battling a la King Arthur, nerf sword style. Men, women, archers - there were even people in the trees. Some more liberal characters were rocking Batman and TMNT motifs - so modern chic.

We parked and watched for a good 10 minutes. If I'd had a flask, it would've been consumed. There was one particular death match that caught our particular attention. One gentleman had apparently taken a direct hit to the legs and was fighting the good fight from a kneeling position, with vigor. Hilarious.


Definitely made our day.

Wine-o Wednesday: if you see kay

This is a weird wine to be blogging about as my first favorite.  There is nothing cutesy or sweet about it, but it is seriously damn good.

P and I got our first taste of this stuff at a little neighborhood gem called Baci in Brookhaven (which, side note, is totally under-acknowledged and has become our date night go-to).  The owner, Nellie, is a super cool girl with an awesome menu of worldly influences and Mediterranean cuisine.  The sea bass is just awesome, and this is literally the only, ONLY mac and cheese I have ever liked.  Loved, really.  It's got lobster and 3 kinds of fabulous cheese - no runny crap... The perfect ratio of lobster to cheese to noodles (70-25-5, in case you're counting).  So yummy!

But I digress.  The second or third time we went there we were perusing the menu for a glass of wine each and the waiter asked what we liked.  I described my usual: medium body, with some spice and fruit... more sweet than dry.  He suggested the most expensive glass, as they do, so of course we were suspicious.  But he promiseddd we would love it and even coerced us into trying a sip.  We bought the $50 bottle.  We have every time.  It is fabulous, and so worth the price.  Once you get over the bizarre labeling:

Sound it out slow: if you see kay.  That's right, just as classy as Miss Britney herself.  So strange.  And with a tatted up, braless hipster chick in a bizarre car throwing a Hawaiin shaka sign...  I cannot explain.  There's an even weirder description here about Kay being some ethereal open-throttle chick, named after the Odyssey. Yes, as in Homer's Odyssey classic.  

The owners describe the wine in a story form of bizarro (as in... "kay is a creature, she is an embodiment of a lifestyle... womp womp), but basically it's a super juicy, smooth Cab from the Lazio region of Italy (near Rome) with just one year to its name: 2010.

Even weirder was when I saw the brand for only the second time (outside of Baci)... in Birmingham at a total divey hipster college bar, on $1 liquor night.  Yes, I was the girl drinking $9 glasses of Cab on $1 liquor night (a phenomenon I  haven't see since college, appropriately nicknamed "Well, Hell" night, I'm told).  The real issue isn't me drinking wine in a clearly non-wine location, it's that this place had the bottle at all!  I'm guessing the owners went solely on the name/look, because I promise I was the first to crack a bottle there, ever.  Cartoonish comic book looking website for proof.  Well Hell night is Wednesday, by the way.  I should be there right now...

Go find kay.  The crazy bitch is my favorite and it's worth the quizzical looks.

The Wedding Poochies!

My fellow bridal bambina and I went on a little tour of alterationistas this past weekend to get some quotes for chopping up our pretty gowns.  It was so fun getting to put on our dresses and share the moment with a friend - when else do you get to both wear white in the same room??

Armed with a bag of marshmallows for nourishment (leftover from the neighbor's Xmas gifts), we hit the streets of Atlanta and priced three different places.  Veryyyy different places.

First up was the place I have always gone to get my stuff hemmed and prettied - European Alterations in Peachtree Battle in Buckhead.  Well.  Until this visit.  Chrissy was up first and got her China-doll on trying to make nice with the seamstress.  Even though we told them we were just getting a quote, they proceeded to pin the crap out of her dress for 20 minutes.  At one point the lady stabbed herself and had to get a replacement pinner so she didn't bleed on the dress.  Then it was my turn - same deal of excessive pinning.  It wasn't until I was shoving the bad boy back into it's home that I saw some lovely smears of blood all up in the underskirt... GROSS.  The lady was quick to say "not it" and offered no help to get her bodily fluids off my gown.  Then they quoted us over $400 each for some simple hemming.  Hmmm.  Not such a good start. 

This is why I brought the mallows...

After a quick run to CVS to buy a Tide stain stick and get out whoever's bleedies off my dress, we were off to Roswell.  And some extra dodo because it was hot up in that piece trying to get into our dresses.  We went to a little place called Irina's Alterations.  She has this seriously thick Russian accent and was the sweetest woman ever.  No pinning, no weird questions, she just sized us up, asked what we needed done and gave us some new prices - less than half of the first place, in fact.  Still had one stop to go.

Off to Lawrenceville!  We stopped at this awesome joint, Local Republic, for lunch and caught up with my bridesmaid Beth!  Seriously, the tapenade-goat cheese-pesto bruschetta is bombzone.

We pulled up to the third place, Dora Baker Bridal Alterations, which was a woman's home and I was immediately suspicious.  It did not look like any kind of professional establishment.  We were so wrong - she was awesome!  She had one room set up for her sewing machine and such and then the room we were in was devoted to the fittings - mirrors on both ends and a little stage and everything.  And this woman didn't ask us what we wanted - she told us what we needed done.  As if we had any clue what to say other than "take it in, make it shorter" anyway.  She pulled, poked, and prodded.  She discussed boning, bra cups, redesigning entire sections, pleating vs. bustling.  It was a lot.  And it was still half the price of the first place.  Clearly sold.

The real reason I personally already adore this lady - she called me poochy.  Poo-chee.  I weigh 100 lbs, I am quite petite by anyone's standards.  But I have certainly gotten poochified in some spots.  I blame the eating out 3x a day and the lackluster jumping jack routines... maybe those mallows...  Whatever the reason for the poochies - that little lady was up front about it and gave me 3 months to fix it.  Loved her.  

Poochies be gone!

Backyard Blunderoo

Last month we babysat this little guy for our friends for a couple weeks while they visited family overseas:

Finnley loved having her boyfriend around to snuggle and "slow motion break dance" (P's terminology).  Mashi is the cutest, cuddliest little thing ever, but homeboy had some seriously spicy pee.   Soon after his fuzzy butt left our abode there were some yellow circular patches of grass out front.  This happens from Finn too every now and then where the grass goes yellow and then it comes back, no big deal.

Well, it's been a month and now our grass looks like this:

I was commenting about the spicyness of the little pup's wizz for the hundredth time and asking P to please call the lawn company when he goes "Hmmm.  Yeah... I was hoping that would've grown back by now..."  

Pause.  

Stink eye/eyebrow raise combo from me.

Pause.  

"I mayyybe sprayed weed killer where I shouldn't have... Whoops."


Poor Mashi, innocently taking the blame and getting his reputation tarnished at the same time!

Birmingham Bites: Bettola

After six months of eating on the road 3 meals a day, I've sampled a large number of restaurants and had a good deal of the great dishes in Birmingham.  I have to say, I was more than pleasantly surprised to find out what a vibrant and diverse eating scene there is here!  Michelin and James Beard awards a-plenty!

Last night my coworker and I tried a new place and it was absolutely phenomenal!  We worked up an appetite after our iPhone sent us deep into the ghetto (the ghetto here seems to be mixed in with enormous, although devastatingly run down, antebellum homes... very sad and southern).  

Finally we arrived at a Bettola, a pretty new spot in the Ham and definitely one that deserves some serious acclaim, as if getting a nod from Food & Wine for Best New Chef James Lewis isn't enough...

It's located in an old Biscuit manufacturing building - very chic and warehousey, with pretty decor and a bench seat that runs the length of the restaurant facing the open kitchen.  Wide selection of Neopolitan-style pizzas (my fav) and an assortment of modernized yummies, with a small but great wine selection.  I suggest the cocktails, as the bartender was on point!  

The smells coming from this place were just amazing.  I think we asked the waitress 3 different times what we were smelling!  The hand made wood fire oven was made in Naples and shipped to the Ham and is really just stunning!

Gorgeous wood fire brick oven from Naples - miss Piggy roasting on an open fireeee

Awesome gin cocktails.  With rosemary and fairy booze dust.

This is going on my top dish list for sure!
Crostini di Carciofi - fab crostini with artichoke puree, roasted artichokes and
tomatoes, covered in gooey mozzerella and topped with an herb pesto.  Couldn't get enough!

Neopolitan style Bietola pizza with pecorino, fontina & mascarpone with sausage (we subbed in pancetta),
local spinach and a sunny side up egg!
Couldn't wait for a photo before digging in!
This is on par with Antico Napoletanta in Atlanta, for sure!  Amazing!

The drinks got the better of me and I forgot to take a picture of our third course - kale salad and gnocchi.  The gnocchi was definitely not my favorite, which was unfortunate, but the kale salad was something new I hadn't tried before!  Pretty good!

Wine-O Wednesday: Antinori Vineyards

Considering my seemingly endless supply of material for this weekly idea, I figured it would be fun to discuss various wines as consistently as I consume them.  Hiccup...

I don't know a whole heck of a lot about wine, but my parents introduced me to the stuff at a relatively young age and taught me how to discern some of the more basic flavors.  I hated it.  A whole wine cellar full of delicious bottles and I didn't really want anything to do with them.

Until sophomore year of college when I discovered white zinfandel.  At Sam's club.  By the magnum.  Makes my lip curl thinking about it now...  My favorite brand: Sutter Home (ie, more fondly and accurately, Stutter Home).  Foul.  Just foul.

That excuse for wine opened up a whole world for me, eventually, as I made the typical female route from pink wine to Riesling then on to Pinot Grigio/ Sauvignon Blanc and finally moved to my now favorite neck of the woods, the big reds.  Zinfandels and Pinot Noirs are pretty much my go-to these days, but I still can't say no to a citrus-crisp glass of Sauv-Blanc on a sunshine drenched patio.  Oh Spring, I miss you.

On to the Wine

My first wine-o entry should be dedicated to this past weekend, when P and I went to a local wine tasting at the amazing Tuscan resty, Antica Posta in Buckhead (an under-acknowledged gem and definitely one of the best in Atlanta)

The event was hosted by an Antinori sommelier, a 26 generation strong vineyard in Tuscany.  They served some fabulous apps like sea bass puree on a biscuit (believe me), house made veal sausage, classic bruschette and mouth watering seared scallops.  Divine.  If you go for dinner, their gnocchi is seriously the best I've had in the states.

The whites line-up:

Vermentino Bolgheri 2011 - light table wine, nothing too special

Bramito Chardonnay 2011 - very light and fruity, the opposite of 

what you typically expect from a Chardonnay!

Cervaro della Sala 2010 - 93 points - smooth buttery flavor without 
oak notes, which I found unusual.  Loved the richness of this guy.

The red line-up:

Il Bruciato Bolgheri Rosso 2010 - apparently not memorable, literally

Chianti Classico Riserva villa Antinori 2010 - literally just came to the US last week!  
Quite spicy with a nice, short finish leaving you wanting more.

Chianti Classico Riserva Badia a Passignano 2006 - 89 points - deep, smooth

 flavors and a really, really long finish

Tignanello 2009 - holy bajeezus this was fabulous.  94 points.  

$100 bottle or I'd be after this daily.  Flavor punch to the faceroo.

Our favorite ended up being the very reasonably priced Chianti Villa Antinori at $29/bottle!  Spicy with a short finish and the coolest part is it's only been in the US for a week and a half!!    We scooped up half a case, for us and for a few friends as gifts :)  

DIY: Sliding Barn Door

The very first project we wanted to tackle when we got our home under contract came from a Pinterest post, shocker, of a gorgeous indoor barn door. We have a long boring hallway leading to our master with our laundry room halfway down. Perfect spot for some rustic chic! 

I researched my butt off of course and found some really cool modern hardware and farmhouse style doors. 'Spensive!  After drooling over and attempting to justify some fabulous options the fiancé had a revelation - reclaimed Georgia wood!  

While we didn't get the wood from here, P's family owns a farm in South Georgia originally built in the 1780s (not a typo) that gave us the inspiration to DIY with the reclaimed wood.  A new house has been built on the property, but the original home and barn still stand, one of the only in the area having survived the wrath of Sherman. A fact supposedly true only because the original great-great-great-ancestor that lived there was a "hell of a hostess" and actually had Sherman and his men stay on her property for a couple of weeks.  Her hospitality spared the family their home while the rest of Georgia burned to a crisp.  She buried all of her good china and silver, etc. when the troops came by, much of which was rediscovered during construction of the new home in the 1900s.  Pretty snazzy story!

Back to the DIY bit. We ended up purchasing the hardware from a guy on etsy for $200.  He also sells doors that look pretty cool or the whole package for around $600 or so.

P was itching for a man-project so he decided he would DIY the thing from scratch.  A lot of leveling, sanding, and staining and a whole bunch of new curse words he didn't learn from me later, we have this gorgeous door!  Some of the wood has carpenter bee holes, which I love.  And you can see the original round blade cuts from whatever crazy machine made the wood hundreds of years ago!

Staining the bad boy.  Check out the solid 15" slats of walnut!

Hadn't removed the real door yet!  Ha!

Looking down at the ground slider

Check out the cool old-school outlet!

Kate Spade-iversary

Happy 20th Birthday to Kate Spade!

She who has taught us to #livecolorfully and #dreambig!

My obsession with Kate Spade started a long, too long time ago in 10th grade, which would've been 2001.    A girl who rode the bus had a new purse that greatly out-did my Le Sac.  Remember those?  Nasty little crochet cross-body items in a perfectly lame square?  Well, I had a knock-off from Claire's.  It was bad.

Luckily, Anna also knew about consignment shops and showed me a little place near the only movie theater on Hilton Head where I found my very first Sam bag.  Black.  Nylon.  The signature classic.  

Stolen at boarding school.  There were significant tears.

Anna introduced me to the kind of jealous wonder that has brought me to my current collection of 10+ purses, jewelry-a-plenty, business card holder, wallet, agenda, toasting flutes for my wedding... name it.  

Yellow, green, navy, pink - stripes, polka dots, bedazzles - patent, wool, nylon, quilted, leather

Pops of color you just can't compete with in the stodgy world of black and brown attaches.

So here, from her new collection of lovely pops of jealous craving, are my favorites this season.

Especially that blue bag and the bridal idom bangle!  Love them!

Wishes & Wants: Salted Caramel

Ever since I made these individual salted caramel cheesecake hunks of heaven, I have been craving the flavor. Something about the sweet almost nutty flavor of the caramel and then it zings you with the salt. So wow.

Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto - Sea Salt Caramel
We were introduced to this by the fiance's parents who, usually ultra conservative, explained it simply as "an orgasm in a jar."  True story.

It even has it's own video, it's so good!

Keurig Cafe Caramel K-Cups
If you like your cream and sugar with a dash of caffeinated coffee, this is it.  I very rarely drink 2 cups of coffee, but one of these first thing in the morning to warm up is simply not enough.  So fabulous and richly flavorful.  [The Chai Latte ones are very legit too, FYI!]

Cafe Escapes

Stoli Salted Karamel
For the adult side of dessert - put some of this in your coffee, or make one of the fun and very winter/holiday drinks they suggest like the Karamel Banana!

Andddd just because it also looks delicious and caramel-ish:
Henri Bendel Brown & White Barrel

Henri Bendel Classic Barrel

Sous Vide Savvy

My parents got us this crazy chef contraption for Christmas: a Sous Vide Supreme water oven. We had no idea what to do with it, but after some research in my equally fabulous Modernist Cuisine book, it looks pretty easy!  The idea is basically to cook your food at a specific temperature without the food ever contacting a heating element.  (Shrink wrapped inside of a water filled oven.)  All the temperature cooking without any of the charring/coloring/taste altering effects.  A medium rare steak is medium rare out to the very edges, NO gray.  Sear it for 30 sec a side and there you go, literally melt in your mouth.  

Who knew putting your food in a ziplock bag and giving it a little spa bath for a few hours would make perfectly cooked, tender yummies?  Reminds me of the crazy Japanese practice of massaging cattle for perfectly marbled wagyu beef...  How come my food is getting more pampering than I am??  Hmmmm.....

Going with this year's Christmas gifting theme of one-for-you, one-for-me-too P-5 got us a huge delivery of Omaha Steaks.   Score one for Omaha because those suckers are already shrink wrapped and ready for bath time!
We added the perfectly cooked, ridiculously moist and tender chicken to a risotto recipe from Cooking Light: Pumpkin-Shiitake Risotto with Pancetta and Pine Nuts served with a side Pear and Winter Lettuce Salad (see below)

I used a package of dried Asian shrooms I picked up at an international market in Vegas (because who doesn't grocery shop in Vegas?!)   I subbed in bacon for pancetta because we have 80 pounds of it after our NYE group ski trip in Boone, NC, and Bibb lettuce for the endive bc the endives at Kroger were looking a little janky today...
Popped in a movie and propped up by the fire in our matching little for a comfy little wintery Sunday supper!

Rehydrated shroom assortment (no clue what language that is... but apparently these mushrooms are fancy!)

Omaha shrink wrapped chickies in for a swim!

Saute - take 1

Saute - take 2 (con cerveza)

Risottofied!

Ready for their debut!

Heat up some olive oil on medium, and sear for literally less than a min per side, just for color!

Pear and Winter Lettuce Salad (4 servings, 103 calories): 
2 heads thinly sliced Belgian endive (I subbed 1 head Bibb lettuce)
1 small head thinly sliced radicchio
1 large sliced pear

Dressing
In a large bowl, combine and whisk together:
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tb white balsamic vinegar (I used white cooking vinegar)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper in a large bowl. 

Complete with toasty pine nuts!

DIY: "Stock the Bar" Shower Invites

A couple of my faves are getting hitched in 8 short months, which has been extra fun for me as I have a bride-in-crime to bounce ideas and vendors and such around with.  Makes my bridal diarrhea of the mouth to the innocent friends more tolerable!

Check out the cutesy l'il invites I made for the Stock the Bar I'm co-hosting next month!   I finally found a good use for the Washi tape that forchicsake.com got me obsessed with!

Watch Out Richard Blais!

Among a lot of really awesome presents this year, including a Wusthof carving knife from my brother and a lot of sparkle and glam from my in-laws (seriously have worn my new Tori Burch belt every day), my parents and fiance independently have decided I'm a hell of a lot better at cheftastics than I appear to be.  Like more Rachel Ray on crack with a dash of Wylie Dufresne than the reality: Muppets Swedish Chef meets Blues Clues at recess.  Might need an actual cooking lesson that's not from my DVR first, but who's counting.  

I've been drooling since Christmas over the possibilities.

So I give myself two attempts to get from burnt grilled cheese to sous vide braised pork belly with some kind of nifty foam and spherical balls of tater tots.  Hell, maybe I'll just put the whole thing in a sphere, with some raspberry sauce that looks like snow!  Get on it, Blais, it'll pair perfectly with my favorite treat in Atlanta - the foie gras milkshakes at Flip!

Stand by for future disastrous attempts at shrink wrapped submarine food.

Gift Thy Neighbor

So we moved in to our new home 6 months ago and I still only know a couple of the neighbors!  Eek!  Between traveling all week to Birmingham, out of town almost every weekend for weddings, Clemson games, and otherwise and being DIY house project-attempters in every other waking minute I haven't exactly been the most open-door policy newcomer!  

To be fair, my neighborhood literally is 90% couples with little bambinos, all of which seem to have paired off into teams of roaming stroller gangs.  Besides taking Finnley for her walks, our only neighborhood social outings have consisted of a couple of sunset booze cruises in the golf cart - still working on our theme song.

It's a convertible.  No big deal.

So I made some gifts to spread some holiday cheer!  Seriously only 2 people out of 12 were home when Patrick, my brother and I wandered the streets handing out our hot cocoa mix, one of which had literally no idea who we were.  Ha!  Thought that counts - good thing I put our address on the label!

Hot Cocoa "Snowman Soup"

1 cup unsweetened hot cocoa mix
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (mini melt better!)
1/4 cup crushed peppermint candies
Lots of marshmallows!  More marshmallows!

Fashion some tags and write some instructions (I happened to have hot cocoa stamps and cutesy things in my grandma stash of scrapbookables!)

1.  Mix ingredients in a large bowl
2.  For each serving, stir 1/3 cup cocoa mix into 1 cup boiling water or warm milk

Yummy and adorable!



But then again, maybe this is why we have no neighborhood friends...