Winery of the Month

A couple of months ago when my mom came to visit me we went down to Napa and acquired quite a few of our favorite wines. One of our favorite wineries, for price and quality, was V.Sattui. From there we purchased the Russian River Valley Zinfandel, Dry Johannisberg Riesling and the 2007 Henry Ranch Pinot Noir. We have finally re-tasted them all and I am still very impressed with these wines and how well they pair with foods! Here's a little more about each:

The 2007 Henry Ranch Pinot Noir is $36 a bottle and has tasting notes of: "Subtley earthy and seductive with savory herb, mushroom, bay leaf and exotic spice." I paired this with a traditional heavy tomato pasta and salad and it complemented it very nicely. It is light and easy to drink but still very flavorful. 


The 2007 Russian River Valley Crow Ridge Zinfandel is $30 a bottle and has tasting notes of: "80-year-old Russian River Valley vines make this single-vineyard Zin taste of ripe raspberry, dried plum and cherry cola flavors." I paired this with seafood, which I know is generally paired with white wines, but the soft suppleness of this wine really brought out the buttery sweet flavors of the seafood. It was truly delicious and I will have to be acquiring another one of these!


Lastly, we tried the 2007 Dry Johannisberg Riesling that is $18.95 a bottle and really very similar to a dessert wine. It was "Named “Best Riesling in California” at last year’s California State Fair! This Dry Riesling is an extremely versatile white wine with excellent body and supple acidity. Much like a German halbtrocken (half-dry), it has aromas of peaches and tangerines that fill the nose with a delicate fruitiness." We paired this with spicy thai food, which worked perfectly with the sweetness of the riesling to offset the spiciness of the thai dishes. I have had this one before, and it still remains one of my favorite rieslings!

Holiday Season

We all know that the holiday season is not only full of fun-feasting and merry drinking but also is notoriously bad for our waistlines. In fact, on average, Americans gain around 10lbs from thanksgiving to New Years. How do we help this from happening while still enjoying the festivities? Here are some easy things you can do to help keep the pounds off, without having to sit on the sidelines!

1. When it comes to alcohol, the key is MODERATION! But also, stick to wine, champagne and light beers, mixed drinks add alot more calories than you realize!
For instance:
1 glass (5oz) red wine around 127 calories, white wine 120 calories
1 light beer around 100 calories
1 glass (4oz) champagne around 78 calories
COMPARED TO
1 glass rum and coke around 182 calories
1 frozen margarita around 246 calories
1 long island ice tea around 276 calories
1 whiskey sour around 175 calories
1 vodka cranberry around 172 calories
1 cup of egg nog (without liquor) is around 340 calories

2. If you know you're going to a party where there will be food served, the most important thing to do is to EAT BEFOREHAND. Have a light dinner, such as a salad, before you go, which will keep you fuller and help you to eat less! Those little appetizers really add up and people tend to overeat by underestimating the amount of food they have eaten.

3. If you have to have a dessert, try to stay away from certain baked goods! One slice of pecan pie (not including the whipped cream or ice-cream you'd have with it) is around 500 calories!! One slice of apple pie has 250 calories, and a slice of pumpkin pie has 350 calories. Try to pick a fruit dessert instead!

4. If you do in fact have a day where you completely splurged, there's no need to panic. But make sure that the next few days you take it a lot easier! Ramp up on exercise and increase your vegetable and low calorie foods intake. Weight loss and weight maintenance is all about an overall decrease or balance in the number of calories in vs. number of calories out.

5. If sports are a big part of your holiday season, as they are for a lot of us, it is very important to NOT EAT WHILE WATCHING THE TV. Snacks, like chips and dips, seem to disappear so much faster when we are watching tv. This is simply because you are not paying attention to how much you are eating, and since these types of snacks are rarely filling, we end up consuming wayy too many calories above and beyond.

6. Lastly, the most important part of not gaining weight this season will simply be to WATCH WHAT YOU EAT. When making a plate at a buffet, don't pile up and don't go back for seconds. If you are having appetizers, make sure you keep count of just how many you've had! Same with your alcoholic drinks. If you know you are going to be eating out, earlier in the day don't snack and eat lighter.

These are all easy and simple tricks, it just makes sure that you must be mindful this holiday season!

"Hot New Bakers Hit Washington D.C."

My wonderful and talented friends, Jane and Leyla, have been inspired by the holiday season and decided to try their hand at an inventive "face cake."

Topped and decorated with walnuts, it truly is an exquisite masterpiece. They are in the talks of starting their own business, so please contact them with your next order! But seriously, this really awesome and I wish I could try a piece now. Keep on baking my friends, a job very well done!!

Bri's Birthday Feast

My wonderful boyfriend Brian turned 27 this past week and to celebrate I made him an eclectic but delicious birthday feast! Paired with a fantastic napa cabernet sauvignon and ending with strawberry shortcake, it was a fantastic meal. Here's what I made:

Jalepeno- bacon wrapped shrimp with a siracha cayenne glaze served on a bed of mixed greens and accompanied by three dipping sauces: spicy citrus, sweet mint-yogurt cucumber and an orange glaze.

Grilled sweet potatoes with poblano chiles and onions. The sweet potatoes were baked in a special barbeque spice rub and then grilled and basted with a molasses barbeque sauce.

Crispy crouton sticks with goat cheese and fresh basil and chives

 Indian rice pilaf with lots of spices (cumin, tumeric, cloves, cinnamon, coriander etc.) and raisins, peas and shaved almonds. (Sorry the picture is fuzzy!) St. Supery Cabernet Sauvignon. On our last trip to Napa with my dad, we visited this little winery St. Supery and it plesantly surprised us with this succulent gem. My dad got us a bottle and it went splendidly with the spicy and savory mix of this birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday Bri! Love you!!

Class Presentations

So this last class has been really time consuming and very fun! We've made dishes from ostrich to venison to thresher shark. We've started plating everything, so here's a little peek at all the stuff we've been making!

Eggplant Parmesan

Polenta Napoleon

Tournedos Rossini (Filet Mignon with Foie gras and truffles)

Braised Short Ribs

 Pork Tenderloin with Mashed Potatoes

Osso Bucco

Venison with Berry sauce

Buffalo Steak with thyme mashed potatoes

Braised Thresher Shark with lemon pesto

Poached Sole

Blackened Catfish

Pay attention ladies!

My mom recently sent me this article on the importance of strength training, especially for women. It is a wonderful article and really does pinpoint why not only strength training is important for weightloss and maintenance but also by combining it with your cardio routines and flexibility training.

To pull out a few poignant quotes from the article:
"We now know that strength training is absolutely essential if we wish to create visual changes in our bodies, and we've discovered that the benefits of strength training extend far beyond the visual."
"Strength training enhances quality of life, as it enables us to better perform daily activities that require lifting, pushing and pulling."

"Women further benefit from strength training because of the increase in resting metabolism created by strength training. Because of this increase, women who are trying to reduce bodyfat will do so more easily."

Check it out!
http://www.newellness.com/physfitn/strntrng.htm