We recently donated a case of Flaherty for a silent auction held to benefit Gonzalo Arias, a local classical guitarist who has received a scholarship to study at the Peabody Conservatory. The event was organized by Viña San Esteban and held in their barrel room on Saturday. The auction featured wine, paintings by local artists, [...]

We had a really long fall this year, stretching well into June, but last week we finally had a cold snap. Seemingly overnight, we went from this:

to this:

Now, cold is a relative term, and we certainly don’t get Wisconsin-level cold here. (I lived in Madison for a couple of years, so I do know what [...]

Several years ago the NY Times published a recipe by Alain Ducasse, in which he explained the process of making pasta using the technique for risotto (sorry—couldn’t find the link). Cooking pasta in stock in an uncovered pot really concentrates the flavors of the stock and produces a light but creamy sauce. I’ve used Ducasse’s [...]

I make a lot of bread. It’s partly from necessity (sadly, there isn’t a boulangerie anywhere in the vicinity) and partly based on taste (Chilean maraquetas are OK, but hallulla has a definite resemblance to a hockey puck). I tend to prefer a French-style pain de campagne, but that’s a long process centered on a [...]

We pressed out the last two bins last weekend, which means that harvest has officially ended. Our scheduled cellar hands canceled at the last minute, so we had a family winemaking day. (Don’t all families do that?) I just can’t say enough about our new press! It simply would not have been possible to get [...]

At our last harvest party, we had paella for lunch. Paella is a great one-dish meal that’s fairly easy to put together. If you have everything prepped before hand, there isn’t a lot of work involved in getting it on the stove. While the paella cooked, we all crowded around the kitchen with a glass [...]