CARR WINERY - I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU

CARR WINERY - I HAVE A CRUSH ON YOU

It's been a few years since I reviewed the Carr Winery on the Urban Wine Trail...

http://mydinnerswithrichard.blogspot.com/2011/09/good-carr-ma-carr-vineyards-winery.html

My brother Bob and sister-in-law, Nguyen, were visiting us in Ojai for a couple of days and had never been - so it was time to introduce them to the "Trail"... Santa Barbara's "Sideways" tour of up and coming wineries.  First stop, the tasting room in the Carr Winery.

When we arrived, we discovered owner/farmer/vintner, Ryan Carr, and his wife, Jessica (general manager/sales), in the middle of a crush... 

Tons (literally) of grapes from his vineyard had been delivered, ready to be crushed (the technical term for "smashed") for their juice... the first stage of wine making (well, after growing the grapes, that is).

I could only think of one thing upon seeing those huge vats filled with grapes: 

Cue Lucy and Ethel!!!  Visions of them stomping around in those big wooden barrels in gypsy costumes in their bare feet wouldn't leave my head.

As they continued to prance and stomp on my mind's internal TV screen, I sipped some of the delicious Carr label grenache and cab franc, as well as the Harvest Gold label chardonnay and a viognier.  But, I was so lost in my Lucy and Ethel reverie, I forgot to take notes!

Alas, because of modern technology, I didn't get to enjoy what would've been the hilarious sight of Ryan and Jessica taking off their shoes to do the Lucy/Ethel thing. But, it was still fascinating to see them high atop the crusher "working it" as the grapes began their journey to becoming fine wine... I did miss the gypsy wardrobe, though.
 

the crusher

All you really need to know, however, is that Ryan makes some absolutely delicious wines... many of which are specifically reviewed in the link above, which includes his bio/backstory on how he happened to become such an accomplished winemaker.

By the time we finished tasting and watching, it was too late to visit any other tasting rooms.  That was perfectly fine with us.  What we had at the Carr Winery had delighted our taste buds and we were ready to head home.

So, the next time you're in Santa Barbara, drop in at Ryan's place - you won't be disappointed... and don't feel shy about visiting his website (link below) and the wine club if you're somewhere else in the world... He delivers.

Carr Winery
414 N. Salsipuedes St.
Santa Barbara, Calif. 93103
805-965-7985

info@carrwinery.com

http://www.carrwinery.com/

IT'S A WRAP - A Taste of Viet Nam

 IT'S A WRAP

A Taste of Viet Nam

As a foodie, I have to confess that my experience w/ Asian food is limited. Of course, as a New Yorker, I grew up eating Chinese food (well, 50's/60's Chinese sweet and sour food) but ventured into Chinese cuisine a bit further as I got older.  And, yes, I do eat Japanese food, Thai food and have been known to have Korean BBQ on occasion... but I'm clueless when it comes to food from countries such as Cambodia, Laos or even Viet Nam.

Well, to broaden by culinary horizon, the last time Richard and I were in Sacramento, my brother Bob and his wife Nguyen (yes, she's Viet Namese and I'm still Viet Namese food-challenged!!!) decided to start my Asian food education with a trip to Quan Nem - Ninh Hoa...

...a restaurant on Stockton Blvd. in "Little Saigon" (for those of you who know Sac)... 

...to have its House Special No. 1, a dish whose origins come from Ninh Hoa, a coastal region between central and south Viet Nam.

A kind of Mexican burrito-style dish (or a very pregnant spring roll) in that everything is rolled up into slim rice papers, but it's a DIY affair because you do the rolling...

...which includes 4 charbroiled pork skewers (which can be substituted w/ BBQ chicken kabob, BBQ pork kabob, or 1/2 lb. fried fish cake), 2 fermented pickled pork, 8 slim eggrolls, 8 rice papers, angel vermicelli; assorted veggies, an assortment of greens including lettuce, cilantro, mint... cucumbers, pickled carrots, daikon homemade sauce w/ roasted peanut topping... and a partridge in a pear tree (just kidding).

One $15.95 portion serves two (though there is a half portion available for $8.50).  We ordered two full portions and frankly, as full as I was when the plates were clean, I wanted more.

 
The blend of these fresh garden and charbroiled tastes made for one of the most delicious Asian meals I've ever had.  My taste buds did a happy dance, sooooooooooo...

...if you're in Sacramento, or plan to visit, don't walk, run to Quan Nem - Ninh Hoa and order House Special No. 1, and...

... Xin moi (let's eat)!!!


Quan Nem - Ninh Hoa
6450 Stockton, Calif. 95823
916-428-3748

Also on the menu is a variety of appetizers and spring rolls... noodle soups, rice plates, vermicelli, angel vermicelli, and vegetarian dishes.

THE LAST HURRAH - 2013 - Ibarra Chocolate Cake w/ Chocolate Glaze

THE LAST HURRAH - 2013

Ibarra Chocolate Cake w/ Chocolate Glaze

Selling our house in Studio City and moving to Ojai to start a new life adventure has been a whirlwind.  But we finally settled into our new home just in time to food binge through the holidays.

I don't know about you, but clear broth was beginning to sound appetizing after weeks of turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casseroles - prime rib, popovers, mashed potatoes, spinach souffles - lobster tails w/ clarified butter and an assortment of steaks and roasts and aged cheeses an pates all accompanied w/ single malt, cosmos, martinis, white and red wines.  I think I need to check into a clinic to dry out from holiday over-indulgence syndrome.

But before I hit the clear broth and bottled water, there was one more holiday to celebrate in 2013.  New Year's Eve.  Richard and I had planned to stay in and watch Kathy Griffith embarrass Anderson Cooper again this year as the ball fell in Manhattan, but we were invited to a pot luck dinner party at the beautiful home of new Ojaian (not to be confused w/ Ohioan) friends.  

Our choice of course:  Dessert.  To say goodbye to the 2013 food year we chose the most delicious, richest, chocolate dessert we could make as our last food hurrah... Mark Miller's Ibarra chocolate cake w/ chocolate glaze from his Coyote Cafe cookbook.

How rich is it?  Your head says stop after one bite, your stomach says "more!"   

Our stomachs won, and we all clamored for seconds... not bites, but whole slices.

Bring on the broth.

Mark Miller's Ibarra Chocolate Cake w/ Chocolate Glaze

Coyote Cookbook (page 130)

"Even though there's no  Ibarra chocolate in it, this cake contains everything that Mexican Ibarra chocolate contains --- chocolate, almonds, cinnamon and sugar.  Hence the name.  The glaze for this torte-like dessert has twice as much chocolate as the cake, making this concoction a choco-holics delight."

Yield: One 8 or 9 inch cake

Ingredients (cake):

1 T. cinnamon

zest of 2 oranges

4 T (2 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, grated

1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) unblanched almonds, toasted and ground

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup sugar

2 T fresh orange juice

2 T Grand Marnier (we used Triple Sec)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease, flour, and paper an 8 or 9 inch cake pan.  

Combine cinnamon, orange zest, grated chocolate, and ground almonds in a mixing bowl and set aside.  

Beat egg yolks w/ 1/4 cup sugar; stir in orange juice, and set aside.

In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks while gradually adding 1/4 cup sugar.

Stir egg yolks and orange juice into the chocolate-almond mixture, then fold in half the beaten egg whites.  Blend well, and gently fold in remaining egg whites.

Spread mixture evenly in prepared cake pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan.  Let cool for 10 minutes and invert onto cake rack.  (Note from Richard:  watch!  He removed it from oven after 28 minutes.)

When cool, paint w/ Grand Marnier (Triple Sec), then cover w/ Chocolate Glaze (we pour the glaze over the cake from a gravy boat).

Ingredients (chocolate glaze):

10 T (5 ozs) bittersweet chocolate

1 T (1/2 oz) unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup softened butter

1 T corn syrup

1 T water

1/4 cup chopped candied orange peel (optional)

Directions:

Place both chocolates, 1/2 cup of the soft butter, corn syrup, and water in a double boiler over simmering (not rapidly boiling) water.
 

Stir gently until just melted  Remove from heat and stir in remaining 1/4 cup soft butter.

The glaze is ready to pour when it reaches the consistency of maple syrup (between 86 and 96 degrees).

Place cake rack over pan or wax paper, and pour glaze over cake, tilting to coat evenly (we never do the tilt thing because the gravy boat allows us to control the pour so that it's evenly distributed).

Decorate w/ candied orange peel, if desired.  (We decorated the cake w/ raspberries and a sprig of mint.)

Bon Appetit!!!

And a very happy 2014!!!!

LET ME EAT CAKE! (Citrus-Almond Cake)

LET ME EAT CAKE

(Citrus-Almond Cake)

As some of you know, after 22 years of dinner parties (many starring in this blog), annual Christmas Eve parties (yup, memorialized here), love and laughter, we’re selling our house (see “Diary of a Home Owner”).  We’ve been in escrow… out of escrow... in escrow... out of escrow... and in escrow, again (hopefully for the last time).  I’ve been euphoric… un-euphoric… euphoric… un-euphoric… and euphoric again. 

Please, let me eat cake!  And I don’t really like cake.

But, I do love citrus-almond cake…

Last night, friends came to say goodbye to our house, over dinner of course!  It was their final meal in the dining room where they’ve had so many other great Richard meals. The room will stay, but the memories will come with us to wherever Richard cooks again.  A moveable feast!

And for last nite's dessert… Let them eat cake!!!

Citrus-Almond Cake

(adapted from Molly Wizenberg)

Ingredients:

1 small-to-medium orange

1 lemon

6 oz raw almonds

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

4 eggs

½ tablespoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

2/3 cup olive oil

Confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

Place the orange and the lemon in a saucepan, and cover w/ water.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.  Drain and cool.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and set a rack in the middle position.   Bake the almonds 10 to 15 minutes.  Set aside to cool completely.  When the almonds are cool, pulse them in a food processor until ground.  (TIP:  to save time, Richard uses dry-roasted and unsalted almonds from Trader Joe’s.  Saves roasting time.)

Set oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-inch springform pan.

When the citrus is cool, cut the lemon in half, and discard the pulp and seeds.  Cut the orange in half, and discard the seeds.  Put the fruits in the food processor and process almost to a paste.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour and baking powder. 

Combine eggs and salt.  Beat until foamy.

Beat in the sugar. 

Fold in the flour mixture. 

Add the citrus, almonds and olive oil, and beat on low speed until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the pan, and bake for about 1 hour. (per Richard:  Check your oven.  He bakes for only 50 minutes).

Remove and dust w/ confectioner’s sugar.

DIARY OF A HOMEOWNER

DIARY OF A HOMEOWNER

As some of you know, I’m an ex-New Yorker (a Manhattan-ite to be more specific) translation: renter. Oh, lots of New Yorkers own glorious brownstones, large and tiny co-ops, even lofts, but most of the NYers living in the naked city rent. I had a great 2 bed/2 bath apartment between First and Sutton (for those who are City-wise) with a galley kitchen with a window (that alone made the apartment worth its weight in lox and bagels), and if I hung out that window I could see the 59^th Street Bridge. 

When something broke in my apartment, the live-in super fixed it. When I left town the doormen locked my mail and packages in the “package” room. They carried my “B” bags (Bendel, Bonwit, Bergdorf and Bloomie’s) to the elevator and helped me out of cabs when I came home. When I signed a new lease, the super had my apartment painted. And no matter how late I got home, there was a doorman to welcome me. 

All these services and more were included in the rent. Granted it was a high rent (it was East Side after all), but then I had no other maintenance expenses or fees. If the air-conditioner broke and couldn’t be repaired, the building bought me a new one. If a pipe burst in a bathroom, the building hired the plumber. And, if an over-indulgent, spoiled teenage boy in the high rent high rise across the street used the hanging plant in my 8^th floor living room picture window as target practice, fracturing the glass, the building replaced it (true story).

When my husband and I first moved to Los Angeles for television-movie-fame and fortune, we continued to rent. First, movie-tv star Harry Hamlin’s cottage in Laurel Canyon… then a larger rustic “cabin,” also in Laurel Canyon – all the while whistling Joni Mitchell’s “Ladies Of The Canyon” (well, I did – though my long, ironed straight hair and love beads were long gone). Who knew you could practically live in the woods and be five minutes from Hollywood? Not this Manhattan-ite.

As our fame and fortune grew (well, in our friends’ and family’s minds, anyway), the charm of the Canyon began to fade… though our “hyphenate” landlords (famous movie-tv star, then “famous adjacent” tv producer-director) paid for all home repairs and gardeners… they couldn’t fix the howling of coyotes at night or the agonizing screams of their kills… the possums and/or raccoons sleeping on top of our car or the snakes that loved living in the back stone wall of our garage dugout or on the hill behind us.  Snakes!!!  Rattlesnakes to be exact!!!  I’m sorry. I’m from New York City - we don’t do snakes… especially rattlers. I can deal with coyotes and possums, even rats… but not snakes!

It was definitely time to leave the Canyon… so, when our accountant told us we really needed to “buy” something, it was like a sign from God. We turned to the Long Island of L.A. – the Valley -  and bought our “modest,” over-priced, pre-war cottage-bungalow (even the houses in L.A. are hyphenates)

on a quaint and quiet street in the flats of Studio City… walking distance from Ventura Blvd., the Valley’s Northern Blvd (for you ex-Long Islanders).

Over the years, as our ‘hood slowly changed around us and McMansions sprouted out of the earth like poisonous mushrooms replacing those charming cottage-bungalows, we hired gardeners and pool men, learned to turn off the water to the house and found the circuit breakers. We decorated, then redecorated, then redecorated again and again (there was a reason I was an on-air HGTV design consultant).

We remodeled, built built-ins...

living room

library

dining room

kitchen

 installed decks...

 resurfaced the pool...

bought new appliances when the old ones died ...

kitchen

We were homeowners!!!

We paid property taxes, which doubled. We bought homeowners’ insurance (which also doubled), flood insurance and earthquake insurance.

We tried growing tomatoes that ivy rats feasted on, but had modest success with plants and herbs.

We hosted Christmas parties, pool parties and barbeques, and never bought a lemon as our requisite lemon tree has fruit all year round. But lemons were the only thing we didn’t have to pay for.    

Now that we’re of a certain age – that age in the tv/movie business where you become invisible (unless you’re Steven Spielberg or Meryl Streep) and work slowly disappears, it’s time to consider renting again. Maybe in Studio City. Maybe in Ojai. Maybe somewhere up north. The thought of no property tax, no homeowner insurance, no home maintenance costs (except our housekeeper) has won us over. So, of course, I redesigned and redecorated once again... this time to sell.

Now if  I could only find a house rental with a doorman.

                                                                        -----------------

Take a further tour of our house:

living room

living room

my office

kitchen

dining room

master bedroom

 

master bath

library

guest room

guest bath

hall bath

 

http://www.postlets.com/repb/9199536