Holiday Barrel Weekend

We broke the month of November interlude by serving up a thousand guests for Holiday Barrel Weekend, Dec. 5th, 6th, and 7th. Longshadows was our venue Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during tasting hours. Reininger held their wine club party Friday Night and we dropped off platter appetizers for a house party Sunday.

Hand passed appetizers at Longshadows:
- cheese filled saffron risotto balls and sun dried tomato dip
- crostini with caramelized onions, gruyere, prosciutto bits, and thyme
- crostini with red wine beef ragu, brie, and parmesan
- swedish pancake filled with apple butter and fresh pear (this paired so well with their late harvest reisling)

Platter appetizers at Reininger:
- cheese filled saffron risotto balls and sun dried tomato dip
- puff pastry filled with caramelized onions, goat cheese, and prosciutto bits
- fingerling potato chip, medium rare flat iron steak slice, and blue cheese cream
- italian sausage skewers with roasted garlic marinara
- portabella mushroom skewers with roasted red pepper dip

New Favorite Things:

• Blue Cheese Cream. Great blue cheese, mixed with heavy whipping cream, then passed through a fine sieve to eliminate any lumps, then whipped with sour cream, a tiny bit of garlic puree, a dash of worstcheshire, salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon. It tastes like the best blue cheese dressing ever, but super intensified, and holds its shape in a nice little dollop on top of a steak slice. It is the perfect accompaniement to nice steak and a crisp fingerling potato slice.


• Magazine Photos. Lifestyles magazine ran a photo of our riso ball app. Amazing how many guests exclaimed "I am so happy to get to try them!"


• Apple Butter from Rome Apples. I make apple butter a lot from extra apples. I love the stuff. (Grandma and Grandpa had a saying "He doesn't know sh** from apple butter." It's always cracked me up.) All apples make nice apple butter, but some are a little too tart, or a little too sweet. But there is something about the Romes that make it special. The tart, sweet, and acid all blend perfectly. They aren't so tasty as an eating apple, but perfect for cooking.

Finished the busy weekend off by sharing a lovely bottle of 03 Reininger Cab with my daughter Frances.

Cheers