An Unexpected Feast

When my husband and I started dating 10 years ago, we both hated seafood.  I was worse than he was - I wouldn't even think about eating shrimp or crab, not to mention the horror of all horrors - sushi (which he loved).  But with my ever-increasing love of food I've done a complete 180 and now enjoy everything from the sea.  It's taken my husband a little bit longer, but he's come a long way.

We may not be able to have fish for dinner, but mussels are now on the menu!  Definitely an unexpected feast.

I love Mussels in Wine this time of year.  It's a nice transition from winter to summer; a beautiful warming broth reminiscent of cold weather and clouds and fresh seafood and ripe tomatoes hinting at hotter months to come.  Served with sourdough toast and a glass of the same wine it was cooked in it's the perfect light meal for a spring evening.

Mussels in White Wine

1 lb. frozen precooked mussels (or use fresh - just adjust cook time)
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 medium shallot, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry white wine (Chardonnay is a favorite in our house)
handful of Italian parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

Saute shallot and tomatoes in olive oil over medium heat 1-2 minutes, then add mussels, garlic, and white wine.  Cover and simmer about 5 minutes to heat the mussels.  Remove lid and let juices condense, cooking about 10 more minutes.  Serve with sourdough bread or french baguette to sop up juices.  Serves 2

Wine Caves

Dan and I took a trip to Napa and Sonoma this summer. It was an incredible experience to say the least. We spent about four days touring around different vineyards and learning about wines. As a result, I've become a wine snob. A good thing for my mouth, but not so much for my checkbook.

One of the new things we found while on our trip was a wine cave. We only visited one, Del Dotto, but it was an experience I will never forget. We walked into this long hollowed out cave that was very dank and wet. I almost expected to see someone from The Phantom of the Opera jump out from behind the barrels of wine.

Our tour included tasting about 11 different wines. Our guide would stop us at a barrel, explain a bit about the wine we would be tasting, pull some wine straight from the barrel and dump it in our glasses. Definitely the best tour we got out of the whole trip. Near the end we tried a port. I was skeptical. I've never been a big fan of port, but after tasting it I decided that was just because I had never had good port. What an amazing taste. We even bought a bottle of Zinfandel Syrah Port. See there it is again! Try new things! It will usually turn out to be good!