A Visit with Tom and Ann

Sunday we drove on a beautiful day to Tom and Ann's place in Capon Bridge WV for one last visit before we start driving for the West Coast and to celebrate albeit belatedly Tom's 75th birthday. We brought the dogs with us hoping that they and Levi could romp. Alas, Levi and Grace got into a bad scrap and Levi ended up in his kennel for the afternoon.

This was our first chance to experience their new screened porch off the back corner of the house and it is a fantastic place in which to live. I could spend countless hours there.

Enjoying the Porch

Porch Rules

Tom loves to shop at Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan and who can blame him? Before I owned a restaurant and had direct access to awesome products, I shopped there too. Their products are second to none, including the awesome Bayley Hazen blue cheese which might be the finest produced in this country. I hear that we might have had some gouda and a slab of pâté except that Levi beat us to it! I could tell a story about my dog Emmy and a certain standing rib roast, but it is not good to speak ill of the dead.

Bayley Hazen Blue from Jasper Hill Farm

To go with the cheese, Tom sliced a loaf of Zingeman's wheat and chestnut bread. The effect was a bit like pumpernickel. I had a hard time picking out the chestnut flour in the bread except for a slight taste of it in the finish.

Slicing a Wheat Chestnut Loaf

Tom secured for us two California Pinots, one from Siduri (Santa Rita Hills) and the other from Böen (Sonoma Coast). The Siduri had lots of candied red fruit and was fairly sweet with little in the way of acidity. The Böen led with a ton of fairly fresh black fruit (blackberry and black raspberry) with a big streak of mocha and chocolate. It had a bit of acidity to help it out. The star of the afternoon was the Speedway Stout from AleSmith in San Diego. This was as fine an imperial stout as I have tasted.

Two California Pinots and a California Stout

AleSmith's Speedway Stout

Catching Up

Grace, the Attention Whore

Chuckie Getting Mommy Kisses

Anxious Charlie Did OK

Grace Napping in the Sun

What a Great Place for Lunch

Tom Slicing Pears for the Salad

Chile Pepper Placemats are Fun

Tom's Arugula Salad with Hazelnuts and Pears

Scallops with Chile-Cilantro Cream and Corn Salad

After lunch we took the dogs for a romp down the driveway lined on both sides with stands of wingstem.

Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia) in Front of Apple Tree

Bumblebee Enjoying Wingstem Blossoms

Lady's Thumb, Persicaria maculosa

Many thanks to Tom and Ann for a great send off and a belated Happy Birthday! to Tom.

Paella

Ann has been talking about me cooking a paella for months. Our last experience in doing paella at the beginning of October was that the weather was brutally hot, so she scheduled it this fall for the end of the month. Naturally, it was the hottest day we have had in a month, topping out at 83 degrees and somewhat uncomfortable in the sun. Fortunately, the gusty winds out of the south made it somewhat bearable.

The Guest of Honor

Once guests started arriving, we could see the telltale darkness on the horizon out west and several of us started looking at the radar to see how bad and how soon the rain would be. How soon? A lot sooner than the predicted 6:30. How bad? Some gusty wind and a bit of rain, not enough to send us inside, the wisteria vines on the arbor giving us enough cover.

Searing the Chicken and Chorizo; Look at the Wind!

Sofrito Cooked, Stock Coming to Boil

Rice About Half Done, Adding Mussels

Mussels Just Open, Shrimp in, Max Flame for Soccarat

With all the wind, I couldn't get the paella done as quickly as usual; the heat was blown off the pan. Such is cooking outdoors over a fire. Of the hundreds of frames I shot, these are all the photos worth looking at and many of these are pretty terrible. I'm afraid I'm not very good with the camera. I was trying to use my 50mm prime lens and I still don't have it figured out. I need to find another strategy for shooting handheld interior shots in low light without resorting to flash. (The little voice is saying, "use the iPhone, idiot!").

A Favorite Dinner

Looking back through the years of posts here, I see lots of pictures of salame, charcuterie, cheese, and bread. And no wonder: that might just constitute one of our favorite meals. For my part, these are simply foods that I love and now that I cook for a living, the appeal of a no-cook, ready-to-eat dinner is extraordinary.

Saturday while I was at work, Ann told me she had a surprise for me and in the midst of Saturday dinner rush, I promptly forgot about it. It was only after we returned from Fireworks Pizza in Leesburg on Sunday that she reminded me she had a surprise: a batch of bread dough rising, hidden in the oven so I wouldn't see it.



Ann's Pecorino Romano Bread

Ann wasn't too pleased with the loaf of bread, but it had an extraordinary crumb and great flavor. We demolished it over the next couple of days.

Delights, Largely Thanks to Friends

Although we keep a drawer full of cheese and salame at home (doesn't everyone?), it had been getting a little low until just this week when Bill, Tom, and Steven came over to attend Carter's winter concert. Bill came bearing the Robiola a Tre Latti the you see in the center and the jar of chicken liver spread next to it. I made the galantine behind the chicken livers. I don't know where the big chorizo came from, but I know I contributed the 5-year old Gouda. Tom brought the big chunk of farmhouse Cheddar, the green peppercorn-studded goat cheese, and the nduja in the foreground. A wonderful meal and thank you friends!

Tapenade

Ann asked me to make tapenade for the bread, so I spent a while pitting and chopping olives. And then she ended up not liking it ("too fishy"). Bummer. More for me.

And so we spent the evening noshing with a bottle of Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon while watching back episodes of Game of Thrones. A great evening!

A Day with Tom and Ann

Sunday afternoon was a beautiful if chilly day, a great day for the easy drive over to Tom and Ann's in Capon Bridge. Carter protested going over and over to the point where we had to threaten him with losing every privilege he has to get him to shut up. He sulked all the way over, but that silence was golden!

After we were effusively and hyperenthusiastially greeted by Levi, we spied that Tom had already opened four bottles of wine: a 2011 Sokol Blosser Pinot, a 2012 Owen Roe "The Kilmore" Pinot, a 2011 Hartford Court Old Vine Zin, and the star of the day, a 2010 Insignia. Insignia isn't generally my style of wine, but this one was delicious.

Wine Star of the Day

Neither of the Pinots really floated my boat, but the Owen Roe really bloomed when tasted with these bison meatballs with a gochujang-apricot glaze. Not only were the meatballs delicious in their own right, but the spice in the glaze and the ginger in the meatballs really made the Pinot sing. I have got to remember this for my own pairing dinners.

Bison Meatballs with Gochujang-Apricot Glaze: Culinary Star of the Day

Cornbread with Bacon

Cold Day, Hot Stew!

For dinner, Tom made a big pot of venison stew which he served with cornbread. That's a pretty good choice for a cold December day!

Venison Stew on Cornbread

After lunch, we adults watched "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel" with a whole cast of our favorite actors, while the boys snoozed away the afternoon on the couch.

Levi and His Buddy Carter

Once again, thanks to Tom and Ann for their hospitality and kudos to Tom for another wonderful meal.

Barbequed Chicken with Tom and Ann

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Tom and Ann invited us out for barbequed chicken. Tom is a master of his Big Green Egg ceramic kamado grill and I was really looking forward to our ride out to Capon Bridge to taste his chicken.

I'm really, really disappointed in my camera. I made a special trip by the restaurant to pick it up on the way to Tom and Ann's and it let me down. Of the 40 frames I shot, only two were in focus. I don't understand it: all the frames I shot the next day were in focus. It's almost as if the focus indicator doesn't work at times. I had a gorgeous photo of Tom's corn dish in a deep cast iron pan and all four frames were out of focus. Grr.

White Bean Spread

When we arrived, Tom had set out a batch of a hummus-like white bean spread and a tray of cheeses. Carter ate well over half the white bean spread and all the bread himself, the little glutton. It was a great afternoon to sit back, relax, sip some wine, and entertain Mr. Levi, who is really blossoming since coming to Tom and Ann's from the shelter.

Speaking of wine, Tom opened two California Sauvignon Blancs, an Oregon Pinot, a Central Otago Pinot, and a Bordeaux. I brought along a sappy green apple Cötes de Gascogne Blanc for a starter wine.

Levi is Most Happy

Tom Grilling Chicken

After snacking on cheese and white bean spread, we moved on to lunch proper of barbequed chicken (dipped twice in Tom's homemade sauce and caramelized on the hot grill), a delicious corn bake with bacon and cider vinegar, and some potato salad that I made. My Ann made some delicious chocolate cupcakes with a goat cheese frosting.

My Ann Made These Chocolate-Olive Oil Cupcakes with Goat Cheese Icing

Great afternoon spent on a gorgeous day with good friends. Thank you once again Tom and Ann for your great hospitality.

Chicken Cacciatore

Tom and Ann invited us out to their house in Capon Bridge again on Sunday for a leisurely lunch and Carter came along too, to make sure no food remained. And in their fashion, even with Carter, there was way too much food and too much wine! Clearly Tom had been cooking for a good day before we got there!

Crimini Mushroom and Fennel Pâté

Salmon Canapés with Mustard-Chive-Dill Butter

We started with two appetizers, one a mushroom pâté and the other a smoked salmon canapé. To go with our meal, Tom had selected four wines: a California white Rhône blend, a Sagrantino di Montefalco from Perugia, and two 2012 Oregon Pinots, St. Innocent's Villages Cuvée and Ken Wright's base level Willamette Valley of which Ann and I have been drinking a lot recently.

One of the Many Wines of the Day

St. Innocent is a property that I have heard of a lot but whose wines I haven't tasted much, I think because they are located in the Eola-Amity Hills AVA and those wines are generally my least favorite of the valley. The Van Duzer corridor influence on this location results in wines that are softer and riper than I generally prefer. 2012 was a great year and this wine is delicious with plenty of spicy acidity to finish with. But there was no denying that the Ken Wright had it beat hands down, but that's pretty much true of a lot of wines. Ken Wright is a Pinot master.

Smoked Gouda and Caramelized Onion Quesadillas

Chicken Cacciatore on Parmesan Polenta

Who doesn't love some braised deliciousness on a pile of creamy polenta? I quite enjoyed this bowl of Chicken Cacciatore.

Sauternes with Bread Pudding for Dessert

And for dessert, Tom made a bread pudding with a bourbon sauce which I neglected to photograph. A touch of Sauternes never hurt!

Handsome Mr. Levi

Great Sunday afternoon. Thank you Tom and Ann! Sorry to leave you with all the dishes!