1000 New Tastes: September 2013

Monday, September 30, 2013

Saturday Sept 28th - Apple tasting

This is posted separately from the week update, because we lost track of our notes. The Blacksburg Farmer's Market had their apple festival with tastes of all the apples brought in by vendors. We have some of the list and will try to recreate what we remember, but we'll see how many we remember. There were also a couple of apple-based baked goods we tried and one drink.

Honey Crisp
Sparta Macintosh
Red Rome
Rome Beauty
Magnum Bonum
Mrs. Boyd's Special
Backwood Stayman
York
Brown Sugar
Winesap
Nittany
Stayman
Mutzu
Jonagold
Jonathan Winters
Banana apple
Rambo
Cortland
Lodi
Virginia Beauty
Daybreak Fuji
King Lush
Braeburn
carrot apple ginger hummus
roasted pumpkin apple hummus
caramel apple oat bars
caramel apple macaroon
apple cinnamon jelly
apple ginger drink (not apple enough to be called apple cider in our opinion)

Week of Sept 23 - 30

Another week has passed and we have had a bunch of new tastes. We'll start off with some beer tastes we've had over the week. A few of these we had at home and Vintage Cellar had a tasting of Oktoberfest beers as well. Unfortunately, Ommegang didn't make it down to Virginia last week, but they are supposed to be coming down later in October to make up for it.

Evolution Craft Brewery - Lot No 3 IPA - This was very good and much better than their ESB in our opinion.
Yards Brewing - Pynk - We did a blind taste test of this and Harpoon UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen which we've had earlier. Megan prefers the UFO and Brett prefers the Pynk - it's tarter with its additional sour cherry over the Harpoon offering.
Paulaner - Original Münchner Märzen
Weihenstephaner - Festbier
Erdinger - Festweiße
Paulaner - Oktoberfest Bier (Wiesn Bier)

We also did our regular wine tasting on Saturday.

2012 - Domaine Labbé - Vin de Savoie Abymes
2010 - RJ Vinedos - Bonarda Reunion
2012 - RJ Vinedos - Torrontés Reunion
2012 - RJ Vinedos - Malbec Reunion
2009 - Tenuta De Angelis - Rosso Piceno Superiore
2011 - Cantina del Pino - Langhe Nebbiolo
NV Montana - Perucchi S.A. - Vermouth - wow, neither of us really likes vermouth!

We also had a couple new dinner recipes.

Both of these were delicious. If you try the quesadillas, have some mac and cheese for a side dish!

We were also pleased to be invited to the Villa Appalaccia case club dinner. For anyone who has purchased at least one case of wine, you get an invite to a special dinner and extra discounts on any wine purchases. The dinner was on Sunday evening and it was a beautiful fall evening on the Blue Ridge Parkway. When we arrived we were served a glass of their Allegra (sparkling malvasia) and chatted with the others who had come for the dinner on the patio. Once everyone had arrived, we went inside and had a small appetizer plate along with a sampling of their Corvina. We then were brought our main course which was served with a sample of their Sangiovese. Between main course and dessert, they brought out a special bottle of wine from their cellar, a 2002 Primitivo. Finally, we had dessert with a small glass of their Raspberry Beret.

NV - Villa Appalaccia Winery - Allegra Malvasia Bianca
2009 - Villa Appalaccia Winery - Corvina
Salami - from Chicago, but they couldn't remember the name
Local cheese - tasted closest to colby, but the rind had an interesting mild taste but was crunchy like almost like lettuce - weird and very fun.
Polenta with mushrooms and parmesan cheese.
Pickled tomato bruschetta - this was unusual and Megan didn't like it very much.
2009 - Villa Appalaccia Winery - Sangiovese
Italian pole bean - tender, buttery, and very delicious.
Chicken cacciatore - the sauce was made with ground up anchovy and capers.
2002 - Villa Appalaccia Winery - Primitivo
Flourless chocolate cake with mint and raspberry.
NV - Villa Appalaccia Winery - Raspberry Beret

Monday, September 23, 2013

Tastes from Sept 18th - 23rd

Saturday was a rainy in the morning, but we braved the VT football game traffic and headed over to the regular Vintage Cellar tasting.

We also decided to have a blind comparison tasting of two ESBs (Extra Special Bitter) one night. We opened a Fuller's which is a classic British beer and an ESB from Evolution Craft Brewery, which came in our monthly craft beer mailing.

Technically only Brett did this blind as Megan actually poured the beers, but she'd never had either so it was essentially blind for her as well. Brett was able to identify, by aroma alone, which was the Fuller's ESB. It's just better and that's all there is to it. If you have to drink a different ESB after a Fuller's you're going to be disappointed (Brett feels the same way about Fuller's London Porter).

Brett also had a few other beers that we both tasted over this period.

Schneider - Weisse Tap X - Mein Cuvée Barrique - What a beer! This is a weizen bock that has been aged in pinot noir barrels for two years. Brett drank bottle #415/688. The depth and breadth of flavor rivaled that of $100 wines, but clearly was beer. We weren't sure how the two different profiles would blend, but they marry very well. This isn't cheap ($25 a bottle), but if you want something to savor over a relaxing evening, give it a try if you can find it.
Florida Beer Company - Key West Sunset Ale - This is the second of our Florida Beer Company beers - it has a somewhat traditional, if subdued, amber ale taste, but there is also a strange tangy off-putting finish. Normally that would be associated with extract brewing, but I'd be surprised if they were using extract. Maybe it'd be okay with food, but it's going to take us awhile to get through this.

Vintage Cellar was also having a special Monday tasting as they were filming a TV commercial so we headed over (long after filming was over) to give a few more wines a try.

Finally, on Monday we had three new tastes. We tried a new recipe for dinner, which we'll list here, but won't give the recipe for because it wasn't that amazing - not bad, just bland. We also had a new wine with that dinner. Megan then made some amazing pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the start of fall!

Chicken with pineapple and onion cooked in slow cooker
2011 - E. Guigal - Côtes du Rhône Blanc
Pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies - Note the cookies are only 56 calories each - they taste like a lot more than that!

We're looking forward to a bunch of new tastes this coming week. There's a special tasting at Vintage Cellar on Thursday, both wine and beer. The beer is Belgian and Belgian-style beers including a special visit from Ommegang Brewery from Cooperstown, NY. They make Belgian-style beers and also make special Game of Thrones edition beers. Saturday is the Radford chili cook-off and also the apple festival at the Blacksburg Farmer's Market. We'll be able to taste all kinds of apples, much like the tomato festival, then try a bunch of chilis. We also bought a number of new beers, some special fall ones in particular, that we're looking forward to trying, including a pumpkin lambic!

Thanks for reading!

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Blacksburg Brew Do Weekend

Last weekend was the Blacksburg Brew Do. We volunteered at the event and were pouring for Heavy Seas in the afternoon. Rather than risk the traffic and hassle parking at the event, we decided to take our bikes to the Christiansburg Mall and taking the Huckleberry Trail into town. The ride was very cool, but very pleasant. We were surprised at how much better people were in terms of walking on the correct side of the trail and not down the middle, and keeping their dogs close. There also was not a single person walking with a retractable leash all extended out to 10000' (that might be a slight exaggeration). Having gone back and ridden the path to work here in Radford again, the difference between here and there is like light and day. The trail goes right over to 1st and Main where the event was being held, and coincidentally also the home of Vintage Cellar. We had some time before volunteer check-in, so we went over and tried some wines.

2012 - Domaine de Saint-Lannes - Vin de Pays des Côtes de - Gascogne Blanc
2009 - Labouré-Roi Mâcon-Villages - Unoaked Chardonnay
2009 - Matchbook - Chardonnay Old Head
2009 - J. Vidal-Fleury - Côtes du Rhône
2009 - Whiplash - Redemption
2010 - Lone Birch
2011 - Pendulum - Red Table Wine
2010 - Opolo - Zinfandel
2009 - Ca' Bea - del Maniero Provincia di Pavia IGT
2003 - Castello di Lucignano - Chianti Classico Riserva
2011 - Bodegas Mas Alta - Priorat - Black Slate La Vilella Alta
2008 - Abelis Carthago Toro - Fighting Bulls
Raclette cheese - this was out to have with the wine; neither of us really like raclette, but it wasn't bad with some of the red wines

We think the most interesting, if not the absolute best tasting, was the Lone Birch blend. It has Mouvedre, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Malbec, Barbera, Zinfandel, and Grenache grapes in one bottle... Yep - they're all in there and the wine is a cacophony of aromas and flavors.

We wandered down to Kroger to change clothes in their restroom and tried a couple more things there.

Kroger - Applewood smoked cheddar barbecue dip - this was quite good
El Cortijo - Manchego - nutty, smooth, and delicious

We headed over to Brew Do and started trying the 12 beers, 6 each, that we were allotted to try by volunteering, plus the 4 beers Heavy Seas brought with them.

Last but not least, our second mailing from the Craft Brew club came. Brett tried one beer from this set so far:

Florida Beer Company - Florida Lager

Thanks for reading!

Friday, September 13, 2013

A weekend of bears, beers, and more

We decided, since the weekend weather was going to be fantastic, to head out camping. We hadn't ever camped at the Peaks of Otter campground on the Blue Ridge Parkway, so we packed up and hit the road. Our plan was to set up camp, then head back to Flying Mouse Brewery as they were opening up on Friday night. We ran into a lot of traffic on our way down - we went through Salem and Roanoke to get on the Parkway and ran into traffic. We got to the campground a little later than planned, but got camp set up and headed back to Flying Mouse in Troutville. They have 3 beers on their menu, but only had 2 ready to go opening night.

Flying Mouse Brewery - No. 3 - regular lawnmower beer
Flying Mouse Brewery - No. 5 - this was strange and we were very surprised they served it since it had a terrible burned taste

We went out to dinner afterwards at Bellacino's Grinders in Daleview. We just had a regular ol' pizza, but it was very good and the crust was really nice. Not really a new taste so we won't list it here, but there are many locations in the greater Virginia and West Virginia area.

Saturday we got up and had a nice breakfast, including some breakfast sausage we brought back from Vermont.

Dakin Farm - Cob-smoked Maple Sausage - This was pretty good, but Megan thought it almost didn't taste like breakfast sausage. Brett liked it a lot, but both of us thought the sausage was a bit greasy, but that may have been the super quick cooking job getting ready for breakfast.

We got going a little slowly, but then went on a little outing to Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest. This is located in... wait for it... Forest, VA! This was his vacation home away from the busyness of Monticello (which we went to a few years ago). We took the tour and it lasted a bit over an hour. We have some pictures we'll add on to this later.

After the tour and wandering around the grounds and commenting on the similarities with the construction methods and design of this home and Monticello, we headed out to Apocalypse Ale Works which was just minutes down the road. The original plan was to go there, try a flight, then head out to lunch back in Bedford. The plan was altered - we sat down, had a flight, and were watching professional bike racing on TV in the brewery and talking to a couple we met there. Well, we can't leave that can we? So we ordered a pizza from Upper Crust Pizza and stayed there and had a couple full beers with our pizza and new friends.

Apocalypse Ale Works - Glorious Dead ESB
Apocalypse Ale Works - Golden Censor
Apocalypse Ale Works - Hopocalypse Imperial Red Ale
Apocalypse Ale Works - Sixth Seal
Upper Crust Pizza - chicken ranch pizza: This was a glorious mix of ranch dressing as the pizza sauce, bite-sized chunks of chicken, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese on a tasty crust. Brett's going to have to try making one of these at home now!

Of the beers, the ESB and the Sixth Seal (stout) were our favorites, but the Hopocalypse was also very very good. Mostly, they don't make a bad beer and Wes was a great spokesman/bartender for the brewery. What was going to be a quick stop ended up being a two hour period of good food, good talk, and good pizza.

Since we were pretty close, we decided to head to the LeoGrande Winery nearby and see if we could knock out a few more tastes. Their wine was generally not to our tastes, but here are the links to teh reviews anyway.

After that, we headed back to the camp and enjoyed an evening fire. Megan had made up a pile of apple crisp which we cooked over the fire. We didn't get the temperature quite right so it cooked a little fast, but it came out hot and tasty. The recipe is at the bottom of this update.

Apple Crumble

While we were sitting around the camp fire, Brett looked to the left of camp as he'd seen some motion out of the corner of his eye. There had been a black dog in the campground earlier, so he initially thought that's what it was and told Megan there was a loose dog. It didn't look quite right though and then Megan noticed it was a small black bear. Megan ran and grabbed the leftover apple crumble and the bear got startled and ran off.

The next morning we headed out and did a short hike to the Falling Water Cascades waterfall which is just north of the Peaks of Otter lodge. It was a short hike, but it was very warm and very very humid. We were honestly very pleased that the hike was as short as it was as we had both sweated through every stitch of clothing we had on.

We were headed back home and were passing by the Peaks of Otter Winery and Orchard. We decided to do one last taste stop over the weekend. Peaks of Otter makes mostly fruit wines, and a couple of grape wines, which are not really our favorites, but the whole point is to broaden our tastes so we wanted to give them a shot.

NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Blackberry Cobbler
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Light Pear
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Peach of Otter
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Pure Passion - this is made with passionfruit
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Plumlicious
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - The Mango Tango
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Strawberry Shortcake Liberty Jewels
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Puff - this is made with dragonfruit
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Blue Ridge Mountain Grape
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Sangria
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - "Chili Dawg" - made with 3% chile peppers
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Blueberry Muffin
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Apple Cherry Cheesecake
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Apple Truffle
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Ras Ma Tas Raspberry
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Frosty Morn
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Salty Frog Margarita Wine
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Light Sweet Peach
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Blackberry Jammed
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Strawberry Reserve
NV - Peaks of Otter Winery - Kiss the Devil - made with 30 varieties of spicy peppers, including ghost peppers

In a lot of the things above, it tasted to us like they were trying to copy a cocktail, but the cocktail would be better. Again, most of this was very sweet and we're just not sweet wine drinkers. The exceptions were the two made with peppers. We didn't those at all. We were told people cook with them, but why not just use salsa or hot sauce? So confusing...

After that we were starting to get very hungry, so we stopped and had lunch at the Smokehouse Restaurant in Hardy, VA. We both thought barbecue sounded pretty good and were hoping for some excellent barbecue. We ordered drinks, both of us ordered a Coke and a water. The cokes were flat like tap water. We sent them back and asked them to try Dr. Pepper instead. Nope, still flat. They were so kind to not charge us for their flat drinks... Brett ordered a pulled pork sandwich and Megan had a philly cheesesteak. We won't record either sandwich as a new taste, but will make some comments about the meal. First, Megan's philly cheesesteak was absolutely filled with onions. She pulled maybe half of them out, and it was still filled with onions. There was more onion than meat on that sandwich. Secon, Brett's pulled pork sandwich came with about 1/3 of a cup of pork to be spread out on a humongous kaiser roll (probably 6 inches across) that was covered with a huge amount of corn meal (for texture?). There was not nearly enough meat to cover that roll at all and either the meat had to be spread very thin (and still left some gaps) or the roll needed to be lots smaller. Brett also doesn't need to ever eat any more plain old corn meal again. We will record one taste from here and that is their "Carolina-style" barbecue sauce. Brett loves vinegar and a bit of heat so a true Carolina-style barbecue sauce is always one of his favorites.... this was not.

Smokehouse Restaurant - "Carolina-style" barbecue sauce: Note that this style sauce is always made with vinegar - CIDER vinegar. This place used, and this is not a joke, MALT vinegar. Brett couldn't tell if he was eating pulled pork or the weirdest tasting Long John Silver's ever.

Long story short, if you're hungry near Hardy, you can knock Smokehouse Restaurant off your list of places to grab a meal.

As we left town, we drove right by Sunken City Brewing so we made a quick stop to see what they had on tap. They wouldn't do a flight (although they had the glasses) so we bought two full beers instead and stayed awhile.

Of the two, we preferred the porter. John Henry's Hammer is a stout, but its mouthfeel wasn't very full and it tasted a little thin and wasn't as rich as we were expecting for the style.

That's all for the weekend of Sept 7th and 8th (even though this wasn't posted until the 13th). Tomorrow we are volunteering at the Blacksburg Brew Do so we'll have at least 16 new tastes for tomorrow.

Here's the recipe for the apple crumble. Note we made this earlier, vacuum-sealed it and froze it.

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
4 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup rolled oats
Pinch salt
2 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup chopped almonds

How to Make It:

Mixed it together and froze. Thawed and cooked over a hot fire for about 15 minutes, stirring constantly to avoid burning.

Here's a link to the full set of pictures we posted from the weekend and there's a slideshow below if you're not on a mobile device.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Missed beer tastings from Aug. 22nd!

Good grief, the post for Aug. 19th - 23rd mentioned beer tastings from that Friday, but they never got posted!

The last one was a real favorite. It's a chocolate-peanut butter porter. Brett already likes porters as a style - add chocolate and peanut butter and you're screaming for a beer ice cream float! If you can get a hold of this, you should definitely try it!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

Vintage Cellar Closeout tasting on Sept 5th

Thursday, we made a special trip over to Blacksburg to go to Vintage Cellar as they were having a closeout tasting. One of these hasn't been reviewed on Cellar Tracker, so we'll just make direct comments here.

NV - Pierre Olivier - Blanc de Blanc Brut - Had aromas of peanut butter on apples and tastes of sweet apple. Flat by the time we tasted it - carbonation would help balance out the sweetness.
2007 - Helfrich - Riesling
2010 - Bodegas Huarpe - Chardonnay - Lancatay
2010 - Carmen Chardonnay Gran Reserva
2010 - Doña Paula - Torrontés Estate
2008 - Helfrich - Pinot Gris
2011 - IT Ca' Bea del Maniero - Provincia di Pavia - IGT
2009 - Byron - Pinot Noir
2009 - Firestone Vineyard - Merlot Discoveries
2011 - Bodegas Huarpe - Bonarda - Lancatay
2010 - Terrazas de Los Andes - Cabernet Sauvignon - Altos del Plata
2010 - Penfolds - Cabernet Sauvignon - Thomas Hyland
2010 - Domaine Grand Veneur - Côtes du Rhône
Stilton (cheese) - Megan had never had this, but they had some to taste out during the wine tasting. Megan does not like (but Brett does)!
2008 - Barboursville Vineyards - Malvaxia Passito
Martin's homebrew imperial stout - Martin, the beer guy at Vintage Cellar, gave Brett a small taste of his homebrew imperial stout - this was rich, creamy, with hints of maple underneath; it was delicious and was comparable to Founders - Imperial Stout

That is all the new tastes we had a closeout Thursday! Lots more tastes coming from our weekend camping trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway!

Poblanos and pumpkins

We bought a pile of poblano peppers at the farmers market last weekend and Megan made a new recipe using them.

Stuffed Pepper Casserole - This was very good and flavorful. Of course the poblanos weren't too hot, but they add a touch of heat and a lot of flavor to the dish. We've posted the recipe at the bottom of this post.

Brett also tried a new fall beer.

New Belgium Brewing - Pumpkick - This is a typical, spiced pumpkin ale, but with the addition of some cranberry juice. It's a nice refreshing drink and great on a cool fall evening.

And here's the recipe for the casserole:

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

1.5 pound ground beef
2 medium onions, chopped
1 can (14-1/2 ounces) stewed tomatoes, cut up
1 can sloppy joe mix
3 poblano chilis, chopped
1/2 cup diced red and green pepper mix
1/2 cup corn
bag of Vigo Mexican Rice
1 cup water
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. casserole. Add all ingredients except cheese.
Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour or until the rice is tender. Uncover and sprinkle with cheese; cook 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Yield: 4-6 servings.
This made more than one casserole pan, so I did a 9x13 and a 8x10 to freeze the extras.
Found it to be lacking in texture and salt, so I ate it with tortilla chips for crunch.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Baconfest and other new tastes!

It was the first week of school and with getting our schedules readjusted, we didn't get hardly any new tastes in during the week as we might. We did get to go out to dinner with our friend Luke (Joe) Waugh as he was visiting the area. We went to Bull and Bones in Blacksburg for dinner. While there we ordered a sampler of their beers and tried all that were available. Brett also had a new taste for dinner, the beef brisket sandwich.

Brett thinks their best beer is their stout. The beef brisket sandwich was okay, but nothing special. The A1-based mayo wasn't as strongly flavored as Brett thought it would be. We stopped by The Chocolate Spike afterwards and got a few pieces of chocolate. Megan tried one of them.

White chocolate pomegranate truffle - This was so sweet that Megan couldn't finish it. It made her teeth hurt.

We made burgers on the grill one night and Brett had a new beer.

Maine Beer Company - Lunch - We picked this up in Maine and it's very highly ranked - it's got a double 100 (overall and for style) and it's amazingly delicious, complex, and excellent. If you can find one near you, definitely try it.

We also made some fresh pesto and had it with grilled chicken and pasta. With that we had a nice French table wine that went very well with dinner.

2011 - Domaine Delsol Coteaux du Languedoc - Picpoul De Pinet

Saturday was Baconfest in Roanoke. We didn't try as many things as we could, but some of the lines were so long and it was so hot and humid that we got to the point where we were so hot we couldn't eat. There are a few things we hope they change for next year's version - hold it some other place with more space and shade, more vendors, and more savory tastes as compared to sweet ones. A lot of the sweet items were so sweet that they overpowered the bacon.

Fun Times - Bacon, Potato, and Peanut Butter candy - oh my goodness this was sweet.
Fun Times - Smoked Bacon and Mushroom Risotto bite - this was a wonton stuffed with smoky bacon and mushroom risotto - this was very very good!
Fun Times - Bacon and scallion pizza - this was also very good, but there were a few too many scallions on this and knocked the flavors out of balance. It was still very good.
Kupkakery - Bourbon Brownie - this appeared to be their regular bourbon brownie cupcake with bacon sprinkled over the top. A bit too sweet for our tastes.
Kupkakery - Bacon Truffle - again, it appeared to be their regular cake truffle sprinkled with some bacon over the top of it. Not so sweet as the bourbon brownie.
Bacon Bites - chocolate-covered bacon - this was not very good and had way too much chocolate relative to the bacon.
Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - French Toast cupcake - very sweet with powdered sugar icing
Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - Maple cupcake - carrot cake, again with powdered sugar icing, good cake, but again too sweet.
Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - Peanut Butter with Toffee and Bacon - really very sweet and the sweetness and peanut butter overwhelm the bacon
Cupcake Cottage and Gifts - Pineapple - pineapple cupcake with buttercream and bacon.
The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Alice's chips with applewood smoked bacon - These were utterly delicious and incredibly addictive.
The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Spinach and bacon fritters with date chutney - This was the least favorite of the choices from this restaurant, but they were still quite good.
The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Jalapeno-flavored bacon naan - This was delicious and had a nice burn through the mouth and a slightly spicy finish. It was just spicy enough to making you want continue eating it.
The Elephant Walk/Taaza - White chili with turkey bacon - This was so good even though it was over 90 out. Megan brought the leftovers in the bowl we were served home for her lunch the next day!
The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Sweet hickory smoked bacon milk shake - This was only about 3 - 4 ounces, but was so cool and refreshing. Vanilla ice cream with bacon. We thought that making maple ice cream would have made it even better.
The Elephant Walk/Taaza - Pecan smoked bacon dipped in chocolate - This version of chocolate covered bacon was much better than the other we tried.

There were 4 other places that had savory items made with bacon, but the lines were 40 to 50 people long at each. For sure our favorites were from The Elephant Walk and Taaza joint booth and we really really need to go eat at both places.

Last but not least, we had pasta and meatballs for dinner along with a nice chianti. The meatballs are chicken meatballs with mozzarella from Aidells.

Aidells - Italian-style meatballs with mozzarella - Brett really liked these and Megan was fairly ambivalent about them.
2006 - Castello d'Albola - Chianti Classico Riserva - this is a little past its prime, but it was still very nice with dinner.

That's all for this week. Now that we're back in the groove schedule-wise, we'll try to provide more regularly updates of tastes when we actually have them.