Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  This month the Wine Pairing Weekend writers are looking at Zinfandel and sharing their pairings. Martin of  ENOFYLZ Wine Blog  is hosting and shared this invitation . Read about how it's 'America's Grape', that the third Wednesday of this month is National Zinfandel Day, and get to know its other names around the world. Primitivo, anyone? We actually won't be holding a Twitter chat this month, so you'll have to visit the articles themselves to learn more about our explorations. Here's the line-up... Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is Inspired by Notes of Asian Spices: Braised Spareribs + Brown Estate Zinfandel 2021 Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm shares Pasta with Sausage and Eggplant in a Zinfandel Wine Sauce Gwendolyn of Wine Predator...Gwendolyn Alley is all in with A Vegetarian Feast: "VegTurducken” paired with 5 CA Zinfandels Terri of A Good Life pairs Bucklin Bambino Zin with French Onion Soup #WinePW Host Martin of ENOFYLZ...

  Today, I am sharing a recipe inspired by the movie Bottle Shock because  this month's  Food'N'Flix  is being hosted by Debra at  Eliot's Eats .  And her choice - and our assignment this month is -  Bottle Shock.  Read her announcement:  here . I have seen several movies about California wines and they have been hit and miss for me. I don't know if I'm more critical of how movie makers portray my home state, but I'm about fifty-fifty on whether or not I enjoy a movie about wines set here. For example, I despised  Sideways  and found  Wine Country  surprisingly serious (read my post  A Surprisingly Somber Chick Flick + a Quintessential NapaValley Floor Cab ); but I adored  A Walk In the Clouds  and made  Charred Grapes on a Cloud  for a #FoodNFlix post several years back. And  Bottle Shock  falls into the 'love' category.  I watched Bottle Shock  when it first came out in 2008 a...

    This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of  St. Supéry . Complimentary wine was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own.   Here we are for the third session of the #InJoy series that started last month with  St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery * .  Once again we chatt ed with  Estate Horticulturist Brianne Hoover ;  Emma Swain, CEO;  Michael Garcia,  Viticulture Manager;  Brooke Shenk, Winemaker; and  Tod Kawachi, Estate Chef. And we sipped the  2019 St. Supéry Napa Valley Estate Sauvignon Blanc while we watched Chef Tod make his Beet-Stained Eggs with Feta creation. Here's his close-up... But before the cooking inspiration, we heard from Garcia about the frost protection measures in place as the mornings dip into the 30s while the days are feeling like summertime already. And Hoover shared all kinds of tips for successful tomato gard...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Materra Wines, one of the  #MerlotMe   event sponsors. Complimentary wine was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. Hello, October. Hello, #MerlotMe month. Yes, that's right: an entire month filled with Merlot-food pairings made all the more fun with the samples of Merlot from all around that keep appearing on my doorstep! Besides getting to play with food and wine, I love that every year I receive wines from winemakers that I have never tried before. This is the perfect case in point. I received a bottle of the 2015 Right Bank from Materra Cunat Family Vineyards* this time around. In My Glass I received a bottle of 2015 Materra Right Bank Merlot. From the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley, this 99% Merlot, 1% Cabernet Sauvignon blend retails for $50. On the nose, the wine is subtly sweet with aromas of red fruit tempered with ro...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Markham Vineyards, one of the  #MerlotMe   event sponsors. Complimentary wine was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. We are inching towards October. It means the air has a little bit of a chill in the morning. It means apples are at the market in full force. It means I have braises and stews on the brain. And it means the start of #MerlotMe month. Yep. An entire month filled with Merlot-food pairings made all the more fun with the samples of Merlot from all around that keep appearing on my doorstep! Besides getting to play with food and wine, I love that every year I receive wines from winemakers that I have never tried before. This is the perfect case in point. I received a bottle of the 2015 Estate Merlot from Markham Vineyards* this time around. In My Glass From their Yountville Estate Vineyard, the vines here were take...

When I saw that Amy Poehler's Wine Country  was releasing on Netflix last week, I immediately added it to my list. I knew nothing about it except that it would reunite several Saturday Night Live alumnae, it takes place in Napa, and it involves lots of wine. Those factors alone made it seem like a great Friday night diversion. After the boys headed to bed, I pressed play; Jake immediately lost interest and started watching something else on his computer. But he did join me in drinking Cab from Napa! On the Screen from netflix.com I have to admit that given the comedic chops in the group - Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Rachel Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, et al - I was more than a little surprised at how serious (read 'not that funny') the movie really was. I had expected a light, fluffy female version of The Hangover  meets The Bridesmaids or something like that. I anticipated it being edgy, loose, maybe a little bit raunchy, and funny. This was not that. Not real...

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf Trefethen, one of the  #MerlotMe   event sponsors. Complimentary wine was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. It's still October! And I am still making my way through the bottles of Merlot sent to me by the #MerlotMe sponsors. You can read the post I did for the #WinePW #MerlotMe event a couple of weekends ago: So Many Merlots, So Many Pairings . This Merlot comes from the Trefethen Family Vineyards* in the Oak Knoll district of Napa Valley and is a blend of 95% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Malbec. I loved that this wine was silky yet vibrant, fruity yet earthy.  The first sniff - and taste - had me thinking about roasting mushrooms, but one of my trio doesn't care for mushrooms. I know, I know: whose kid is that!? Certainly not this fungi-lovin' gal! But, oh, well, the earthiness in the wine led me to pesto next. ...