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...

This month the Italian Food Wine Travel bloggers are pouring, pairing, and writing about Primitivo. Gwendolyn of Wine Predator is hosting; you can read her invite here .  If you are reading this early enough, feel free to join in the live Twitter chat on Saturday, November 7th at 8am Pacific time. Follow the hashtag #ItalianFWT and be sure to add that to any of your tweets so we can see it.  In the meantime, all of these posts will go live between Friday, November 6th and early morning on Saturday, November 7th. Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Pasta Fra Diavolo Topped with Stuffed Squid + Li Veli Orion Primitivo 2018 Terri from Our Good Life:  Pumpkin Sage Alfredo with Scallops and Matanè Primitivo Linda from My Full Wine Glass:  Primitivo: Zin’s Not Quite Identical Twin Lynn from Savor the Harvest:  Pouring Primitivo, Four Wines From Puglia Susannah from Avvinare:  Tasting Primitivo di Manduria Nicole from Somm’s T...

Wine Pairing Weekend - #winePW - happens on the second Saturday of the month. And this month - April 2017 - Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  is hosting. She invited us to share our old standbys. She wrote: "What is your favorite go to bottle? The one you drink with dinner regularly or always make sure you have on hand in case guests drop in? Perhaps your old standby is the wine you like to take as a hostess gift when you are invited over. You know, that bottle that you are sure is going to please without breaking the bank. I, personally, cannot wait to get some ideas for affordable, everyday wines." Me, too! Wine Pairing Weekend Bloggers Be sure to check out what my fellow bloggers have come up with for this Wine Pairing Weekend! 15 Years, 3 Kids, 5 Houses and 1 Wine that's seen it all. by L'Occasion  Azaleas, Rosé and Pizza: A Few of My Favorite Things by Pull That Cork  Go-To Favorite Chardonnays (and recipes for pairing) by Grape Experie...

Back in November, I read and posted about  The Mad Crush: A Memoir of Mythic Vines and Improbable Winemaking  by Sean Christopher Weir. Click to read that post   for Foodie Reads 2016. It turns out that the author himself saw my review and offered me another copy, if I would like to host a giveaway for a lucky reader.* Would I?!?! Yes, please. So, I tracked down some wines from the winery, Saucelito Canyon , hosted a pairing dinner with some good friends, and re-read the book in preparation for this post. Again, I was reminded of how much I enjoy Weir's prose. "The smell of fermenting red wine is magnificent. It hovers between sour and sweet, but is neither. It is pungent, almost feline, and unlike anything else" (p.106). "If you wanted to drink an impeccably polished wine, there were plenty of other options. But if you wanted to drink a wine whose aromas and flavors took you someplace wholly unique, then you couldn't go wrong with a bott...

We went on a hunt for wildflowers yesterday. According to one of the park docents, we missed it by about three weeks. Instead of hills draped in a carpet of orange poppies, we had charred blossoms; they weren't just wilted, they were positively singed. Look at my crew of unhappy hikers. They felt duped, as did I. I had promised them wildflowers. Boo. We stopped at the store on the way home from the park and I spotted this bottle of wine. It had poppies on the label and it was from Antelope Valley. I know the kiddos couldn't - and wouldn't - enjoy it. But Jake and I joked that we found poppies! And though I readily admit that I bought this bottle for the label, it was perfect with dinner after a day in the desert. Tasting Notes: Garnet color with rose, plum, and vanilla aromas. On the palate it's medium-bodied, elegant with great texture and mild acidity with a lingering sweet finish. Lighter than I expected from a zinfndel. Easy drinking wine. I paired...