Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  Martin of ENOFYLZ Wine Blog is hosting this month's World Wine Travel group. He has the group exploring Andalucía; you can read his invitation here . If you are reading this early enough, feel free to join in our Twitter chat on Saturday, October 23rd at 8am Pacific. Follow the hashtag #WorldWineTravel and be sure to add that to anything you tweet so we can see it. Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla offers Tapas on Toast: Spanish Montaditos + 2017 Sierras de Málaga Laderas de Sedella Anfora. Lynn of Savor the Harvest reveals Three Facts About Sherry and Why You Need to Try a Bottle . Terri of Our Good Life gives us A Beginner’s Guide to Amontillado and Spanish Tapas . Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm brings us A Friday Night Cocktail that starts with Alvear Tres Miradas Vino de Pueblo 2018 . Susannah of Avvinare is Learning to Love Sherry One Style at a Time . Reggie at Wine Casual offers 10 Tips for Sherry Lovers & Wine Geeks Visiting Sevilla and Jerez de...

This is a sponsored post written by me in conjunction with a virtual wine tasting event hosted by  Snooth for Rias Baixas.  W ine samples were provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. After the virtual Snooth tasting of Rias Baixas wines*, we headed over to our Spanish friends' home. They showed me some great Spanish recipes, including their Papas Bravas. It was great to stand around the island in their kitchen, talking about books with the kids, and digging into the potatoes while washing it all down with another Albariño. In the Glass The Santiago Ruiz Albariño 2017 is comprised of five different grape varieties native to Rias Baixas. It's a blend of Albariño, Loureiro, Godello, Treixadura, and Caiño Blanco. I've only ever heard of the first grape! All of the grapes come from the O Rosal area, from vineyards in San Miguel de Tabagon and Tomiño. Clear and bright, this wine has an intense, complex nose that includes fruit...

This week's #SundaySupper event is hosted by  Tapa Toro  restaurant in Orlando, Florida where many of the Sunday Supper tastemakers are attending the annual Food Wine Conference . I was bummed to miss the fun, but I have too many balls in the air this month with different events and competitions for both boys. But, still, all of us can join in and take our readers on a culinary journey to Spain even if we can't be in Orlando enjoying contemporary Spanish cuisine at Tapa Toro. I was really intrigued by their paella pit and extensive selection of wines. Find Tapa Toro on the web , on Facebook , on Twitter , and on Instagram . The word tapas is derived from the Spanish verb  tapar , meaning “to cover.” And they are not so much a kind of a food as a Spanish way of eating. The food is brought out on a small plate that can act as a lid on top of a glass or mug, presumably to keep out dirt, dust, and bugs. Tapas can be grouped into three broad categories, d...

Our last kid-free evening meant one last Fall Break date night. We headed to Mundaka for some tasty tapas. Jake opted for a clara - half beer and half lemonade. I love that you can order wine by the glass - red or white. And if you don't need to see the label on the bottle, you can save two dollars per glass. Salud!  We started with a slice of torta , a thick Spanish omelette made with potatoes. The large flecks of sea salt added a sort of confetti surprise in each bite.  This was a new salad on the menu. I have to admit, it looks like an incongruous mess. Sliced tomatoes, shards of onions, a mass of arugula, and deep fried peppercorns are topped with a mound of smoked salmon and a hard-boiled egg salad. Yes it looked as chaotic as that sounds. But it was oddly delicious. All of the flavors meshed to create a really satisfying dish. It worked well. I have had a lot of caprese-style salads. A lot. Tomatoes plus mozzarella plus basil is a combination that ...

Years ago a little friend - Jetty - asked me if I knew why McDonald's called them 'Happy Meals.' I told him that I didn't know. He said, "Happy Meals are called 'happy' because they make you happy." Okay. Well, I'm going to apply that logic to Happy Hour at Crema - it's called 'happy' because it makes me happy. Really happy. When Nonna and I were looking at the calendar and figuring out a Mothers' Day plan, I suggested Crema because it was in the vicinity of the Nonni's Saturday evening dance plans and, honestly, because it'd been too long since I've enjoyed Team Crema's food. And I was clearly too busy stuffing my face to take pictures of our feast. But we devoured their artisan cheese selection, charcuterie slate, papas bravas, Monterey Bay squid, barbeque beef brisket sliders, and marinated olives... We washed it down with flutes of Spanish cava, beer, and red wine... And that was...

Last night we celebrated Brian's 40th birthday with a surprise party at La Crème in Pacific Grove. Though he suspected something was up - and claims to know that he knew I was lying about it - Pia managed to keep the scale of the bash under wraps. Brian had no idea friends from near and far would be in attendance to celebrate the start of his fourth decade. Once again, Chef Jon Moser and La Crème owner Tamie Aceves whipped up some culinary magic. Here's what was served...   Scallop Crudo An über-fresh scallop was perched atop a poached garnet yam with a dot of lemon salsa and fresh mint. I think I ate half a dozen of these myself! Tarte Flambée I wondered why this appetizer was called a flambée since it was obviously not flambéed. So I did some reading. A Tarte Flambée, from the Alsace region in France, is a "pie baked in the flames." Chef Jon's version was smeared with an herb fromage blanc mixed with caramelized onio...