Fresh Tart

Sweet, sweet Saturday. As much as I love being with my kids, every other Saturday (due to our second-marriage, share-custody status), John and I have the day to ourselves. We try to take full advantage of our limited - yet usefully predictable - alone time and have ourselves a fine Saturday (lemons to lemonade as they say, not that I'd suggest divorce and remarriage as a "fun" way to find alone time as a couple, Lord no; but hey, we all have to find and polish life's duller benefits wherever they exist).

We usually scrape out a tasty brunch or lunch of some sort (if not a movie as well), either here at the hacienda or at, you know, La La Lucia's. Today, it was here, with leftovers from my high-input-yet-solo dinner last night. John had a work thang, but I was in the mood to cook, so I made myself (as I had mentioned) Watercress Soup with Gentleman's Relish Toast as well as grilling up a few lamb rib chops. Oh Good Lord, I had such a good meal by myself it was almost obscene as I talked, sang, danced, and laughed through the preparation.

Best of all - plenty of leftovers for today's lunch, which we just happily, heartily consumed. With sips of the holiest of wines, our beloved Turley Zinfandel, this time a 2003 Lodi Zinfandel, Dogtown Vineyard. Sigh. We only pull out the Turley if I've worked really hard on a meal, and it's turned out particularly deliciously, and this meal qualified. Charred, salty lamb chops, followed by creamy, spicy watercress soup, bathing a crispy, chewy, herb-buttered crouton... Ridic, really, and best consumed in a lavender-scented garden somewhere in Provence (the window in the pic makes me want to leap right through, sniffing deeply as I crash-land, ahhh...), but we made due with our own - because, you know, we had to - winter-in-Minnesota kitchen. Cold, gray skies warmed by Larry Turley and Suzanne Goin, as it were. And perhaps (!) a bit of my own enthusiasm for eating and sipping heartily and well with my Johnny on a Saturday's afternoon...

No complaints here, my friends, none at all. (Well, perhaps one tiny complaint - as in, it's over! Lunch is gone, wine is put away, sniff. Always the moderateepicurean's dilemma - knowing when to call it quits. Shucks. Time for a cup of really strong coffee - nothing signals "the end" of a meal like a great cup of coffee.)

Earthy. Good word, right? I'm all about earthy these post-Christmas days, merrily reading The Pillars of the Earth, relishing the descriptions of 12th century English peasants enjoying their "horse bread" (multi-grain) dipped in ale, their fire-roasted meats washed down with homemade wine, their thick ham-n-cabbage soups, served with slabs of farmer's cheese. Rarrr, I'm a total sucker for rustic-food writing of that sort.

Which made me enjoy tonight's last-minute dinner even more. I had John stop for a rack of lamb on his way home, and stirred up a batch of truffly risotto while I waited for him, and we ate both accompanied by the earthiest of wines - a 2003 Turley Paso Robles Zinfandel, heavenly. In fact, if you notice (in my lame phone-photo, sorry, my camera is at Stacey's), there are flecks of what appears to be black pepper in the risotto, but no, it's char from the grilled lamb juices. Yep, I decadently stirred the carved lamb meat juices into the risotto, before a finishing shower of freshly grated Parm and a sprinkle of truffle oil and coarse salt, and I dare you to find an earthier combo. (Recipe for risotto in comments, below.)

John and I just looked at each other and giggled like the 12th century English peasants we're not - John the Jew of York and his mistress, Stephanie Ricemaker of Lake and Field. Har!

Two down, one to go! Woo hooooo, we are party central again this weekend! Friday night we were invited to dinner by a family at Nathan's new school. So fun - cool people, lovely home, great kids, and delicious wine and food. Salmon, fresh herbs and vegetables, a drizzle of lemon juice and olive oil, all wrapped up in foil and passed over the grill. We opened up the individual packets to find perfectly moist and fragrant fish, with lovely juices that flowed handily over to the pile of rice waiting patiently on the other side of the plate. Yum. I baked and brought a Cherry Tart with Almond Crust, with fresh cherries as well as fresh peaches and blueberries. Good stuff.

Then yesterday, another pool-and-wine party with Debbie and Stu The Wine Genius (Rudy and Ana are in the Hamptons, poor souls, ha). Sooooo fun, a gorgeous, hot day, perfect for floating and sipping. And eating! Stu and Debbie brought two Turley wines, in honor of our Napa trip (and stay at Larry Turley's home), both delicious. In the pool we drank the white, a 2003 The White Coat, a rich blend, quite golden and delicious. With dinner we drank a 2004 Lodi Zinfandel, from the Dogtown Vineyard (not the one we overlooked), fantastic. Tasted just like Napa, sigh.

After a quick shower, it was time to get some food on! I started by grilling bread for a quick appetizer, served alongside hard salami, roasted peppers, and olive tapenade from the deli. For a first course I made a red cabbage salad - red cabbage sauteed until wilted and then tossed with crispy bacon and a warm shallot dressing and topped with a warm, breaded goat-cheese medallion. Crunchy, creamy, salty, gorgeous - all the good stuff (recipe in comments, below). And for dinner I grilled a couple racks of lamb chops, cut into two-chop pieces before smearing them with a mixture of minced garlic, mint, oregano, rosemary, and tarragon (the herbs on my deck) bound with a bit of olive oil. Alongside I grilled Potatoes on the Grill, or more accurately, La Finca Veggies and Potatoes on the Grill, because I threw in carrots, fennel, green pepper, and onion, all from my veggie share this week. For dessert I had baked a Lemon Picnic Cake (lemon cake soaked in lemon icing, yum; recipe in comments, below), withwhipped cream and raspberry sauce. Uff, we were stuffed as we chatted in the dark, watching the pool lights shimmer eerily off the trees, while Nathan took a pre-bedtime dip.

So! Now it's Sun-day, and time for a Baseball Moms and Players Swimming Party! Another hot sunny day, perfect for grillin' some 'dogs, eating lots of salty chips and appetizers, drinking ice cold beer, munching on cookies and bars, and chatting the afternoon/evening away while the boys raise hell in the pool. Yeah, baby!

OK, more Napa... Day 2, Stu and Debbie arrived, so all six of us met up at Harlan Estate winery. We had an amazing tour, given by Sheila and Katherine, thanks to Stu. It's not just anyone who gets a tour and tasting at Harlan; luckily, Stu has been on their mailing list for many years. Woo hoo for Stu! We sampled and chatted about both Harlan Estate and The Maiden - what a treat, my friends. I'm quite sure I'll never drink either of those wines again - a bottle of Harlan Estate was on the menu at our dinner later that evening for $895 - so it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I loved it.

After our Harlan tour, we headed back "home" for a bit, and then made our way to a festive, casual dinner at Redd in Yountville. After our absolute feast the night before, I decided to play things a bit lighter with a lovely skate filet. I slept like a rock that night, whew.

Day 3 opened bright and sunny on Howell Mountain, so we decided to spend some time with a bottle of Turley Zin on Turley's deck overlooking Turley's vineyards and the Napa Valley. NICE! Fortified with cheeses and sausages from Dean & Deluca, Stu, Debbie, John, and I had one of those spontaneously amazing vacation days, where everything falls into place - food, wine, sunshine, a beautiful setting - and could hardly motivate ourselves to get our butts on down the road to Ladera to meet Rudy and Ana (who'd enjoyed their own lovely morning at Meadowood swimming and lounging). But motivate we did, and thoroughly enjoyed our tour, chat, and tasting with Pat and Anne Stotesbury, formerly of Minnesota.

From Ladera we made our way down the road to Littorai, for another Stu-arranged tasting with assistant winemaker Neal (who the guys dubbed Cute Neal because 1) he is, and 2) all the ladies got a little twittery around him). In fact, after our tasting, Neal dropped by the house for - what else? - a glass of wine and some snacks on the deck. After he hit the road, we six dove in to cooking our dinner - over the fire, no less, thanks to grillmaster Rudy (and the Turley's cool fireplace/grill set-up). Steaks and veal chops, oh yeah, with more D&D salads, crusty bread, and cookies and cheeses for dessert. Ohhhh, sitting in front of that roaring fire, all stuffed and toasty warm, full of great wine, laughing and talking, what a night! Unforgettable.

And then...our last day...stay tuned...

Hellooo! Back from Napa! And oh, what a trip. Trip of a lifetime. John, Stu the Wine Genius, his wife Debbie, and I all stayed in the gorgeous Howell Mountain-top home of winemaker Larry Turley (long story, we had rented a different house, but happily ended up in theirs). Rudy and Ana stayed at the bottom of the mountain at the famed and lovely Meadowood Resort. John, Rudy, Ana, and I actually flew in last Wednesday, a day ahead of Stu and Deb, so the four of us opened with lunch at Greens at the Marina in San Francisco. All-vegetarian, all-fabulous, it was a festive lunch as we were so very excited to head up to Napa. After pasta with fava beans, gorgeous salads, and coconut cake, we wiped our mouths and scooted out the door.

We eventually found our twisty-turny-backassward-wrong-way up to the Turley's, quickly changed for dinner, and were off for another twisty-turny-backassward-wrong-way to an unforgettable meal at Cyrus in Healdsburg. Wow. And I mean, wow. We arrived so lost, and so late, and so stressed out, that we were ready for some pampering and a serious meal and Cyrus delivered in spades.

As it was John's 47th birthday - nice birthday, in Napa, yeah, baby! - we indulged in a sampling of caviars, served with smoking-hot polenta fritters topped with smears of creme fraiche, sieved egg yolk, and minced chives. Damn but my stress melted away like caviar on my tongue and with a few sips of champagne, I was ready to roll, roll, roll.

I chose the four-course option (you can choose as many as you would like) but sampled many, many tasties. The several amuses bouches the chef sent out were mind-blowing - little marble-sized potato and chick-pea fritters with asparagus tartare...seared hamachi with white-soy-sauce consomme (one of the best things I've ever had, ever)...yeah, pretty kill. Then, oh yes, my actual meal, ha. I "opened" (half full already) with artichokes "a la barigoule," a mini-tower of artichokes both tender and crispy. Next up was a silky pureed cauliflower soup with a sweet-crunchy raisin, caper, and white pepper emulsion and toasted almonds. Now that I think of it, that soup was John's, but I thankfully scored several creamy bites of it. My true "second" course was foie gras mousse served with - get this - baby, buttery lemon scones. Lord, foie gras melting into warm scones, that is not light fare but the bites were so small, I snapped them right up. Divine. And last, a darling little piece of perfectly roasted tender-crispy chicken, served alongside a poached egg (which came first? Hahaha, sorry...) and lovely little vegetables. Again I snagged several bites of John's uber-truffly truffled red wine risotto with Parmesan foam. Beyond decadent - and I loved every bite. Of course!

For dessert? Ohhhh, a few half-hearted bites of three gorgeous cheeses. I was beyond stuffed, whew. But nice opening, eh? Yeah. Napa loves me, and I love it right back. More later...