September KTC: Woodinville Wines with Frank and Damian!

And then, it was September! And nevermind that it is nearly Halloween now, silly Kissers!

Oh, my dear Kissers...It is actually December. Late December. December 23, to be exact. January 14 20 here! Yes, of 2014! Happy New Year! I know I've declared that I can't work on our blog for the time being, but I found a small window to do a bit of upkeep and the majority of this post was already written. Let's see if I can take advantage of an unexpected window of free time and, as the rednecks say, "Get 'er dun!"

September brought us a new KTC format. It wasn't a weekend getaway, and it wasn't preparing dinner together. Rather, our oh-so-gallant duo Frank and Damian had planned an entire day filled with fun--and wine tastings--for us to enjoy together! Score! 

Not only that, but we would be safely chauffeured around town from winery to winery by Frank himself, our self-appointed designated driver (DD). Double score!!

Our day began at Chateau Ste. Michelle. We met in the parking lot at 10am and headed in to the tasting room. Please allow me to point out that this bright-eyed hour for wine-tasting should clearly indicate to you that Today We Would Not Be Fooling Around.

We moseyed up to the tasting counter and let Lon take care of us, walking us through the mechanics of selecting our tasting options.

William had joined us for the day as well, to our collective delight.

Sebastian didn't let a little thing like age-restrictions for wine-drinking dampen his fun:

Fernando and Shawn enjoyed having their family portrait made...

We sipped, slurped and swished to our heart's delight. Rick had remembered his notebook. and Anne regaled us with tales of how tasting wine at this early hour was actually best. She explained that, as the day wore on, one's taste buds become fatigued along with the rest of one's body, and do their job less efficiently. Who knew?

After leaving the Chateau, we piled back into our chauffeured van to head to nearby Novelty Hill/Januik.

We arrived safe and sound (Thanks, DD!), and headed inside. This space was super cool, and I had never been there before.

We were greeted at Januik enthusiastically, and shown a cluster of merlot grapes, which were being crushed that very day - we couldn't believe our luck!

Our hosts invited us outside to watch the grapes being pressed. We went outside and saw crate after crate of grapes awaiting a turn:

We'd seen this before on a MUCH smaller scale. It was so interesting to see it scaled up! Here's a video:

Sebastian was fascinated - he wanted to stay and watch more. Or maybe he hoped one of the employees would come around again with samples of the grapes for him to try!

Here are a few more action shots of the huge hopper and press:

See that big beige box at the upper right? That's one of those crates of grapes being lifted on a forklift to be dumped into the hopper.

We headed back in to get our tasting started with the lovely and knowledgeable Michelle. Here we are ooh'ing and aahh'ing over the options.

The wine tasting options at Januik were the most generous and varied of the day. As I recall, each $10 tasting fee includes a selection of 4 options to try - but from a list of a couple dozen!

We made our selections and enjoyed.

Contrary to appearances, no, Shawn is not falling asleep on Meg's shoulder. She's just enjoying a snuggle.

I was thrilled to realize that this is a one-stop place: They offer pizza! Wine and pizza. Together. On a sunny patio. We found a nice perch on said sunny patio and settled in to order some vittles and tasty beverages. Here they are now!

We chatted about a bit of everything. It was truly enjoyable to have longer-than-usual strings of unbroken conversation with our fellow Kissers, with no kitchen timer interruptions or imposed breaks due to panicked dashes to the smoking skillet on the stove. And converse, we did!

We discussed the ins and outs of fine marketing as exemplified by the waxing shop in Fremont, Wax On Spa. Have a look for yourself:

Greeting you at the front door (and providing a helpful open/closed status message) is this guy:

As we noshed and sipped, we talked about other things, too, of course...

We discussed options for our next KTC weekend escape, and kicked around options for interesting things to make/create. 

One favorite was a gluten-free granola idea - our marketing ploy would be "Gluties" - like cooties, but for those observing a gluten-free diet!

We continued to bask in the late summer sun, sipping, swishing, and smiling.

Then, it was time to move on. Next up on our list was Efeste, We piled again into the van and departed for our next adventure.

We were ushered right in and sat at a large table, a smidgen behind our planned arrival time. We were not as warmly greeted here as we had been at Januik, but we weren't worried. It tickled us to see them using their open kitchen area for canning. Look at those late summer colors!

Again, we sipped our way through these guys' standard tasting, going from the light and fruity to the rich and robust Big Papa Cabernet. 

Here, Fernando schools Rick on the proper pronunciation of "Sauvignon Blanc:"

We hung out a while longer, and enjoyed each other's company.

Sadly, in the midst of our last pour, we were unceremoniously (and rather apologetically) rushed out to accommodate a bachelorette party. Boo, Efeste.

So whatevs. That made me feel a little cranky. BUT, our day wasn't over - we had a heckuva lot more wine to taste in Woodinville, and we needed a little sustenance of the non-fermented grape variety. So all-in-all, we decided that Efeste had actually done us a favor. We were off to the next stop: The Snoqualmie Ice Cream Factory. Yay!

Before we could arrive, Sebastian reached his activity limit, and decided it was time for a snooze. He looks pretty cute all snuggled in like that.

Fernando stayed in the car with Sebastian and the rest of us piled into the cafe for a cold and creamy treat. (Don't worry, we ordered something for Fernando, too!).

We enjoyed the sun and enjoyed our ice cream...

Afterwards, we strolled the grounds of the mini-farm...

And then it was time for more wine tasting! We headed off to our final destination, Fidelitas. Again, we piled in and headed off. 

When we arrived, Fernando decided to stay in the car watching Sebas and resting a bit more, as he wasn't feeling his best. The rest of us headed in to Fidelitas and were attended by a cutie pie ex-Coast Guard guy from Texas. 

We tried several really delicious wines there, including the Champoux Vineyard Merlot, and took several bottles home with us. 

Pocketbooks a tad lighter, we were headed back out, but noticed the Mark Ryan tasting room just a few doors down. We decided to pop in for one last tasting. The Dissident Red quickly was proclaimed our all-day favorite. So nice!

We emerged into the September sun and returned to the van, voicing our collective desire to return soon to Woodinville for more wine tastings. 

Our dear Designated Driver (Guess that makes him our DDD) Frank drove us back to the Chateau where we had all parked. We did a little unloading and re-seating (read: car-seating!) and Anne and Rick graciously invited the whole gang over to their house to help them eat down their current cheese supply. So....off we went!

Look at what a lovely time we had - cheese, wine, and Actual Real Conversation. It was fantastic! Many thanks to Anne and Rick for pulling out a last-minute invitation like that - it was so nice. 

I, for one, would happily get behind a periodic KTC event during which we didn't actually cook anything. The point would be to bring a bottle of something and sit around noshing on some easy snacks or takeout - and while away the hours just catching up and visiting. All in favor?

Stay tuned for October's update - coming (probably not very) soon!

December KTC event: Cookie Bake at Anne and Rick's!

For heaven’s sake, folks – it has been nearly two full months since our cookie bake, and I’m just getting a chance to write about it! The good news is that I’ve found a chunk of time, and the photos weren’t lost in the delay. The bad news is that after such a long time, my recall has grown fuzzy – eeek! So I’m going to soldier ahead, and if you see any glaring mistakes—or if you remember something I seem to have flat-out forgotten about—please let me know by commenting the blog post or emailing me and I will fix it. Apologies in advance!

I feel pretty sure that the morning began grey and rainy (pretty safe bet for December in Seattle, right?). We assembled at Rick and Anne’s place, where nearly all the gang was in attendance, with the exception of William, who as I recall (and not very well) had a prior commitment and was participating in some other function. We were also graced by the company of Damian’s niece, Clare, who enthusiastically jumped right into our crazy mix of folks, jokes, and pokes.

Anne and Rick put coffee on, and we got down to business. Anne had made chocolate crinkle cookies, and Rick had completed the first steps for his world-famous chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookie sandwiches the night before. A mountain of beautiful peanut-butter cookies awaited their requisite warm bath in melted chocolate. Come to think of it, I might enjoy one of those myself…
Meg volunteered to take on this task, which she carried out with great aplomb as Rick supervised:

Since, from the face in that photo, I could easily see that Rick was actually only fake-supervising, I requested that he actually pose for the picture in an attempt to save his authoritative image. Better!

Meanwhile, Joyce and Jessica arrived. While Joyce hung up their coats with care…

Jessica tied on her apron and immediately got to work on her own famous holiday ginger cookies:

Meg finished the peanut butter cookies and jumped right into her Kourambethes – a Greek version of what I always knew as Mexican Wedding Cookies. She even got all professional-like with her fancy measured cookie dough scoop!

Here’s the first batch, baked and powdered:

After the coffee was cleared away, Shawn found a clean corner of countertop and began rolling out the dough for her cardamom-sugar palmiers.

Over at the kitchen table, Damian, Clare, and Frank concentrated on making a small holiday assembly line for holiday oatmeal and M&M cookies.

And here’s the first batch awaiting its oven slot:

Next up, one of what was surely one of the most fun moments of the afternoon, although I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if I can remember what the heck was going on. Do you remember? If so, DO be a dear and email me or comment below to remind me, and I’ll update accordingly.

All I know is that Joyce has some serious SWING.

Shortly after that dazzling display of dance, Joyce got to work making pizzelles—chocolate mint flavor (I think?). 

As sometimes happens when using an appliance that is only hauled out into use a time or two a year, the first few pizzelles were less lovely than Joyce’s fancy footwork, since it always takes a bit of time to re-learn how much batter to put on the iron, how long to cook the cookies for, etc. 

Soon enough, however, Joyce worked out the bugs, and called upon our favorite Colombian cook, Fernando, to loan her his impressively-developed bicep to sustain her plate:

…And said final product, up close:

Once everyone’s batters were finished and cookies were in the oven, there wasn’t much else to do except to cut up a bit. Here’s Damian and Clare mugging for the camera:

And this was possible the funniest photo of the day:

About this time, the ginger cookies started coming out of the oven. Can’t you just smell them?

Shawn decided she’d try her hand at pralines, even though every good Southern cook knows that trying to make candy on a rainy day is not a very smart idea. Fearlessly, she dumped in the sugars, cream, and butter anyway, confident that things would turn out rosily—after all, humidity in Houston is 98% with 102 degree temperatures…Surely less humidity and lower temps couldn’t hurt the candy, could it?

Looks pretty good to start:

And things seemed to work out well – we folded in the pecans. Looks yummy, no?

In an impressive feat of group effort, we poured out the cooked candy onto wax paper, and Anne and Shawn carried the pralines down to the basement to set up. 

Last up were the cardamom palmiers. Shawn had rolled out the dough and carried out the intricate 8-layer folding technique earlier—after an hour in the fridge, it was ready to slice. Here’s the first batch, sliced and awaiting a sprinkle of cardamom sugar:

Close-up, post-sugar:

Palmiers in the oven, it was time to prepare for lunch! On the menu was the infamous Mama Priore’s Spaghetti. According to Anne, “Mama Priore’s sauce is tomato-based and has meat (meatballs and Italian (chicken) sausage), but we would be pleased to make a veg-only red sauce as well.”
And so it was. 

Sauces a-burbled on the stove…

Bread and salad were also on the menu. Hazelnuts were chopped…

Veggies were chopped…

Whoops! Time to pull the palmiers out of the oven! 

The leftover cardamom sugar went home with Meg, who reportedly added it to her morning coffee until it ran out. UPDATE 17/FEB: Meg actually used this cardamom sugar in the topping for an apple crisp! She swears she'll never not use cardamom for apple crisp - it's very grown-up! Back to lunch…

We assembled the salad, which even now looks just as gorgeous as it did then. Anyone else getting hungry?

Drawn by the delectable aromas wafting from the kitchen, folks began to assemble at the table.

Anne readied the spaghetti…

Et voilà!

Of course, we stuffed ourselves silly. Even Clare, who follows a gluten-free diet, joined in with gusto with plate of rice noodles. This would be a spaghetti luncheon to end all luncheons. We ate our first plate full, and then most of us (present company included!) ate a second plate. Mama Priore, we have one word to say: “Yum!”

 

And then…a moment of delight, quickly followed by a moment of dread. Delight, because we were presented with this:

Dread, because we were STUFFED. I didn’t have any other fasteners on my pants I could unbutton, and when Fernando quietly reminded me of our dinner plans with our old-school butcher friend, Jack, a scant two hours from “cookie-time,” I wondered if it would be possible for us to feign a medical emergency of some kind, just to postpone having to put anything else in our mouths.

But, the force was with us, as evidenced here:

You will be better able to appreciate how such a feat was possible if you see our collection of oh-so-decadent goodies up close:

Closer, you say? Here you go!

 

 

So, there you have it. Several extra holiday-related pounds later, we finally revisit our December cookie bake. Next up, an update about Shawn and Joyce’s ingredient trio event in January. Till then, you will be able to find me (and my five new pounds!) at the gym! Toodle-loo!