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.
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!
Hi all! As you know, as a result of a few scheduling changes, we decided to forgo our "official" monthly KTC gathering for the month of April and postpone until May. This decision left many of us with an open spot on our calendar where the April meeting was, and Meg had a special young houseguest in town (Shout-out to Julian!).
These two facts combined allowed us a "bonus" meeting of sorts, as Meg graciously invited all Kissers who could attend to her home to share snacks, wine, laughs, and homemade pizza! Woo-hoo!
It's funny how every year I forget how spectacular springtime is in Seattle until it's staring me in the face. The Japanese magnolia (I recently learned that this plant is also called a "tulip tree!" Isn't that fun?) in Meg's yard was stunning.
Julian's dad Jeremy had made a delicious guacamole, with the (at least, for me) unusual addition of sour cream - It was super-delicious, and another fabulous reminder that the Northwest weather pendulum was finally swinging back from "dreary" to "fabulous" - After all, what says summertime like fresh guac?
We chatted and noshed...
And then it was time to get to work. The day's plan was low-key: We had several different pizza crust options, and we decided to try them all to see which we preferred.
The contenders:
Meg and Julian had mixed up a double-rise pizza dough the night before, so not much to do with that one except shape the dough...
We also would try a ready-to-use dough from Trader Joes. You can also toss it right in the freezer...thaws out quickly and surprisingly tasty and easy to use!
Here are these two doughs, shaped and resting...The "O" traced in the flour below the first row of doughs indicates that these discs were of the "Overnight" dough, whereas the "T" you see to the right of the second row of dough discs indicates dough from "Trader Joe's." Clever, right?
We also mixed up a "quick rise" dough for same-day use, and Damian had brought along a gluten-free pizza dough as well.
While the doughs rested, there wasn't much else to do, so we had time for a more in-depth discussion than usual. Here, Frank explains something deep to Anne...
Here, Damian and special guest Shelley consider the points they raised in their own profound conversation...
Special guest William expounds on a topic...
Then, as quickly as we'd settled into talk time, it was time to keep moving and put together the pizza toppings. Before assembling the fixin's, Shawn and Anne snapped the latest in their photographic series, "Burgeoning Belly 2012."
Olives! We would put olives on our pizza!
And bacon, and artichoke hearts!
And asiago cheese!
And plenty of mozzarella cheese!
But not this moldy bit of mozzarella - sharp-eyed Shelley found this and deftly removed it before any of us could mistakenly scatter it on top of a pizza crust. Looks rather menacing, doesn't it?
There were plenty of other goodies as well. here's the full line-up, spanning the entire island in Meg's kitchen...Yes, that's Meg's homemade marinara AND her homemade pesto waiting anxiously nearby!
I forgot to mention that our meeting coincided perfectly with Passover. As such, poor Anne wouldn't be joining us for any leavened treats - she brought her own special square pizza crusts to use, shown here with the quick-rise dough!
Meg and Shelley shared a very special announcement...Congratulations!!
And Shelley demonstrates how to tell someone off without them even realizing it - Sheer brilliance! I'll use this the next time I see that someone is "super-duper upset" about something (Thanks, Shelley!!).
Now, it was time to get to work. These pizzas wouldn't take very long to bake, so we determined that "assembly-line" style made the most sense.
So we selected our favorite pizza dough...
Rolled and stretched it out...The best trick of the night was to place the raw dough directly on parchment paper, and then a few minutes into baking, slide the parchment out from under the already-set dough to re-use for the next pie. Neat!
And lined up at our toppings buffet to dress up our creations!
The first pizza came out quickly - crispy on the bottom...
And beautiful from the top!
It was so much fun - Each person had his or her own style of pizza adornment. Here's a small selection of the variety and gastronomical goodness that made up our subsequent pizza feast:
Shawn fooled around with what she would look like if she were a cross between Joan Rivers and a 7-foot alien...
Poor Anne displays her unleavened "pizza crust" - Three cheers for matzo!
Still, a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do. It looks nearly tasty with stuff on it!
We mixed up a quick salad, the fixings for which Meg and Julian had carefully chosen earlier that morning in the Pike Market...
And everyone settled in to informally eat, sip, chat, and chuckle...
Because of the way the pizzas came out of the oven continually, the "eat, sip, chat, chuckle" cycle repeated itself during a large part of the evening. Fun!
Pretty soon, our appetites sated, the rations began dwindling a bit...
As we continued to sip and chat, Julian and Meg got started on a typically super-fast and easy instant sorbet - we'd use frozen peaches and a bit of simple syrup to create a fast and healthy treat with the assistance of only a food processor! Sounds easy, right?
Julian got right to work, adding the frozen peaches...
There they are! Big, beautiful peaches!
Here, Julian tries to cram in just a few more - he's nearly got it full!
The problem was that the peaches which weren't already frozen in super-large chunks to start with (of which there were several) had stuck together upon freezing to become their own super-large chunks.
Of course, we all knew that the food processor runs more efficiently if the things you throw into it are of uniform, medium-sized pieces, but we figured it couldn't be all that bad. After all, it was just fruit, right?
In the end, it wasn't actually working so well. So Jeremy helped us out by slicing up the frozen peaches into smaller chunks.
We didn't want to add too much liquid to the sorbet, so things were moving pretty slow. Meg helped the process along by using a spatula to shove down the surface-dwelling peach chunks as the blades turned beneath.
This worked well until, well, it didn't. Suddenly, we realized there might be a small problem when we saw this...Notice anything odd about that spatula?
A cursory review of the sorbet revealed that, against all our hopes to the contrary, the food processor had done a marvelous job of processing the end of the spatula evenly throughout the sorbet in teensy little silicone bits. We were horrified!
Julian made the sad announcement that we would actually NOT be enjoying sorbet for dessert. A chorus arose: "It doesn't matter! We'll eat around the pieces! Serve it anyway! If CORN can come out...How bad could it be?"
After briefly conferring, the decision was announced: "Let them eat silicone-spatula-contaminated sorbet!"
It looks so innocuous!
Here, Meg poses with the ill-fated spatula in her fabulous chef's garb. Ain't she cute?
And here's another, with Julian (and Jeremy in the back!)...
We realized we hadn't gotten a good look at Meg's chef pants, so Rick stepped right up to assist in their preservation as part of our bloggy record here. What a guy! I loved this photo.
In the end, we all collected the larger bits of spatula that we found in our respective dishes of sorbet. What a hoot!
So there you have it! The evening wound down. We didn't actually get around to doing any scientific-ish taste-testing to see which of the crusts we liked better, but in the end, it didn't really matter. Many thanks to Meg for hosting such a fabulous and low-key gig!
Next up, Jessica and Fernando host on May 19, more details to follow. Also, keep June 16 on your calendars - That one will be hosted by Frank and Meg. After that, we still need to plan future hosts, so perhaps we can discuss at the next session?
UPCOMING KTC SCHEDULE:
May 19: Fernando and Jessica (Originally April 7, rescheduled due to conflicts)
June 16: Meg and Frank (originally planned for May 19)
Our group has been cooking together at least once a month for more than a decade. From French Laundry to homemade s'mores to flavors of Asia and pastry experiments, we love to cook (and eat!) it all!
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!
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!
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