Robin's "Architectural Cold Eggs Benedict Salad"

I (Robin) made a creative breakfast today ... An Architectural Cold Eggs Benedict Salad - artichoke bottoms on a slice of tomato over lettuce and spinach, filled with crab meat and a half hard-boiled quail egg topped with a sauce of leftover garlic aoli [essentially hollandaise - homemade mayonaise] with chopped tarragon to resemble Bearnaise sauce. (Photo to the left is the prep work. Love the spotted quail eggs! Photo below is the plated salad. YUM-O!) Bob took photos ... they will be blogged later. (Here they are!)
Drinking fruit flavored water - fresh pineapple chunks and orange slices in water with mint leaves. No sweetener other than the fruit. I want to try the Raspberry / Lime, Watermelon/Rosemary and Blackberry/Sage waters too. Have had cucumber/lemon slices in water lots - very refreshing and natural. Can always use no-cal sparkling water instead of plain water. Of course we do keep Schweppes Tonic water on hand to mix with gin for keeping Malaria away!

Architectural Cold Eggs Benedict Salad

The Wine Century Club

A couple of years ago I qualified for membership in the Wine Century Club by completing my application listing 100 wine grape varieties I had tasted. At the time,

this seemed like a lot and the idea of getting to 200 seemed unimaginable, so I just relaxed, framed my certificate and hung it on the wall in the wine cellar. I also purchased the DeLong Grape Varieties deluxe wall chart package. [~ $30]The chart resembles the periodic table of elements. We also purchased one for grandson, Chris and our friend, Cristi from the Buzz, who was studying to be a certified Sommelier. She has hers beautifully framed and hanging in the Buzz coffee/wine Café. There are now quite a number of regional century club tasting groups, meeting to widen the education of members and increase the number of varietals tasted. Here is a link to the Wine Century Club where you can apply for membership.

Boise Wine Club

Sometimes, especially this time of year, Boise feels like it is Restless .... always moving. On December 26, 2010, the Boise Wine Club held their third wine tasting at the Red Feather
Lounge in downtown Boise. Tonight the tasting included some wonderful wines from Austria and Portugal.

Usually, there is no charge for this monthly event, just bring a bottle of themed wine to share. But it was decided that in order to have a Waite Person assigned to us by the Red Feather Lounge, we will start to charge a nominal fee of $10.00 per person and still bring a bottle of wine to share. We hope that you enjoy these photos of the evening party and we thank the Red Feather Lounge and their staff for their hospitality. They are always so very gracious and we do enjoy ourselves. Let's start with the wines Robin and I took and some Appetizers.

These are the wines that Robin and I took. The variety of others was great.

Country Pâté
(Pâté Maison Terrine)

Duck Confit

Cheese Plate

Here are the folks that attended. It was good to meet some new ones and see some of the others again.

Cameron

Jack and Kerry

Adele and Sean

Bobby

Bobby decants a port while Ted (hidden) and Michelle look on.

Michelle

Scott

Cheers!

Following up on communion wines and Paris

From my first posting about my first experience tasting wine, I have received information, feedback and comments about the wines served and the personality or lack thereof for the Reverand Mr. Ludlow.

The wines were often Sherries or Tawny Ports, according to my source, who was one of the altar boys. They were never allowed to see the labels as the adults of the Altar Guild filled the glass decanters that were ceremoniously used by the Altar Boys during communion to fill the Chalice. No deep red wines were allowed to be served as representing the 'blood' of Christ to avoid staining the sacred vessels and linens. The main consideration was the price. Often wines were donated by Parishoners. My sister remembers Kosher Concord wines - Manischevitz [Because she saw a bottle in the trash] and that could have been true, as she is 7 years younger than I and they could have taken advantage of some great bargain sales.

A long time friend who also attended St. Thomas, remembers The Reverend Mr. Ludlow as "Staid". In my opinion he had no 'joy' about him; he rarely laughed; he occasionally smiled. Most of the time he looked and acted like a sad bloodhound, down in the eyes and mouth.

From Le Café de Paris, we were delighted to receive a Pâté Maison Terrine and a Baguette from Mathieu - a Christmas gift. Mathieu has since shared his recipe and we may have to work on
perfecting our terrine making. A little more complex and elegant than meatloaf, but very practical daily fare in most of France. Bob has posted the recipe on the Boise Foodie Blog.

Jan thoroughly enjoyed the music - Frim Fram duet keyboard and fiddle/violin. She's thinking about taking lessons after New Years. Her son plays fiddle in a great modern 'pop' group, although trained in classical violin - fiddling seems to be a lot of fun for him.

Barbara gifted us with her latest book, "White Silk, Dark Chocolate, and a Little Bit of Magic." It was her birthday and she enjoys a generosity of spirit, good wine and great food.

Truly a little bit of magic in Boise is the Le Café de Paris!