simon pearce + harpoon = love

i love the idea of a wine pairing dinner. food and wine prepared by those who know and paired together in expert fashion, all designed to enhance the taste and experience of it all. what could be better? plus, it's like a little mini culinary lesson where you just have to learn and enjoy and not do all the work! and while i would love a wine pairing dinner, i know so very little about wine, the sheer magnitude of the evening coupled with the fear of embarassment would be too much for me. so when i got this email from my friends (yes, friends) at simon pearce, i just got giddy thinking about this beer pairing dinner - it seems right up my alley, as it is so very vermont, so very local and so very mr. frederickson. bless his heart, as he tries to be a wine guy, but his true love is a nice cold ipa. and after reading the menu they have prepared, i really can't say i blame him. and, to top it all off, you know the beer is going to be served in these beauties

here's what the menu looks like:

• sparkling cider taste
• yellowfin tuna ceviche, oranges, spicy chiles, toasted coriander popcorn & ufo hefeweizen and ufo white
• grilled venison "sliders" stone ground wheat pretzel roll, local honey grain mustard dip, sea salt and vinegar chips & ipa
• sweet and sour roasted pork shoulder, toasted coconut, pineapple, sweet potato fries & 100 barrel series "pott's landbier"
• braised bison short ribaged cheddar potato gratin, broccoli, malt jus & leviathan series "big bohemian pilsner"
• marinated raspberry foolpink peppercorns, mascarpone, toasted almond crisp & ufo raspberry hefeweizen

and here are the rest of the details: join us in our private dining room for a four-course tasting dinner and educational event featuring selections from harpoon brewery. tuesday, july 20, beginning at 7pm $55 per person for more info, click here. so c'mon, who's in?

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wine wednesdays

alright friends, please mark your calendars for saturday june 26th for the first annual burlington wine & food festival. that's right - a wine festival right here in vermont! what could be better!? this just might be the best thing to happen to wine wednesdays, since, well, since the invention of wine wednesdays!

this wine extravaganza is replacing the much loved green mountain chew festival that expired last year after 24 seasons as the waterfront festival of choice for the month of june (may has the vermont marathon, july has brewfest)

so, how does it work, you ask? well, it's simple - for $40 a head, you will get a wine glass and 15 swigs from any of the 350 showcase winess, a voucher for one food item from a featured restaurant (so far l'amante, miguel’s on main, the belted cow bistro, trattoria delia and souza's have signed on) and unlimited artisan bread and vermont cheese, all while strolling the beautiful waterfront park.

i'm sold!! who's with me?

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oh, sweet weekend...

it's here! it's here! maple sugar weekend is here.

really, it's better than christmas for any vermonter with a sweet tooth and a soft spot for sap buckets and rubber boots

(hmm..who could that be!?)

with so many great options, where will you be enjoying sugar on snow this weekend!?

for more foodie events across the state, check out the recent post from slow food vermont - looks like it will be a weekend full of pancakes & wine for this girl. yum.

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grilled cheese cook-off.

so, since my last post i have done a little (ok, a lot) of research about grilled cheese sandwiches, since it is such an obvious addition to chicken noodle soup. and that's when i made the most amazing discovery of all...

...vermont has a grilled cheese cook off. that's right. it is held every june at the strolling of the heffers weekend in brattleboro. so mark your calendars, for june 4-6th, 2010. grilled cheese heaven, here we come!

just to get your mouth watering a bit, here is a sample of last year's winning recipes. all made with fresh, local, vermont ingredients. now i have to decide what to make tonight. decisions, decisions...

taste of vermont’s seasons goodness
what you need:
2 slices pane siciliano bread from la panciata
1 tbls. cabot creamery butter
2 oz. vermont shephard cheese
2 oz. grafton 2-yr. cheddar
2 each thinly sliced fresh pear
½ tsp. vermont honey
2.5 oz. cob smoked harrington's vermont ham (shaved)
½ tsp. 5-grain mustard
what you do:
lightly butter 2 slices of bread. sauté fresh pear in 1 tsp. butter for 1 minute, add honey – remove from heat. slice cheese thinly – place cheddar on non buttered side of bread. add pear. add ham and spread mustard on ham. top with vermont shepherd and buttered bread. grill until evenly browned and crispy. cut on diagonal (very important) serves 1.

mad good grilled cheese sandwich

what you need:
1 lb. grafton 2 yr cheddar
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced fine
½ cup roasted red peppers, chopped fine(about one fresh roasted)
⅓ cup toasted pecans, chopped fine
1 Tbls. worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. tabasco sauce (or more to taste)
1 large handful minced parsley
8 slices red hen mad river grain bread
butter for frying
what you do:
blend softened cream cheese with all ingredients except the grafton cheddar, stir in the cheddar. heap a generous amount onto bread. heat butter in heavy pan, add sandwich and fry each side over medium low heat till melted and browned. serves: 4-6, depending on who is loading them.

south-of-the-border grilled flatbread, vermont style
what you need:
1 12” against the grain gourmet 3-cheese pizza shell
4 oz. neighborly farms chipotle cheddar cheese, grated
2 tbls. refried black beans
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (vermont smoke and cure, thick sliced)
2-3 tbls. cilantro vinaigrette (1 tbls. fresh chopped cilantro, 2 parts oil, 1 part white balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper to taste)
what you do:
prepare cilantro vinaigrette ahead of time for optimum flavor. cut pizza shell into halves. brush the top surface of each half liberally with cilantro vinaigrette. spread a thin layer of refried black beans on the bottom surface of one half, and top with grated cheese and bacon crumbles. close the flatbread sandwich and place on grill. Grill for 4-5 minutes until the cheese is melted and shell is toasted with golden grill marks. cut into quarters with pizza cutter to serve. serves: 4

the apple snap

what you need:
2 slices vermont bread's organic white bread
4 slices grafton-5 star cheddar cheese
3-4 slices tart apple (honey crisp, empire, etc.)
1 ½ tbsp. caramelized onions
what you do:
caramelize onions. peel and slice apple. grate cheese. melt butter in pan. grill sandwich. serves 1.

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