our friends chris and kristy came up for the weekend and oh what a weekend it was! on friday night we took them to the herbfarm. the theme: dinner for red heads. every wine is a red wine.
2005 argyle-herbfarm "indigo" sparkling pinot noir, knudson vineyard
this was bottled by argyle specifcally for the herbfarm
Duck Now.
or maybe that should be duck, now! :-)
shaved duck breast wrapped black sesame grissini with pickled cherries, duck rillette with pepper shortbread with prune-lavendar gelee
loved the flavor of the grissini, altho i had to cut it instead of it being a finger food which the italian equivalent is.
the rillette was fantastic.
chef chris, pastry chef corey and sommelier tysan during the description of the meal.
and on the right our bread for the evening. house-churned jersey cow beutter, sourdough epi, multi grain loaves
2009 teutonic pinot meunier, borgo pass vineyard, williamette valley
Tuna in Red & Black
seared housemade pancetta wrapped st. jude albacore tuna, tuna tartare with fennel slaw, rye & puffed black rice tuille and pinot meunier syrup
i'm not a huge fennel or slaw fan but this was great with the tuna.
2009 palotai vineyard kadarka estate, umpqua valley
Bull's Blood Meets Bull's Blood
bull's blood beet with wild local mushrooms, winter vegetables and a seared foie gras emulsion (also cabbage leaf, black trumpet and yellowfoot (winter chantrelle) mushrooms
oh. wow. that was the 2nd best beet i've ever had. my plate had a cippolini onion, extra beet and no mushrooms.
also our table - and i don't know how many others as it was an item chef didn't have enough for everyone - we got a nice piece of skate! wow. i had tried skate wing once before. it was ok, but i wasn't overly thrilled. this however i could eat weekly. wow.
chef' chris and corey hard at work
2008 descendants liegeois dupont syrah, red mountain
Sausage, Greens & Roots
sweetbread sausage and (herbfarm) mangalitsa pork sausage with parsnip puree, kale and mustard greens, apple mostarda and a broken brown butter pork jus
this was amazing. it wasn't what i was expecting. ok, no problem, it's been fried which means it's that much better. when i cut into it was almost knocked back. the aroma that hit me was strong, powerful, earthy, and to be honest not 100% pleasing. but it wasn't off-putting, either. it was a very heavy dish. anyone who doesn't think this dish was full of flavor didn't try it.
2005 corliss estates malbec, columbia valley
Born of Fire
wood-grilled mishima ranch wagyu ribeye cap with fire roasted radishes, farm potatoes and oregon black truffle-charred hazelnut sauce with watercress chimichurri
this was fantastic. while the beef is a little red for me it had such a wonderful flavor and was so tender.
Journey in Blue
we ordered a glass of the 1993 tokaji esszencia. wine spectator awarded it 100 points.
rogue river creamery blue cheese and salted walnut cake with port-pickled pears and frisee and persian cress.
i'm not a huge blue fan but this was fantastic
Exploration of Red
red verjus-thyme gelee with balsamic froth and preserved red fruits
Three Faces of Chocolate
dark chocolate and chicory cream with dark chocolate cake, madeira-soaked figs and milk chocolate feuilletine and housemade molasses
this was quite yummy
dried cherry shortbread cookies
2007 abacela bastardo-tinta roriz port, southern oregon
Assembly of Frivolitieslavendar cream puff, sage macaroon, hazelnut and pumpkinseed nougat, strawberry-rose geranium paties de fruit
shortbread cookie with pomagranite jelly(?)
chris
kristy (with chris in the mirror)
the 4 of us
ddddd
once again we celebrated my 4 years' cancer-free at cafe juanita. this dinner was a little different than the past 3. over the past couple of years we've managed to obtain mark ryan's long haul red wine for each year's vintage dating 2000-2008. at this point we decided we had to have a party with the vertical tasting. so a party we will have!
