deVine Table

Skiing Date Props

Remember the Mystery Date game? The premise was for the player to collect enough cards in order to be ready for the date that will appear when she opens the door. The cards identify different components of an outfit. Naturally, each outfit corresponds to one of four dating scenarios including the formal dance date, bowling date, skiing date, and the beach date.

Keeping those scenarios in mind, what would happen if you replace collecting the right outfit with procuring corresponding wine and food? For example, say you’re going to the beach. What wine would you want to drink? Then consider what food you’d want to take on a beach date. Doesn’t that make food and wine pairing sound a lot easier than navigating a lot of rules about tannin and acidity in wine?

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A Pairing for Apricots

Life as a student at Northwest Wine Academy is full of challenges. The biggest challenge of them all? What food and wine pairing to present on the final night of class. This quarter the class I took was Varietals III which covers a variety of libations beyond wine such as beer, cider, sake, and spirits.

The idea for the pairing I presented came to me the night we tasted ciders in class. While tasting an apricot cider, this recipe that I have prepared for dinner parties came to mind. It’s a nice way to end a meal when you don’t feel like having an overly sweet treat.

I’ve adapted this from The Lavender Cookbook by Sharon Shipley. Serves 20. (more…)

The food and wine pairing classes I’ve taken at Northwest Wine Academy have had an ongoing influence on me. In Varietals II where red wine is explored at great length, we were tasked with serving a dish to pair with Malbec. I’m now obsessed with pairing food with Malbec. All the time. Seriously. (more…)

Raising a Glass During a Class Presentation

Tonight was the last night of summer quarter at the Northwest Wine Academy. As with all of our food and wine pairing classes, students are required to present a food and wine pairing assignment to the class. The challenge this time was to prepare a menu featuring one wine paired with multiple dishes.

Anything Goes

Unlike previous classes where we each prepared and conducted our presentations solo, this one required working in teams. I was lucky to have Bean and Teri as my partners. Bean and I have a lot of “practice” working together on food and wine pairings. After Teri joined us for a virtual tasting, we could tell she shared some of our sensibilities, and brought some new food for thought to the table (pun totally intended!).

Teri Prepping Apricot Graham Snacker

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Tabbouleh Salad

This quarter I’m enrolled in the Advanced Food and Wine Pairing class at Northwest Wine Academy. The topic of last week’s class was earthiness. Among the 12 food items served to us this evening by our instructor, Chef Lenny Rede, was tabbouleh salad.

Tabbouleh initially makes me think of lemon. Lemon makes me think of Pinot Grigio. So, I usually drink Pinot Grigio with tabbouleh.  In fact we enjoyed the 2008 Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Grigio with our tabbouleh at dinner the other night. While that is definitely a white wine option, there are possibilities beyond white wine with this salad.

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