A DAY IN YOUNTVILLE

We took a day trip today to Yountville. We got there around 2 so we checked out the little shops. Across from Bottega is Napa Style, Michael Chiarello shop featuring all his products. I bought some Chardonay Oak Smoked Salt and a bottle of olive oil. Isn't that convenient that his shop is right across from his restaurant. After buying my goodies we walked across the street to check out what Buchon had on their menu in case we couldn't get a table at Bottega. I thought it would be fun to just have some appetizers at Buchon and maybe just walk down the street grazing if we couldn't get into Bottega.We got a seat in the bar area and ordered drinks. They brought us out some great bread and butter

Charlie had the Mussels with cocktail and a Dijon aoli. They were some of the best mussels I've had, very fresh. Charlie enjoyed them also.I had the Rustic Pate with mustard and cornishon with a little arugula salad. It was sprinkled with some course salt..delicious! Then I noticed how many Pomme Frites (french fries) that came with the sandwiches. Charlie doesn't even like fries but he ordered an order of them just to see if the were good. They were wonderful! Hot, crispy and salty. I wish he hadn't ordered them I love fries, I was doing good but now I want to eat all the fries! I had to make the waiter take them away so I didn't keep picking at them.

After all those fries we thought we'd better take a walk down the street to work off some of the fries.. it was 3:45 and we were supposed to get to Bottega at 5:00. We walked down the street and checked out the menus at Bistro Jeanty and also Ad Hoc. We walked around for a while then headed back to Bottega to see if we could get a table.

We got back to Bottega about 4:45 and I check in to see if we could get a table. I was told that we could sit in the bar area but it was first come first served or sit out on the patio with reservations at 5:00. I decided the patio would be nice since the weather was so beautiful. We started with more cocktails.. I had the Chiarello Cab. and Charlie had his Margarita.

I started with the Wood Grilled Octopus with olive oil braised potato, pickled red onion and salsa verde. The octopus was so tender and it was a delicious salad.

Charlie had the Shaved Brussel Sprout and Asparagus Salad (sorry the color on the pic is so off)

with Marcona almonds,sieved eggs, Pecornio and citrus vinaigrette. It was delicious. I never thought to use brussel sprouts raw or asparagus for that matter either.

Charlie had the Wood Grilled Spiced Quail with pork and olive sausage, Calabrese braised romano beans, yukon gold potato and a red wine quail reduction.. so good.
I had the Eggplant Goat Cheese Lasagnette with an arugula salad. It was very tasty and creamy.

Of course, desert. We shared the Strawberry,Black Pepper and Balsamic vinegar with whipped cream over a slice of some kind of cake. Cake was dry but the strawberries were refreshing. With the desert the waiter recommended a Birbet a light fruity wine, like a muscat but though it wasn't, it tasted like it was effervescent.It was a great day, we hadn't been to Yountville in a few years and the food was wonderful and fun. Next time I'm definitely going to go Buchon for dinner.. give me an excuse to go back.

INDIAN COOKING CLASS

Saturday night The Sacramento Epicureans hosted an Indian cooking class taught by Shankari Easwaran. Mel of Cooking Schmooking...No Problem and I went early since Mel had volunteered to help prep. There were about 11 or 12 of us attending the class, a great group of women who were all a lot of fun. The menu for the evening was Chicken Pakoda, Carrot Salad, Cumin Rice, Chicken Curry and Mango Lassi. This was a demonstration class with Shankari explaining the spices that went into Indian cuisine and explaining the fact that there is no such thing as curry powder. She passed around the spices and herbs and let us all smell and feel and even taste the various spices and spice blends that she made. We were all encouraged to gather around for a better look as she was preparing each dish and ask any questions we might have. Everything was smelling so good and everyone was more than ready to eat. After all the dishes were completed and dished up we all sat down to a wonderfully delicious meal.
Mel and Rajesh working on the rice

Basmati rice seasoned with cinnamon, bay leaf and cumin.

Chicken Pakoda ready for frying

chunks of chicken marinated in a mixture of yogurt and spices then mixed with egg and rice flour and deep fried.

Chicken Curry

Chicken drumsticks marinated with turmeric and salt then stewed mix of spices

The Chicken Pakoda

Rice and Carrot Salad

Chicken Curry

everyone enjoying the meal

MORE FREEBIES THIS WEEKEND

Five Fabulous Finds: Sopapillas, lip balm and calculators...free! Check out the freebies this weekend from Baskin-Robbins, Staples and more.

FREE ICE CREAM AT WAL-MART

Saturday from 11:00am to 4:00pm Wal-Mart Superstores will be giving away free ice cream.
In the Sacramento Area the give aways will be at these stores:
755 Riverpoint Ct
West Sacramento

5821 Antelope Rd
Sacramento CA

7010 Auburn Blvd
Citrus Heights

900 Pleasant Grove Rd
Roseville

8961 Greenback Ln
Orangevale

AN 11 YEAR OLD'S PARTY

My granddaughter had her 11th birthday party this past weekend. All 17 kids who were invited attended. The economy and no one is traveling on Memorial Day this year?
They were loud...LOUD! I guess we were the same at that age too? My gosh, I couldn't believe how much 8, 11 year old boys could eat and drink! Of course the girls did their share of eating also, but it was the boys I saw around the food table. We put out Pita bread and Hummus and Tziki for snacks.. gone in a blink of the eye. Everyone kept telling us that kids don't eat that kind of stuff... heck if they don't. We went through 2 gallons of lemonade, had to find the container of Cool Aid, which made a couple of gallons, a gallon of Cranberry juice..that kind of put a damper on their drinking.. it was just too healthy but they did opt for water, which we had plenty of and for free!. We also had barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers had Chinese Chicken Salad and fresh fruit salad. The kids did a good job on all that too. What was left, we grown ups got to eat. This was a "No birthday cake" party.. had to have pie. 3 pies gone in the blink of an eye..well, maybe there was half a cherry pie left over. My daughter and sister and I just kept looking at each other in shock every time something was devoured. The kids were fun, they had fun playing games and all in all it was a great party. The boys left and the girls stayed over for a sleep over. Luckily they have a huge workshop in the back of the property.. we backed in the truck and SUV and had a pull out couch, set up a digital projector and the girls had a drive-in night. Plugged in the microwave so they could have popcorn, also there was candy, soda and chips.. These girls can do damage to junk food! I think they ate all night long. They were up by 8 and my daughter fixed pancakes, sausage, eggs and juice for breakfast. By 11:00 am they were all being picked up and we got to have some much needed quiet.
Here us a recipe for the Chinese Chicken Salad..

Dressing:

3/4C vegetable oil

1/4C sesame oil

1 C rice wine vinegar (don't substitute with any other kind of vinegar)

3tsp or 1 packet chicken broth powder base

1 C sugar

2tsp black pepper

stir together well.

For the salad you can use what ever you like. Here are some suggestions: Romain lettuce, shredded cabbage, iceberg lettuce

shredded chicken (to make it easy use a rosisserie chicken)

Chinese parlsey (cilantro)

sesame seeds

green onions sliced thinly (white and green part)

pineapple chunks or mandarin oranges

chopped peanuts

something crisp, fried won ton strips or chow mein noodles

mix all together toss with dressing or serve dressing on the side. You can also serve the fried won ton or chow mein noodles on the side as well.. that way it doesn't get soggy.

VEGETABLE ENCHILADA W/ SPINACH SAUCE

This is a fairly long and involved recipe but well worth the time and effort. This is from our enchilada class at the Co-op Tuesday night with Gigi W. Like I said I'm not a big enchilada fan but this is so-o good.
SPINACH SAUCE
1T chopped garlic
1/4C finely chopped onion
2 pkg frozen spinach-drained of as much water as possible
1/4C flour
white wine
1/2 C chicken or vegetable stock
2C heavy whipping cream
1/2C cilantro
salt and pepper to taste
saute garlic and onions until lightly browned. Add spinach and saute for a couple of minutes, sprinkle in flour. Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine, whisk in the stack and swirl for a minute. Add cream and simmer until it starts to reduce and thicken. Add cilantro, salt and pepper.
Put into blender and blend until smooth. Adjust seasoning and consistency- it should be thin.

ENCHILADAS
12 flour tortillas (taco size)
olive oil and butter for sauteing
1C onions chopped
4 Poblano (pasilla) peppers roasted and peeled, deseed and chopped
1box frozen chopped spinach drained
1 corn on the cob, kernels removed or 11/2C frozen corn, approx.
1 zucchini, small diced
1T. garlic minced
1 8oz pkg cream cheese-cubed
1C pepper jack cheese shredded
1T chili powder
shot of Tabasco
salt and pepper to taste
4C jack cheese shredded for topping
In saute pan melt butter and oil. Add all the vegetables and saute for about 3 min. Add garlic and continue to saute until almost tender. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and add the cheeses.
Season with chili powder, Tabasco and salt and pepper.
To assemble:
in a 9X12 pan add some of the spinach sauce to the bottom
Take a tortilla, and some filling to the middle and roll up, place in pan seam side down. Continue with the rest or the tortilla and filling. Pour sauce over covering the enchiladas, sprinkle with jack cheese. Bake at 350 for half an hour or until hot and cheese is melted. You may want to cover the pan with foil for the first 20 min or so then uncover and bake until cheese is bubbly.

Shady Lady and the Free Badge Serenaders

I was going to blog about Greg's (Saceats) duo's performance last night at the Shady Lady Saloon but, I couldn't hear them. The bar is all brick work and wooden floor which makes it very noisy.
At first we were at a booth right next to the little stage and I joked with Greg he may have to turn down the speakers. A booth opened up behind us so we moved back a spot. I guess we should have stayed where we were. Maybe the people sitting at the bar or across the room got better sound since that is the way the sound system was directed, we were on the side. So, I'm sorry to say I know they play great music but I can't tell you anything about the performance last night other than to say Greg and Pat looked like they were having fun up there.
We ran into Jenny and Phil and a couple of their friends and shared our booth with them so it turned out to be a great evening. I'll have to catch the Serenader's some other time in a more quiet venue.

RIBS

I thought it was a good day to barbecue some ribs. Since there is only 2 of us I did one rack. I cut it half and seasoned it with garlic powder, season salt and pepper. I always stack my ribs away from the coals. This way they baste themselves. Every 20 min. or so I rotate my stack, moving the bottom rack to the top.
Just let them cook slowly until almost done then I brush them with barbecue sauce and let them cook some more rotating the stack as usual and brushing with sauce every time I rotate them. You can stack about 3 or 4 racks of ribs without them falling over.
After they have cooked through I put them directly over the coals to caramelize the barbecue sauce.And there you have the juiciest self basted delicious ribs.

I found this barbecue sauce today at the grocery store. I think I've found the best bottled sauce. I've tried almost every one on the market and haven't really liked any of them all that much. But this one is great, not too sweet or vinegary and it has a slight spice to it.. perfect. This will be my go to sauce when I'm too lazy to make my own sauce.

MOXIE REVISTED

I was looking for a place to take my mother for Mother's Day dinner. I needed something quiet and not complicated. I can across Moxie plus a number of other places. I decided on Moxie forit's neighborhood feel and the good reviews it got. I hadn't been to Moxie in years but remembered the food as good. It was. Adam one of the owners works the front of the house. He is absolutelycharming. He gives you the menu and then recites all the daily specials. You will miss half of them if your not paying attention, but he will repeat them to you with lots of patients. He will also charm your pants off.. He could suggest tarantula livers and fava beans and be so charming and describe it so well, you'd order it. Luckily there wasn't anything quite so exotic. We started with the Calamari strips with a lime chili sauce, delicious. We also got the Kobe beef (ground) wrapped in fillo with mushroom, kind of a take on Beef Wellington/egg roll, what ever, it was also delicious..good start. My mother B-I-L, Charlie and mom had the Cesar salad. I guess it was good they all finished it. Entree was the Veal Piccata(great), Lamb, Seafood Pasta and Veal Scalopini. Huge portions, everyone liked their entrees. Desert was Cheesecake, chocolate decadence and a carrot cake (no nuts) and a thick hot chocolate..like the Spanish cocoa. We also had a couple bottles of the Rombaurer Merlot and Charlie had a couple of Hefeweizen.

Great dinner, great service and Adam.

Beef wraped in Fillo w/ mushroomsCalamari stips w/ chili lime sauce

Veal Picatta

Lamb

I'll have to keep Moxie in mind.. today was 2nd Saturday so parking was more a challenge than would probably be. I was pleased with the food and will be back for sure, will have to make this a definitely go to place.

Thanks Jeanne for my our dinner! See you in a couple of weeks in San Diego!

Remember to click on the Top 25

ALL YOU CAN EAT RAW BAR

our fist order of clams and oysters
the raw bar when we left (it was full of oysters,clams and shrimp when we first got there)

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the All You Can Eat Raw Bar nights. We went to night to check it out. It's not a bad deal for $19.99 per person, especially if your like Charlie and can eat tons of oysters. The deal is all you can eat oysters on the half shell, cooked shrimp and clams either steamed or raw. We decided to go with the raw oysters and oysters. The oysters were Fanny Bay from the Northwest (my favorite), and the clams were Manila. The oysters and clams are shucked as the order is placed, you get 6 oysters and I think it was a dozen clams and if you want shrimp about half a dozen. My only complaint is that the oysters were really small as were the clams and with only one guy at the raw bar shucking it takes forever. Luckily when we got there at 6:00 we were the only ones having the raw bar special. We wanted 2 orders of each the clamsand oysters but they brought only one order of a combination. We told our waitress that we wanted two orders of each but we got an order of clams and and order of oysters. Oh well, we let it slide. We also told our waitress that as soon as she left an order for us tell the guy shucking to start another order of each.. I ate about a dozen oysters and clams and that was enough for me, I had to switch to something else so I got a chicken breast. That was also a great deal, one chicken breast stuffed with sage and prosciutto over polenta, a whole meal 9.95. Charlie kept at his oysters and clams. In fact they ran out of clams. About 7:00 several other tables were having the raw bar deal so it started to take at least 15 to 20 min. between orders. We were there at 6:00 and left at 8:30p.m. by the time Charlie had his fill, which really wasn't' his fill he just got tired of waiting for his order. It's a great deal if you have a lot of time. I'm glad it was just the 2 of us or we would have been there until closing.

On another note, they downsized their menu. It used to be a really nice selection of small plates, salads, poultry, beef, lamb, fish.. all in a nice book like menu. Now it's a two sided plastic covered menu.. guess they took out everything that wasn't selling.

The bad: I called last night to make reservations, got a message machine telling me to leave a message but if we don't get a confirmation call our reservation is not valid. Never got a call. Called again this afternoon got the same message. E-mailed them to complain. Went on Open Table and made reservations. Not a good way to operate if you ask me.

Please click on the Top 25 before you leave.

SHADY LADY SALOON

I've been wanting to try the Shady Lady so we decided to stop by there for dinner Saturday night.

It is on the R Street Strip (15th & R) along with Cafe Bernardo, Burgers and Brew, Empire, Magpie Catering and a couple other establishments. The intent of the decor is that of a old time saloon. Lots of wood brick and the walls papered in red velveteen flocked wall paper. It actually reminded me of a bordello. As you walk in the bar area is in front with booths along the side, kitchen in the back.

The menu is brief, salads, sandwiches and small plates. We opted for the small plates. We got the Clams Casino, Bacon and Deviled Eggs, Mussels, and Pasta Puttanesca. The eggs had a good flavor but were a tad dry, the bacon was the thinnest sliced bacon I've ever seen you could practically see through it. I guess the thinnest of the bacon worked not to overwhelm the deviled egg. The clams were good but instead of putting the topping on top of the clam in the shell, they took the clams out and chopped them up and maybe added other chopped clam? When you dug into the clam shell you got red peppers,shallots,bacon and bread crumbs on top with pieces of clams rather than the clam itself coming off the shell. Plus the clam was tough, not like it would be if it had been just the original clam in the shell. The mussels were good, steamed in a broth of stout and chorizo and served with 3 slices of toasted and buttered french bread slices. In fact my husband ordered a second order of them. The Pasta Putanesca was my favorite. It was pasta in a spicy tomato sauce with capers and olives, and anchovies. . delicious. I also got an order of Fried Green Tomatoes. These were good with a crispy crust on a bed of aoli. Desert was a good authentic Strawberry Shortcake. It was made with a great tasking biscuit, whipped cream and strawberries.

Bacon and Eggs

Mussels and Beer

Pasta Puttanesca

Clams Casino

Strawberry Shortcake

As far as drinks they have a list of old time mixed drinks which maybe next time it would be fun to try a couple.

All in all it was pretty good, some things better than others. If I'm going to order small plates I'd rather go to Tuli bistro.

SPECIALS AT TRE

Oysters, shrimp,clams $19.95. Tre is offering an all you can eat raw bar on Tuesday and Wednesday.nights. Tuesday nights is also the All Night Happy Hours night. Wednesday is Wine Wednesday, wine tastings, wine flights wine dinners and nightly specials. Check the website for upcoming wine events.
I love Tre and when they have such great deals I love to try to take advantage of them.
Tre:www.trenights.com.
Howe and Hurley, across from Chevy's