Day 1: Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves

Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves

Highway 121 (Arnold Drive)

Sonoma, California 95476

http://www.gloriaferrer.com/sonoma-visit/

On our way into Sonoma, we were starting to get hungry, and we saw the sign for Gloria Ferrer Champagne Caves and decided to drive in. As you drive into the caves, you pass through the rolling hills of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes to get to the building and caves. It is a lovely place with terrace overviewing the vineyard landscape.

While you are there, you can enjoy a tasting outside on the terrace or inside in the tasting room with some of their almonds that they offer or some light cheese, bread, and meats that they sell. They also have a restaurant on the other side of the estate. They also offer tours and tastings which are explained on their site which you can also visit their famous caves.  (They do require reservations if your group is 8 or more people.)

On our visit, we went out on the terrace enjoyed some of their popular 2008 Brut Rose with some manchego cheese, sourdough baguette, fig jam, and Columbus Uncured Fennel Salami. It was a great little snack to compliment the Rose sparkling wine that was full bodied and had some berry notes to the wine.

They are also known for their 2006 Royal Cuvee which is a white sparkling wine of theirs. Our waitress also suggested trying out the Pinot Noir wine since it was the original grape that the Ferrer family grew in Sonoma on the Carneros territory. The sparkling wine producing started after they came back from Champagne, France which is when started growing more Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.

Filipino Chicken Adobo

Serves 4

1 TBSP Olive Oil

1 Whole Garlic, Skinned and Chopped

2 C Chicken Broth

1 C Soy Sauce

1/2 C White Vinegar

3/4 Whole Bay Leaves

1/4 C Whole Peppercorns or 1/8 C Ground Black Pepper Corn

1 Whole Chicken, Sectioned or 5/6 Chicken Breast

Serve with white or brown rice

1. In a large stock pot on medium heat, add the oil and sauté the garlic. 

2. Next add the broth, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, peppercorns or pepper, and bring to a boil. (If you are using peppercorns, I recommend putting them with the bay leaves in cheese cloth and tying it, so you don't have to pick it all out later.) 

3. Now, add the chicken, reduce the temperature to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes to an hour. 

4. Once the chicken is cooked and tender, plate the chicken on top of the rice and pour as much adobo sauce on top. 

Zucchini Muffins with Coconut Oil

Makes 24 Muffins

3 Eggs
1 C Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
2 TSP Vanilla Extract
3/4 C White Sugar
3/4 C Light Brown Sugar
2 C Green/Yellow Zucchini

3 C All-Purpose Flour
1 TSP Baking Soda
1/2 TSP Baking Powder
1 TSP Sea Salt
1 TSP Cinnamon

1. Preheat oven 325 degrees fahrenheit.

2. Beat together eggs, coconut oil, vanilla extract, white sugar, brown sugar, zucchini. Mix until the ingredients are combined.

3. Mix in the dry ingredients one at a time the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix until it is all incorporated. Do not over mix.

4. Once mix, fill lined muffin pans 3/4 of the way full.

5. Bake for 20-22 minutes. Let cool and then enjoy!

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

Serves 4

1 Medium Spaghetti Squash, Cut in Half and Seeded
2 TSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 LB of Chicken Breast or Shrimp or Tofu
1 TSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 C Lime Juice or tamarind sauce
1 1/2 TBSP Fish Sauce
1 1/2 Soy Sauce
3 TBSP Cane Sugar
1 TBSP Chili Sauce
2 TBSP Peanut Butter

2 Shallots, Diced
3 Garlic, Diced
3/4 C Carrots, Julienned
2 Eggs, Beaten

5 Green Onions, Sliced
1/4 Cilantro, Chopped
1/4 Peanuts, Chopped/Whole and Lightly Salted

1. Preheat oven 450. Brush or spray flesh of the squash and bake on cookie sheet for 45 minutes face down. Then scrape squash with a fork.

2. In a pan, add oil to medium heat: cook chicken/tofu for 10-12 minutes or until cooked thoroughly, and shrimp cooks for 5 minutes or until boths sides are pink.

3. In a small sauce pot, simmer lime juice, fish sauce, soy sauce, cane sugar, chili sauce, and peanut butter.

4. Once protein is cooked, saute shallots, garlic, and carrot for a minute.

5. Then push vegetables to the side of the pan, and scramble the eggs.

6. Squash should be done by then add it to the protein and vegetables, and then mix in the sauce.

7. Finally serve and top with cilantro, green onion, peanuts, and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Makes a 9 inch round

3/4 C Butter, Unsalted and Room Temperature
3/4 C Brown Sugar, Packed
1/4 C Granulated Sugar
2 TSP Vanilla Extract
1 Egg

2 C All Purpose Flour
2 TSP Cornstarch
1 TSP Baking Powder
1/2 TSP Salt
3/4 C Chocolate Chips, Semi-Sweet

1. In medium bowl, cream together the butter with the sugars with an electric blender.

2. Next add the vanilla and egg to the wet mixture.

3. In a separate large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.

4.  Slowly mix in the dry mixture into the other bowl with the creamed ingredients. Once it is all mixed, fold in the chocolate chips.

5. Once everything is incorporated, cover to bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough chill. If you prefer the refrigerator,  let the dough chill for at least an hour. For a quick chill, put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

6. While the dough is chilling, preheat oven at 350 degrees fahrenheit and line the bottom of the springform pan with parchment paper.

7. Once dough is chilled, remove the dough out of the pan and press the dough into the pan.

8. Then bake for 20-25 minutes, and then raise the oven temperature to broil to cook the top of the cookie for about 2-3 minutes or until the top is browned.

9. Let cookie completely cool then you can ice the cookie with a border and decorations.

Vanilla Almond Granola

Make 3 Cups

2 1/2 C of Quick Cooking Steel Cut Oats
3/4 C Sliced Almonds
1/2 TSP of Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
1/2 C Honey
1/4 Coconut Oil
1/4 TSP Almond Extract
1 TBSP Vanilla Extract

1. Preheat oven 300 degrees fahrenheit.

2. In a small bowl, mix oats, almonds, cinnamon, and salt.

3. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the honey, coconut oil, and almond and vanilla extracts.

4. Thoroughly mix the honey mixture into the large bowl with everything else.

5. Then spread mixture onto cookie sheet with wax paper or baking mat.

5. Bake for 45 minutes, and mix every 15 minutes to evenly cook.

6. Once done baking, let the granola completely air cool which will allow the granola to be crunchy.

7. Finally once the granola is completely cooled, you can store and eat it on yogurt and fruit or ice cream.

Charcoal Brunch: Contemporary European

Yesterday, the girls and I were walking around the Golden Triangle area of Denver for brunch, and a lady in the area suggested Charcoal. Charcoal is a quaint spot off 9th avenue, 43 W 9th Avenue, Denver, Colorado 80204.

As we entered the restaurant, we saw a hostess stand with no one there, and a long wall covering the dining area. Since we did not see anyone, we walked past the wall to the open area. As we appeared, our waitress came to seat us. I believe since it was brunch that was the reason there was no hostess. 

As we were going over the menu, our waitress suggested not getting the swedish meatball which is not typically a breakfast item. She explained it is probably not something we are are thinking it would be since it was a deconstructive take on the dish. After we ordered, the waitress brought us a little starter of coffee cake. It was a sweet little bite before our meal. The cake was soft and had just enough cinnamon sugar crust on top.

One dish we ordered was a stack of mini Swedish pancakes with a lingonberry sauce and a dollop of fresh whipped cream. It was a very traditional, Swedish dish. The pancakes were these thin, mostly egg based pancakes were sweet from the whipped cream and tart from the lingonberry sauce.

Another dish was the Raraka, potato pancakes. The potato pancakes were more of a crunchy, puck shape potato cake rather than the traditional flat pancake. The normal order has scrambled eggs with sour cream, but we ordered poached eggs instead which makes a creamy sauce if you break the egg over the pancake. Another suggestion is keep the sour cream and ordering sunnyside up eggs, so you keep the creamy taste mixed with the crunchy potato pancakes. They also served smoked salmon that they smoke in house which is a great compliment with the pancakes.

The last dish was Pytt I Panna, short rib hash. It was a tart and savory dish. The mustard and pickled beets made the dish tart, and the short ribs and creamy poached eggs balanced the dish with savory flavors.

This restaurant offers a lot of great food, and we were pleased with our meal. They offer a great happy hour, so we will probably be back soon to check it out.

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/17/1627647/restaurant/Capitol-Hill/Charcoal-Denver"><img alt="Charcoal on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1627647/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>

Pikkas: Peruvian Food

Last weekend, my friends and I went to try out this place called Pikkas. Pikkas is a Peruvian restaurant in the Cherry Creek area, 300 Fillmore Street, Unit K, Denver, Colorado 80206.

At this restaurant, they had lots of seafood dishes, vegetarian options, and chicken and steak dishes. This summer night, we sat outside enjoyed some Peruvian cocktails and mostly selected the seafood dishes. My friends and I had not tried Peruvian food, so we asked our waiter what he suggested.

For appetizer, we ordered the Sauteed Mussels. It was cooked in a white wine, garlic, and spicy tomato sauce. It was so delicious from the mussels to the broth. It was nice that they garnished the dish with grilled, buttered toast, so you can absorb that flavorful broth after enjoying the mussels.

My friend and I ordered some traditional cocktails. In the picture below is their mosquito to the left and pisco sour to the right. Both drinks were refreshing for the summer evening, and they both had pisco in them. Peruvian pisco is a spirit made from multiple types of grapes that are distilled in a steel container unlike their wine that is aged in a wood barrel. The mosquito is the Peruvian version of a mojito with the pisco instead of run with muddled lime and mint, and agave instead of a simple syrup. The pisco sour, a very traditional drink, had pisco mixed with lime juice and topped with whipped egg whites and bitters.

One of the three main dishes we ordered was Arroz con Marisco which is their version of Peruvian paella. It was loaded with seafood, scallops, shrimp, and octopus, and topped with parmesan cheese and salsa criolla. This paella was is red because it not only has saffron, but it also has chili pepper paste. It a fragrant dish with so many flavors in your mouth from the nutty parmesan cheese, tangy and spicy from the salsa and rice, and sweet from the seafood. 

The second dish was the Sudado de Pescado. It was an unctuous dish. The white fish that I selected was swai, and it was slowly prepared in a aji amarillo sauce with tomatoes and onions, served with cilantro, and white rice. The aji amarillo was this spicy, oily, yellow sauce that matched perfectly with this sweet, flaky fish which is mostly found in Southeast Asia.

To finish off with the main dishes, we also got the Lomo Saltado. It also had some Asian inspiration by them preparing the filet mignon with the aji amarillo sauce with tomatoes and onion in a wok, and then added some Latin flair by adding chimichurri on the side, and rice. This dish had some savory and acidic notes with the savory from the aji sauce, and then the acidic from the chimichurri which has parsley, garlic, oil, and vinegar in it.

We were obviously not full enough, so we ended with their version of coconut flan. The flan was creamy like cheesecake and sweet from the coconut and caramel sauce. It was a great end to a Peruvian food adventure.

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/17/1792027/restaurant/Cherry-Creek/Pikkas-Peruvian-Cuisine-Pisco-Bar-Denver"><img alt="Pikkas Peruvian Cuisine &amp; Pisco Bar on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1792027/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>

South Pearl Street Farmers Market

In my opinion, South Pearl Street Farmers Market is the best produce shopping farmers market in the Denver area. It runs every Sunday from May 11, 2014 through November 2, 2014 at 9 am to 1 pm.

The Miller Farms tent is the biggest bang for your 10 bucks. They give you a potato sack, and you can fill up the sack with as much produce as you can. They have tables full of produce that you can pick through such as: tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, red and yellow onions with the green onions still on them,dill, cilantro, basil, beets jalapenos, pasilla peppers, bell peppers, green and red leaf lettuce, kale, cantaloupe, carrots, broccoli, yellow/red/russet potatoes, zucchini, squash, and watermelon. They also sell some other items that you can view on their site that they sell separately or at different times of the season. 

The next placed I stopped was Avanti Winery. It is a local winery that bottles their wine in Littleton, Colorado, and they get their grapes from the western slope. This winery donates part of its proceeds to the Greyhound Rescue Fund. At the market, I met the owner, and he allows you to taste the wines before you buy it. They had only a selection of their wines that they were offering at the market, and they had Peach Muscato which was on the sweet side, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, 3 Pasiano, and Chardonnay. A lot of people seemed to be buying the dessert wine, Peach Muscato, but it was a little too sweet for my liking. I ended up buying the Pinot Grigio. If you are interested in going to their wine tasting, you can visit their site for more information.

My second to last stop was the Keen One Quinoa. Quinoa is a current popular grain that is healthy for you. Like majority of the other products sold at the market, this is also a product from Colorado in the city of Boulder. It is GMO free and organic. They offer plain instant quinoa, and other instant breakfast items and side dishes. If interested in buying some of the products, people can buy online. They had plain, cinnamon raisin or apple berry super cereal, garden medley, chipotle, and thai curry.They also offer a chocolate snack.

Last but not least, I stop at my favorite food truck, Quiero Arepa. An arepa is a Venezuelan corn flatbread that they grill on the griddle and stuff with meats, cheeses and vegetables. My favorite is the Reina Pepiada which is filled with shredded chicken, avocados, and a citrus dressing. I also washed it down with a refresco tropical which has passion fruit, guava, and mango juices mixed together. To say the least, it was a refreshing finale to my shopping day.