sunday suppers - mushroom risotto

Hubby and I miss Europe. We want to go back, like, right now. Almost every day one of us will say "I miss Europe, let's go back tomorrow". Sigh. If it were only that easy.

travel recap - kaltenbach (days 3 and 4)

Our third day in Germany was a nice, relaxing one. In the morning, we drove out, and hiked to, an old, nearby ruin. It was really neat, as there was an old tower (complete with a spiral staircase) that you could climb up and get a fantastic view of the black forest. It was pretty neat - and also really neat to be able to do something that my Oma used to do when she was a little girl.

After hiking back down to the car, I was getting a little hangry, so my family decided that we should head into Kandern for some lunch. Hubby, my mom, and brother all ordered schnitzel, but Oma and I went for the spaetzle. The one that we ordered was mixed with cheese and onions. "It's the German version of macaroni and cheese", I proclaimed. It was amazing; so much so that I think I'll have to make another batch of spaetzle and experiment with adding some cheese this time.

follow friday - new foodie foods

It's no secret that I'm kind of obsessed with food.  It's a thing for me; comforting, simple, and stable.  It's always there for me whether I've had a bad day or when I feel like celebrating, it's just always around.  You know what goes really well with food?  Family.  Hubby's family is filled with foodies (mine is too, but we're talking about the in-laws today); his mom is a great cook and always a source for inspiration for me (her Christmas brunches are to die for), my sister-in-law in kind of famous over in her little corner of the internets with her amazing blog, and my cousin-in-law (is that even a thing?) always astounds me with how easy cooking is to her, and how she really embodies the term "foodie" (in a good way, of course).

drinking wine - waiting for my cousin-in-law to arrive in Paris

travel recap - paris (days 1 and 2)

When the wheels of our jet plane touched down, I looked over to Hubby and exclaimed "we're in PARIS"!  I was beyond excited - I couldn't believe that I was actually in Europe!

We got off the plane, grabbed our luggage, got our passports stamped, and headed to our Paris home.  As we drove through the city, we were silent.  Just taking everything in - trying to get our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.  Suddenly, we arrived at the apartment, lugged our suitcases up four flights of stairs, and walked in to the beautiful apartment.  We dropped our bags in the entry way and started exploring the place - we were floored at just how beautiful it was.

living room of the apartment

We hadn't slept for basically a whole day, but we didn't want to sleep in an effort to beat the dreaded jet lag, so we decided to go for a walk.  We stepped out on the Paris streets and couldn't believe that we were actually there.  We decided to walk through le Jardin des Tuileries to le Louvre.  We soaked it all in and took a few pictures, then realized that we were starving so we found a small cafe near the apartment and had some lunch.  I had chicken with a mushroom cream sauce and it was, by far, the best chicken that I had ever had.  Eventually, the tiredness took over and we decided to go "home" and have a nap to get refreshed.  We set our alarm for one hour and passed right out.

outside the Louvre with a view of the Eiffel Tower

adventures in wine

Hubby and I are on vacation.  It's fabulous.  We wanted to do something with these days that we had off, but we didn't want to spend a small fortune either.  I suggested visiting some local wineries and Hubby loved the idea.  So, on our first day off, Hubby and I packed a lunch and took a trip out to the valley and visited three different wineries.

If you live in the lower mainland and you've never checked out any of these wineries, I urge you to do so. Most of the tastings are complimentary (or super cheap - like $3) and the tours are very interesting. You don't have to buy any wine, however, we find the prices to be very reasonable, for the most part. All in all, it's a fun and inexpensive way to enjoy a day off.

dine out date night - reviews!

So during my little blogging break, Hubby and I participated in one of our most favourite events:  Dine Out Vancouver.  As previously mentioned, the plan was to try two restaurants which we've never been to before:  Salt Tasting Room and The Poor Italian.

All I have to say is "wow"!  These two places were EXCELLENT Dine Out choices.

mmmm, wine

Just a little over a week ago, Hubby and I invited six of our wonderful friends over to our place for a chic wine and cheese night.  I wanted to test this out on our close friends, just in case I failed miserably...however, the night was a total susccess!!  The night itself was easy, however, it did take a lot of planning and preparation to make it successful.

Weeks in advance I studied the different varietals of wines and put together a shopping list and budget.  I started purchasing the bottles many weeks in advance as buying eight bottles of wine all in one shot would really put a hole in my pocket.  Once I selected which wines we would be tasting, I then researched to see what types of cheese paired well with those wines. 

I chose to do the tasting blind - meaning, I covered the wines in brown paper bags so that we didn't know what type (or how expensive) the wine was.  I found that this added a very interesting dynamic to the tasting.  Wouldn't it be funny if somebody was CONVINCED that they hated Chardonnay, but that's the wine that they liked best after the blind tasting?  Also, I think that if you do the tasting this way it really forces you to use your imagination and be creative with the tastes and smells.

In the end, our guests had a really great time.  Everybody wrote their own notes during the tasting, and discussed before revealing the true identities of the wines.  It was neat to see all the reactions when the wines were finally revealed.  It was a classy night that was a nice break from the same old thing - so if you're interested, try it! After all, what could be better than good friends, fine wine, and delicious cheeses?

PS:  Because we're on a budget, I asked all of our guests to bring $20 to cover the cost of the wine.  Hubbby and I covered the cost of the cheese and the appetizers ourselves.  Our guests were more than happy to pay the $20, and I had sooooo much cheese left over after that I sent everybody home with a care package full of delicious cheese and crackers - happy friends and no waste!

PPS:  I rented a pack of 10 wine tasting glasses from Lonsdale Event Rentals, just to add a touch of class and becuase they were really inexpensive ($5/10 pack).