So I woke up on my birthday yesterday, slept in real late, the wife brought me breakfast in bed, where I stayed all day long, doing absolutely nothing but eating bon-bons all day long and watching TV.
Yeah, right.
What I actually did yesterday was spend about 5 back-breaking hours making dinner.
I found a place in Vancouver (West Coast Wild Foods) that sources fresh mushrooms, among other things, and is willing to ship them here. It’s impossible to find quality mushrooms in Chilliwack, so I usually have to buy dried mushrooms and re-constitute them (actually you can’t even get quality DRIED mushrooms out here, I have to have those shipped here too!). That’s OK, but obviously fresh is so, so, so much better. I originally discovered these guys at the annual German Christmas Market in Vancouver that I go to every year. In addition to the fresh stuff, they have a ‘Wild Mushroom Soup Kit’ that makes the best Cream of Mushroom Soup on the freaking planet. I’ve been buying that for a few years, and I was sad that I wasn’t going to have the chance to get it this year, until I stumbled upon their website. So, I had 2 pounds of mushrooms and a soup kit shipped out here. At least that is ONE Christmas tradition that I can keep this year!
And what a year it has been. For my 50th last year, we were in Florida, enjoying a fabulous vacation. But come 51, we are at home, quarantined. And this year has not been kind to me, as these pictures prove.
So dinner last night was tortellini Alfredo with shredded parmesan and Garlic Cheese Sourdough bread. It was really good if I do say so myself. The wife actually said it should be on a restaurant menu. I am sure she just said that because it was my birthday and she’s contractually obligated to say one nice thing to me every calendar year. It’s nice of her to make a special occasion out of it.
For the dinner wine, we went back to an old favorite, and it was a phenomenal pairing with the food.
For our second bottle, we figured we might as well stick to the Chardonnay theme, and bring it back home to BC with a beauty from Checkmate! We chose the 2015 Little Pawn, one of the wines that was given a 100-point score from critic John Schreiner.
Corked. D’oh!!! The first wine from Checkmate we’ve ever had spoiled.
OK, well, we still have lots of great Chardonnay in the wine room, so we go and select on that we just bought about a month ago at Everything Wine, a 2014 Chard from Ridge in California!
CORKED?!!?!?!?
Jesus, that’s about $200 worth of corked wine in one night. I am sure I’ll get restitution on both, but still, that’s quite extraordinary.
So, back to Hartford I guess, to one we had not previously enjoyed.
Delicious, as every wine from this producer is. So consistant and such high quality.
That’s it for today, but stay tuned for more “BIRTHDAY WEEK” food and wine adventures!
Confessions of a Huge Wine-R 