u/A-B-1-0

This was simmering for several hours. Beef, pork and some veil. Freshly picked basil and at the very last moment some aged pecorino romano and parmesan. A great Nebbiolo or perhaps a Chianti is the only wine I could pair it with. Absolutely delicious.

If you haven’t tried hot sauce on a grilled cheese with a crisp Chardonnay- please do so immediately. It all comes together.

Peperonata is roasted red peppers, white grapes and pine nuts. The steak was slightly over done for a medium but it was a fantastic cut so it was delicious. I served with a baked potato.

This was my leftover Sunday sauce that I added pork and beef to. It’s not bolognese, it’s lighter like a meat marinara. The ravioli was freshly made and sat for about 2 hours. I use a blended flour and it was very light ricotta and herb cheese.

You’ve got to use an egg form, stand your toast up to prevent sogginess and salt and pepper it while the egg is nearly cooked to your taste. Perfect.

Snappy, crispy dogs- good quality. Very dark sauce- lots of cinnamon and the fries were great. Off brand condiments turn me off but the iced tea was fantastic.

Started with a dry martini (Belvedere vodka) moved onto this beautifully presented steak and paired it with Orin Swift Mercury Head Cabernet. All outstanding!

I would give this wine, a 97 for a number of reasons. First as a blend it is primarily Cabernet and it is extremely balanced and velvety. The tannins and alcohol balance perfectly with the fruit you’d expect on the front end being blackcurrent, cherry berry and a little hint of chocolate. The mouth feel as I said is velvety. It is soft and lush and extremely comfortable. The finish is as you would expect a high-quality wine to be with a brisk close leaving you the desire to come back and get more. The color is so rich and deep garnet.

I’ve forgotten how much I love this dish. It’s a classic Neapolitan dish, but my take on it is without the tomato sauce but with mushrooms, roasted red pepper, white grapes, pine nuts. EVOO, garlic and onion. Give it a try it is truly delicious.

Which one you grabbing first? Spicy brown mustard, yellow mustard or Spicy brown with crushed red cherry peppers?

I am a fan of Montepulciano D'Abruzzo and often am surprised at the quality you can at a reasonable price point. Well in this case it is no exception, let me explain. I keep a small section of my wine room reserved for bottles that people bring us when hosting an event. I guess because so many of our friends see the level of wine room and know both my wife and I are somms we get pretty good gifted wine. Well I think that perhaps this bottle was planted in that section by someone has a vendetta against us.

As I pulled this bottle from the rack I could not recall who gave it to me, or the occasion. Having a mid-week simple delivered Italian meal on the way, I promptly opened the foil and uncorked with my usual ceremony. Upon opening I put a nose to the initial pour after a snobbish swirl and to my surprise I got subtle (very subtle) hints of forest floor, wood, mushroom and a twinge of smoke. The color was a light ruby as it should be, but upon further examination I noticed some cork crystals, which you don't see much in this young a bottle.

Upon first taste I got absolutely nothing. When I mean nothing I really mean nothing of note. It was flat, lifeless, without character and just plain bland. Complexity, none to speak of. Tannins, where are they? Alcohol, the bottle says it's in there, but where? I have never had a wine where I had nothing good to say. It wasn't suffering cork rot - that at least would have been something of note.

Thinking I may have suffered a mild stroke affecting my olfactory and palate I called in the big guns - my wife. She can discern far more obscure hints than I can and she too put it down and simply said "don't waste the calories on this one"...a joke between she and I when it comes to choosing another glass of wine or a few forks of dessert at the end of a meal.

I imagine somewhere someone thought this wine was good enough to put into a bottle, but what happened between then and now I simply don't know. I then proceeded to google it and found that it can be procured at a number of shops for $9.00 and although I try to dissociate cost from quality - this one proves me wrong.

To the person who gifted this to me - I apologize for what I may have done to you. haha and if you are reading this, please know similarly to our viniculture hobby, it is all in good fun.

I have had stuffed Italian long hits a million times but never with fried egg on top. This was during brunch and it was shockingly good. Paired it with a prosecco.

Kind of a heavy lunch but I deserve it. I paired with a good Chianti.

This was delicious! Every once in a while you get a perfectly tender cut of beef…this was one. I made a giant baked potato and butter garlic mushrooms. The steak was medium and it was super juicy for having been grilled. Paired it with 2009 Reserva Rioja which stood up to this flavorful meal.

I present to you this work of art. It was easily a half lb. Great quality beef, cheddar cheese bacon, onions and some mushrooms on a perfect brioche bun. It had a light smear of a steak sauce of some sort which was great. The fries were lightly battered and fried. I’m a big condiment guy and I never even reached for them for the burger or fries. Thrilled with this one.