Prosser Wine Weekend!

Wine Weekend 2015

 

For the past few years, Omid and I have travelled to Prosser, Washington for a wine tasting weekend with our good friends, Katie & Tom.

 

The trip always starts out the same: we stop in The Dalles for lunch at  Cousin's restaurant. The food isn't great, but the atmosphere is fun. 

 

Reunited!

Let's get this party started!
Fun fact: We've been friends for 19 years!

If you haven't tried Tito's vodka yet, DO!

It's smoother & tastier than Grey Goose and is American made too!

Thanks Katie for finding this tasty treat!

First wine tasting of the day always starts out Pontin del Roza to meet our friends
Scott & Dustin.
 

Omid and Katie playing bocce ball at Pontin del Roza.

Apple trees at Pontin del Roza

After checking in with Dustin, we headed out to their vineyard to do some target shooting.
*Please don't go into random vineyards and shoot! We know the owners and still asked their permission!

Yay Katie!

Two good friends!

BOOYAH!

I LOVE everything about this photo!!!!!

GO COUGS!!!

Our little friend. He spun around & around when shot.

I love the two-toned head of hair the cow on the right. Too cute!

We had plans to have dinner with Scott & Dustin at PDR on their lovely patio. Unfortunately, Scott wasn't feeling well so we went with plan B, grilling at our hotel. Omid packed a portable kitchen so we were good to go.

Next, we headed to Davenlore winery.  On the way there, we talked about WSU's Cougar Gold Cheese. Katie casually mentioned that she had never tried it before...or Ferdinand's ice cream. My head was spinning! I couldn't believe it!

But...as luck would have it....Davenlore has samples of Cougar Gold cheese out. YAY!!!!! While Katie had a sample, I stood by the Cougar Gold and had a meal. It's good stuff!

Katie sampling her first Cougar Gold Cheese!!!

Last May, Dustin told us to visit Davenlore, and the owner/winemaker, Gordon Taylor wasn't there. This year, Gordon strode right up to us and introduced himself. We spent a lot of time chatting and Omid invited Gordon to have Persian BBQ with us. Not only did he accept, he invited us to have dinner at his home, instead of the hotel where we were staying! On to plan C!

With the famous Gordon Taylor of Davenlore.

This, friends, is the view from Gordon's home. It's breathtakingly beautiful.

Kebab barg & jujeh kebab. Koobideh followed!



Grill master hard at work!

Gordon helping to 'fan the flames.'

Cheers to new friends!

Dinner is served!!

Here's to new friends selfie & jazz hands too!☺

 

Fireside chat

 

 

As we were leaving, Gordon bestowed two very much appreciated gifts to us:
One, a bag full of chickpeas from Pullman, and two, a treasured bottle of wine.

Thank you Gordon for your hospitality and for welcoming us into your home!

 Everything about this past weekend was amazing! I love all the memories that we made.

Cheers to a successful weekend with friends old & new!

“The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild 

Happy Nowruz 2014!

Happy Nowruz!!!!

So full from our Persian feast!

Omid made a traditional Nowruz dinner for us last night. Herbed rice packed with 4 cups of freshly chopped parsley, cilantro, chives, garlic, dill weed & green onion. So fragrant! The fish is smoked King Salmon he caught last August. It was like candy. So sweet! The tahdeeg turned out pretty delicious as well: crispy/crunchy!

Make This!!

Persian Rose Water & Cantaloupe Smoothie!

 

 This is one of my favorite Persian drink recipes.

So cool, refreshing & sweet.

We currently have an overabundance of Costco cantaloupes in our house this week. I love cantaloupe, but felt I could not eat another cube without feeling sick. I am always up for a smoothie and decided to drink my cantaloupe this morning. So glad I did! 

 

Here's the recipe for one large or two small drinks.

 3 cups cubed & well chilled cantaloupe + 1/3 cup cold water.

 Add one capful of rose water and a handful of ice cubes.

Blend until smooth & voila!

You have Persian paloodeh talebi
(aka: cantaloupe smoothie).

 

 

Surprise!

Our friend Kristi organized a surprise party for her husband Trevor last night. We all met at Lin's & walked across the stree to Kristi & Trevor's house. Kristi left the door unlocked & we barged right in singing 'happy birthday' at the top of our lungs. Trevor was so surprised!  

 

Omid, Ward & Jeff did all the cooking. Omid & Ward put the Persian touch to the meal and made koobideh, jujeh kabob, grilled tomatoes, Persian rice, mast-o-khiar and salad Shirazi. Jeff smoked a pecan pie and baked a buttermilk pie. The food was 'out of this world' amazing!

Kristi & Trevor
Happy birthday Trevor!

Kristi, Ward & Trevor

Omid's homemade hibachi for kabobs.

Yummo!

Matt, Matty & Austin

Lia , Amy & Austin

The Three Amigos!

Omid, Sparky & Trevor
Fun fact: Sparky watches tv. So cute!!

Friends

Make This!!

Kufteh Berenji (rice meatballs)

We spent yesterday in Bellvue at a beautiful memorial service for Omid's aunt who recently passed away. It was so nice to catch up with family & friends who we only get to see once in a while. The food after the service was amazing! Catered by a local Persian restaurant. Very good khoobideh (but not as good as Omid's!).  We got home very early this morning & I was inspired to cook something "Persian" for Omid & the kids for dinner. I've made kufteh berenji before & it's one of the easier Persian foods to make.

Don't let the lengthy list of ingredients stop you from making this dish - the outcome is absolutely delicious!!☺

Kufteh Berenji from New Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij

1/2 c yellow split peas
1 cup rice, cleaned & washed
2 t salt
2 eggs
2 t advieh* recipe below
1/4 t black pepper
3 large onions (1 peeled & grated and 2 peeled & thinly sliced)
1 lb ground meat (lamb, veal or beef)
2 c chopped fresh parsley
1 c chopped fresh dill (I omitted the dill)
1/2 c chopped summer savory (I also omitted the savory)
1/4 c chopped fresh tarragon
2 c chopped fresh chives
2 cloves garlic, peeled & crushed
1/2 c oil
1 c tomato juice (I used a 28 oz can of stewed tomatoes instead)
2 c water
2 c beef broth
1 c unripe plums (available at Persian store as gojeh sabz) or 1/4 c fresh lime juice
1 t tumeric
1/4 t ground saffron dissolved in 1 T hot water

1.  Cook split peas & rice in a saucepan in 4 cups water with 1/2 t salt for 30 minutes over medium heat. Drain, reserving the liquid (set both aside to cool).

2.  Break eggs into a mixing bowl; add 1/2 t salt, advieh & pepper and beat well.  Add the grated onion, ground meat, chopped herbs, split peas & rice. Knead the mix for about 10 minutes until it reaches the consistency of smooth paste.

3. In a heavy pot, brown the 2 sliced onions & garlic in the oil.

Add tomato juice, water, beef broth, the rice & split pea liquid, unripe plums or lime juice, tumeric, 1 teaspoon salt & saffron water. Bring to a boil.

4.  Shape meat paste into balls the size of oranges. Gently place the meatballs into the boiling pot of broth.

Cover partially & simmer for 45 minutes over low heat, basting the meatballs occasionally with the broth to prevent them from drying out.

You can see the sauce is not thick enough. After the meatballs were cooked, I removed
them & continued to cook the sauce until it was thickened. This is because I forgot to
save the rice/split pea water! DON'T DUMP IT OUT!

5. Cover & cook for 15 minutes longer.

6. Check to see if pan liquids have thickened, and adjust salt to your taste. Place the meatballs in a bowl & gently pour the pan sauce on top. Serve hot with yogurt & bread.

Advieh spice mix:
2 T cinnamon
1/2 t black pepper
1 t nutmeg
1 t cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1 t dried Persian lime powder (limoo omani)
1 t ground angelica (gol par)
--If you don't have limoo omani or gol par, you can leave them out. I purchase the ready made advieh from the Persian store, but have made my own in a pinch without the last two ingredients & it tastes fine.