Tag Archives: wine

Wine in the Garden

Posted on May 17, 2012 by AnnieRie

With all the talk about Wine in the Woods, don’t forget that next Thursday is one of the highlights of the Howard County Conservancy annual events, Wine in the Garden.

Reduced price for tickets ends on May 20th. $40 until then, $50 after that. It is well worth the price of admission to spend the evening wandering the paths of the Honors Garden, while sampling excellent food and tasting the wines provided by the event sponsors.

All proceeds from this event go to fund the preservation and education programs at the Conservancy. This is the big event of the year, where the Conservancy’s generous sponsors donate the food, drink, and silent auction items.

As you stroll around, you will see the descriptions or the items displayed. There are some really nice additions this year to what is being offered. I am looking at the BSO tickets, or maybe the weekend at the B&B in Shepherdstown WV. Last year we won a fold up reclining chair donated by REI. Every day new items are being added as they are delivered to the Conservancy.

The caterers and wine contributors include:
Absolutely Perfect Catering ~ Atlantic Caterers ~ Biddle Street Catering and Events ~ Catering by Uptown ~ Constellation Wines US ~ Far Eastern Shore Winery ~ Gourmet Express Catering ~ Hunt Valley Catering ~ My Thyme, Inc ~ Putting on the Ritz ~ Reliable Churchill ~ The Savory Spoon ~ Simply Elegant Catering ~ The Spice Rack ~Stanford Grill ~ Your Wine & Spirit Shoppe

I wanted to highlight this list of local and nearby companies who annually contribute incredibly beautiful foods and complimenting wines that allow the guests to wander and savor the experience at their leisure. With three acres of gardens, and numerous pathways, every time you turn a corner someone is offering you treats or pouring you a couple of ounces of interesting wines.

The fruit based wines from Far Eastern Winery are really interesting, and something I would not ordinarily drink, but they paired so well with some of the spicy offerings of a couple of the caterers. Dry wines can overpower or fight with those satays, or those tasty little bites that include Indian spices.

This is what is so much fun about Wine in the Garden. The variety. The thought process to find good wines to match what you are tasting. The relative peace and quiet and the view. Beautiful al fresco setting.

And, the water lilies may be blooming by then. Last year they bloomed the beginning of June, but this year they may be a week early and looking like this.

Come join us. We are setting up auction items earlier in the day, then returning to enjoy the event with friends. Cheers!

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Posted in Community, Food, Gardening, Hobbies, Howard County, Local Businesses, People, Volunteering, Wine and tagged community, Food, gardening, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, nature, volunteering, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

The Miller Library and Market after a Morning at the Conservancy

Posted on May 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

Wow! Today was the first time I went to Miller Library. I went for the farmer’s market after having fun leading first graders around looking for nature, like strawberries and frogs. First graders learn “I Spy Nature” in places like the herb garden, honors garden, farm house front yard, and the apple orchard at the Howard County Conservancy, my favorite place to be on a lovely spring morning.

Wild berries to be found in the clover.

Can you find the two frogs in the picture? The children were looking for colors, shapes, sights, sounds, smells, textures but not tasting. We focus on the senses and use them to discover the natural world around them.

As for the Conservancy, we will be doing Wine in the Garden next Thursday the 24th, and the garden is really lovely right now. The peonies are blooming. I believe these are aurora sunrise. They line the paths down to the Honors Garden where caterers will be feeding us, while volunteers pour wines from local vendors and distributors. A great evening, one I look forward to attending.

After leaving the children behind, for them to enjoy lunch at the picnic tables, I headed off to grab a snowball at the Woodstock Snowball Stand. Today’s flavor of the day was Red Wine Cooler (non alcoholic of course).

It was time to drive down to hit the market and find strawberries to put in the wine cooler I will be making when we grill this weekend. I had never been to the new library. I like Glenwood, my local library, but now I have library envy. Miller is just stunning. I went in to check out the Historical Society, then came out for the start of the market.

The first thing I saw was the new pull behind display trailer that our favorite bakery bought to use at the markets. Stone House Bakery has been at Glenwood a long time, and at the other markets as well. Love the display case.

I picked up some dinner rolls to have with leftover black bean soup, and with the chicken I will be grilling to go with that wine cooler this weekend.

I got the chicken from TLV Tree Farm, they were doing a brisk business in strawberries and asparagus. I also got a dozen eggs from them, and half a chicken. The chicken is fresh, “processed” just yesterday. No frozen birds anymore, we can get fresh free range chickens and know that they don’t have all those antibiotics or hormones.

Talked to John Dove, from Love Dove Farms, to find out garlic scapes will be here next week. I wasn’t the first to ask either, so we may be competing for one of the coolest veggies to use to make pesto. We did pick up some spring onions and some turnips, since I won’t be getting turnips in the CSA box tomorrow.

In order to support more of the farmers there, I did pick up my strawberries from Lewis Orchards, as I had bought chicken, eggs and asparagus from TLV. We always buy fruit from Lewis in the summer at Glenwood. I love getting her bruised peach specials and bringing them home to slice and freeze. Ugly fruit tastes better!

I was pleased to see all the people there at 2 pm. It was a bustling site in the middle of the afternoon.

Great Harvest and the Breadery are both there as well as The Cosmic Bean, and Penn Farm. It was not the week for Bowling Green Farms to bring cheese. They come every other week.

Check out the local markets. They are reasonable in price for the quality you receive, and you can’t get much fresher.

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Posted in Community, Farmer's Markets, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Nature, Real Food, Volunteering, Wine and tagged community, cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, gardening, grilling, hoco loco, Howard County, howard county conservancy, local businesses, Locavore, nature, volunteering, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Summer is Coming! Think Pink!

Posted on May 16, 2012 by AnnieRie

Summer is Rosé season around here. This is one of the best around, only surpassed by Linden. This one is very much in the style of a good Provence Rosé.

Monday night I poured out a couple of glasses to have with a frittata made with local ingredients, and realized just how often we turn to the local wineries to find a crisp refreshing dry Rosé to serve in the hotter months. I even found a new term for me to use to describe what we drink often. We are locapours, drinking locally crafted beers, wines, ciders, and ales.

The frittata, by the way, is one of my locavore specialties, made with whatever I found locally in the markets. It was made with the last of the winter CSA eggs, smoked salmon from the Catonsville market, pesto stuffed tomatoes (the tomatoes were from David’s and not local), greens from the spring CSA box. Almost all locally sourced. The pesto was big, with some cress and with the last of my black walnuts. Started on the stovetop and finished under the broiler.

Easy dinner. Good, too.

Today it’s off to the Miller Library farmer’s market to get eggs and some berries, if they have berries. Otherwise Larriland this weekend, I believe is ready.

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The Garden Is In!

Posted on May 13, 2012 by AnnieRie

Done. Finished. Well almost. I still have to mulch tomorrow. But all the plants are in. In Howard County, the rule of thumb is don’t plant tomatoes until Mother’s Day. No frosts in the county and hopefully temps that will stay above fifty degrees.

I am experimenting this year. Part will be heavily mulched, and part has black fabric with light mulch. Mulch tomorrow and a light input of food, and I am done. The rain the next few days should establish the plants.

As for my herb garden, it is going gangbusters. The sage is huge and is flowering.

The English thyme that overwintered came back with a vengeance.

All the other plants are doing well. I put in 32 tomato plants today. I may be selling tomatoes on street corners in August, but who cares. If they all don’t make it, at least what does, will keep me happy through the summer, fall and winter. I will be freezing and canning.

As for current goodies, tonight we had plum tomatoes from David’s stuffed with homemade pesto. A hearty, killer pesto made with greens from the CSA, walnuts, parmesan and olive oil. Not that pretty, but so tasty.

I low temp roasted some wild ahi and served it with the tomatoes and some cremini stuffed with this pesto. The greens in the pesto included Persian cress, turnip greens and curly parsley from my CSA delivery.

We opened an old local wine.

Breaux is about an hour away, just south of Harper’s Ferry. This 1999 Cabernet was still doing very well for its age. It had the berry taste that the back label described, even after 13 years. The smoky oak was still there. DH swore he picked up the anise that the label described, but I didn’t. All in all, a softer version of a young cab, perfect to compliment big, tomatoey tuna with a pesto that stood up and said, look at me.

Walnuts in pesto will do that.

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Posted in CSA, Food, Gardening, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Weather, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, gardening, heirloom tomatoes, hoco loco, Howard County, local businesses, Locavore, tomatoes, weather, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

My Husband is Ranting Again

Posted on May 6, 2012 by AnnieRie

Tonight again the same rant. Why do we ever go to restaurants? Because of this.

Sockeye, couscous and roasted tomatoes

This is the second night we had really good dinners. Yesterday I did soft shell crabs for him.

Grilled soft shells with mustard butter

Served with this.

One stop shopping at Boarman’s for the crabs. Live when you see them, and cleaned for you as you wait. Oh, and vodka for your cosmos. Where else can you get liquor and dinner to take home?

Both nights featured Linden wines as well. With the crabs, a 2009 Hardscrabble, big, rich and luscious to cut through the richness of the crabs. Tonight a 2009 Avenius, completely different due to the flintiness of her soil. This chardonnay was citrusy, with just a hint of malolactic fermentation. It perfectly complimented the oiliness of the salmon.

At the moment, I think the Avenius is drinking better than the Hardscrabble. The Hardscrabble, though, is a huge wine which will need cellaring. Might not peak for 7-10 years. Linden’s big chards are Burgundian in style, and take years to develop. I may not have the patience to wait that long.

As for desserts lately, we have a few. How about Shoofly Pie from the Amish vendor at the Briggs Chaney market?

I picked up a couple small shoofly pies from the Amish vendors along with some homemade egg noodles. Nice market. Not big, but with a few really good vendors. If you live in South HoCo, not far away at all. These pies will be dessert later tonight with some High’s vanilla ice cream.

I am doing a good job of avoiding chain groceries, and certainly not eating badly. I think this is working out well. Shopping at markets and local businesses. Works for me.

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Posted in Farmer's Markets, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, Wine and tagged cooking, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, real food, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Dining Al Fresco … West County Style

Posted on May 4, 2012 by AnnieRie

One thing I learned moving out here. We don’t run out for dinner or order carryout like we did in Columbia. Not as many choices without driving. My neighbors and friends out here have more meals outside, in the quiet countryside, with family and friends. Friday night al fresco dining is this for us.

The view is way better from my chair than parking lots or storm water management ponds.

We can spend lots of money to go out for dinner, but honestly, dinner on the patio is so much more relaxed, and a fraction of the cost. Everything at dinner tonight was bought without setting foot in a chain grocery store. The entire meal, minus wine, cost about twelve bucks.

The soup: cauliflower leek

I made using CSA veggies with organic almond milk and vegetable broth. Indian spices. The sausage that finished the soup. Homemade hot Italian from Boarman’s.

The salads: CSA oranges and beets from the Lancaster market. Tomato and goat cheese mozzarella, also from Lancaster. The basil from my garden. The oil from Casual Gourmet.

The bread: Atwater’s rosemary Italian. The wine: Linden chardonnay. I figure the dinner cost me $12 in supplies. The wine $20. What would I pay for a meal this good in a restaurant? Two times? Three? The wine alone is the equivalent of a decent Burgundy, that would cost me $40-$50 in a restaurant. I suppose I could order a $10 wine marked up to $30 which is the usual markup.

I know I am unique in loving to cook. I know I now have the time to do so. But, I used to “pee” away how much time with a beeper at restaurants waiting for a table. I think I prefer spending that time cooking, and not roaming around being bored and paying ridiculous prices for a beer or glass of wine while waiting for a table in the chain restaurants in Columbia.

My cocktails are better, too. Meyer lemon basil fizz, anyone?

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Posted in CSA, Food, Howard County, Local Businesses, Locavore, Real Food, West HoCo, Wine and tagged cooking, CSA, Food, foodie, hoco loco, Howard County, Linden Vineyards, local businesses, Locavore, real food, West HoCo, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

A Day Trip to Lancaster

Posted on May 1, 2012 by AnnieRie

It was way too nice out to stay home. We decided to play hooky from yard work and spring cleaning and head out for a leisurely back roads drive to one of our favorite destinations, Lancaster.

We intended to drive by a few of the Amish barn, shed and outbuilding companies and also hit the Central Market. We got a late start so bagged the first part and just lingered on the second.

Ever since I was little my parents would take weekend drives with us, taking us to parks, cities, towns, whatever, just because they liked exploring. I don’t know when I first entered this building with them, but I was pretty small.

The building is really hidden now, as the city skyline changes around it. I keep forgetting where to turn to find the nearest parking.

You have to navigate carefully to get in this back way, but it puts your car really close so you can bring things out and wander the streets.

I did not take pics inside, as not to offend any of the Amish who don’t wish to have pictures taken of them. It is hard to selectively take pics and not get an inadvertent image. I respect their wishes so put the camera away. We hit many of our favorite stands, like Clyde Weavers for bacon and smoked kielbo.

I had to get goat cheese feta and mozzarella. These are not made by our local goat cheese purveyors and they are so good, and lactose free.

To use with the mozzarella, one of the stands was offering home grown, greenhouse ripened tomatoes. So much better looking than supermarket tomatoes, and cheaper than those sold at Silver Spring Market, or at Roots.

With the mozzarella, the tomatoes, and basil from Mock’s last Saturday, it looks like a Caprese salad some night soon. We had a snack, then wandered the new shops behind and across from the market. We couldn’t resist trying this, in lieu of making a sangria for a get together with friends. We needed something fun and low alcohol to complement spicy wings. This wine should do it. The PA wines made from fruits are fun, summertime light wines.

These two bottle packs are eco friendly, and the wines are just fun. We don’t always want heavy wines in the hot weather, and this one is a treat. The winery is just outside Lancaster, and they source the fruit from all over. This wine is slightly sweet, but the winery also makes dry varieties of wine. Nice people, a friendly tasting room, and we had a relaxing day riding the back roads of PA and MD. What we got today should tide us over until our Sandy Spring CSA starts next Thursday. We got an email today with specifics, including the first two picnics at the Amish farms near Lancaster. In May and June. Can’t wait.

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Posted in CSA, Day Trips, Farmer's Markets, Food, GGSAC, Locavore, Wine and tagged CSA, day trips, farmer's markets, Food, foodie, GGSAC, Locavore, tomatoes, wine. Bookmark the permalink.

Grillin’ and Enjoying a Killer VA Wine

Posted on April 29, 2012 by AnnieRie

Tonight we decided to grill using mostly local ingredients.

We wanted to try a killer wine from Virginia. This is a wine that will rival Bordeaux wines such as Pichon Lalande.

The year 2009 was one of those years where the weather cooperated in giving us big, flavorful wines worthy of cellaring. Linden had their barrel tasting the past two weekends and pre-released this 2009 Hardscrabble Vineyard cabernet dominant blend.

Dark, intense, a baby when compared to other wines. Here is an example of what winemakers are capable of producing in the Mid Atlantic region when it comes to wines. This wine won’t peak for at least ten years. It can be bought at a fraction of the cost of Bordeaux wines with less depth. It just overwhelms your palate. The filet, though, stood up to it..

The filets and the bacon were fron Boarman’s. The asparagus and potatoes from the Zahradka Farm CSA. A local dinner with a wine from the master. Jim Law has assisted countless aspiring winemakers, including Black Ankle winemaker Sarah O’Herron. He is one of those talented people who puts his heart and soul into his wines.

The year 2009 was a perfect year for making big wines in the mid Atlantic. This is the vintage to buy.

For a fraction of the cost of dinner in a restaurant, you can grill a steak and serve a killer wine. Trust me. We did dinner at Aida on Saturday. My grilled dinner with wine blew it away.

From start to finish, a simple grilled meal with an awesome wine can be had for half the cost of going out. In this area, we are blessed with wineries that produce excellent cabernets and chardonnays, at a fraction of the cost of French or California wines.

Check them out. Make a killer dinner yourself. Look at VA and MD for some big, cellar worthy reds.

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Winter CSA Finale Week 18

Posted on April 27, 2012 by AnnieRie

The CSA ended today. One week hiatus and then the next one starts. We did get a bonus. Along with the six items I ordered.

I ordered and received.

leeks
spring onions
carrots
white potatoes
asparagus
radishes

The bonus:

A frozen vacuum packed bag of cauliflower. With the leeks and spring onions, this will make a great soup.

We also got a package of the Angus ground beef for the freezer.

i just used an earlier delivered package of the beef to make mini meatball soup last night.

That dinner featured CSA spinach, carrots and leeks. Along with a Cellar Selection Syrah from Breaux in VA. Cellar Selection wines are fun. Small batch, hand picked grapes, lots of attention, a boutique wine from a large winery. As for the meatball “dumplings”, they were light but really featured the Angus beef. Love having ground beef that doesn’t include additives.

I have to say we were pleased with the Zahradka Farm winter CSA. A half share in the winter was the right amount for us. If you live in Howard County, they will be setting up on Saturdays at the Glenwood farmer’s market. We always buy exotic veggies from them.

Markets open in less than two weeks. Can’t wait. But, at least I have enough veggies here to tide me over until the first delivery of my summer CSA from Sandy Spring.

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Tasting Barrels …

Posted on April 22, 2012 by AnnieRie

… or is that barrel tasting. I forget after the 11th sample.

Today we spent a lovely day at the case club barrel tasting at Linden Vineyards.

I think everyone here knows I love Linden wines. I even have a tag in my tag clouds for them.

We have been collecting their wines for 20 years. They will drink beautifully for 10-15 years and some of them for 20. We drank our last 1990 a while back, still hanging in there.

The barrel tasting today was on a dull rainy day, not the lovely spring day we wished for.

No one out on the patio. After the tasting we ended up inside by the stove.

We tasted barrel samples of the three designated sourced Avenius, Hardscrabble, and Boisseau chardonnays. Plus the claret blend, all vintage 2011. There will be no designated reds this year, due to the huge amount of rain that we all experienced last September. The reds didn’t come to potential and will be mostly blended.

Wines from 2011 include the recently released Rose, which is made from the merlot.

We started out up in the new tasting room, the site of special events. We tasted a newly released sauvignon blanc with broiled mussels.

It has a view down into the tank room where we were tasting the claret sample. I took a couple of pics down there but in the darker venue didn’t want to use flash to bother people, and they didn’t turn out well.

Still, the whites will be good, decent wines, well made as usual. The 2008 and 2009 designated red wines were tasted side by side with very tasty paired food items from the Ashby Inn in Paris VA.

We also had a charcuterie board from Croftburn Market in Culpeper VA Their sausage made with fennel was really nice.

All in all, a lovely day, even though the weather did not cooperate. They have the most commanding view of the mountains, so I will leave you with a view from the patio a week ago, when it wasn’t raining.