Good Morning!

I have been gone from blogging for about 2 weeks and I know the suspense must be killing you guys! Where have I been and what have I been drinking? After about 45 emails in my box this morning and after all my company has returned home, I can focus on blogging and answer your questions and discussing what I have been drinking.

I have had a line of company all summer long. It started in the early part of May and with a 2 week break another wave of visitors for Memorial weekend and then came 2 weeks of visitors in June and the last weekend of June my pal from DC was here and by the 4th of July, I was tired of cooking and BBQing so I took a break and now I am almost ready for 10 days in DC and NYC. This summer is Epic for myself and my family and friends.

The greatest thing in the world is to surround yourself with the people you love and that is what I have been doing. We have grilled, chilled and spent hours in the pool. I am tan, relaxed and probably a little visit to Jenny Craig might be in order this fall. We have been enjoying some great wines in the past few weeks and really we are trying to stay on the no carb diet minus the booze and chips with salsa. We have been on a margarita binge and as well as grilling shrimp, salmon and sea bass and having rose’ with the seafood. I find that rose’ works with pork, hot dogs and seafood…honestly the rule of thumb around here this summer is if it is pink before you cook it, drink rose’ with it. This little law has never let me down!

Chill a few bottles of the rose and grill up a pork loin and or shrimp, if you grill with a light hand (not over cooking the heck out of the protein), the chilled wine will go down as refreshing as a white wine will have enough structure from the red grapes who gave up it’s juice to pair perfectly with the meat!

Rose’ with cheese? Yes! some of my pals love rose with brie, I am not sold on that being a perfect pairing (it’s ok, but not perfect) but if I have my fav rose’ made from Grenache made in Tavel, France…the perfect cheese pairing for me is Mt Tam cow’s cheese, it is organic, triple cream and it is hand made. You might not be able to find this cheese locally but you can look for triple cream cheese from your area’s producers.

While I am on the subject of wine pairing and cheese…I found a combination you might fall in love with as much as I have. take blue cheese and stuff a date with the cheese, then go open a bottle of Gigondas (from France, Rhone Valley, Syrah) and pair them together…The combination of fruit, salty, creamy, sour, bitter about blew my head off…yes it was that good! Also, we took some of the dates that were stuffed and wrapped them in bacon and cooked them until the bacon was cooked….it was still good with the Gigondas wine, but we tried the bacon wrapped dates with a big Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa and those two paired like Fred and Ginger…freaking fantastic!

Now you know I have been playing, visiting, pairing, grilling and trying every wine I can…tell me what have you been eating and drinking and what is rocking your taste buds?

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi