Good Morning!

Tonight is the Men’s NCAA Basketball Finals Kentucky vs. Kansas… I do not have a favorite but I did see a news segment about a woman who is over 100 who follows and goes to every single Kansas game, I figure she deserves to see a National Championship for all the years she has been a fan, so I think I will cheer for Kansas.

As for the Women’s Finals, they will be played tomorrow night and it will be Baylor vs. Notre Dame, You know since the Lady Vols were elimanted my love for the game always fades but I am going to cheer for my home state of Indiana team of Notre Dame. I am going to rant here for just a second…Baylor might have the best player in the country currently, Brittney Griner, she is 6′ 8″ and she dunks. I am not sure anyone can beat them, because her height creates so many issues, if you slow her down, the rest of the team steps up and if you don’t have at least 2 players on her, she will take every rebound and she just takes up so much space in the paint, well, I am just glad the tallest woman I ever had to play against was 6 foot….she cleaned the floor with my 5′ 5″ body. I like to think I made her work for it, but she was better and wanted it more. I am really glad that today, as a young woman you can actually dream about a career in basketball after college besides coaching. The WNBA and the international league have been awesome for the sport.

OK, I am done talking about basketball at least for a few months…what is really important about the games are the wines, I enjoyed and the food that I paired it with!

The UCONN and Notre Dame game, I made roasted red potatoes stuffed with sour cream and bacon for an appetizer, we paired this little show starter with Ramey 2006 Napa Chardonnay….I know I hear ya gasping at the pairing, who puts bacon with Chardonnay, Right? Well the wine was pretty oaky and the play between the acid of the sour cream and wine was really lovely and the smokiness of the bacon really was a main player without taking over. Bacon or any smoked meats for that matter, demand to be heard, but for some reason, that being the sour cream, the bacon was happy being a supporting player! The game went into OVERTIME and honestly, I wish I had made about 8000 more of these little bites, we would have been happy with this pairing forever.

Second game, Baylor vs Stanford I made crab legs and of course we had lemon and butter everywhere…the sweet meat was paired with the most balanced and minerally Chardonnay made by Truchard the 2009, this chardonnay is very flinty and stoney and crisp with a beautiful and light acidity….it paired with the buttery and sweet and cut the fatty sensation. So, as you can see Sunday at my place was really pretty stellar in the land of food and wine…as for the games, I wanted Stanford to win…because I figure if you are smart enough to get into Stanford, get the grades and play ball on the level of National Champs, go for it….plus this was their 5th Final Four in a row and I am tired of them being a bridesmaid.

I hope you have an awesome Monday!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi