Yesterday afternoon Jeff Pfohl came up to partake of wine and food while listening to the initial anniversary concert from our balcony. We started with some of Carollee’s tasty stuffed cucumbers with a lovely Champagne, a 1996 R&L Legius Cuvée St. Vincent Blanc de Blancs - yeasty with bright fruit and good mousse. Then I got an Italian rosé from the cellar, a 2008 Bastainich Rosato, 100% Refosco from Venezia-Giulia, while we were putting together the next course, crostini with four different toppings: a truffle & mushroom pâte; balsamic tomato with Spanish cockles; a blood orange, Kalamata olive, & caper spread; and an artichoke spread with a half a baby artichoke atop. All were quite tasty with the rich, fruity rosé. In the middle of this it began to rain; we wondered what the effect on the concert would be. The concert started as the rain was slackening at around 17:45, with Black Eagle, a native American group that performed with various drums and chanting. I guess they were under some sort of cover.
Then I put together a sliced smoked sturgeon on greens with a Provençal lemon-horseradish dressing. We each had three slices of sturgeon atop the greens, two of Jeff’s were finished with balsamic jelly, one with beet horseradish. Carollee’s and mine were two horseradish and one jelly. The salad was quite tasty with the Pascal Cotat Chavignol Rosé ‘Lot 2007’ - bright strawberry-cherry fruit and just as good as the last one with a smoked sturgeon. After sundown a mariachi group, Lila Downs with Mariachi Femenil Flores Mexicana, very good voice and instrumental music, began performing.
By the time we finished the salad, the chicken and Chimayo green chiles was ready. The dish was prepared by browning Label Rouge Chicken legs and thighs in Blood Orange Olive oil with rosemary & garlic, then braising them in rich chicken stock with bay leaves, garlic, and eight medium hot Chimayo green chiles, roasted, peeled, and seeded. The chiles we noticibly hotter than the last ones we had, but not too hot for wine. I had originally planed a grenache-based wine, but with the additional heat, I decided more acidity was required so we had a 2004 Vincent Girardin Meursault ‘Les Charmes Dessus’ - with its rich fruit, good acidity, & long finish, it worked very nicely with the rich chicken and spicy green chiles in broth.
By then Ozomatli was performing with their usual enthusiastic audience participation. When we had finished the main course, we then decided to have cheeses - Bleu d’Auvergne, Affinois Goat Brie, and Edel de Cleron with balsamic jelly, orange-ginger & mango-pineapple fruit pastes, and raisins & nuts with a 2001 Ravenswood Sonona Valley Zinandel Kunde - the bright berry fruit and light tannins were good with the cheeses and accompaniments.
By then it was seriously cooling off on our balcony, so we came inside and had for dessert three Ciao Bella gelati: Chocolate, Tahitian Vanilla, & Hazelnut topped with Torino Hazelnut Syrup, Godiva Chocolate liqueur, and Patron XO Café. The combination of the three was vary tasty on the gelati. By the time we had finished it was approaching 22:00. After almost six hours of wine, food, and music, we were ready to head for bed.
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for this dish. Nope, I was wrong again. Dick did a masterful job with the chicken and with the pairing. ![[welldone.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/fc9709a841aa9379fd892a9cf0b535b05f473b86.gif "[welldone.gif]"){kind=small}