| Sunday, October 4, 2009 - SLOW Food SE WA Winery Bicycle Tour |
Seven of us rode in a great bike tour of Walla Walla Wine Country for another outstanding wine experience. We met more winemakers and tasted their finest. The dust storm in the Tri-Cities kept a few from venturing out, but the weather in the WW Valley was superb for cycling. Things are changing fast in Walla Walla, so the first tasting room on the list was not where we thought it was. Instead, we started at Spring Valley, where we learned some family history along with the tastings. Next stop YellowHawk Cellars, where both Alan Joly and Paul Sinclair have helped with the crush and bottling. A five-mile run to the airport area brought us to Mannina, the place we thought was downtown. After the airport, a short run east and we came to aMaurice, where a young, surprisingly-experienced winemistress regaled the crew with her stories of getting twice the experience by heading to Argentina for several years to catch a second crush. The long leg (10 miles) brought us to Dusted Valley and more stories. The notable BFM, according to the winemaster, was a favorite of visiting LOLs. (that's "Little Old Ladies" for the pre-Twitter crowd.) |
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Sunday July 12, 2009 - Cooking with Local Ingredients - demonstration class |
Picazo 7Seventeen chef Frank Magaña treated eight happy Slow Food SE WA members to a delightful midday meal made from (mostly) local ingredients. Delightful food made from fresh local ingredients was accompanied by 2006 Desert Wind Riesling and Merlot. We started with gazpacho made from heirloom tomatoes, onion, cucumbers, fresh mint, tarragon, and basil, garlic, popped with versun, juice from the thinning of Klipsun vines (http://www.klipsun.com/verjus.htm). Frank poured us some versun to taste, and I think I like versun as a drink as well as I like wine. He followed with a plate of mussels and clams steamed in a pot of onions, garlic, and fennel sauteed in grapeseed oil and then balanced with sauvignon. Fabulous! The tender flavors of the seafood were complimented by the fennel. Frank then tossed some red romaine with onion, scored cucumber, heirloom tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and basil in balsamic vinaigrette. The next course was tender roasted beets (with the skins) garnished with a balsalmic reduction.The main course was skinless Green Hills Farm chicken quarters, marinated overnight in merlot, fresh cherries (broken open, stems & pits & all), garlic, and parsley. Frank oiled it, broiled it, then popped it into a hot oven to finish it. He garnished it with caramelized leeks and red wine reduction, and accompanied it by the cooked beet tops and broccoli leaves dressed with lavender grapeseed oil. YUM. In addition to the chicken, Green Hills Farm supplied much of the fresh herbs and vegetables. Chef's tips included: salt the salad greens prior to dressing, roll your basil leaves like a cigar and slice once to avoid bruising for best flavor, make a reduction out of leftover red wine, don't overcook your boneless chicken by leaving it on the heat until 165 degrees. Pull it off when the juices run clear. The verjus was a delightful discovery! I'm going to add it to my pantry. Broccoli leaves were also new to me, and I enjoyed them. Frank was a gas, lively and humorous, and put out tasty and beautiful food, and turned the day into a special experience. The Desert Wind winery venue was perfect, except that the ventilation worked too well. I'd have enjoyed being enveloped into ALL of the smells coming from Frank's pots and pans. I'm going to look for the next Slow Food cooking class. [submitted 7-12-09 by Judy Johannsen] |
| Sunday, June 28 - Beer Making 101 |
Sam Wajeeh did an excellent job presenting, showing that home brewing is fun, easily achievable and can be relatively inexpensive. See photos here. Along the way the nine of us tasted Hefeweisen, IPA, Belgian Ale as well as a Ginger beer thrown in for good measure. Sam made a IPA and started fermentation as we finished up. We'll have to ask him to share his suds in about 30 days. |
| Sunday, May 17 - SLOW Food SE WA Winery Bicycle Tour |
Eighteen of us rode in a great bike tour of Wine Country for an outstanding wine experience. We met the winemakers and tasted their finest. Starting at Wine O’Clock, in Prosser’s Vintners’ Village, the proprietess got the tour started with a sampling of six of Bunnell's offerings. Then, on to Daven Lore Winery, where Gordon Taylor showed off his pressings and barrels. The stories were great entertainment, as well as very enlightening. At Alexandria Nicole, the group sampled many of AN's finest, accompanied by tasty plates of cheeses, nuts, crostini, and grapes. The final leg took us back to Wine O’Clock. Eight of us stayed for a wonderful impromptu meal of salads, pizzas, appetizers, and wine. Being late on a Sunday and having run out of some fare, coupled with the dietary restrictions of a few of the hungry bikers, the crew rose to the challenge and seemed to please everyone. See the photos. |
| Sunday April 26th - Farm Tour and Winery Tasting/Potluck |
Stephanie Greene and Jamie Calley were our hosts for a great farm tour, complete with free shuttle service on a hay wagon. Later, we had a Wine Tasting and potluck at Sleeping Dog Winery, with Larry and Joyce Oates as our hosts. See the photos. |
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Planning Potluck March 22, 2009 |
In Donna and Paul's absence, Stephanie Greene took on the task of organizing a well-run meeting. Maddy and Jim Jeffs hosted the dinner, as they graciously did last October. A few potential new members showed up. As usual, the food was both interesting in its application of ingredients from local producers and delicious. Many plans came closer to solidifying. More details are pending. |
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Planning Potluck February 28, 2009 |
Hosted by Craig & Becky Cooper, ideas tossed around at previous meetings started to gel into actual plans. The website is up, a blog is available for member communication outside of meetings, posting of recipes, etc. Committee assignments and discussions resulted in a tentative schedule of events. As these events solidify, they will be posted on the Events page. See the attached write-up for details. |
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Planning Potluck December 7, 2009 |
On December 7, we had another well-attended dinner, this time at the home of Barbara Tarasevich and Alan Joly. Our dear leader learned that we absolutely MUST assign dishes in advance to avoid too much of this and not enough of that. The ideas flew again, but this time had a better reception as hands started flying up to signal people's willingness to serve. Notes from this meeting were used to plan the next. |
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Planning Potluck October 19, 2008 |
This dinner was mainly for planning and organizing and getting this convivium moving in the right direction. A lot of ideas flew around the room at the October potluck, graciously hosted by Maddy & Jim Jeffs. These were collected by Donna Zuba and emailed to the members. |
| October 5th Wine Bike Tour |
Wow, 13 bikers represented Slow Food Southeast Washington in our first bike tour of wine country. Starting at Bookwalter Winery at 11:00 am (being treated to a great presentation for just our group, by owner John Bookwalter) the weather looked, well less then biking weather at it's best....after leaving Bookwalter the group peddled what seemed like ALL UP HILL to Gamache Vintners, then off to Canon del Sol which was kind enough to open just for our riders and offered tastes of not only Canon del Sol but also Anelare (both wines made by Victor Cruz) and finally ending the day at Kiona Vineyards and Winery. Paul is busy making plans for another ride, probably in Walla Walla, next spring. Thanks to the wineries, some discounts they offered and the riders for a GREAT DAY. |
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SF Kick-off Dinner September 12, 2008 |
Get to Know Your Food - Get to Know Your Farmers Inaugural Event of Slow Food Southeast Washington September 12th, 6:30 pm Copy of Invitation. See photos of event. |
