Thursday, March 10, 2011

Under the Mammoth sun

Kelley and I ran away from home this week for a quick ski trip to Mammoth. We haven't skied for almost two years. In my old life, I would get nearly 50 days on the slopes so needless to say, I missed it. We got lucky in finding a condo that was interested in trading 3 nights of lodging for 3 nights here in the B&B. It was well appointed with an open great room/kitchen complete with wood burning stove. It was great - and Maddy got to come as well.

Back in the day when we lived in Minnesota, Maddy would frolic in the snow for hours. We took a walk in the national forest and she loved it. It was like she was a puppy again. She loves to try to catch snowballs. It was challenging since the snow was at least 4 feet deep. We found a trail that had snowmobile tracks so we could wander into the beautiful pine forest without sinking into the snow.

We had never skied in California before and were very impressed with Mammoth. The mountain reminded me of a combination of Park City/Mount Hood/Steamboat. Since we only had two ski days, we divided the mountain into half and attempted to cover as much as possible. We had heard horror stories about how crowded it could be but no one was there. It was spring-like conditions so we would try to get to the slopes early, ski hard all morning and call it quits early afternoon when the snow started to resemble mash potatoes. Neither one of us could afford to risk injury. We got a lot of mileage in but never quite felt like we got our $92/day lift ticket worth.

The town of Mammoth is very quiet mid-week. It is a small community compared to the mountain. While we took our own wine and dined in the condo 2 of the 3 evenings, we did manage to visit a few local landmarks that tasters had recommended. The best was a wine bar called Petra's which had a lot of Paso Robles wines on its list. Mitch is responsible for the wine procurement and is visiting the area in May when most of Mammoth is in mud season. He promises to stop by and taste some of our Per Cazo Cellars wines.

Kelley and I had to come back to get ready for what should be a busy weekend. We bottle our 100% Zinfandel tomorrow. Based on the barrel sampling we have offered, it should fly off the shelf. If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and try it.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

This week's Creekside B&B guests escaped the brutal winter of Chicago for blue skies of California. Fortunately they just missed our freaky snow storm and enjoyed a mild winter's day. Perfect for exploring the wine country.

Ron, a wine buyer for Trader Joe's in Chicago along with lovely wife Pam visited the Santa Ynez and Paso Robles wine regions. As experienced tasters, they were enamored with the Central Coast wines but a bit disappointed in the tasting experiences. They found that most of the wineries they visited had young, poorly trained girls working behind the counters. Like us, they believe the best winery personnel to be middle-aged people who work there because they are passionate about the wine and know how to romance it. They get it! It is exactly the philosophy of Trader Joe's. Be passionate about what you do and if you ever visited a Trader Joe's it is self-evident.

They did compliment us on our passion for both the wine and the Bed and Breakfast. It got to be a joked at all the Trader Joe products he recognized - the tulips on the table, the bacon, the half and half in the refrigerator. This morning's breakfast was nearly 100% Trader Joe's. Here's a recipe that I have modified from epicurious.com. It's easy and looks like more work than it is. Give it a try!

Maple Blueberry Parfait

Yield: 6 servings
Active time: 20 minutes

3 1/2 cup blueberries (18 ounces) divided
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp. lemon juice
16 ounce Trader Joe's Greek Yogurt
16-20 Trader Joe's Meyer Lemon Cookie Thins, coursely crumbled

Preparation:
Cook 2 1/4 cups blueberries with 1/2 cup maple syrup in a 2 quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the blueberries have burst (3-8 minutes). Cool in an ice bath.

Add remaining blueberries and lemon juice to mixture. Stir well. I usually make the night before. Will hold for 3 days.

In a parfait glass, layer a tablespoon of blueberry sauce, a sprinkle of cookie, 2-3 Tablespoons Greek yogurt; repeat ending with a sprinkle a bit more crumble cookie on top. Garnish with a sprig of mint and whole lemon cookie.

Can substitute their Ginger thins for lemon if you prefer.