365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #48

Taking a trip to Tuscany in a few months. Six days in the countryside, two days in Florence. Wine, good food, quiet, pool, and a villa that has only three other rooms, so that's our speed.

Should be quite good.

And I don't know how, but we nabbed two tickets for $650 each! Went up to $1150 two days later. Big score.

We've hit a bit of a cheap wine wall lately. So taking a wine break with weekday meals that aren't going to be food-wine Good has been the play.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $137 for food and $64 for wine = $201

Total food and wine cost for the month: $385 for food and $394 for wine = $779

Sunday: Anne Burrell Chicken Milanese with 2015 Bokisch Verdelho Vista Luna Vineyard Lodi and 2015 La Val Albariño Rías Baixas

Food Details: The usual Anne Burrell chicken Milanese. Harvesttime chicken breasts, breaded and fried. Michael Symon pickled red onions, nut-pecorino-parsley blend. Arugula and pomegranate seed salad. Top the chicken breast with all the other goodness and eat.

Did We Like It? We liked all the other goodness, but the chicken breasts didn't make the cut. A bit rubbery. Cheap chicken runs that risk. Damn fine meal though, when we only ate the really thin parts of the chicken.

How Was The Wine? Toughie. The La Val...I know the Orballo label from La Val is their international label, but wasn't sure if this La Val label is merely the same thing in its original label for $4 less. It's not. It misses on the salinity and confident acid that's offered by the Orballo. A fine albariño, but it doesn't offer the confidence, sparkle and presence the Orballo does. We wavered back and forth on the Bokisch, initially liking its red grapefruit-like acid and flavor, then wondering if it should be giving more than it was, finally ending on liking its versatility enough with the food for only $14. More levels and changes than the La Val, which was simply a lemon-lime spritz with a few salty sea notes thrown in at the end.

And The Pairing? I'm glad I didn't buy the case of the La Val like I initially wanted to. It never ingratiated itself to the food. No pivot or adjustment. The Bokisch did, giving a nutty note at times with the food, turning more quiet and subtle in others. It always was making an effort. When we order another case from Bokisch, which will happen, this one may be a thrown-in at the end to round out the case.

Cost: $13 for food, $30 for wine = $43 

Saturday: Orecchiette, Sausage and Rapini with 2015 Rosa dell'Olmo Gavi Piedmont

Food Details: The standard orecchiette with sausage and rapini business. It's a house classic.

Did We Like It? Great sausage-flavor mingle here. The spices in the sausage bounced around, looking for something to pick up on and run with. It did, often. Good batch. 

How Was The Wine? Dry, crisp, lightly floral, peaches, medium-bodied, a lil nutty. The first 2015 of this Trader Joe's gavi for us. A little less broad as when this wine has showed best, but we'll be happy with it, as we'll be having it with this food another five times through the end of the year. It's a classic as well.

And The Pairing? As I said, a little less broad and a little less perky than previous drinkings, but it had enough to offer with the food to find the fundamental coziness that these two have with each other. 

Cost: $8 for food, $8 for wine = $16   

Friday: Chicken and Rice with 2015 Barbadillo Palomino Fino Cádiz

Food Details: Leftover chicken from Jeremiah Tower chicken on Sunday. Zucchini, celery, carrots, onions cooked up in the cast-iron; pan deglazed with fino sherry; parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme; white rice.

Did We Like It? The sherry with the chicken was resplendent! Real barn burner. Basic bowl of food that turned into a Big Bowl of Happy. Not one complaint. 

How Was The Wine? Trader Joe's palomino in not-sherry form. We love how the label says it's "fruity." Nope. This is categorically not fruity. This is dry, clean, savory as hell, light, refreshing, dry, and dry. It's a blank slate. Add food that likes it and things happen.

And The Pairing? Sherry grape with sherry in the food. That helped it along big time. No complaints here either. 

Cost: $3 for food, $6 for wine = $9

Thursday: Mango Curry, Raita and Naan with 2015 Lila Sauvignon Blanc Marlborough

Food Details: Mango curry, from 660 Curries, adding ginger, using ataulfo mangoes. Black mustard seed raita. Naan.

Did We Like It? Solid curry dinner! More than moderate depth, perfect heat hit, round and balanced all-around. We were happy with this.

How Was The Wine? It was delicious with haloumi and heirloom tomatoes, and excelled with piri-piri chicken as well five weeks ago. Since then, not so much. Different batch? The grapefruit-mint-acid balance has disappeared.

And The Pairing? Here, it was dull, with a faint tinge of dumpster juice.

Cost: $12 for food, $6 for wine = $18  

Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Sandwiches and Potato Salad

Food Details: Quick and easy dinner. Baked BBQ chicken breasts. Easy-peasy. Mayo. Arugula. On rolls. Potato salad on the side.

Did We Like It? Fine and good sandwiches. More than just "it fed a hole." Potato salad upset our stomaches. No idea why.

No wine.

Good place to take a break.

Cost: $10

Tuesday: Jeremiah Tower Chicken and Watercress Salad with 2013 Domaine des Herbauges Val de Loire Grolleau Gris

Food Details: (recipe) No washing, and no sauce made with pan juice. Pan juice is too dippin' delicious by itself with bread. Added Vidalia onions and sage this time. Watercress and arugula salad with walnut oil. More beautifully ripe heirloom tomatoes. Whole Foods ciabatta buns.

Did We Like It? This is our third time eating this chicken and every time, we say we'd eat this damn thing twice a week. It's Frenchy, yet firmly planted in the Chez Panisse world with its subtle, unique pop and taste-length. Each version has been slightly different and each one has been perfect.

How Was The Wine? Less oily and more fruity this time. Smoky-fruity. Lighter. A breeziness to it. Flinty, almost.

And The Pairing? This is the second time we've had this wine with this chicken. Very different expression this time and very delicious. Whole Foods has been doing some nice things with a few select wines lately. This is right at the top. Grolleau gris grape, which was new to us, and it's the ideal wine with this chicken. Tastes like Leisure. Might be one of the pairings of the year.

Cost: $26 for food, $14 for wine = $40          

Monday: Dinner With The Fam

Food Details: Ottolenghi sage-lemon almonds to start. Trader Joe's dolmas with a yogurt and Fustini's pomegranate balsamic dip. Lamb-beef kofta with roasted cauliflower, arugula and pomegranate seeds as the entrée with an heirloom tomato and Vidalia onion salad. Pita. Gluten-free nut-poppyseed chocolate cake for dessert, with the gluten-free-ness for Mrs. Fam.

Did We Like It? The kofta went a little over. So did the cauliflower, but this might have been one of the best versions yet of this fairly new house favorite. All the spice and cream and acid and juice and pop came together, forming into something quite elevated. Beautiful heirloom tomatoes. And the Fam loved it, which helped, because we weren't sure that was going to be the case.

Cost: $65

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #45

Three-day consumption of fiber:

Monday: Beet greens and barley...

Tuesday: Yellow beets and curly endive...

Wednesday: Cauliflower and arugula...

Equals...wow...yep...FI-ber!

Total food and wine cost for the week: $79 for food and $136 for wine = $215

Sunday: Ottolenghi Meatballs and Fregola with 2015 Viñas Chilenas Reserva Rosé Valle Central

Food Details: (Ottolenghi Guardian recipe - second one down) Meatballs and fregola with alterations: lamb instead of veal, feta instead of ricotta, basil instead of oregano, and nutmeg instead of all-spice. It's use-stuff-up, what's-in-the-house, done up Ottolenghi style.  

Did We Like It? Oh, my, yes. Big bowl of adult Spaghetti-O's. And not necessarily a one-off. This was quite good, and highly adjustable to what's we have siting around in the house and needs to be used up.

How Was The Wine? This is $4, fresh, fruity, round, bouncy and delicious for $4. Cabernet-syrah blend done up rosé style. One glass for each of us. We're trying to cut down.

And The Pairing? Fine.

Cost: $12 for food, $4 for wine = $16

Saturday: Cuban Black Beans over Rice with 2014 Charles Smith Velvet Devil Columbia Valley

Food Details: NYT Cooking Cuban black bean recipe. Alterations: swapped out the ham hock for a big beef marrow bone; poblanos for green peppers; fresh oregano; cider vinegar; honey for brown sugar; half the beans, hence half the garlic (it's only two of us). Over white rice.

Did We Like It? This. Is. Delicious! Absurd complexity here. Highly recommended and most certainly with enter into the food rotation. It has all the Cuban happiness anyone could possibly need. A Cuban mother would be proud.

How Was The Wine? Quickly abandoned the Alloy grenache rosé (no bueno) for leftover Velvet Devil Merlot, which at least (VERY least) offered a textural match-up that offered a minimum level of moderate enjoyment. No wine for me.

And The Pairing? See above.

Cost: $8 for food, $0 for wine = $8  

Friday: Vegetable Tart with 2015 Trader Joe's Grower's Reserve Sauvignon Blanc Napa

Food Details: Buckwheat flour tart shell. Filling of carrots, onions, smoked sun-dried tomatoes and basil, mixed with mustardy-garlicky cream cheese, finished with parmesan. Herb salad on the side. It's bistro food!

Did We Like It? Missed a bit. Sandy buckwheat flour and a filling that didn't pop. Tasted vaguely Italian, actually.

How Was The Wine? Formerly a house $6 fav, this is the third or fourth vintage in a row that tastes like a watery, melony, white Napa mess. No order, no presence. This had a good run a few years ago, bringing the cheap-and-solid goods. No longer.

And The Pairing? Meh.

Cost: $8 for food, $6 for wine = $14

Thursday: Chimichurri Chicken over Brown Rice

Food Details: Freezer chimichurri as a marinade for chicken breasts, with fennel, onion, tomatoes, olives and parsley, with more chimichurri to finish. Over brown rice (one potato added). It's Use Stuff Up dinner!

Did We Like It? Herby, zingy, vegetabley. A fine meal for a Use Stuff Up dinner. No bread here, either. Sorta taking a break from bread, at least in the volume with which we've consumed it over the last few months, cutting it out where it's not needed. Not going gluten-free, just that "nobody needs this much bread!"

How Was The Wine? No wine. Nothing was in the house could have shined with this meal, so why jam it in?

Cost: $6

Wednesday: Goat Kofta and Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Two Vintages of Alloy Wine Works Grenache Rosé

Food Details: Ottolenghi goat kofta with roasted cauliflower-hazelnut-pomegranate seed salad with arugula. Pita. Tahini. Rip, top, eat.

Did We Like It? We've been over this. It has everything everybody could ever want in a bite of food. There's little else I can say. Multiple versions here.

How Was The Wine? We haven't been shy about telling the world that the Alloy Wine Works grenache rosé in the can from Field Recordings is rather silly-great. We went through probably a 36 cans of the 2014. The 2015 just came out, so there was much rejoicing. So, vintage throwdown. The 2014, while its fruit is muddled and overall zip waning, it still has most of the pop, grit and grizzle it's had in the past. It (still) has a personality, a strut. The 2015 is less so. It's rather quiet, missing what the 2014 brought: an in-your-face guava and strawberry burst, following by such friendly bright dirt and pop. This year tastes like more of an attempt to Old World it, with more graceful layers and breeze, but so far - and we will have more - the thing that made 2014 so cheap-happy gets lost in the translation for the 2015. We started to do a cost-benefit analysis comparing this and other cheap weekday rosés. The one-liter Innovacíon at $10 brings similar enjoyment for half the price.

And The Pairing? Fine and good. No complaints. Nothing special. Who cares. The food was stupid-great.

Cost: $12 for food, $18 for wine = $30    

Tuesday: Rabbit Croquetas and Yellow Beet Salad with 2014 Jolie-Laide Trousseau Gris Fanucchi-Wood Road Vineyard Russian River Valley and 2013 Palmina Malvasia Santa Barbara

Food Details: Chicken stock week, so it's clean out the freezer time. Leftover-freezer, Jose Andres' rabbit croquettes, and Palmina yellow beet salad with walnut-anchovy-zest gremolata over curly endive. Pan con tomate using ciabatta.

Did We Like It? Sort of a mishmash of two favorites that don't really go together but still bring all of the happy goods. Croquetas still freshy-fresh. Yellow beet salad that's always good.

How Was The Wine? I overbought the Jolie-Laide, last year's wine of the year, and we may have put it in the "save" category a few too many times when thinking about food pairings, as this wine isn't one that's going to last forever. But the result was surprising. A beautiful leafy-tea note has emerged. While the fruit is fading, and the acid slowing down as a driver, this now has some gray-hair grace to it that's delicious. The Palmina has been a perfect pairing in the past with this beet salad, and we had one more in the house that also HAD to be drunk. It's slower now, creaky, like it's had two knee replacements, and the acid is also slowing, but what we thought would probably be rather dead brought a modicum of beet salad-Palmina malvasia goodness to enjoy it for what it was.

And The Pairing? Plenty of delicious elements on the table to pick and choose our food-wine adventure, which led to a compiling together of a dinner that felt like a buffet of enjoyment. Nothing spectacular here, but certainly was a Happy Bounty.

Cost: $8 for food, $63 for wine = $71

Monday: Calabrian Quail and Orzotto with 2012 A Tribute To Grace Grenache Santa Barbara Highlands

Food Details: The Guardian quail, marinated in currants, passito, thyme, red wine vinegar, olive oil, s/p. Substituted chorizo for nduja. Cast-ironed quail, chorizo crisped up, pan sauce over all of it. Barley orzotto with beet greens (no mascarpone or wild garlic).

Did We Like It? This isn't "our food," but it was quite tasty. There was a sweetness from the currants here that we don't gravitate towards, but it didn't get in the way in the least. Nice balance, and delicious orzotto - creamy, woodsy, hardy and a nice counter to the sweetness. We liked this.

How Was The Wine? This wine  has been sitting around the house for a bit. The food demanded a lighter red with guts, and we didn't want pinot noir on this night. Beaujolais? Maybe. Lighter dolcetto? Possibly. Baga was what we wanted but we didn't have one that was ready in the house. This bottle was opened wearily, as it came off a bit light last time. Not this time. Lightly smoky, lightly meaty, lightly spicy, and darker in tone than last time. All of that together brought a more robust presence than it showed with lamb rosettes 18 months ago. Very happy with the overall result.

And The Pairing? Not perfect, not great, but very nice. A fine length remained with some of the more robust flavors on the plate. Best with the orzotto, but held its own with the quail and chorizo. We're probably not going to remember this meal or pairing next week. That's okay. Enough deliciousness here to chalk it up to a nice Monday dinner that made for a leisurely, happy meal.

Cost: $25 for food, $45 for wine = $70          

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #33

Movie reviews:

If you ask me what Spectre was about a week from now, I'll have no clue. No a one. Completely forgettable Bond installment.

But 99 Homes, Ramin Bahrani's newest, writer/director of the superlatively good Chop Shop, Man Push Cart and Goodbye Solo (and less successful At Any Price), digs in there, sets up shop and doesn't leave your head. Quite good.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $130 for food and $162 for wine = $292

Sunday: Tuna-Caper-Pistachio-Shallot Pasta with 2014 Desperada Sauvignon Blanc Fragment Santa Barbara County

Food Details: Leftover olive-oil poached tuna, pistachios, capers, serranos, charred scallions, anchovies, toasted bread crumbs, basil, mint, lemon zest on bucatini; kale salad.

Did We Like It? Big plate of happiness! A big surprise. Mrs. Ney expected it to be good as she was cooking it, just not THIS good. So breezy, leisurely, delicious, broad and deep.

How Was The Wine? Last (and first) had with fish cakes, celery root pita panzanella and chermoula, where it had a perfect back-and-forth between its grizzle and grace. This time it brought a quiet elegance and suppleness to go with its wisps of fruit and perfectly perky yet controlled acid. Fine on its own, nothing special, but wow with this food.

And The Pairing? Snuggled right up to the pasta and Mediterranean-ness of all the ingredients and turned into a perfect "expander of the flavors." Put this is front of me at some seaside restaurant at three in the afternoon after a dip in the water and I'd chew peoples' ears off about it for years. California sauvignon blanc gets a bad rap. It's taken great leaps in the last few years.

Cost: $8 for food, $22 for wine = $30      

Saturday: Smoked Chicken and Sprout Sandwiches with 2014 Terrasse du Moulinas Blanc Elégance Languedoc-Roussillon

Food Details: Paulina Market smoked chicken, clover sprouts, kumatoes, monterey jack cheese, avocado, onions, mayo on toasted baguette. Olive oil chips.

Did We Like It? Pretty damn good sandwiches, as usual. A home interpretation of a Big Mike's classic. It has everything.

How Was The Wine? Grenache blanc, vermentino, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc. One liter, $10, Whole Foods. Top-three wine of 2015 in our home in terms of price-to-enjoyment ratio. It's fading. The flavors, order, sparkle and energy is becoming jumbled and tired. Almost bought a ton more recently, so I saved money there!

And The Pairing? Did nothing for me.

Cost: $25 for food, $10 for wine = $35

Friday: Iraqi Chicken, Yogurt, Salad and Naan with 2014 Amancay Torrontés La Rioja

Food Details: Based on this Saveur recipe, it's Djaj bil-bahar il-asfar, or dry-spiced Iraqi chicken. Click on link to see the bevy of spices. 500-degree roast on the chicken. It'll chicken up everything in your house but it's entirely worth it. This meal was more stuff on top of a bread-type substance. Naan slathered with cilantro yogurt, topped with the Iraqi chicken and herb salad. Eat.

Did We Like It? We've come a long way since wine-can chicken. Now, Iraqi chicken is chicken we want. Such a beautiful, dirty, gnarly, dry spice blend on the chicken that makes you declare "This is Better chicken!"

How Was The Wine? More TJ's torrontés. Flowers, acid, fruit, cheap.

And The Pairing? Again, very acceptable. The floral notes in the wine mixing with the spices created the gap and pause you want from a pairing. Happy.

Cost: $13 for food, $7 for wine = $20

Thursday: Charred Shallots, Labneh and Pugliese Bread with 2014 Amancay Torrontés La Rioja

Food Details: The usual. Hey, vegetarians. If you complain that it's tough to cook easy veggie meals that simultaneously come off as substantial, filling and delicious, you're not trying. Here's one. Charred shallots and onions with a lemon-thyme (?) vinaigrette (based on this Melissa Clark recipe), Middle Eastern yogurt, Pugliese bread and arugula. Piece of bread, top with yogurt, shallots and salad. Eat.

Did We Like It? We'll probably eat this meal once or twice a month until we die. Satisfies every crevice of your being.

How Was The Wine? I finished the rest of the Broc Cellars grenache blanc, which wasn't...good...with this meal. Mrs. Ney had a new Trader Joe's $7 torrontés, which has just enough flowers, just enough acid, and just enough cheapness at $7 to have a place in this house with the type of food we eat.

And The Pairing? Mine, terrible. Mrs. Ney's very acceptable.

Cost: $8 for food, $7 for wine = $15

Wednesday: "Spread" with 2013 Broc Cellars Vine Starr White Central Coast and 2004 López de Heredia Blanco Gravonia Rioja

Food Details: Roasted red and cubanelle peppers, charred onions, garlic, anchovy, parsley, white balsamic, evoo. Olive-oil poached tuna (made at home) with thyme, rosemary, garlic, bay. Castelvetrano olives with lemon zest and black pepper, mâche, batard bread.

Did We Like It? It was just "spread." But it turned into such much more. Stellar peppers served as the base with nice tuna and great herb-infused oil. This was pick-n-choose bread topper, mostly. Piece of bread + peppers + tuna + mâche = eat. Vaguely Spanish, but easily could be southern French. We Loved This.

How Was The Wine? This Heredia has been in the fridge for a month (!) with a Preserva disk in it. By itself, no bueno. But with food, unbelievably, this turned into everything that makes Heredia, Heredia. Length, nutty, touch of lemon and smoked orange peel, all of it. Classy. I have no idea how. We just needed to get it out of the fridge. The Broc Vine Starr (100% grenache blanc) is lightly herbal, lightly mineral and lightly fruity, while being the perfect blend of all three, with each taking the reins at different times while the others served their supporting roles admirably. Nice acidity, as grenache blanc has/does. Clean, dry, Broc being Broc. Best wine club decision I've made.

And The Pairing? With the Heredia, this was Spanish goodness. With the Broc, this was southern French. The back-and-forth was so damn good. It took a meal that was already good and made it even wider/better. Paired with more Come Dine With Me. Great two-hour dinner.

Cost: $23 for food, $53 for wine = $76        

Tuesday: Pizza Art Café with NV Fattoria Moretto Lambrusco Secco Grasparossa di Castelvetro Monovitigno Emilia-Romagna

Food Details: Greek salad to start, Diavola with arugula and Pugliese with smoked beef pizzas.

Did We Like It? Something about their Greek salad. It's loaded with freshy-freshness. We don't divert from what we like here. It's consistently good pizza. This time...something about the cheese on both...it was better this time.

How Was The Wine? Lambrusco done well. Blackberries all over the place. Juicy, dark, smooth, twiggy forest floor, dry, tart. You taste it and it tastes like what Kermit Lynch likes.

And The Pairing? Zero complaints.

Cost: $40 for food, $28 for wine = $68    

Monday: Goat Kofta and Roasted Cauliflower with 2014 Frank Cornelissen Etna Rosato Susucaru 

Source: Goat kofta from Yotam Ottolenghi (do a book search here). Cauliflower, hazelnut, pomegranate salad based on this recipe, from NYT, and Ottolenghi's as well.

Food Details: Goat kofta made with allspice, cinnamon, etc. (similar flavors used in the salad). Roasted cauliflower-hazelnut-pomegranate salad. Celery, parsley, onions, mint, adding preserved lemon and serrano, leaving out maple syrup. Tahini and pita.

Did We Like It? "This is what all other food wants to be!" Spicy, nutty, crunchy, fresh, bright, slightly sweet, every flavor and food sensation, all put together on a plate. There is absolutely nothing missing here. You don't like this, you don't like food. It's perfect, perfectly balanced, makes your tongue go, "Wow!" It's been a few months since the last time we have this, and that gap made it taste oh-so new again.

How Was The Wine? Our first 2014 Susucaru after drinking a good amount of #5s. You stick the 2014 next to any other Susucaru vintage (this is only our third) and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Exact same expression (maybe less rosewater here) and a lovely one at that. Light, fluttering red fruits in the background with dried roses, stones, and a happy buckwheat-rye-cinnamon note. Dry, gutsy, easy, refreshing and fun.

And The Pairing? The Susucaru wants North African-Middle Eastern flavors. It has the backbone to stand up and expand with the spice while having the gaps and space to slowly and gracefully mingle with the flurry of flavors on the plate. Great pairing. Great.

Cost: $13 for food, $35 for wine = $48      

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #24

No family holidays for us this season.

So Christmas, for us, this year, was food, wine, and the second season of 'Fargo.'

It's not The Wild Bunch, but how many people are killed in 'Fargo?' Gotta go with about 60-70 at least. Geesh!

Before watching that, I consumed Making A Murderer on Netflix, an 10-part documentary that's infinitely intriguing while you're in it, but loses much of its impact in the last third when the filmmakers decide against employing a wider social lens.

I was busy.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $161 for food and $183 for wine = $344

Total food and wine cost for the month: $471 for food and $452 for wine = $923

Sunday: Guinea Hen "chicken and rice" with 2015 Viñas Chilenas Reserva Rosé Valle Central

Food Details: Guinea hen bits and juice from Christmas dinner, onions, walnuts and amaranth greens, over wild and brown rice.

Did We Like It? A very nice dinner compiled with things from the freezer. Tasted healthy without tasting "Oh...this is healthy food."

How Was The Wine? This is $4, fresh, fruity, round, bouncy and delicious. Cabernet-syrah blend done up rosé style.

And The Pairing? No complaints. The wine remained its juicy, bright self while never interfering with the delicate nature of the food. Nothing great, nothing not. $6 meal, wine included!

Cost: $2 for food, $4 for wine = $6 

Saturday: Pick-n-Choose with 2014 Charles Smith VINO Pinot Grigio Columbia Valley

Food Details: Mariano's rotisserie chicken, kumatoes, avocados, arugula-parsley salad, mayo, and mini-ciabatta buns, with pickled red onions for me.

Did We Like It? Siempre. It's pick-n-choose your bite, which really isn't pick-n-choose, technically. We top each ripped ciabatta with the same collection of flavors, each of which like each other so very well together, it becomes a heaping mound of happiness. They're friends, hence this oft-eaten meal.

How Was The Wine? Sparkle and polish, acid and citrus blossom notes. There MIGHT be some fade going on here, as there was a wee touch of a jumble in flavor delineation happening with this drinking. We'll see.

And The Pairing? Assembled bite: ciabatta carb, mayo, glazed chicken, kumato dark-tomato flavor, creamy avocado, herby-peppery salad. Pickled onion pop for me. Add the wine's citrus and acid cut and cleanse. You'll be happy. We were.

Cost: $15 for food,  $13 for wine = $28

Friday: Christmas Crab Rangoon Empanada Lunch and Guinea Hen Dinner

Lunch: Homemade faux-crab Rangoon empanadas with mâche salad and pomegranate seeds for Christmas lunch, served with NV Gaston Chiquet Brut Tradition Champagne. The crab empanadas are probably a one-off, but what a nice one-off they were. Fish sauce-based dipping sauce for the empanadas. So, happy Asian flavors in a Latin wrapper.

But the fish sauce killed the Gaston Chiquet, our first Champagne love that we haven't had in a couple of years. Good food lunch with bubbles that fell flat. Something with a bit of sugar like riesling was the play here.

Dinner: Delia Smith guinea hen with 30 cloves of garlic, with the addition of cumin, caraway and tarragon; Ottolenghi harissa pommes Dauphine (feta instead of goat cheese), and Ottolenghi roasted carrots with coriander seeds and garlic, with the addition of lemon thyme, served with 2013 Matthiasson Refosco Napa.

THIS is a Christmas dinner. Perfectly seasoned and spiced guinea hen meat with more pan garlic-juice poured over top. Succulent, is the word. Little pillows of fried potato balls studded with harissa. Best roasted carrots on the planet. "Post-Ottolenghi world," my butt, Saveur. A great Christmas dinner that ranked right up there with all the other great Christmas dinners we've had when not seeing family. I think there's a connection between those two. Wonderful linkage between each element on the plate with the crossover of seasoning.

Paired with watching 'Fargo' more than the Matthiasson Refosco. A one-hour decant still didn't crack open this low alcohol, but very tannic and ripe refosco. This one was a good example of a wine that tasted very well-made, but offered little in the way of openness, ingratiation or friendliness with the food. Too tight, too tannic, too oddly full to give much here. A surprise given my perception of the nature of refosco. Tasted more like a tight-fisted cabernet without the alcohol. At times, it felt like it was trying, but nothing to see in terms of pairing here.

Cost: $52 for food, $85 for wine = $137      

Thursday: Jacques Pepin Brandade and Mustardized Asparagus with 2009 Michel Brégeon Muscadet 

Food Details: (recipe) Fussy-but-easy = lots of fiddly but uncomplicated steps that you MUST follow: Pepin brandade, using Whole Foods salt cod, half celery root and half potatoes, almond milk instead of dairy, white balsamic vinegar instead of lemon juice, pecorino instead of parmesan. Mustard-y marinade on asparagus (grilled), chopped marcona almonds, and grilled baguette.

Did We Like It? Best brandade yet. Mrs. Ney usually uses Goya pollack, but Whole Foods had true-blue salt cod this time. Great balance between the fish, creaminess, nuttiness and celery rooty-ness. Silky texture, great depth. Weirdly delicious asparagus. We like asparagus. This mound of spears, with the marcona and mustard, made them more than just a green side dish. A Christmas Eve dinner that should be a new tradition. Our own 'Feast of the One Fish.'

How Was The Wine? The 2002 Brégeon was a bit of a revelation, that time with chicken and skordalia. It was eight-year-old Muscadet that tasted like it was made yesterday. A bottle of 2005 was funky swamp water, something so rank that we've been a little gun shy about diving back in to the Brégeon. This 2009 was a touch muted and probably needed a decant/more time in the bottle. Pleasing lemon-lime zest, lovely minerals, moderately punchy acid. But in all, a bit quiet. We opened a bottle of 2013 Jackys Preys Cuvée de Fié Gris Touraine to compare and got a wild, bucking, natural wine that showed its naturalness, both the good and the not so. An explosion of grass, flowers, smoked lime and iron at times, other times it turned rather beer-like. Really enjoyed its gregariousness at first, but with the food, we turned back to the Muscadet, as it played in a much more friendly manner with the food. The fié gris wouldn't shut up!

And The Pairing? The Muscadet never got out of the realm of "pleasant" with the food, liking the brandade well enough, even if a bit withdrawn. The middle of the meal was like a huge action scene in a movie with the fié gris, bringing all the explosions and crashes, but leaving us a little exhausted with the effort. We went back to the Muscadet and found pleasing nuggets of good-enough-ness.

Cost: $20 for food, $45 for wine =  $65       

Wednesday: Solomonov Kofta, Pickled Persimmons and Zucchini Baba Ganoush with 2011 Pascal Janvier "Cuvée du Rosier" Coteaux du Loir Rouge

Food Details: Goat kofta and pickled persimmons from Saveur (in the piece, would somebody please tell me what the hell "post-Ottolenghi world" means?). Zucchini baba ganoush (from New Middle Eastern Food), subbing in zucchini for eggplant. Pita. Arugula salad on the side.

Did We Like It? First, goat kofta and pickled persimmons together in one bite is certainly something everyone should try, because it's stupid-delicious, and will be had be us again. And again. Golly, that's good stuff. Zucchini baba ganoush as a veg in dip-and-dunk form. Salad freshness. Meat-veg-carb-green. But in an utterly different and exquisite form.

How Was The Wine? I expected a floral frame, and got aromatics in the form of spice. Light-bodied with guts, crushed berries, a dancing flurry of lightly toasty spice. Delicately tart finish. 100% pineau d’aunis from the coolest part of the Loire. Low alcohol, bright acid, lovely wine. Buying again. This one fits into a unique wine place that also caters to the food we like.

And The Pairing? It threw a couple of moody fits with the food, but overall quite happy with the pairing here. Somewhat muted with the baba ganoush, but very much liked the goat and persimmon.

Cost: $15 for food, $16 for wine = $31

Tuesday: Bucatini, Anchovy, Caper and Chile with 2012 Regis Minet Pouilly-Fumé Vieilles Vignes

Food Details: When you're a little groggy after a work Christmas party, you want to go out to eat. We wanted to. Then we looked around the interwebs at menus, saw one list that had bucatini with anchovy and chile, and both of us thought, "THAT'S what we want!" Then we started doing the math. $18/bowl of that pasta dish at the restaurant. Bottle of wine. Probably an appetizer or two. Maybe some starter bubbles. Tax. Tip. That could easily be $150. All the ingredients for "What we want" are in the house. And we have wine. Better wine. So...

Bucatini, evoo, anchovies, capers, garlic, manzano pepper, pepper flakes; separately-charred tomatoes, parsley, mint, toasted bread crumbs dumped on top.

Did We Like It? Jeebus, yes! Tasted exactly like what great pasta can be. A perfect blend of carbs, flavor and satisfaction.

How Was The Wine? Flinty, grassy, smoky, citrusy; everything that Regis Minet is and three years old to boot. Crazy producer that makes what became our house Pouilly-Fumé years ago.

And The Pairing? The wine fell right in line with the weight and balance of the pasta, offering an even more stream-lined, broad feeling to the meal. Couldn't ask for more happiness.

Cost: $7 for food, $18 for wine = $25    

Monday: Work Christmas Party

Food Details: Potluck. Brought chicken liver pâté, toasties, ginger-scallion sauce and Korean hot sauce for the supplied Sun-Wah whole pig, and farro-olive salad.

Wine: Alloy Wine Works Grenache in the can, from Field Recordings.

Result: A good time had by all.

Cost: $50

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #16

Royals are better.

And I can't wait until Halloween is over. It's a silly holiday, though Mrs. Ney's costume for work, Red Flags, is awesome.

A celebratory week of solid restaurant chicken, a couple of greatest hits, and one of the best dinners we've had in a good long while.

Rabbit. Stupid rabbit. You're delicious. And grilled radicchio with rabbit? Gee whiz.

Best rabbit we've ever had.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $142 for food and $137 for wine = $279

Total food and wine cost for the month: $688 for food and $716 for wine = $1404

Sunday: Ham and Mortadella Sandwiches with 2014 Innovacíon Rosé Mendoza

Food Details: Ham, mortadella and red pepper sandwiches on ciabatta, baked. Olive oil chips. It's sandwich and chips!

Did We Like It? Fine and good. Fine. And. Good. Ending your waiting tables week with a big plate of sandwich and chips with rosé works every freakin' time.

How Was The Wine? Last bottle of the $8, one-liter rosé goodness. We drank probably 8-10 bottles of this pinked-up malbec-syrah blend this year. It was good to us. Fading now, as it's getting a little muddled in flavor, but still happy $8 pink.

And The Pairing? It's ham sandwich, chips and pink. What's not to like?

Cost: $15 for food, $8 for wine = $23    

Saturday: Taco Salad with 2014 La Granja Blanco Rioja

Food Details: Put all the following ingredients in the biggest bowl you have and mix: Ground beef cooked with taco seasoning, chopped romaine, crushed tortilla chips, shredded white cheddar, kumatoes, onions, leftover jalapeño crema from Fish Taco Tuesday (limed up), cubed avocado and cilantro...

Did We Like It? ...Bring your bowl to the couch, lean back, put the bowl on your stomach, put your favorite TV entertainment on the tele, move your beverages to the edge of the coffee table so you don't have to move too much; eat, drink and enjoy Halloween the way you do.

How Was The Wine? It's taco salad. $5 Trader Joe's Spanish white will suffice. Nothing gets in the way.

And The Pairing? See above. Just enjoy the Big Bowl of Taco Salad with some wine that's good enough.

Cost: $12 for food, $5 for wine = $17

Friday: Boxing Day Sausage Rolls and Arugula

Food Details: Sausage Rolls (here, via NYT Cooking) with an arugula and pomegranate seed salad.

Did We Like It? Fine, easy-peasy, substantial and satisfying food.

How Was The Wine? No wine. We needed a break.

Cost: $8


Thursday: Rabbit Confit, Grilled Radicchio and Celery Root-Chestnut Purée with Pouillon Rose de Maceration Brut Champagne

Source: Rabbit from Michael Psilakis, via Leite's Culinaria

Food Details: D'Artagnan rabbit with rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley, shallot, garlic, bay, mustard seed, fennel seed and lavender. Radicchio, grilled, cored, coarsely chopped; with rabbit oil, orange juice, whole-grain mustard dressing. Celery root and chestnuts sauteed in 2 tbsp butter; cooked in almond milk, pureed; finished with a drizzle of rabbit oil. Rabbit drizzled with more rabbit oil at the table. Radicchio and rabbit spritzed with orange.

Did We Like It? Je-Sus! Best rabbit we've ever had! Best radicchio we've ever had! Tasted like if we gave this to an Alsatian grandmother, she'd begrudgingly nod in approval. So savory and crunchy and bitter and creamy and slightly sweet, with perfect acid, perfect rabbit skin and meat, all of it...just perfect. We couldn't get better rabbit dish out in the world, period. Best meal in months!

How Was The Wine? 100% pinot noir, given the saignée treatment. Not floral, not deep, not a lot of stuff, but everything it gets right, IT GETS RIGHT. Pretty fruit, pretty mouthfeel, lilting acid, Champagne doing what Champagne does: make you happy that it exists in the world.

And The Pairing? Like Wednesday, we could have gone in a lot of directions, but in the end the sparkling nature of the wine brought a bounce and lift that kept the entire meal buoyant and a sheer joy, something a still wine might not have done here. Golly, we eat well. This was Exhibit A.

Cost: $40 for food, $44 for wine = $84

Wednesday: Lamb Kofta, Charred Shallots, Labneh and Ancient Grains Bread with 2013 Broc Cellars Grenache Mendocino

Source: Ottolenghi kofta and Melissa Clark charred shallots

Food Details: First time making kofta with lamb. It's usually been goat. Cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, parsley, nuts, onion, garlic, all the kofta goodness. Big splotch of labneh on the plate, charred shallots on top of labneh, kofta on the side. Ancient grains bread instead of pita. Inland cress salad with mint. Spritz of lemon on things.

Did We Like It? We had to get back on this horse after the sweetness of the tomatoes in the last version of this meal, with goat leg, brought out some food hate. That was confirmed when we had a bite of this. A piece of Ancient Grain bread, a lil dollop of labneh, some charred shallots, maybe some inland cress, sometimes some kofta. Eat. Beautiful savory combinations that offers space and time to taste and savor everything, instead of sweetness muddying the waters. Can't recommend this more highly.

How Was The Wine? Broc being Broc, again. Our first Broc grenache, with low alcohol (12.5 - nice place for grenache), lovely floral frame, happy red fruits of raspberry and darker currant, sometimes a bit of licorice, sometimes a bit of chocolate. Light body, sunny acid, bright disposition. Liked it very much.

And The Pairing? No complaints in the least. Everything liked each other. We could have gone in a few directions here with the pairing but this one brought a completeness to the meal that never made us think of other options.

Cost: $20 for food, $30 for wine = $50 

Tuesday: Fish Tacos with Purple Corn Sangria

Source: From Duncan Gott of Gott's Roadside. Recipe taken directly from here. Purple corn sangria (Bobby Flay) here.

Food Details: Mahi mahi marinade = shallot, garlic, jalapeño, olive oil, lime juice, chili powder, cilantro and cumin and then grill the fish. Make some cabbage slaw. Bought guacamole this time, because the avocados weren't ready, and mixed it with tomatoes and cilantro. Jalapeño crema. Hot sauce. Charred tortillas.

Did We Like It? Any celebration week in this house must have fish tacos, because they're the best fish tacos on Earth. This batch was one of the better batches made. Complete balance in flavor. Loved-loved-loved it.

How Was The Beverage? And one of the better batches of purple corn sangria made in this house. Oodles of depth, made possible by a more significant reduction in the purple corn-pineapple rind juice.

And The Pairing? Classic. It tastes classic when made this perfectly.

Cost: $17 for food, $18 for wine = $35

Monday: Nando's with 2014 Cara Viva Rosé Lisbon

Food Details: Full chicken platter for two with two sides of fries and four sides of peri-peri mayo.

Did We Like It? Got $60? Don't wanna cook? Want a tableful of chicken and fried potato sticks with tons of mayo to dip? We do. Often. And Nando's does that pretty darn well. This is nothing earth-shattering, just solid bird and good fries when you want that.

How Was The Wine? Had the Cara Viva branco last time. It's nice for $16. Rosé this time, same price, same label. It's their house label, and it tastes like Portugal. Fresh dirt, nice fruit. Again, nothing earth-shattering here, simply a drinkable rosé that doesn't get devoured by the spiciness of the peri-peri.

And The Pairing? See above. Eat, sip, eat again, sip again. The solid acid in the wine cuts nicely, the food is good, and you get about a third of the way through the meal and say, "This'll do. This'll totally do."

Cost: $30 for food, $32 for wine = $62

365 Days Of Food And Wine: Week #9

The end of our week-long California trip, low-lighted by a delayed flight, crabby flight passengers, and getting home at 2am.

California, you're nice. We like you in doses and in specific spots. Your food and food culture are wonderful, but only in doses. Getting back home to Home Food, as I seem to write every time I do a vacation recap on this here bloggy-blog, is What We Want.

Always.

Total food and wine cost for the week: $277 for food and $281 for wine = $558

Sunday: Ham, Cheese, Onion and Pickled Jalapeño Flatbread with 2014 Innovacíon Rosé Mendoza

Food Details: "What's in the house?" naan pizzas. Cheap ham, cheap cheese, onions and pickled jalapeños, baked.

Did We Like It? Fine, good, food, done.

How Was The Wine? Great rosé for $8. Weeknight workhorse. On its own here, I loved the snot out of it. All bright, sparkly and refreshing.

And The Pairing? Jalapeños killed it, turning it into a rather boring drinker. A bite without jalapeño was much better, but never got out of the realm of run-of-the-mill rosé.

Cost: $10 for food, $8 for wine - $18


Saturday: Beet-marinated Chicken Curry with 2014 João Portugal Ramos LIMA Loureiro Vinho Verde

Source: Weeknight riff on chakundari chicken tikka, from Mark Bittman at NYT. Mr. Bittman is retiring from the mothership, by the way. Sad face.

Food Details: Beet-marinated chicken (beet marinade from freezer), cilantro, peas, onions over rice. Chicken, un-skewered; onions sauteed in fond, deglazed with stock; lemon juice spritz.

Did We Like It? Big bowl o' food! Great smells while cooking, but something got lost in translation. Never rose above vaguely curry-ish, beety chicken and rice.

How Was The Wine? Lightly fruity, lightly floral, lightly acidic. It's $8 loureiro.

And The Pairing? A miss here as well. The food stripped out LIMA's lilting appeal. Fine enough, but boring. Better on its own.

Cost: $6 for food, $8 for wine = $14


Friday: "What's in the House?" Quiche and Arugula Salad with 2014 Caves de Charmelieu Saint-Bris Sauvignon Blanc

Food Details: Onions, tomatoes, leftover peppers, parsley, thyme. Gruyère cheese. All in quiche form. Arugula salad on the side. It's bistro lunch food.

Did We Like It? We always like it. It's once-a-month quiche that's we haven't had once-a-month in a while. Not fancy, just everything you need. Quiche, with salad on the side. Done. Eat.

How Was The Wine? It's Trader Joe's sauvignon blanc from Saint-Bris in Burgundy. Didn't think Burgundy made sauvignon blanc? They do. There's a creamy-pasture note with nice snap that makes this one a good sauvignon blanc alternative on the cheap. Last year's vintage was better, but it showed well here.

And The Pairing? It showed well because of the gruyère cheese, which likes sauvignon blanc. Best this vintage has drunk.

Cost: $6 for food, $10 for wine = $16


Thursday: Duck Meatballs, Amaranth Seed Polenta Cakes and Borlotti Bean Gravy with 2012 Raul Péréz Ultreia Mencia Bierzo and 2009 Domaine des Tours Vaucluse Rouge

Source: Gravy and andouille-spiced meatballs [Mrs. Ney was not stuffing sausage casings] in Sean Brock's Heritage cookbook. Amaranth polenta cakes from this recipe, from Bob's Red Mill.

Food Details:  Ground duck meatballs, amaranth seed polenta cakes, borlotti bean gravy (using borlotti instead of lady pea gravy in the cookbook), red, yellow and green peppers, leftover amaranth greens, and parsley on top.

Did We Like It? Yes. Wouldn't make it again, as everything was very subtle in pop and punch, but some very good flavors here. And very complete in flavor play. The bean gravy created a subtle, peppery-bean, underlying flavor to everything that was quite nice. Everything was done well, ate well, very much liked and enjoyed. It was simply more quiet than we like. But amaranth seed polenta cakes are A Thing. Like the amaranth leaves with the goat kofta above, they offer an earthy, expanding, country breeze note that broadens things out and integrates into savory, planty, veggie-centric flavors quite well.

How Was The Wine? We figured the Raul Péréz mencia would match the weight of the food and like the duck. It didn't. Not even a lil bit. Came off flat, tired and saggy. No lift or liveliness. So we opened a Vaucluse that's been sitting around, was past its prime and HAD to be consumed. It tasted like it.

And The Pairing? The duck helped make the wine taste like its former self, if only a little bit. Enough resemblance of a proper wine flow to not open a third bottle.

Cost: $25 for food, $47 for wine = $72 (oof!)


Wednesday: Goat Kofta, Cauliflower, Amaranth Leaves, Tahini and Pita with 2006 Two Hands Beautiful Stranger Barossa

Source: Goat kofta from Yotam Ottolenghi (do a book search here). Cauliflower, hazelnut, pomegranate salad based on this recipe, from NYT, and Ottolenghi's as well.

Food Details: Goat kofta made with allspice, cinnamon, etc. (similar flavors used in the salad). The only real difference in this meal to the last time we had it was using amaranth leaves as the greens. Roasted cauliflower-hazelnut-pomegranate salad. Celery, parsley, onions, mint, serrano. Tahini and pita.

Did We Like It? "This is what all other food wants to be!" Spicy, nutty, crunchy, fresh, bright, slightly sweet, every flavor and food sensation, all put together on a plate. There is absolutely nothing missing here. You don't like this, you don't like food. It's perfect, perfectly balanced, makes your tongue go, "Wow!" and was a much needed meal after simple California food. We had arrived Home when we ate this.

How Was The Wine? Shiraz done in the Amarone style. Our second 2006. 2004 was one of our favorite wines of last year. Very pretty nose of smoldering fire and berries. A bit alcoholic, nice fruit, quite round, bit of ash, burning wood. Nice wine, didn't work here.

And The Pairing? Too big for this meal. Didn't work, but we didn't really care. This food is surprisingly light in overall impression. The cauliflower creates a gap that allows the spices to take a break, sucking up its possibly larger punchy blitz on "spices!" That creates bouncy, broad, deliciously balanced food, but it needs a wine that matches those gaps. This one is too brawny and in your face to allow that. The mint helped a bit, as it does with shiraz, which was nice.

Cost: $15 for food, $75 for wine = $90 


Tuesday: Bocadillos and Gioia Pizzeria 

Notes: Two lunches in San Francisco we wanted to hit before leaving, and our only trip into the city, oddly. Just didn't want anything from the city after sitting on the bay. Bocadillos, Gerald Hirigoyen's sister restaurant to Piperade, feels like a San Sebastian interpretation for the corporate lunch crowd during the day and young tech-types for nosh and drinks at night. It's done well for that realm. Pretty space, solid food. Bocadillos of salmon, lamb and BLT. Patatas bravas and empanadas. Cheap pink Cava to drink. A pleasant lunch.

Gioia Pizzeria's San Francisco outpost inevitably drew comparisons to the original Berkeley spot. A bistro-style feel inside that San Francisco does very well, but our hearts lie in Berkeley. Something was a tad amiss in flavor. Same dough deliciousness, less overall greatness. Two acciughe and two summer squash slices. Two glasses of Zibibbo to drink, which is fun to say.

Airport early to see if we could catch an earlier flight. Nope. Our flight delayed, then not, then delayed, then a new plane, it was hot in the terminal, hot in the plane, people were crabby, got home at 2am. Annoyed. Could have been worse. Vacation done.

Cost: $85 for food, $60 for wine =  $145


Monday: Fish in Sausalito and Harmony Chinese in Mill Valley

Notes: This is exhibit A of the above. We could have gone out into the world for another spendy California meal. It would have been fresh. It would have been good. It would have had $300. So cheap eats.

Fish in the Sausalito Harbor is a "form a line before they open" kind of thing, because it's fresh fish boated right up to the Sausalito Harbor, 50 feet away. Again...it was fresh and it was good. Since the freshness of the fish is the star, nothing too complex is added. The fish and chips were quite great, the fish tacos less so. Crab roll, lacking a bit. Bottle of house Vinho Verde to wash things down. We'd go back for the fish and chips with house tartar. That's good fish and chips.

Harmony Chinese for dinner, because it was right around the corner and a take-home Chinese spread before flying out the next day, sitting outside on the bay, sounded perfect. Kung pao chicken, house beef, green beans, pot stickers, egg rolls, rice, all the Chinese goods. Once again, fresh and good. No complaints. Had to drink the wine we bought during the trip, so two bottles: 2014 Broc Cellars Picpoul Blanc Luna Matta Vineyard Paso Robles and 2014 Field Recordings Camp 4 Carignan. Loved both wines. The Picpoul we knew, and love. It's domestic picpoul with a Muscadet edge. The carignan (25% cinsault) was a surprise. Better than when we tasted it at Field Recordings, all flowers and bright, round red fruits with a touch of fancy dirt. Big fans.    

Cost: $130 for food, $73 for wine = $203

Goat Kofta, Roasted Cauliflower, Kale, Hazelnuts, Pita And Tahini With 2010 Owen Roe Pinot Noir The Kilmore

$5 goat. $7 for everything else. That's $12 for dinner.

We spent roughly that for an Arby's lunch a couple of days ago when there were no other options and we needed something fast. You tell me which one sounds better. Our answer is, unequivocally, in the above picture. Good Lord! Arby's cheese is not natural!

Don't think you like cauliflower? Eat this cauliflower and get back to me. From Yotam Ottolenghi (natch) in the New York Times. I didn't need cauliflower in my life. Now I want cauliflower in my life after eating this. Sweet, roasty, spicy, nutty, with a pomegranate seed pop and celery crunch. Every ingredient has a purpose. Perfect balance, utterly new, and plenty of roughage to clean out Arby's cheese.

Goat kofta (here's a reason to buy $5/lb. ground goat and toss it in your freezer), made with similar flavors in the cauliflower salad, using allspice, cinnamon, etc.. Tahini and pita to round out the meal.

Eating this meal was like rereading a chapter in a book you're reading, because the chapter was that freakin' good. The world slows down, things make a bit more sense, there's a touch of clarity in your head that wasn't there before. And it's why I can't abide people that say eating should be treated as mere sustenance. When one willfully avoids good food, it's like they're willfully avoiding...beauty. That feels like idiocy to me. Maybe it was the juxtaposition of Arby's next to real food, but this dinner felt like beauty to us.

The 2010 Owen Roe Pinot Noir The Kilmore Yamhill-Carlton ($42 - Winery) benefitted from the similarity of spices in both the kofta and cauliflower salad, letting the wine take a cue from that and say, "Here's all the pretty earth I can give to this." A complete Oregon pinot nose, a touch of plum and a hint of something like a mulled Christmas wine, but this one was all about the earth on the tongue. Delicious wine. The food could have maybe used a floral note from the wine but we were happy campers with this food-wine combo. Felt very intentional, which is all anybody wants from a pairing.