GARLIC DOUGH BALLLLSSSS!

Honestly these are to die for!!!

And who wouldn't love a jug of wine, and dough ball refills when ever you want... 

Yes, C & O Trattoria by the Venice Pier is where the staff supports and promotes your carb and wine intake. 

WARNING: These garlic dough balls are extremely addictive.  Some may call them Crack Balls.

What's for dinner?

What's for dinner? 

Chicken and zucchini with Green Curry Sauce find the recipe here. 

Thanks Foodnetwork.com for this delicious dinner, I think I was a little heavy on the curry, I will be a little easier next time. Great quick and healty meal for a busy night.

 

Quinoa Quest: Quinoa Roasted Strawberry Parfait

I am constantly looking for great Quinoa Recipes, when I stumbled upon Baked Bree who recently posted about roasted strawberries.  While her blog was about strawberries, she photographed these adorable and delicious looking little parfaits.  It was Quinoa and Greek Yogurt topped with her roasted strawberries.  I had to try these and the best part was they looked so simple and quick.  Find her recipe here. 

1. Rinse

2. Cut

 

3. Place in a oven safe dish. 

4. Drizzle with sugar and balsamic vinegar.   By the way look at those cool magnetic measuring spoons above my mom just got me (From Crate & Barrel)

5. Roast in the oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes

 6. Build the Parfait.  Quinoa, Greek yogurt, Roasted Strawberries. Enjoy!

Find other Quinoa Quest treats here! 

 

Escape the Fog

Roblar Winery 

It was a very foggy day in Santa Barbara and Phil (a very smart man) invited the three of us girls to a Wine & Food paring held at Roblar Winery (Phil is a member) for the vintner's festival. As we traveled over the San Marcos Pass, the fog disappeared and we entered into the beautiful valley of Los Olivos, sunny skies shined over the hills and vineyards.  We made the right decision to escape the fog! 

 The Roblar Winemaker, Dave Dascomb, was there to serve us our first tasting and food paring.  As we tasted wine and treats, we listened to the music of musician Owen Plant. 

Parings: 

2010 Block One Reserve Sauvignon Blanc with Santa Barbara Halibut Cevichi

2010 Estate Merlot with Barbaresco Crustini with Chipotle Sauce

2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, Barrel Select with Pita with ground lamb, hummus, onion, and blue cheese sauce

2010 Late Harvest Vioginer with French Vanilla Bean Cheesecake (Served by Chef Ryan)

After the parings we wondered up to the 2nd story porch to enjoy some more tastings and great views of the vineyard.  Where I tasted the 2009 Barrel Select Susich Syrah and the 2009 Triomphe (buy both here)

 

Bridlewood Winery 

We weren't ready to go back to foggy Santa Barbara, so we decided to do some tasting at Bridlewood Winery Estate.   The beautiful estate was very busy and there was a party going on.  I don't like when people have parties and I am not invited.  So we went into the tasting room and said, "How do we join the party?".  It was simple, it was a wine pick up party for members, so we needed to become a member and that is what I did.  I couldn't wait to join the pick up celebration that day and I can't wait to be cordially invited every 2 months to another pick up party, that sounds like my idea of fun, SIGN ME UP!

When we entered the barrel room where the festivities were being held we were greeted with a glass of wine, and had the option to taste the wines in the tasting room and tastings right from the barrel.  Don't worry, I did not pass up my chance to try....In addition to the wine, a few hors d'oeuvres were being served. 

Wines: 

Monterey County Chardonnay

Central Coast Syrah

Central Coast Reserve Viognier

Monterey County Pinot Noir

I bought a half case of 2007 Central Coast Reserve Syrah.  This is the first wine I have ever bought wine tasting that I actually love.  Usually my tastebuds are a little off after wine tasting. Great choice.

Hors D'oeuvres: 

Cheese plate

Veggie Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

BBQ Turkey Meatballs

Cheese Quesdillas with Salsa Verde

Find all my wine tasting adventures here!

Quinoa Quest: Quinoa Duo

I recently found the Trader Joe's Quinoa Duo with Vegetable Melange in Trader Joe's frozen section.  This is a quick and easy, microwave in 7 minutes side dish that is ready to go at any time.   The vegetables, herbs, and spices take this plain and nutty grain and give it so much flavor and makes me wanting more! I never thought quinoa would ever do that to me!

Microwave Directions: 

1. Place in a microwavable dish. 

2. Microwave for 3 min covered. Stir. Microwave for 4 minutes. 

3. Eat!!

Check out more Trader Joe's favorites & Quinoa Quest dishes.

Yum, Yum, Hot Butter Rum

 

Today is April 20th, 2012, and today is a VERY important day!  If you don't already know Samantha Wyman, Samantha, Herself is turning 25!  I hope she doesn't mind I just shared her age... oops, but a quarter of a century is a big achievement and it needs to be known! If you know Samantha, you know she is always on a quest to be a combination of Lauren Conrad, Mary Kate & Ashley, and Martha Stewart and she made all 4 very proud this last weekend!

Last Friday, when California decided to be cold and drizzly in the middle of Spring, Samantha was prepared with the perfect drink!  Hot Butter Rum, this was a delicious drink of spiced butter, rum, and steaming hot water.  It was delicious, buttery, spicy, and most important spiked with good old Captain Morgan's Rum (Classy)!  Samantha - you need to share your spiced butter recipe with us ASAP. 

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMANTHA WYMAN!!!

  

Chocolate, chocolate, CHOCOLATE MILK!

Best thank you gift ever!!! 

Broguiere's Chocolate Milk!!!  Find it here and other specialty stores.

It is the creamiest and chocolatiness, best chocolate milk ever...Thank you Heidi & Scott and Broguiere's... I now know why they have had 92 years of Excellence and I hope they have 92 more!

PS... Enjoy this as a treat! They do not include the nutritional facts on the bottle, probably because we don't want to know. 

Heidi & Scott's Santa Barbara must haves!

Heidi and Scott are two of our best friends from college at UCSB and they love coming back to visit any chance they get, LUCKY US.  Every time they come to visit they have their list of Santa Barbara must haves and we love tagging along!

First stop! South Coast Deli!  Ummm I have something called work so I missed out on a Chinese Chicken Salad, or Tri-tip Sammie or Turkey Sandwich, but they were full when they arrived at my house.

NO PICTURES...:( I WASN'T THERE!

Once I finished up with work, we headed over to do some early evening wine tasting at Corks & Crowns.  It is quite the treat to be a member because you and 3 of your friends get a free tasting or discounted upgraded tasting.  For the special occasion, I decided to upgrade to the Pinot Trio, Heidi tried the Platinum, and Scott did the beer.  Honestly, as long as you like beer, wine, or pizza you will be happy at C&C. Yes, I said pizza, they have Full of Life Flatbread Pizza make flatbread pizzas on Thursday nights! I must say, they smelled absolutely delicious, but we were saving room for dinner. 

Next: Arigato! Last time Heidi and Scott were in town we went to Arigato for some sushi and well, too many drinks before and too much saki left the night a little fuzzy in our memories so we wanted to try it again, this time we were planning on remembering dinner. 

Popcorn Shrimp: The best you will find!  They are perfectly cooked, perfectly breaded, and perfectly sauced... Seriously, we ordered 4! Who does that... umm us and it was totally worth it!

Some of the other items we ordered were seared kobe beef, salmon with gorgonzola sauce, ahi carpaccio, jalapeno yellowtail, locals only.  Ohhhh My God....  Soooooooo Gooooood!

And once again, we ended the night with some delicious cocktails at The Marquee!  Check out my blog from last time we were there!

R. A. W.

First I would like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY K PRATT!!!

Kristen wanted to celebrate at Adama for her birthday, a local vegan place. I first tried Adama and wrote about my experience here. This time I was ready to try something new, I chose their raw special. The dish was napa cabbage with avocados, olives, sun dried tomatoes, pesto, and sprouts with a lemon lime ginger dressing. It was amazing, flavorful, delicious, filling, beautiful, and raw!

And a side note, to keep their vegan integrity, Adama does not allow any outside food that is not vegan to be served. We should have called ahead, but instead we had a Crushcake cupcake party in the parking lot.