Wine of the Moment

I'm currently drinking Harmony Paso Robles Merlot 2007.

It was a ruby red in color with strawberry and cherry notes. The taste had hints of tabacoo and cherry notes with a dry smooth finish and light in body.

It's awesome you stop by!!....Thanks
XOXO
E

Harper's Resturant

A couple of weeks back I went to Harper's Restaurant http://www.harpersonmain.com/ in Dobbs Ferry with my Aunt. The first time we went to this restaurant we were served by someone who looked just like James Beard. Tone of voice, bald head he even looked as if James Bread would have looked like had he lost some weight but never actually lost all the gut. He gave us excellent recommendations on the food and wine. This time we had a very peppy and efficient waitress. With the noise level in the restaurant that night she did an amazing job in hearing us. And she was great in her timing with just the right amount of time between course and clearing up table. We enjoyed the following

Oyster on the half shell and

Brussels sprouts with bacon topped with a poached egg. OMG both of these dishes were outstanding. And I have been waiting for the day I can recreate this dish for myself for a leisurely breakfast.

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I had a NY Strip Steak topped with caramelized Onion and Duck Fat potatoes. The steak was cook just right but those potatoes stole the show. They were tender inside and crispy on the outside and favor was spectacular. My Aunt had

Sea Scallops with a pea puree. Those scallops were tender and sweet and ohh so juicy. That pea puree was certainly a treat and a surprise for the pallet. For dessert we had a

Flourless chocolate cake that was tender and super yummy and

Creme Brulee Oh Yeah baby!! yummy!!! Delicious!!! Soo Good!! okay I think you get it.
So if you are ever in Dobbs Ferry Check this place out. You will love the decor of recaimed wood and artsy decor to the outstanding food.

It's awesome you stopped by!!....Thanks
XOXO
E

High End Wine Tasting

On June 10th my Mom came for a visit. Which coincided with Marco's High End Wine Tasting. Yep you guessed it, I took her there. She just loved it. With anyone who has been at his high ends. You know you start with a small taste and afterwards you get a second round to finish off the bottles. Here is what we had.

Penley Estate a 2005 Shiraz Reservera, It had a Browny Red color. With coffee notes. It was thick and chewy with it spicy notes with the first swallow. It almost felt with a think syrup. After it opened the sweetness of the grape came out.

Chateau Lafleur a 2004 Bordeaux. It was a Browny Red in color. With earthy chocolate notes. It had a dry, but sweet taste but not syrupy. As it opened it's slight sweet aroma emerged.

Kilikanoon a 2005 Shiraz Reservera. Super Red in color, A Cherry and pepper note with a hint of blueberry. It was fruit forward with a blackberry taste. It was super chewy in the mouth. This one was one of my favorites. I ranked this one #2 out of the 6 we had that night.

Regusci a 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. Black in color, with blackberry jam notes. Fruit forward and smooth drier with cheese. It opened up to a sweet smooth finish.

Lewis Cellars a 2007 100% Cabernet Sauvigon. Black in color with Coffee and tobacco notes and slight Raspberry notes. It had a spicy taste and a smooth dry finish. Not a take our tongue to our stomach dry but with prosciutto it brought out the sweetness of the wine with blue cheese it became even sweeter. This was my favorite of the evening.

A Barbi 2001 Brunello Reservera. It was a browny red with cherry and raisin notes. It was super smooth finish. I rated this one #3.

All in all the wines were wonderful. We learned a lot about regions and how each wine was made. My mom had a blast and hopes that the next time she visits she will be lucky enough to go to another tasting.

It's awesome you stopped by!!....Thanks
XOXO
E

Pheasant Eggs

Spring, lovely spring. The air is warmer, days are longer, flowers start to bloom and the variety of available eggs are abundant. Duck and Pheasant eggs are available at the time of the year. Unlike chicken eggs that are available year round.

Pheasant eggs are smaller than chicken eggs.  But the yolk is extra creamy.

Here is a comparison of all the eggs.

You see the size difference here. Duck eggs being the largest and their yolks are super big, the Chicken and pheasant eggs have a perfect balance of yolk to white. But being a the yolker that I am duck eggs are by far my favorite. LOL. I just love the variety this time of the year gives me. Try one let me know what you think.

It's awesome you stopped by!!...Thanks

XOXO

E

Garden Art

A while ago I posted about my Wheel barrow find from Craig's list

Nice and rusty with tons of character. I have used it for gardening since its small and slightly swallow. The reason I bought it was to add structure and art to the garden. This weekend I did just that, I lined the wheel barrow with landscape fabric and loaded it up with some dirt and plants.

Now I have a pop of color to the front yard. The wheel barrow is in a perfect spot to change the look seasonally.

Every time I come home it brings a smile to my face. Yea!!

It's awesome you stopped by!!...Thanks
XOXO
E

Napkin Art

I love using napkins with with cool designs to create art with. Since my skills at painting is limited using preprinted items give the look I'm after. For this piece I started with a 13 inch square piece of pine.

And use this napkin

You want to remove all layers. Most napkins have 3 layers. I then used Mod Podge to glue the napkin to the pine board after 3 layers of Mod Podge I have my finished product

Looks like I painted the board doesn't it. Love it!! I used it here remember the window display and

And on my 4th of July display on my porch.

A little country, a little vintage and a lot of 4th of July pizazz.

It's awesome you stopped by!!...Thanks
XOXO
E

Window Display at Marco's

Marco of Marco Vino and Spirits (http://marcovino.com/) let me decorate his window at his store. Here is a picture before.

Since the 4th of July is just around the corner I decided to go with that theme.

So what do you think?? Please leave me a comment. This is my first window display. I would love to know what you think. And yes Marco loved the window display.

It's awesome you stopped by!!....Thanks
XOXO
E

The Fig

The fig, most of us know the fig by The Fig Newton cookie or the dried one you find in the supermarket. But right now you can find fresh figs

They come in shades of purple to green. They are sweet and tender the whole thing is edible. I searched the web for fig recipes most of them use goat cheese but blue cheese and brie are also good cheeses to pair with the fig. A favorite of mine is using Double Cream Brie and Fig. If you can't find fresh fresh then use a fig jam with the brie on a cracker oooh so yummy!!!
This past Friday I was getting together with some friends and I used figs in this creation.

First I drizzled some olive oil on the figs. Then I split the figs in half, topped it with some double creamed blue cheese, a couple of leaves of rosemary

and wrapped the whole thing with prosciutto

Put it in the toaster oven 350 degrees for 10 min. You can cook it up to 15 minutes but the blue cheese was melting so quickly on me. That at the 10 min mark had to get them out.

Topped it off with some balsamic glaze. Which is just a balsamic vineger reduction. You can buy it already done. I've done it myself it's simple enough to make but prepare yourself for some stink and nose burning smell at the beginning. It is so worth it because the result is fabulous. I also topped some off with honey. Both of my friends preferred the Balsamic glaze but they said they wouldn't pass on the honey one either.

And I wanted to try them out on the grill so I used goat cheese instead. Goat cheese doesn't melt as easily

I did these last night. Because the goat cheese doesn't melt as quickly I was able to leave them on the grill little longer and the figs cooked a bit. It just brought out the sweet juiciness of the fig, which was so incredible. Yep you guessed I was in heaven. Wish you all were there.

It's awesome you stopped by!....Thanks
XOXO
E

Eclisse Mediterraneo Resturant

Last week our boss took us out to celebrate the companies 5 year anniversary. The restaurant is called Eclisse http://www.eclissewp.com/ . In addition to a bread basket they also served us this fried flat bread and super thick yogurt.

Topped with olives and drizzled with olive oil. It was so delicious. At first we thought it was a cheese and were very surprised to find out it was yogurt.  We ordered salad to start.

I had the one with the Gorgonzola they were very generous. We also had

A chicken kabob with grilled vegetable. The chicken was very tender and juicy.

 A lobster risotto that was very creamy and equally delicious and

A veal stuffed pasta in a wine reduction sauce. Very rich and yummy. And a

Profiterole the surprise with this dessert instead of filled with cream it was filled with ice cream.
The server was efficient but a general type. The Question you ask is will you go back. Most likely not. Not that the food was good but it wasn't over the top. With so many other restaurants in the area I say been there don't it. Would I suggest the place yeah try it at least once. You might like it more than me.

It's awesome you stopped by!!...Thanks
XOXO
E

Update to a door

To add another decorative touch to my entrance I decided to paint the insert of this door.

I painted the insert of the door with brown chalkboard paint

Here is Gus making sure I didn't miss a spot. It took 3 coats to get the coverage I wanted. Now I can write messages

Or when I'm having a party I can write out the menu

Or just a holiday message

And of course I can always use it as a message board to remember to do things. It is going to be tons of fun using my extra large chalkboard.

It's awesome you stopped by!!...Thanks

XOXO

E

Wine of the Moment

This week I'm drinking

a 2008 Primitivo from Italy. The wine has spicy notes with a cherry fruit foward tast. It has a dark garnet color. I really loved the taste of this wine. I did the tip test to see the body.

Either the my living room was too dark to see any separation or it doesn't work with reds. So I twirled the glass,  the wine coated the glass like syurp. So I think it's safe to say it is a full bodied wine. LOL

It's awesome you stopped by!!...Thanks
XOXO
E

A quick dinner for Summer

Here is one of my favorite summer meals that you can make so fast you will be able to run back out the door to have some summer fun.

Fresh mozzarella cheese with tomatoes, sausage and crusty bread. You can of course use prosciutto if you like. Another thing I like to do is what I call smorgasbord night. In which I take a spoonful of all my leftovers heat it all up and Heaven for my mouth... LOL It's great cause I can have a bite of everything and enjoy everything once again. It's like having a buffet on a plate.  FUN FUN FUN

It's awesome you stopped by!!....Thanks
XOXO
E

Garden pails

A month or so ago I go these pails off of Craig's list.

I saw a idea for an outdoor umbrella stand in one of my magazines using a large planter as the base for the umbrella. Since I wanted to do a canopy instead I'm using 4 of these as base supports for the poles.

I spray painted them green and added rocks to the bottom for weight, topped it off with dirt and plants.

That's Gus giving his approval to my work. Coming in a future posting is the canopy addition keep posted.

It's awesome you stopped by!!....Thanks
XOXO
E