{Wine Wednesday} Job well done, winemakers!

Posted in Adventures, Drinky drinky, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

Brandon and I had a few open hours last weekend, so we cruised up to Woodinville and did some wine tasting! We stopped by our favorites (Davenport Cellars and Robert Ramsay Cellars) where they were hard at work finishing the last of this year’s de-stemming, fermenting, and barreling. As we know firsthand (well, Brandon, but you know… royal “we”) wine making is hard work!

Our glasses are raised to you, winemakers and everyone who helps support the process. Thank you for your great work and making Wine Wednesdays possible!

Here are some fun photos I shot at Pomum Cellars and Stevens Winery, some of our new favorite spots to frequent:

Brandon sneaking a peak at the Pomum process

The warm grapes at Stevens — the fermenting actually creates heat!

Working the grapes at Stevens Winery

Happy Wine Wednesday! Cheers!

13Oct2014

Happy birthday to me!

Posted in Adventures, Parties! by mszerwo

I’ve been celebrating my birthday month and over the weekend celebrated the actual day of my birth. We had friends over for a pizza party on Saturday to watch the Huskies win (yeah!), spent some quality time relaxing on Sunday, along with brunch at Roux (I wasn’t as impressed as I had hoped to be) and my annual family birthday dinner at Voila.

Here are some photos of my (first) weekend of birthday fun. I’m looking forward to continuing the celebrations this week and into next weekend!

Beer ping for the Husky game

My personal pizza chef hard at work

Cupcakes from Stephanie & Parker: Delicious!

Birthday cupcakes!

Homemade focaccia

Our first skillet cookie: so good!

Scallops and beet risotto from Voila! Seattle

More desserts for this happy 32 year old!

30Sep2014

Dinner at the Old Sage

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle, Food by mszerwo

Dinner at the Old Sage

I’m a little behind in sharing this wonderful dinner we had at the Old Sage in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

I occasionally write for Mercer Island Living, about life and businesses on Megan’s Island. Mercer Island Living partnered with Madison Park Living (another hyper-local magazine) to provide a six-course dinner at the Old Sage, with the owner. (Who, incidentally, grew up on Megan’s Island!)

Without further ado, here was the delicious spread:

Pickled Vegetables, inspired by past seasons

Head of Pork (apple wood), malted mustard

Puffed Sour Bread, caraway, fennel pollen and sea salt

Salad of Amaranths, beet root, inca quinoa, chard and urfa biber

Malted Emmer, mountain cheese and apples

Duck Wings (cherry wood), roquefort fraiche, celery, cherries)

Various panna cottas

The sour bread, salad of the amaranths and malted emmer dishes were our favorites. We’ll definitely be making our way back to the Old Sage and recommend that you do too!

22Sep2014

Goodbye, summer

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle, Q13 by mszerwo

While I’m excited for the fall, today is a little sad: it’s the last day of summer. Between work and Brandon’s big test, we started summer a bit late, but tried to enjoy every minute of the short summer we did have.

Here’s a look back:

Visiting a new-to-me state: MONTANA for Brandon’s brother’s wedding:

The happy couple

A mama mountain goat and her baby at Glacier

We weren’t able to make it raspberry picking, but the blueberries were delicious!

Blueberry picking in North Bend

I WAS ON TV!!!! And crafted with a new medium: AstroTurf!

Looked good on TV!

The pizza oven finally became a reality!

A wonderful shot of the flames leaping toward the pizza

We visited Carmel for another wedding, more wine and wonderful extended family time:

We visited Carmel

We gardened and grew basil-mint! And figs. And lots of herbs. Next year we’re going to have raised beds and plant lots of veggies!

Our basil-mint bush

We enjoyed Seafair, the Blue Angels (from land and sea!) and had a nice little staycation. (I forgot about that post and re-discovered the photos in my phone. I’ll work on that post next!)

SeaFair 2014: The Blue Angels from I-90

Have a wonderful last day of summer — we’re going to grill some kalbi steaks for steak salads.

We’ll see if we can’t enjoy a few more dinners out on the patio. Cheers to fall!

My happy place: Our backyard

10Sep2014

{Wine Wednesday} Mercer Island Art UnCorked

Posted in Adventures, Drinky drinky, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

The weather reports are in and it looks like the Pacific Northwest will have fabulous weather on Friday!

If you’re looking for something fun to do, I’d suggest a quick visit to Megan’s Island (aka Mercer Island) and enjoy Mercer Island Art UnCorked, an evening of wine-tasting, art, music and food at the Mercer Island Outdoor Sculpture Gallery, located at Sunset Hwy. and 78th Ave SE. The event runs from 6-9 p.m.

A mere $30 buys you at least two wines from 10 different local wineries. Juried artists from both Mercer Island and the Seattle area will have a selection of fine handmade artwork:

Convergence Zone Cellars – www.czcellars.com
Genoa Cellars – www.genoacellars.com
Lodmell Cellars – www.lodmellcellars.com
Michael Florentino Cellars – www.michaelflorentinocellars.com
Northwest Cellars – www.northwestcellars.com
Ramseyer Vineyards – www.ramseyervineyards.com
Swakane Winery – www.swakanewinery.com
Tildio Winery – www.tildio.com
Welcome Road Winery – www.welcomeroadwinery.com
Wilridge Winery – www.wilridgewinery.com

and… Schilling Cider! – www.schillingcider.com

Along with wine and art, there will be food trucks and music. A portion of the proceeds from this evening will benefit the scholarship programs of the Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce and Mercer Island Visual Arts League.

Wines poured will be available for purchase on-site, with a 10 percent discount.

Buy your ticket today — or stop by on Friday! I hope to see you there!

Happy Wine Wednesday! Pour yourself a nice, big glass as you wait for the web to load!

4Sep2014

Our Montana adventure

Posted in Adventures, Photos by mszerwo

I took a few days away from the blog last week to go on an adventure… to Montana to celebrate Brandon’s brother’s wedding!

It was my first time to Montana and we flew in and out of Missoula, spending a few hours eating and drinking there, but the bulk of the time in Polson and Flathead Lake (about an hour drive north).

Ready for take off! Next stop: Missoula!

In Missoula we checked out a lunchtime festival at Caras Park, ate chocolate at Posh Chocolat (one of Brandon’s favorites), visited the Boone and Crockett Museum, and took a day hike (referred to as a “bear hunt” by me) around the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. We also dined at Plonk and had a couple of delicious desserts at Sweet Peaks ice creamery. I would HIGHLY recommend their huckleberry ice cream.

Hand-picked Posh Chocolat truffles

A statue outside of the Boone and Crockett Museum (Yum…flag tastes good!)

Rattlesnake hike

Plonk, Missoula, Montana

We also went to Fort Missoula and had a really fun time exploring.

Climbing the lookout tower at Fort Missoula

Ahoy! Looking up at the Fort Montana Lookout Tower

Ahoy! Looking up at the Fort Missoula Lookout Tower

Fort Missoula

Brandon found a bench at Fort Missoula!

Strong-man competition

We also took a day trip to Glacier National Park, which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We took the “Going-to-the-Sun Road” and hiked the trail at Logan Pass to the Hidden Lake overlook.

Going on a bear hunt… at Glacier National Park!

Beautiful Glacier

Beautiful Glacier, take 2

Wildflowers at Glacier

More flowers at Glacier

Even more flowers at Glacier

The hike at Logan Pass

Going-to-the-Sun Road tunnel

The view from above, Hidden Lake

Hidden Lake, take 1

Hidden Lake: So spectacular!

Specifically, I enjoyed all of the new friends that we made (not really, but you know…):

Mr. Chipmunk

Mrs. Marmot

Mrs. mama mountain goat and her baby

The other baby mountain goat

Driving to Flathead Lake was also very scenic… and tasty:

Beautiful highway shot, northwest Montana

Smile!

Flathead cherries = DELICIOUS

Sunset at Flathead Lake

And the lake itself:

Big Sky Country indeed

Clearest water I’ve ever seen, Flathead Lake

This post wouldn’t be complete without some photos from the wedding. Congrats to James and Jessica! Three cheers for many more years of happiness!

The alter

The happy couple

Smooches

Hope you’re having a nice holiday week!

Farewell from Montana

20Aug2014

Bybee Farm blueberries

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle by mszerwo

Nearly 9 lbs of delicious

Every August Brandon and I make the trek to North Bend to pick blueberries at Bybee-Nims Farm. It’s one of my favorite (and most delicious) traditions of ours. We also try to pick raspberries at Harvold Farms in Carnation, but missed it with Brandon’s big test and my busy work schedule this year.

Bybee Farms: the best blueberry picking in town

Blueberries cost $1.95/lb and the smallest bucket they offer fills up around 5 lbs. Brandon and I picked for an hour and a half and ended up with almost 9 lbs. We’ve given some out to our neighbors and friends. If you want to visit Bybee, make sure you check their website to make sure they’re open before you head out. We learned that one the hard way one year…

Blueberries, blueberries, everywhere!

Blueberry picking

Visiting Bybee Farm is a two-part tradition. The other part is a visit to Scott’s Dairy Freeze. The SDF is stuck in time. It’s like Dick’s, but better. We always get burgers, shakes, and fried foods (fries or onion rings). SDF also has excellent chocolate-vanilla swirled soft serve ice cream.

Scott’s Dairy Freeze: YUM!

Speaking of ice cream, here is the pie Brandon made with our blueberries.

Yummmm…. Pie….

In case you were wondering, here is the filling recipe we used this time, derived from Food & Wine’s 2008 Annual Cookbook:

2.5 lbs of blueberries
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/3 c + 1 T cornstarch (We used tapioca instead…)
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t lemon zest
Pinch of salt

I love blueberry season! Have a great rest of the week and happy Wine Wednesday!

23Jul2014

{Wine Wednesday} Carmel Valley wine tasting

Posted in Adventures, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

Carmel Beach

Why the break from blogging? I’ve been traveling! (And working a ton, but talking about travel is way more fun!)

Brandon and I joined my family on a trip to Carmel-by-the-sea for my cousin’s wedding. We had a great trip. It was exactly the escape that we needed. We flew in and out of Oakland and enjoyed the leisurely drive to and from Carmel.

Always down for a wood-fired pizza (we’re almost done curing ours!), so we took Sunset Magazine’s advice and left Carmel for the 15 mile drive east, into the Carmel Valley. It was a scenic drive and really reminded us of Central Washington.

Brandon at Cowgirl Winery

We started at Cowgirl Winery and ate our wood-fired pizza outside among the chickens. We both ordered the red tasting flight, with a Cabernet Sauvignon and a Pinot Noir. Brandon and I both preferred the Pinot but they both paired nicely with the Wild Forest Mushroom White Pizza (truffle oil, parmesan, thyme, shallots, tomato sauce and mozzerella) we ordered.

Me at Cowgirl Winery

Chickens at Cowgirl

As we were tasting, we noticed the tractor-pulled wine wagon mentioned in the Sunset piece. Of course we had to try it out.

WINE TRACTOR!

Cowboy Pete Azevedo took us a few blocks away to the Joullian Vineyards. It was a bumpy, but extraordinarily fun, ride.

Another bench for Brandon… in the bed of the truck!

Joullian 2011 Zin

Joullian’s 2011 Sias Cuvee Zinfandel was just awarded the Best in Class at the San Francisco Chronicle’s 2014 Wine Competition. We love Zins, so we knew we needed to check it out. And? It didn’t disappoint. Neither did their other wines. We enjoyed all of the wines so much that we joined their wine club (#4!) and bought a bottle of the Zin to enjoy in Seattle.

We also tried (and bought) Joullian’s wine-filled chocolates. They were delicious! The milk chocolate truffles were filled with Muscat and Zinfandel. The chocolates that we sampled weren’t labeled (we think we both had muscat) and we bought a package of the Zin-filled chocolates.

We also stopped in at the Talbott Vineyards and we were less than impressed. I’d recommend skipping Talbott Vineyards next time you’re in the Carmel Valley. Not only did their wines suck, they were really rude.

That last experience aside, we’ll definitely be back to the Carmel Valley. And we’ll be looking forward to getting our three bottles of Joullian wine delivered this fall… and next spring. And beyond!

We miss you, Carmel Valley! We’ll be back!!

2Jul2014

{Wine Wednesday} Whidbey Island wine getaway

Posted in Adventures, Drinky drinky, Wine Wednesdays by mszerwo

A few weeks ago I hopped on a ferry and headed out to Whidbey Island for a girls-only wine weekend. And it was a blast.

We stayed at a friend’s cabin, right on the Sound.

Our place on the Sound

We ate, drank, laughed and had a blast.

We also went for a nice nature walk at the South Whidbey State Park.

Ridge Trail

It was a beautiful …

The beautiful bluff

Our physical activity before wine tasting

There are a handful of wineries on Whidbey and we chose some of the best for our afternoon of tasting.

We started on the patio at the Comforts of Whidbey Winery where we enjoyed their reds that we paired with meats and cheese sandwiches, strawberries, cherries, and grapes that we brought.

Wine + lunch

Comforts of Whidbey Winery

Group shot!

Then it was off to Whidbey Island Winery for more wines. The wines were good and I bought a bottle of the 2011 Cabernet Franc to enjoy with Brandon. The scenery was pretty great here too!

Whidbey Island Winery

The Cab Franc is an “approachable medium bodied wine from Bordeaux’s other Cabernet that has friendly aromas of earth, spice and dark berry fruit with classic flavors of blueberry and cranberry wrapped up in soft dusty tannins. Enjoy it with salmon, duck, turkey, pork, lamb and grilled veggies.” Great Wine!

My favorite part of the winery was the winery cat. I have large cats but Sangiovese (the cat) dwarfed them. He was huge!

The largest winery cat I’ve ever seen!

We finished up our wine tasting adventure at the Holmes Harbor Cellars. Rather than tasting, we bought several bottles of the Catapult wine (a 78% Viognier and 22% Chardonnay blend) and drank them outside, playing your typical ’embarrass the bride’ games. Mission accomplished.

Cheers to Whidbey Island wines!

We rounded out the day with dinner at Christopher’s on Whidbey in Langley. We sampled everything and you really can’t go wrong, but you really need to try the Warm Mushroom, Cheese, and Dill Fondue. It was SO good.

I hope you’ll take some of my suggestions and take a jaunt to Whidbey and enjoy the wine tasting and exploring!

A Sunday stroll on the beach

6Jun2014

Happy Doughnut Day!

Posted in Adventures, Exploring Seattle, Food by mszerwo

It’s doughnut WEEK on the blog, with Sunday’s post on Top Pot Doughnuts and Wednesday’s doughnut cocktail post, all leading up to National Doughnut Day — a day our household will for sure be celebrating.

If you’re in the Seattle area, I want to help you out with some tips to make sure you celebrate doughnuts (or donuts) today!

Top Pot Doughnuts

Top Pot Doughnuts have locations everywhere, including representation at most QFC grocery stores. Find a full list of Top Pot locations here. And a list of their offerings here. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I hear their Ovaltine mocha is a must-have. So order one of those alongside your doughnut! (Please note: QFC has a wide variety of Top Pot Doughnuts, but not all of them. If you want some of the more-specialized doughnuts, I’d recommend hitting up a Top Pot cafe.) Read about my recent tour of Top Pot here.

Daily Dozen Doughnut Company | Seattle, WA

If you’re downtown and craving a smaller portion of doughnut, Daily Dozen Doughnuts is the place to be. Daily Dozen Doughnuts offer mini doughnuts in the following options: plain, cinnamon-sugar, powder-sugared, frosted (with sprinkles!), and their newest, more limited options: maple and maple-bacon. You can order them by the half or full dozen and I highly recommend the “assorted” option, with several of each variety. If you want a maple or maple bacon, be sure to specify as they aren’t normally included in the assorted option. Bring cash, as Daily Dozen Doughnuts doesn’t accept any other form of payment. And be sure to tip, their sign tells you to. For location and more information, visit their Facebook page.

Mighty-O Donuts

If you think doughnuts are too unhealthy to celebrate, you should visit Mighty-O Donuts in the Green Lake area. These vegan donuts are made without: chemical preservatives, hydrogenated oils (trans fat), coloring or artificial flavors, and animal derived ingredients, which make them cholesterol free, and they still taste good! Normally I go for the sprinkle options, but my favorite at Mighty-O is the lemon poppy donut. For location and more information, visit their website. Enjoy!

Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme is not a favorite of mine anymore (they were when they first opened), but they’re classic and tasty and offering free doughnuts today. Go get some at a location near you!

Megan's Island

Welcome to my island!

Category Archives: Adventures

{Wine Wednesday} Job well done, winemakers!

Dinner at the Old Sage

Goodbye, summer

{Wine Wednesday} Mercer Island Art UnCorked

Our Montana adventure

Bybee Farm blueberries

{Wine Wednesday} Carmel Valley wine tasting

{Wine Wednesday} Whidbey Island wine getaway

Happy Doughnut Day!