It’s All In My Head! – Food, Wine and Travel

It seems I’ve been on a bit of an unintended hiatus from the blog. I’ve been so busy doing research, photograpy and coming up with ideas for content that I haven’t had (taken) the time to write it down. Now I have so many things in my head it is almost overwhelming but I will start getting it written! Here are some of the things I’m working on in food, wine and travel that you can expect to see on the blog in the next few weeks.

When I wrote about my Wine Lovers Vino de Mocha Fudge, I promised an easy, microwave version. I’ve made several batches, including one I took to Thanksgiving dinner, and am very happy with the results. I’m also making a batch of it to add to a gift basket for the Motherlode Newcomers’ Christmas luncheon coming up on December 1st. Every month at our luncheon, the Newcomers raffle off baskets or other goodies. The money raised goes into a kitty for our charity for the year. Each month, a different specialty group of the Newcomers puts together the raffle. December is the Vineyard Vixens and we have awesome baskets as well as some surprise silent auction items. My fudge will be added to a basket that includes port and some other “portly” things.

I started on a post about wine tasting in Sutter Creek and thought it was about ready to publish. The more I worked on it the more I wanted to research. Since, as a local, I have the luxury of time, I decided I want it to be as thorough as possible. I still have several wine tasting rooms to visit so you won’t see this post for a while. Maybe I’ll see you at a Sutter Creek wine tasting room!

A few weeks ago, Denise, one of the founders of our Vineyard Vixens group, and I went to Toogood Estate Winery in Fairplay to pick up her wine club release. While we were there, we did some scouting for a group outing. We have to go back to Toogood in January to pick up our port futures so we decided it would be a perfect time for the Vineyard Vixens to visit more Fairplay wineries. We’ll be having lunch at Gold Vine Grill in Somerset. I’ve had dinner there once and it was amazing so I’m looking forward to going back.

The Saucy Sisters went on a culinary field trip to Sacramento. We visited Allspicery, a restaurant supply store and the food coop in its new location. I love to experiment with herbs and spices so visiting Allspicery was very inspiring. I wanted to go home and cook everything! When I learned how the store came to be, I knew I wanted to tell you about it. I bought too many things (is that possible?) but who knew that the habanero sugar, which I was hesitant to buy, would be one of the first things I would use.

During November, the Vineyard Vixens visited two Shenandoah Valley wineries, 24 Brix and Borjon, that I’ll be telling you about.

Eons ago, it seems, I mentioned the delicious pumpkin pasta dish we had at Villa Toscano. I tried recreating the recipe once and, although it was terrific, it wasn’t quite the same. As soon as I get that tweaked, you’ll see that on the blog. When I get it right, I know you’ll love it.

One thing I was super excited about was meeting one of my Instagram friends in person. Mary, who owns Tigby Hill Vintage, and I started conversing on Instagram a while back and when Mary opened her store, I had to stop in to meet her. She was so much fun to talk to and her store is really cute. I’m sure you’ll see her on the blog soon! I can’t believe I didn’t get a photo of the two of us together.

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As you can see, I really have been pretty busy. I hope these things interest you and you’ll come back to read about each individual adventure. Better yet, I hope they inspire you to get out and discover things where you live.

Until next time…