Sippin’ on the dock of the bay: Kitsap Wine Festival

August 13, 2014 by Beth Shepherd

Wine, food, music, sun, and salt-water breeze. What’s not to like? Six years running, the Kitsap Wine Festival has proffered sips and nibbles alongside the Bremerton waterfront at the Harborside Fountain Park, literally a stone’s throw away from the Bremerton ferry dock.

Copper fountains, modeled after submarines, spouted water amidst lovely gardens overlooking Puget Sound. Festival-goers sampled wine and beer from over forty northwest wineries and breweries, along with tastes of food from local restaurants and purveyors.

We savored iridescent Bella Bella macaroons, beet salad, tapas, and a lovely array of cheeses. All tasty partners for belle of the ball –wine.

A few wineries we’ve been to, and enjoyed, were at the festival: Chandler Reach, Terra Blanca, and Forgeron Cellars (though sad to hear the news that Salsa, our favorite wine dog, had recently passed away). And we discovered new favorites like Laurelhurst Cellars, and Maryhill Winery, winner of the 2014 Winery of the Year at the San Francisco International Wine Competition.

Our own prize, for the most innovative grape varietal, goes to the Black Moosecat (okay, really Black Muscat) used in Stina’s Cellars Rebus Red. Our cat Maggie goes by the nickname ‘Moose’ and, on occasion, we call her Moosecat.

We drank. We ate. We looked and listened. And then we purchased. A few choice bottles, selected at the wine and retail shop on site, accompanied us as we made our way back across Puget Sound.

Hanging out at the Kitsap Wine Festival was a delicious way to while away an afternoon, but the best part–all proceeds went to a good cause: Harrison Medical Center Foundation. I’ll drink to that.

Take the road less traveled, Beth

A nice pairing

January 9, 2014 by Beth Shepherd

The pairing of food and wine is a complex and highly inexact science. It is fraught with outmoded rules and a propensity for generalizations.

Sid Goldstein, The Wine Lover’s Cookbook

“Venison with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy,” would pair nicely with the wine in your glass, said the winery owner’s wife, looking Big Papa right in the eye.

“And with your wine, pizza,” is what she said to me.

Pizza?! I definitely hoped for more venison and less pizza in my life, in a metaphorical sense. It was January 9, 2005 and I was on my first date with Big Papa. Seattle lay under a dusting of snow, and the air was chilly, but inside the Bainbridge Island Winery we were toasty and warm as we stood side by side and sipped. We had successfully navigated a ferry ride to the island (successful in the sense that we liked each other enough not to end up on opposite sides of the boat), and had commenced to part two of our date: wine tasting.

Big Papa and I found each other on an online dating site and, for our first date, I asked him to think of something more creative than going out for coffee (the gold standard for first dates with online suitors). He said “ferry ride” and I said “great idea.” I suggested Bainbridge Island as our destination and wine tasting as our island adventure. We were two people who had never met, taking a ferry to an island across Puget Sound, to drink wine and then ride the ferry back to the city, easily a 3-4 hour date as opposed to a 30 minute coffee chat. What could possibly go wrong?

As it turned out, nothing went wrong. Our first date was awesome. We left the winery and drove to Faye Bainbridge State Park, where we sat at a picnic table near the water as the sky grew dark (I must mention again how cold it was). I brought out the cheese, crackers and chocolates I’d carried along with me in my backpack. We quickly found out that the chocolates (and some of the cheese) were frozen when Big Papa tried to cut a chocolate truffle in half and it sailed off into the evening sky. I’m not sure how much time passed as we sat there together, sharing stories and getting to know one another, but I do remember that my fingers were numb from the cold by the time we decided to head back to the car.

In a flash of brilliance (and attempt to be the female equivalent of gallant), I grabbed the fleece “emergency blanket” stored in the trunk of my car (which, by the way, I still have) to throw over our legs on the drive back to the ferry. And throw it I did. As Big Papa got into the front passenger seat, I tossed the blanket (which is tightly wrapped into a fabric envelope, like a pillow) in his direction.

“OW!”

“Are you okay?”

“You hit me in the face.”

“Oh wow. Sorry. Did I hurt you?”

“You nailed my cheek.”

I started to laugh. I couldn’t help myself, the hilarity of it all (though I will say I breathed a silent sigh of relief the moment he started to laugh too). We were having a good time together, inadvertent attempts to cause my date bodily harm notwithstanding.

On the ferry back to Seattle, he suggested we continue our date and go out to dinner. We headed to Coastal Kitchen. After dinner, wine, and dessert–eight hours after I’d picked Big Papa up and said hello for the first time–I dropped him off at his house and headed home to my apartment.

Since that first date, nine years ago, we’ve continued to taste wine–and share adventures–together: in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the Walla Walla wine region in Washington State, in New York, Pennsylvania, California, Canada, Mexico, France, and Armenia. Wine at restaurants, tasting bars, wineries and–most of all–at home, where we enjoy wine collected from our travels.

And you know what? The two of us are still a nice pairing.

Take the road less traveled, Beth

Soergel Orchards and Country Store in Wexford, PA

August 13, 2013 by Beth Shepherd

When Big Papa was a little boy, he would go with his family to Soergel’s roadside stand for fresh-picked fruits and vegetables. On several of our trips to visit his family in the Pittsburgh area, we’ve stopped at Soergel’s, even though its days of being a small roadside stand have long passed.

Soergel’s is over 150-years-old. In the mid-1850’s, John Conrad Soergel, a German immigrant settled on the spot where Soergel Orchards is now. He began planting apple trees and, for several decades, the apples were sold wholesale in town. John Soergel’s descendents continue to operate Soergel Orchards. When the business outgrew its original farm stand, a larger stand was built. Eventually, in the early 1970s, the Soergel family felt it was time to expand their business further and built the market that exists today.

A bevy of surprises await little ones:

Goats, sheep, bunnies, chickens and one VERY large pig are in the out-buildings with feed available to purchase (25-cents a handful)
Pirate ship playground
A cute electric train that circles the perimeter of the ceiling in the country store
Toy shop
Butterfly house ($2)
Firetruck rides

Inside the country store you can find:

Ice cream parlor
Sandwich shop
Dime store candy
Wine shop
Bakery
Deli
Oodles of fresh fruit and vegetables

Baby Bird loved feeding the goats, staring at the enormous pig, and, when we went inside to grab a sandwich for lunch, she couldn’t take her eyes off the miniature train that chugged in circles around the ceiling. If you find yourself north of Pittsburgh, Soergel’s is definitely a great place to take kids, and it’s a lot of fun for grown-ups too.

Take the road less traveled,

Beth

Together, we can build a village: Passports with Purpose

November 15, 2010 by Beth Shepherd

As an adoptive-mom-to-be, one of the things I am most proud of is being part of something bigger than myself. Big Papa and I are putting a roof over the head of one little kid, forever.

It’s hard to describe the feeling I get when I think about how life-changing this is. Which is why I am delighted to be one of the bloggers hosting a prize for the 2010 Passports with Purpose. Passports with Purpose is now its third year. Last year, Passports with Purpose raised $30,000 and built a school in rural Cambodia. Where there once was nothing, there is now a place for children to learn.

Beginning November 15th, you can participate in the third Passports with Purpose fundraiser. This year the goal is $50,000, which will be used to build 25 homes for the Dalits, India’s most neglected class of citizens. Brick by brick and donation by donation, we are going to make a difference – you are going to make a difference – for families who have never owned land.

Every penny of your donation – 100% – supports LAFTI, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of Dalits (untouchable) in India. Here’s the sweet icing on the cupcake of giving: for each $10 tax-deductible donation make, you can enter into a drawing for the prize of your choice. The prizes are amazing! Gear, trips, hotel stays: the list is endless. Check ‘em out!

And lucky me, because as one of the prize hosts, I get to gush about one unbelievable prize (total value over $700):

One night at Willows Lodge in Woodinville, Washington (accommodation for two people in a luxurious northwest-style room and arrival wine tasting for two in the fireside cellars), AND
Dinner for two at the Barking Frog restaurant, AND
A half-day Woodinville Wine Trail tour for two courtesy of EverGreen Escapes

Willows Lodge is only 25 minutes from Seattle and is located on five landscaped acres bordering the Sammamish River in the heart of Western Washington’s wine country. It’s a comfortable, luxurious haven where you can rejuvenate your senses and experience award-winning cuisine (hello Barking Frog restaurant!). It’s no wonder Willows was selected for Condé Nast Traveler’s Gold List.

Barking Frog restaurant is a destination all its own. As one of the most highly regarded restaurants in the Northwest, Barking Frog excels in American regional cuisine with Pacific Northwest influences. They are also known for a phenomenal wine list, the majority of which features Washington wines. In fact, they were awarded “Most Innovative Wine List” by the Washington Wine Commission, and received Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence five years in a row.

Rounding off this trifecta is a half-day wine tasting excursion with EverGreen Escapes. You will be picked up and dropped off at your hotel by a highly qualified and knowledgeable naturalist and wine guide. Over the course of your five-hour tour, you’ll taste world-class wines from the very best Washington vineyards. Snacks of local meats and cheese are included as are all your tasting fees. In addition to tasting delicious northwest wine, you’ll learn about local winemaking history and the art of viniculture.

It all sounds pretty divine, doesn’t it? The only catch is you have to promise not to tell me about the fabulous wine-filled, relaxing weekend you had, okay?

In this season of giving,’ tis better to give than to receive. Yet Passports with Purpose lets you do both, because even if you don’t score one of the cool prizes, you’ll go to sleep with a roof over your heard knowing you’re making it possible for others to do the same. Together, we can make a home for those who never had one. Together, we can literally build a village.

And last, but not least. Thank you sponsors: BootsnAll, LiveMocha, Round the World with Us, HomeAway, Traveller’s Point, Hostelling International, Quintess, Raveable, TravelPost, and Uptake.

The color of pomegranates

January 6, 2010 by Beth Shepherd

Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand! That’s ‘Merry Christmas’ in Armenian.

While the glow of the holiday season is fading in the U.S. and Christmas trees have been stripped of their glory and are heading to the curb, today is Christmas Day in Armenia. Armenian Christmas is celebrated January 6. So it is both ironic and fitting that the wine tasting at 12th & Olive Wine Company, this past Saturday, featured pomegranate wine.

The pomegranate, with its symbolic association with fertility, is the national fruit of Armenia. When Big Papa and I visited Yerevan this past September, the pomegranate was everywhere. At the Vernissage Flea Market in the center of the city, we saw glass pomegranate earrings, pomegranates painted on bookmarks and artwork and dried pomegranate Christmas tree ornaments.

“Pomegranate” is from the Latin “pomum granatum” which means “apple of many seeds.” Pomegranates are high in antioxidants. 100 ml of pomegranate juice has three times the antioxidants of 100 ml of red wine or 100 ml. of green tea. The health benefits are almost legendary. Consuming this fruit is thought to prevent lung, prostate and breast cancer, Alzheimer’s and Osteoarthritis. It protects the arteries, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure and may reduce dental plaque. It is even purported to increase virility and fertility.

At the 12th & Olive tasting we sampled three wines made from pomegranates, a sparkling wine from Argentina, Armenian wine, and an Israeli dessert wine. All three had their own unique charm. Big Papa and I were excited to have a taste of the Armenian wine as it’s a rarity to find anything made in Armenia here in Seattle.

Both the Argentinean sparkler and Armenian wine were produced by ReVah. Steven, the wonderfully knowledgeable, friendly and helpful owner of 12th and Olive told us ReVah sources the fruit from each country. The Armenian wine is made at the Proshyan Wine Factory, which also makes some of Armenia’s famous brandy. We noticed Proshyan is in Yerevan and hope to visit the wine factory on our next trip.

Holding our glasses to the light, the color of the wine was a deep red, with shades of violet and raspberry. Putting my nose to the glass there was no mistaking the intense aroma of pomegranates. The wine was a bit sweet on the palate but not as syrupy as I imagined it might be, with hints of fresh fruit and light acidity. For $12.99 it’s a nice wine to enjoy on a warm summer’s day…or for those days when I want to conjure memories of being in Armenia.

When I was a child, my parents often bought pomegranates as a special treat. On a recent trip to visit my mother, she had a pomegranate waiting for me. I love the magic of cutting open the fruit to reveal hundreds of ruby-colored seeds.

Pomegranate’s subtle sweetness now holds an even deeper meaning for me, a thread to the heart of Armenia. Many Armenian fairy tales end thus: “Three pomegranates fell down from heaven: One for the story teller, one for the listener, and one for the whole world.”

Check out the WanderFood Wednesday series for more great food postings!