A Cheflars style feast.

For those of you who will be spending a great deal of time in the kitchen (or not) over the next few days, like I certainly will be, I thought you might like to hear what I'll be filling up the holiday table with for the Flicker/Larson clan.
APPETIZERS
Rosemary scented venison meatballs in portabella mushroom and Marsala wine sauce; Marinated fresh mozzarella cheese; Cold poached shrimp with chipotle pepper cocktail sauce; Southwest seasoned toasted mixed nuts; Platter of fresh vegetables with roasted red bell pepper sour cream dipping sauce; A variety of home-made pickles and olives.
MAIN COURSE
The centerpiece of the meal will be: Pan-roasted, sausage stuffed, bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin (pork, pork and more PORK!) with a Riesling wine and stock reduction sauce; Caramelized shallot braised sweet corn; Buttered Brussels sprouts with fried chestnuts; Jerk spiced roasted sweet potatoes.
DESSERT
And to finish things off: Caramel bottomed Arborio rice pudding and Star anise red wine plum sorbet.

Anyone that knows me, or has been to one of my cooking classes, is fully aware that I like to have a wide variety of appropriate wines available for my dinner party guests. The wines I’ll serve are: Domaine Ste. Michelle Frizzante (Washington State’s answer to Prosecco); Gallo of Sonoma Pinot Gris Reserve; Penfolds Koonunga Hill Shiraz/Cabernet Sauvignon blend; Covey Run Riesling (with the main course); Fonseca Bin #27 Reserve Port (with dessert).

And to all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Almost famous again.

So what do you think greeted me this morning in my inbox? Why, it was an early Christmas present in the form of a link to a very well written (and very flattering to your's truly) article about cooking schools. You can find it at http://www.twincities.com/life/ci_7771317. The article was written by Beth Gauper, a former staff writer for the Twin Cities Pioneer Press news paper. She has since started he own travel writing website gig and you can find out more info about it at http://bethgauper.com/, thanks Beth!
Tomorrow I'm going to post the menu for my Christmas celebration, stay tuned!

Answer for wine!'s wine dilemma.

I usually consider three basic questions when matching food and wine. First is; what is the core ethnicty of the dish, second is; what is the main ingredient/strongest flavor in the dish, and the third is; where in the order of the meal will the dish appear? The answers in your case are 1) I'd say English (apple/apricot, walnuts and blue cheese). 2) Blue cheese/fruit sweet and hot pepper. 3) Hors d'oeuvre or appetizer. Those answers would lead me to these choices, any one of which will fit all three criteria. 1) An English hard apple cider, not a wine but really good and very under appreciated in this country. 2) An off-dry (slightly sweet) Riesling, always a crowd pleaser. 3) An extra-dry (also slightly sweet) sparkling wine like a Prosecco, Spanish Cava or Washington state sparkler and who doesn't like a sparkling wine this time of year! A fourth question is the final deciding factor and it is totally up to you (it's your party after all) and that is; What do I feel like drinking tonight? Hope that helps you and thank you for the very kind compliment (though I don't know if I'd go as far as genius!).