Top 15 of Outside Lands Music Festival 2014

Here are 15 things that made Outside Lands so special:

1. C H R O M E O oooooh

2. BBQ Oysters and Scharffenberger Brut

3. Death Cab for Cutie playing their greatest, including "I Will Follow You Into The Dark"

4. Free Falling with Tom Petty

5. Porcini Doughnuts

6. Seeing Haim become better and better at doing their thing

7. Discovering new things every day including the hidden cocktail truck in the forest

8. Murals and art everywhere

10. The Super Moon

11. The weirdness of the chocolate forest

12. Disclosure fun

13. Being able to avoid Heineken with a trip to Beer Lands

14. Spending lots of quality time with this guy

15. The Killers opening with Mr. Brightside so we could say our good-byes early and take our tired feet home

Thank you Outside Lands! See you in 2015!

Fourth of July: World Cup, Wine Flights and Fog

This year we we're among the few who stayed behind to enjoy the 4th of July in San Francisco. We all know it can't be about the heat or the fireworks so we had to make it about food and wine instead! The day started off with appetizers for the Brazil vs. Columbia World Cup game and was followed by a seated BBQ dinner al fresco. And yes, blankets were provided. 

We started off with a Sutton Cellars Vermouth aperitif with grapefruit zest and crostinis with tapenade and jamon serrano.

We also enjoyed Clams Broiled with Lemon, Thyme and Parmesan with Chandon Blanc de Noirs (in a photo covering all patriotic colors of the day).

Clams photo courtesy of @ Christina Holmes, Food & Wine

Luckily for us we celebrated a win!

For our take on the traditional 4th of July BBQ, we had 3 courses planned with wine pairings. The first course was a play on a Caprese Salad with fresh summer ingredients including watermelon, basil, heirloom tomatoes and burrata paired with a rosé flight. 

Next we enjoyed New Englanduh Burgers with truffle buttered corn. For this course we chose a red flight featuring a 100% Merlot from Tin Barn Vineyards, the Range 30 West Bordeaux Blend with 60% Merlot and %40 Cabernet Franc from Foxen Winery, and a Chateau La Courolle, Montagne St. Emilion Bordeaux blend with Merlot also as its predominant varietal.

We finished off with a an Apricot Pie from Destination Baking Company and Port.

I am so glad to have pulled off this meal. I have to thank my friend Tanya for not calling me crazy, and for being entirely on board and even taking on a course! After pie we went on to a little Cards Against Humanity and more lounging under blankets outside. It was an unforgettable day! 

Hope you all had a nice holiday! 

I Heart Carrots

At this time of year when I go to a grocery store I have a hard time resisting the beautiful, colorful bunches of heirloom carrots. They elevate any table's status and can turn a healthy weekday dinner into a fancy meal. I tried a new recipe this week from the February 2014 Food & Wine and it is definitely going into my regular rotation. The combination of flavors is perfection and went splendidly well with the cornmeal crusted tilapia we had planned. We also *just happened* to have a SIMI Sauvignon Blanc chilled in the fridge that rounded out our dinner nicely. We love this wine because its so easy to pair with food: super crisp and light due to 100% stainless steel fermentation but it also has depth from the small amounts of Viognier and Semillon in the blend.

Maple-Glazed Carrots
1 1/2 pounds trimmed baby carrots, preferably heirloom

2 cups chicken stock

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 anchovy fillet, drained and chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 tablespoons chopped dill

© Con Poulos from Food & Wine

In a deep skillet, combine the carrots and chicken stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook over moderate heat until the stock is reduced to 2/3 cup, about 10 minutes. Add the maple syrup and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is sticky and the carrots are tender and well-coated, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the anchovy until dissolved. Remove the skillet from the heat and whisk in the butter one cube at a time. Stir in the dill and season with salt.