Wedding Week: Friday and Saturday

This is wedding week post number two. Click here to read Part One. Friday morning we were greeted by more wedding guests, 65 to be exact. Everyone loaded two buses and we set out for a day of wine tasting in Sonoma. This is a great picture of Jim with his dad. Ummm... Jim, are you double fisting there??

Our first stop of the day was Geyser Peak Winery, a place our family accidentally stumbled upon in 2004 or so when looking for "one last winery to visit before they all close." We struck GOLD here! They make some absolutely wonderful wine, especially their port!

My dad greeted the crowd and we toasted to our happiness and kicked off a very fun filled day in Sonoma. There were my friends, Jim's friends, my family and Jim's family...it was a gaggle of people who were just beginning to meet each other, and it felt like a cocktail party at 10:30 AM.

We tasted six of the best wines, sparklers and ports Geyser Peak had to offer. Fantastic! One of my favorites is an unusual 2005 Block Collection Sparkling Shiraz. Of course the Tawny Port is exceptional.

My mom mingling with the Gibbs group from California. Now THIS is a group that KNOWS wine.

Deedee and Aunt Kate enjoying the views from our veranda.

Jim and I with his Grandfather. We were so glad he made the road trip all the way from Oklahoma to celebrate with us. What a trooper!

Four generations of men from Jim's family, including the newest edition, Baby Ben!

My brother and I on either side of our cousin Johnny. This is the entry way of Geyser Peak, and we snapped this photo just before loading the buses and heading to our next stop.

Silver Oak! Oh, what great wine - and the absolute reason we held our wedding in wine country. True Story: My dad was a beer drinker until the CEO of his company shared with him a bottle of Silver Oak. It was my dad's "Aha" moment. My dad took our family to wine country after my younger brother turned 21. We all caught that "wine bug" also. Since then, I've been tasting, learning, tasting, reading, and love wine. When I met Jim he liked wine, but after going to some tastings with me, he caught the wine bug also. It's such a fascinating "hobby" because wine is always changing. You will never meet someone who can say they know all there is to know about wine. Well, they may say that, but it's not true. Wine has become something that Jim and I both enjoy...and it all started with an excellent bottle of Silver Oak.

My girlfriends, Allyson, Taylor and Elke in the Silver Oak tasting room at the conclusion of our tour.

Jim with his friend Rich.

My grandparents, Bill and Barbara.

Following Silver Oak, we headed up the road to Trentadue Winery. This was a tasting and lunch stop for us.

We pre-ordered box lunches from Oakville Grocery to be delivered to the winery for us. I enjoyed a vegetarian lunch that had a caprese sandwich of basil, tomato, mozzarella and a pesto smear on ciabatta.

During lunch, the winery poured several wines for us to try.

One of my favorites is their Chocolate Amore. This Merlot-based, port styled chocolate flavored dessert wine is great over vanilla ice cream or as a stand-alone dessert.

The vineyards of Trentadue were too beautiful to pass up. Just look at the backdrop, gorgeous mountain range.

The last stop of the day was a big treat. The Director, Francis Ford Coppola, makes a great variety of wine in several estates across wine country. Our visit was in Sonoma at a new location, still under construction.

Our tour and tasting was held in their wine making facility. This is the 2008 Directors Cut Russian River Valley Chardonnay. Tasting Notes: Honeysuckle, baked pineapple, exotic spices, pear, green apple and vanilla creme.

The real treat on the tour was tasting straight from the barrel. Before the wine is finished aging and before it is bottled, we get to take a sneak peak and imagine what the future bottled product will be like.

"Cheers my dear!"

The ORIGINAL wine club: Elke, Me and Taylor. I love these girls, not just because they are wino's like me, but they are great people.

Friday evening, Jim and I had our rehearsal dinner out in the caves of Bella Vineyards. We called this our "Pre-Nuptial Dinner" because without a wedding party, we really didn't have anything to rehearse. This was a truly special event, and you will see what I mean when you watch the Flash Slideshow at the end of this post.

Jim and I arrived about 15 minutes ahead of the rest of our group. It gave us the chance to take a deep breath and start sipping on Zin Fiz, served by Bella. It is their delicious combination of Late Harvest Zin and a splash of champagne. When the bus pulled up to the top of the hill, Jim and I greeted our guests and led them up the walkway to the main house. The views were fabulous!

At 7 PM, Jim and I gathered our guests out of the main house and led them to this cave entrance. Jim gave a short and sweet speech thanking everyone for making the trip to be with us on our wedding day. Then we opened the doors and saw this...

A King's table ran all the way down the center of the cave.

Candles everywhere, provided soft lighting in the dim space.

A beautiful raw linen table cloth, set with several wine glasses made a lovely pallet for what we were about to be served.

First Course - Halibut "Cioppino"

Marinated with saffron and garlic, seared and served with cioppino sauce.

Second Course - Filet of Beef
Marinated and grilled natural beef with Late Harvest Zinfandel sauce served with savory spoon bread of caramelized onion and fontina cheese and garlic green beans.

Desert Course - Chocolate Beet Cake
Chocolate and beet sponge layered with chocolate mouse and dusted with almond praline with blackberries in red wine syrup and vanilla ice cream.

Here are some pictures that you will NOT see in my photographers slideshow! This is AFTER HOURS Friday evening. We all went back to the hotel where we had lots more wine, beer and port. We could have hung out for hours but apparently our party upset some of the other guests at the hotel and we had to shut it down.

Chilly nights called for me to put on my "bride" sweatsuit. Yes, you are looking at my behind on Friday evening after the Pre-Nuptial Dinner.  To see photos from THE MAIN EVENT on Saturday, click on the link below.

Here is the menu from the wedding. You will see pictures of each course in the slideshow.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Landmark Vineyards

Mr. and Mrs. Jim Begley Wedding Dinner

Amuse-Bouche

Brie Soup with a cream biscuit.

First Course

Truffled Pearls

Pearl Pasta, english white cheddar, truffle oil, mushroom confit, jicama and apple salad.

Second Course

Sea Bass De Vera Cruz

Local sea bass in a traditional Mexican preparation of tomato, green olives, capers and peppers, coriander rice, skinny zucchini, chardonnay wine sauce.

Palate Claeanser

Landmark Pinot Granite in a candied grape leaf.

Third Course

Silky Beef Short Ribs

Beef short ribs, creamy polenta, braised greens, topped with carrot and leek, syrah reduction.

Vegetarian Course (instead of short ribs)

Pumpkin Fontina Ravioli

Roasted pumpkin, fontina cheese, bechamel carrot sauce, on a bed of sauteed baby spinach.

Dessert

Chocolate Honeycombs, Key Lime Tarts, Chocolate Chipotle Creme Brulee

Click Here for the Photo Slideshow. It will open up a flash slideshow prepared by Julie Mikos who somehow captured every sweet and memorable moment of our wedding day.  Enjoy!

Chicken Enchilada Unwrapped

If you missed my first wedding post, be sure to go back and read part one of wedding week.

Before I move onto part two of wedding week I wanted to squeeze in another recipe first.

This was our "last supper" before we left for our honeymoon. We went to Italy, and knowing that we would have lots and lots of pasta, I made up this Mexican inspired meal before we boarded the airplane. It was created on a whim, based on what we had left in the pantry.

I gave it a really cute name at the time, but I couldn't remember after two weeks of traveling what I called it so I sent Jim a text to see if he could recall the dishes title. His response "Yumm!"

There you have it folks, Jim says this recipe is a keeper. He doesn't realize what a cinch it is to make, so I will keep it in my back pocket for an evening when I don't feel like thinking, and I want to cook something nice and easy.

I've since named the dish, Chicken Enchilada Unwrapped because it has most of the ingredients you would find in a chicken and cheese enchilada, but without the tortilla.

If by chance you want to make real enchiladas, I highly recommend these: HWM Enchiladas

My all time FAVORITE enchilada recipe is the Chicken Verde Sour Cream Enchiladas, which Jim refers to as the "Almost Engaged Enchiladas" because I cooked them while we were dating and they made him want to propose.
Maybe I should rename then "Engaged and then Married Enchiladas."

Okay, on to the Unwrapped Chicken Enchiladas I made earlier this month...

I started by baking chicken the old fashioned way. Dust the chicken breast with SPOG (salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder), then dust with flour. You could also use a "glue" like egg and then flour, but we were leaving on a trip and I had nothing "fresh" in the house like eggs or milk. To help the flour really crust in the oven, I drizzled the chix with some olive oil. You could also add a pat of butter to each chicken breast before placing in the oven.

While the chicken cooked in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes I made the sauce. It was as simple as a block of velvetta cheese and a can of rotel. I tell you, rotel is an indispensable kitchen item. I've used it in so many different ways, and in all types of cuisine. Fresh is best, but in a pinch this is really great stuff.

In a small pot over medium-low heat I melted half the block of cheese and added in the can of rotel, juice and all. Stir until it melts and heat through. Taste and add whatever you think is missing. I had literally nothing in the kitchen to add to it, but I imagine if I had a fresh jalapeno I would have chopped it up and added it in. Or if I had an onion I would have started by sauteing a chopped onion in a little olive oil, maybe added a pinch of minced garlic, then added the cheese and rotel.

When the chix have cooked for 30 minutes, I flipped the breasts over and then poured on the spicy cheese sauce.

Back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

I wanted the cheese on top to be more brown than this, so I put it in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Oh yeah, the cheese on the chicken is browned and bubbly. The sauce has thickened, and it smells divine.

I served our unwrapped chicken and cheese enchiladas with some white rice. If I had cilantro, that would be great stirred into the rice. Or a side of black beans would have helped round out the meal. Be creative, and use whatever you have on hand... that's the point here.

Here you go, our last meal before we left for Italy. Chicken topped with spicy queso accompanied by rice. Very easy to prepare, filling and yummy!

And I couldn't pass up the chance to post a picture of my sidekick in the kitchen. She doesn't help out that much, mostly gets in my way by laying right at my feet like this, but she brings a smile to my face! My sweet baby Madeline.

NEW! NEW! NEW!

Printable recipes are finally here at Home With Mandy.

Click here for the printable recipe for Chicken Enchiladas Unwrapped.

It will take some time, but I will go back and add printable recipes to each post.


 

Enjoy!

Wedding Week: Wednesday and Thursday

Here is the story of our wine country wedding.

Who knew a destination wedding would be such a hassle to get to?! We (Jim) had to carry my wedding dress on the flight and luckily the bins on Southwest Airlines were actually long enough for me to lay my dress down flat without folding.

Love this picture. We are in the L.A. airport and the flight crew from Southwest gave us a bottle of Korbel as we exited the airplane.

There is Dad, they arrived in Oakland a little after we did. Mom in front with her travel hat on.

First stop? In-N-Out Burger. This is a food blog after all... We made this stop all for Jim who loves and craves the burgers here. I hear we are getting an In-N-Out Burger in Texas soon, the Dallas area. Guess we will be making some road trips 3 hours north for a burger.

If you have never had an N-In-Out Burger, then just look at the excitement on Jim's face! The menu was surprisingly simple. They have a hamburger, cheeseburger and the double-double. All self explanatory. The rest of the menu is simple as: fries (one size only) and shakes or sodas. That's it. I was standing in line behind Jim wondering, what is the BIG DEAL???

It's the "secret menu" that granted this burger joint a cult following across the country. If you ordered your burgers off the menu they would come with:

• a spread similar to thousand island dressing.
• one slice of tomato (two if one won't cover the entire bottom bun)
• a portion of lettuce
• onions are always offered when you order. They come as a fresh slice by default, but chopped and grilled onions are available by request. The amount is constant regardless of the number of meat patties unless you ask for extra or lite of a condiment.

Now for the custom burgers. Many of these styles (I learned on the web) can be ordered in combination (for example, the Double-Double Animal Style No Salt.)
Animal Style is the most popular "secret" style. In addition to the standard toppings, animal style burgers include:

• pickles
• extra spread
• extra grilled onions
• mustard fried onion each meat patty.

3×3, 4×4, or generally M×C refers to a burger with a varied number of meat patties (first number, M) and slices of cheese (second number, C). For example, the popular Double-Double would be 2×2 (pronounced "Two-by-two" when you order it), while a burger with 3 meat patties and 1 slice of cheese would be a 3×1 (a "three-by-one").
You can also customize your fries. Here, Jim and I split a basket of fries, animal style.

This is one happy man!

Finally, we make it into wine country. Vines and hills as far as you can see. Wednesday evening Jim and I had a romantic dinner together before our guests started to arrive. We dined at Madrona Manor, which I would highly recommend for anyone looking for a special occasion place near Healdsburg.

It was a beautiful bed and breakfast with a FANTASTIC restaurant on the first floor. I thought I would bust at the end of the night. Each course was thoughtfully and artfully prepared. Here was our menu, course by course:

Mandy - Lobster "Cuit Sous Vide." Carrot, fennel, fava, coriander.

Jim - Scallop Sashimi. Uni, borage, Meyer lemon, fresh wasabi.

Mandy - Onion Veloute. Banyuls vinegar, 63 degree celcius egg, parmigiano-reggiano.

Jim - Foie Gras Tasting. seared, terrine, torchon, rhubarb, savory popovers, estate arugula. (This my friends was EXCEPTIONAL)

Mandy - Potato Gnocci. Peas, mint, pistachios, creme fraiche.

Jim - Northern Halibut. Peas, ramps, pancetta, aioli.

Mandy - Northern Halibut. Peas, ramps, pancetta, aioli.

Jim - Veal Tenderloin. Green garlic soubise, parsley root, pea leaves, maitake mushrooms.

Mandy and Jim - Next we had the Fromages. Madrona Manor Signature Cheese Course. Served table side. a.m.a.z.i.n.g.

• Overture, Fresh goat cheese warmed table side over Himalayan rock salt. Andante Dairy, Sonoma County.
• Brillat Savarin (cow) Fromagerie Delin. Normandy, France.
• Tomme de Chevre (goat) Ossan. Pyrennees, France.
• Soumaintrain (cow) Fromagerie Gaugry. Burgundy, France.
• Appenburger (cow) Halbhartkase, Appenburg Switzerland
• Blue D'Auvergne (cow) Rodolphe Le Meunier. Auvergne, France.

Finally we had dessert!
Mandy - Cart "a Glace." Ice Cream sundae hand "churned" table side using minus 320 degree Fahrenheit nitrogen. Chocolate sauce, almonds, whipped cream, cherries on top.
Jim - Root Beer Floating Island. Frozen root beer meringue, sassafras caramel, vanilla ice cream sauce.

If it wasn't such a fancy place, or if they had not seated us in the middle of the main dining area and entry way, I would have photographed every course and the amuse buche, and the three extra sweet nibbles they brought to us at the end of the night. I felt like waiving my white napkin over my head and yelling "I surrender."

Chef Jesse Wiley Mallgren is a true genius - he said he never went to culinary school. Wow, what a gift he has!!!

Thursday we set out with about 20 of our guests who arrived early and did some wine tasting along the Napa Valley. My Dad welcomed everyone on the bus and gave his "Wine 101" speech which included tips like: You will not like everything you taste, and that is okay. If you decide you don't like wine at all, give him your glass and he will finish it.

Following him was my mom who demanded everyone to spit out their gum.

Jim and I being silly on the bus.

Here is our camera crew, capturing every moment of wedding week. I have a sneaky suspicion that there will for sure be a blooper reel.


Our first stop of the day was Robert Mondavi, the godfather of winemaking. They have an excellent tour, making this winery the Disney Land of Napa. Serioulsy, they take you through the vineyard, explaining the planting and growing process, then you go to the wine making facility and see what goes on after harvest. The tour ends with a grand tasting of estate wines.

My brother Brad and my mom in the vineyard of Mondavi.

We had beautiful weather Thursday. My brother and I at the end of the Mondavi tour, now doing some wine tasting.

First drink of the day was around 11:15 AM. My favorite at Mondavi was a wine you can only buy at the winery. Why is that always the case?

The happy couple enjoying the California sunshine.

Our entire group for Thursday. Aren't we a handsome bunch!?!?

For lunch we went to Alpha Omega winery and had Dean and Deluca box lunches awaiting us.

Herb roasted chicken breast with gruyere cheese, lettuce, tomato and roasted garlic aioli. Served with pesto penne pasta and sun dried tomato topped with parmesan. And a fresh baked cookie at the bottom. Delightful gourmet box lunch!!

All served with a side of... you guessed it... wine from Alpha Omega! We purchased a bottle from them to use during our ceremony on Saturday. Instead of a unity candle, we combined two bottles of wine into a decanter and shared a drink. Yes, we even had WINE during the ceremony. It was a wine wine and more wine week!

My husband-to-be and I at Alpha Omega.

We had a lovely lunch out in the sun here.

Our last stop of the day was at ZD Winery.

Not sure if we like this one or not. Seriously though, by 2:00 PM, everything starts tasting the same. ZD had some great reds and a view from our tasting room was amazing.

Thursday night, we were able to welcome more of our guests to wine country. Jim and I hit the Healdsburg Square and visited some tasting rooms. His family arrived from Austin and Nevada to join us.

Jim's mom and brother Jeremy from Austin.

AND... may I introduce my new nephew Benjamin from Nevada. Doesn't he make your heart swell?

We all gathered at Williamson Wines, one of our favorite tasting rooms to visit on the square. Excellent wine here!

Allyson and Jason, friends from Austin arrived Thursday evening too, we had such a great time together.

While Jim and I spent time with his family and our friends. My parents hosted a lovely dinner at Dry Creek Kitchen for some of their California friends. They had a surprise guest at the table (well, my dad knew, but no one else knew...) Tom Eddy. Jim and I popped into the restaurant, located on the square to say hello and meet Tom. He and his wife were incredibly charming. In fact, Tom insisted we take a seat and try one of his signature wines they were serving at the meal. I could have just melted right there, sitting next to him and talking about the wine he makes. Meeting the winemaker and sharing with him an absolutely beautiful glass of wine that he made - just incredible.

Jim and I rejoined our friends and family at a great restaurant called Healdsburg Bar and Grill. I don't know if they are famous for these fries, but it is what I have ordered the last three times I've dined here. Their truffle fries are to-die-for. Now they have regular, garlic and even a wonderful sweet potato fry with chipotle salt... but none of them are more superior than the Truffle Oil & Parmigiano-Reggiano. I think I probably polished off that entire basket of fries myself, it's served with a garlic aioli.

Because I had eaten an entire basket of truffle fries on my own, I ordered a small dinner, actually one of their appetizers. Polenta Fritos with Marinara Sauce, Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Thanks to my friend Jenee, I have a pic of our welcome bag and the goodies we included for each of our guests. My brother Brad designed the bag, and we filled it with a welcome letter and agenda, two bottles of water with a custom wedding wrap, a hunk of parmesan cheese, a bag of garlic croustini, a bag of Austinuts, hershey kisses, a wine skin so guests can bring back a bottle of wine from thier trip, two stemless wine glasses, and tickets for free tastings on the square.

This concludes my post on Wednesday and Thursday of wedding week. Next will be a recipe post, followed by Part Two of the Wedding: Friday wine tasting, and Saturday wedding.