The Food and Wine Frenzy that was the Weekend

I love my brother-in-law and his wife and I love it when they come up from Charlotte, NC to visit us, but thank goodness the visits are usually short! No offense to them but, my god, we eat and drink a lot whenever they visit and by Monday I just feel like I need to fast and detox. They got a late start on Friday and didn't get up here until late, so we didn't get a chance to go to dinner together -- maybe a good thing.

As it turns out, our favorite wine store in Cleveland Park was having a tasting on Friday, as they always do, so we decided to pop in there and see what was going on and we needed a few bottles to restock for warmer weather anyhow. We tasted some beers from Bells Brewery (bought a 6-pack of the Amber Ale) and then about three wines from the very southwestern tip of Australia and two wines from the southeastern area of Australia. The two Yarraman Estate wines we tasted were both very nice and at a very nice price so we bought a bottle of each. The white was a combo of Semillon and Verdelho: dry, crisp, tart. Not quite as grapefruity as a NZ Sauvignon Blanc but very kiwi and citrus. The red was a combo Shiraz Merlot. With a couple good swirls of the glass, the tannins faded into the background and was smooth all the way. We then proceeded to buy another 16 bottles of various recommendations from Tony and things we have tried over the past year or so and know we love. And then we went for a late Vietnamese dinner.

Saturday I worked out and skipped lunch. The rest of the fam went to a place in Pentagon City that specializes in crepes. In the afternoon, we met up at the new Whole Foods Market in the Fair Lakes area of Fairfax, VA in the wine loft. The place is pretty cool but you can spend a fortune in there just tasting what's available. Select your wine, decide whether you want a one-, three-, or five-ounce tasting. Stick a glass underneath the spigot, insert your wine bar debit card, and press a button. It runs the gamut from very inexpensive to very (insanely) expensive and makes for a fun afternoon, as long as you don't have to drive!

Everyone came over to our house after that and we had some nibbles. My father-in-law had recently purchased a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon rated 98 points which he spent $100 for and he very graciously wanted to share it with all of us. So we each had a little bit of it with him. After a few minutes in the glass, it was delicious and lovely. I didn't write it down because I personally couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a bottle of wine. I've had others that were that good (to my tastes anyway) for about $20. I believe in affordable wine, especially for everyday drinking.

For nibbles we had:
- blanched and shocked asparagus spears with homemade mayo to dip in
- "Cheap Trick" cheese (I like to call it that but I got the idea from Jacques Pepin's Fast Food My Way) which is a blend of all the little bits of leftover cheeses you have in the fridge with a spoon of cream cheese, a little honey and some lime juice, brought all together in the food processor and then pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries folded in and spread on crackers
- toasted baguette slices topped with tapenade

We then all piled in the car and went to dinner. Yes, we ate again. Bamian, located in the bustling Bailey's Crossroads area, is a wonderful Afghan restaurant serving up delicious traditional foods including little dumplings filled with meat and covered in yogurt sauce with fresh mint, a bread pastry filled with savory and creamy potatoes, grilled lamb ribs, and stewed pumpkin. We had a delicious meal, courtesy of the parents - thanks again! We four "kids" then went off to a place called My Bakery, a Bolivian cafe. We ordered one pastelito to share and coffee and tea. A pastelito is kind of like a beignet if you have ever been to New Orleans, but it has cheese inside, so you get this wonderful combination of savory (salty from the cheese) and sweet from the dough and the powdered sugar, along with the crispy, crunchiness and heat from the whole thing being fried. Good thing we shared.

Oh yeah, then there was Sunday, Easter Sunday. It's our family tradition to eat lunch at a Greek restaurant on Easter Sunday. For the past few years we have very much enjoyed the Athena Pallas restaurant. They serve traditional Greek Easter bread, the special Easter soup (which I think is kind of an avgolemeno [egg-lemon] soup with the addition of organ meats of chicken), a roasted lamb, grilled sea bream, roast suckling pig and various other specials for Easter. I ordered the Greek Salad for my main course and just had one bite of the galaktibouriko, a phyllo pastry stuffed with fresh custard and drizzled with orange blossom honey and nutmeg.

And there ended the feeding frenzy that was Easter weekend 2007. Well, not really because I made dinner. That entry is for another day.