Photo Fridays: Kylemore Abbey

Kylemore Abbey (Irish: Mainistir na Coille Móire) located in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland.

I took this photo in August 1992 on my first trip to Ireland. It was taken with a Minolta 35mm camera. This was the photo that ignited my desire to learn more about photography and the start of a 20 plus year hobby.

New Year and a New Chapter Begins.....

Turns of seasons bring about slow transformations, if you are not paying attention they can seem dramatic. The turn between years is much more noticeable, ushered in with festive celebration, fireworks and the dropping of the ball in Times Square. So it is fitting that I celebrate the slow transformation of my blog on the day for all things new.

Over the last three years the main focus of this blog has been wine and food pairings. The last year or so has been a struggle. I simply was not drawn to it. I was not inspired. It was not for a lack of ideas. I enjoy cooking up a new recipe and thinking about what wine would make an ideal pairing. I would go through the paces of selecting a menu and picking the wine. I would prepare the meal, pour the wine take the notes and snap the pictures. When I would later sit down to review the notes to write a post or sift through the photos, I would feel the creativity drain away. I blamed many things for the my avoidance of the blog. In the back of my a head excuses piled up and were rationalized by the fact that many blogs whither on the vine and languish in cyberspace. Something deep, deep down continue to tug at me and not let the blog completely drift away, another discarded blog on the internet highway.  

Last October, I was reviewing many of the photos I had taken over the year and noticed that all the photos I had taken of the food and wine pairings were flat while other pictures I had taken over the year were vibrant. It slowly dawned on me as I continued sifting through the pictures that yes, I had grown bored with my muse. Realizing I was becalmed in the creative doldrums, I thought about what led me to this point.

Maybe it was due to other things tickling my fancy, drawing my focus elsewhere, leaving me not wanting to pick up my pan, bottle opener and pen….

Maybe as the year progressed I found it exhausting....  
Maybe over the course of the last year I had grown, creativity wise, in different directions and felt confined by the narrow focus of the this blog.

To be honest is was all of the above.

So in the spirit of a fresh start that is ushered in with a new year. I am changing things up. Broadening the focus to include, new passions and old hobbies….learning new things and sharpening old skills….to include adventures in ordinary life and yes,  from time to time I will pick the pan, bottle opener and pen for a pairing and feature it in a post.

 
I look forward to the adventure that lies ahead.

Farmers Markets, Unique Wines and a Dash of Serendipity

Since posting my last article, where I threw out that the next articles would feature food pairings with the unique wines that I had picked up on my July sojourn to the vineyards of Loudoun County, I pondered “what on earth were these pairing going to be?” Especially the Rkatsiteli. I tend to skew towards the analytical side of the fence when faced with a dilemma. Translation: I can easily over think, over research, over complicate things and then be paralyzed by indecision.

Ponder, ponder, ponder …and weeks rolled by. Truly, it was Rkatsiteli that had me really stumped. Finally, in an “I give up moment” it dawned on me that Rkatsiteli reminded me of a spicier Sauv Blanc. Brilliant, the needed light bulb moment and then nothing. Sigh, I  still was having an uncreative moment and was really not coming up with ideas for the pairing. I chalked it up to being a long week at work and that I would put it on the weekend to-do list and head home from work. Since it was Thursday night, I figured I had a good buffer of 24 hours until the start of the weekend and maybe my creative juices would flow.

 

Like many that work in DC, my main form of transportation for my daily commute is the metro. Normally, I am on auto-pilot when I walk to the metro in the evening… basically same path every day.  On the occasion I change up my normal walking route I usually stumbled across something cool or fun and this time was no different. In an attempt to break out of my uncreative rut, I decided I would walk a slightly altered route to the metro. I am glad I did because  I came across the Penn Quarter Farmers Market. I had forgotten about this framers market and what a delightful gem to stumble across. An afternoon framers market on the way home from the office is something that my inner slacker could really embrace. 

 

I love farmers markets, especially the one that is about twenty minutes from my home on Saturday mornings. What I do not like is the up early on a Saturday morning to venture across the sleepy suburban sprawl to the farmer’s market, where it seems that every red lights conspires to slow my progress. Finally, as I close in to the desired destination there is the jockey for position, stalking to quickly snatch up the prize and that is just to find a legal parking spot somewhat near the farmers market. Sometimes this is all a bit much for my under-caffeinated brain early on a Saturday morning.

As I wandered through the Penn Quarter Farmers Market looking at all the fresh and wonderful local food items, I began formulating pairing ideas, not just for the Rkatsiteli but for all three wines. As I scooped up fresh produce, cheese from a local dairy, crab cakes and empanadas I left the farmer’s market content that I now had ideas on what to pair with my three unique wines.

 

Number 1 : 2011 Chrysalis Vineyards Albariño paired with beef empanadas and avocado.

This wine was a gem with its dry crispness that balanced out the buttery-ness of the crust of the empanadas. The Chrysalis Albariño displayed all of the true characteristics of the varietal with its flavors of citrus, apricots, peaches with a hint of almond. The wine has a tarty clean freshness that complimented the empanadas and cut through the creaminess of the avocado.

Number 2: Cana Vineyards 2012 Rkatsiteli paired with Maryland crab cake and a roasted tomato goat cheese mixed spring green salad.

This wine is an elegant dry wine with a nose of fresh flowers and herbs that are balanced by hints of pear and apple, crisp acidity and a zingy finish. The wine was able to balance out the creaminess of the goat cheese and sweetness of the roasted tomatoes, while brightening the flavor profile of the crab cake.  

 

Number 3: 2012 Delaplane Petite Manseng paired with cayenne and curry popcorn.

 

This particular pairing nearly confounded me as much as the Rkatsiteli. I really did not want to go the normal route with the off-dry wine and pair it with an Asian or Indian dish. In doing research, I came across this pairing recommendation from another Virginia winery that produces Petit Manseng and thought I would give it a whirl. A little out of the box for me (as I am not a big popcorn fan), but it proved to be a delicious stretch for me. The tangy off-dry wine was the perfect match to disarm the heat of the cayenne and compliment the spiciness of the curry.