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A Tale of B on a Hot Summer DayCategory: Food and Drink | Permalink Published: Monday, July 26, 2010 Once upon a time in a city called Pittsburgh, there lived a blogger. B ("Blogger") loved Pittsburgh, for it offered all sorts of things she liked. Festivals, lots of lovely restaurants and friendly people. She especially loved the city in the spring when the trees started to bloom and the farmer's markets re-opened after a long winter. But the summers could be difficult for B. Her little apartment had no air conditioning to shield her from the fierce humidity that often swept through the city. Poor B, she adored cooking, but it was torture to turn on the oven or stove on hot, humid days. On one such day, when the heavy city air sat still and the temperature passed 90, B put her foot down and declared, "I will not cook today!" She, instead, invited a friend to take a voyage across town and dine out at a little Thai restaurant called Pusadee's Garden. "I adore Pusadee's Garden!" FOB (friend of Blogger) exclaimed. And so, after work, B and FOB joined HOFOB (husband of friend of Blogger) and the three journeyed out of downtown to their destination. Arriving at the restaurant, the trio entered into the establishment's dining garden, an outdoor patio surrounded by lush trees and flowers, with an herb and vegetable garden close by. As if by magic, a gentle breeze blew through the garden, making their surroundings quite pleasant and cool. Thoroughly happy, B scanned the menu and decided to order the steamed pork dumplings followed by Street Noodles #2. B, FOB and HOFOB lounged and chatted as the occasional breeze swept over them, bringing with it the sweet smells of the nearby garden. B's water glass was immediately filled every time it reached the half-empty point, making B even happier with her surroundings. After a short while, appetizers arrived. B gazed at her 4 pork dumplings with longing and unwrapped her chopsticks. Dipping the first into the accompanying sauce, B took her first bite. Inside the pillowy dough was a tender center of pork, ginger, garlic and chilies, now dripping with the salty-sweet dipping sauce. Divine. The dumplings were, without a doubt, homemade. But, oh how quickly they were gone. Leaning back and pondering whether she should request another order of dumplings, B decided against it and waited patiently for her entrée. Soon, it came. Street Noodles #2 was a masterful dish of noodles, bok choy, bean sprouts, chilies and spices, topped with plump tempura fried shrimp. B had a little trouble grasping the thin, glass-like noodles, but shortly caught on and took bite after bite of her dish. Below the noodles and crunchy vegetables was a sweet and fiery sauce that made B's taste buds light up, but not so much that she had to stop eating. B reached for her water incessantly, but feared not, for it continued to be replenished. It was around this time when B gazed to her left and saw that the table next to her had ordered the same dish, but with one big difference: the table had a cold bottle of rose wine. B envied that table. How she longed to be sipping rose incessantly instead of water. It would surely be refreshing and cooling.
She made a note to herself to bring a bottle of wine the next time she visited Pusadee's Garden. When B was done and her mouth was screaming for relief, dessert came. Twas a homemade coconut ice cream topped with an unfamiliar little treat called jackfruit. The ice cream was sinful. Sweet, creamy and instantly cooled the fire blazing on B's tongue. The jackfruit was similar to mango, but different at the same time. After a couple bites, B determined it had a flavor very much its own and B was determined to find it on her next trip to the Asian market. B, FOB and HOFOB sighed sighs of satisfaction, paid their bill and made their way back towards the city and home. B collapsed into bed with a full belly, turned the window fan on high and slept soundly all through the night. - Erica Martinez
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Come Dine With UsCategory: VIP's Only | Permalink Published: Friday, July 23, 2010 Valued Wine Club Members: We want you to continuously receive exceptional treatment and service each and every time you visit us. To ensure you are always being given your full benefits at the Smokehouse Restaurant, we are implementing a new Wine Club Member Welcome Card. As a Wine Club Member, you receive a "front of the line pass" at the Restaurant. When you and your party are seated, your hostess will place a Welcome Card on your table. This card will include the Member's name, the date and any special occasion there might be, if nothing more than to spend a relaxing day in the country. When your server comes by to greet you, with this card in place, they will see that you are a Member, thus avoiding any confusion. Your complimentary amuse bouche will be served to you and your guests, and your 10% discount will be included on your dining bill.
We understand that sometimes members are "checking-in" up to three times, in the Tasting Room, at the Hostess stand, and then sometimes at their table. We would like to streamline this process to make your day in the country with us more personalized and special. As always, we thank you for your continuous support and look forward to welcoming you to the Restaurant the next time you visit us. We'll have your table waiting for you! To see the menu or make reservations visit the Restaurant section of our website.
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Sip whites, swirl reds, live green!Category: Sustainability | Permalink Published: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 After enjoying a delicious bottle of your favorite Ponte wine at home, what do you do with the bottle? If you throw them out, stop! Instead, let us give you some green for being eco-friendly by bringing that bottle to Ponte. Ponte Winery's Recycling Program, which started in 2007, allows you to bring in your empty Ponte wine bottles for us to recycle. In return, you will receive a $1 per bottle voucher. The voucher is valid on wine purchases and one voucher can be used per bottle purchased. For example, if "Jack" brings in three $1 vouchers he will have to purchase three bottles of wine in order to use all of his vouchers and receive the $3 off.
At Ponte Winery, we are committed to continuously reducing our "environmental footprint," or the overall impact our organization has on the environment. We thank you for your help and hope you enjoy the green you will be saving by supporting our green endeavors at Ponte Winery. See more of our green efforts in the Sustainability section of our website. Cheers, to a greener tomorrow!
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Flowers for Dinner, Anyone?Category: Food and Drink | Permalink Published: Monday, July 19, 2010 The first time I saw zucchini blossoms at the farmers market I thought they were pretty. "Hmm, edible flowers," I thought. They were green and sunflower-yellow; the kind of bud you throw on salads at the last minute to give them a pop of color. When I overheard the purveyor tell a customer to batter and fry them, I was intrigued. Why would anyone fry a flower? The petals are so delicate, they couldn't possibly produce much flavor. And so, that day at the market and for many years after, I never purchased zucchini blossoms. Yet, I was still intrigued because they never ceased to sell out whenever they were for sale.
When summer came around this year and I began to notice them at the market. I did some research on these seasonal gems and decided to finally try them for myself. I picked up a dozen along with some fresh herbs and ricotta cheese. Once home I whipped up a quick mixture of ricotta, chives, parsley, thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper. I carefully peeled back each petal of each blossom and stuffed the middle with some of the ricotta mixture and twisted the tops of the petals shut. I heated a pan of oil and made a batter of flour, sparkling water, salt and pepper. I gave each stuffed blossom a dip in the batter and laid them in the sizzling oil. Now, ricotta cheese is a wet cheese and I wish I would have remembered this when I began my cooking endeavor. About 15 seconds into frying, the ricotta began to seep out into the hot oil and popped like mad, all over the stove, all over my hands. Ouch. Sweating, I tried to flip each blossom over but with each "bite" of hot oil, my hand came shooting back to my side. It was only a (short) matter of time when I had to call HOB (husband of blogger) in to finish the job for me. A former marine and mechanic, he fears no oil, unlike pitiful me. The blossoms really took no time at all to cook. After removing them from the pan to a bed of paper towels, I sprinkled each with kosher salt. I had read that fried zucchini blossoms do not like to sit around, and should be served immediately, so HOB and I stood by the sink and dove right in. I bit through the thin crunchy layer of fried batter into a soft, wicked hot pillow of cheese. The heat made tears come to my eyes, but after a few seconds of chewing open-mouthed, I noticed the delicate flavor of the blossoms. It did, indeed, taste like the most fresh, most delicious baby zucchini and the ricotta mixture was mild and delicately sweet, a perfect complement to the buds. By the time I ate my third, the blossoms were already cooling down and getting a little soggy, but were nonetheless, still very good. To drink, I think a chilled, dry rose or even a dry, sweet wine, like Ariana would be a wonderful counterpart to the delicate flavors of the zucchini blossoms. A red would no doubt overpower, and a dry white might even be a little too astringent for mildly sweet cheese. Because the blossoms should be eaten right away, I'm not sure I'd ever attempt them for a dinner party, but for a couple or a group of hungry people standing around the kitchen chatting, they are just perfect. - Erica Martinez
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Tomatoes: What are those Red Things I’ve Been Eating?Category: Sustainability | Permalink Published: Saturday, July 17, 2010 "The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow." - Author Unknown. It's true. I am amazed at how simple it is to grow big, out-of-this-world, delicious tomatoes. Or to watch a zucchini grow from a bright yellow flower to a veggie the size of my arm. For some odd reason, while growing up, I subconsciously thought that gardening required lots of sprays, gasmasks and bug bombs. However, now that I'm older, I think of rockdust, worm castings, ladybugs and some personal TLC when I consider a vegetable garden. Not to mention the reward you receive in the form a delicious veggie.
It's no surprise to me that the National Gardening Association says about 7 million more households will grow their own vegetables this year, a rise of about 19 percent. Altogether, about 43 million U.S. households grow their own veggies. In other words, there are 7 million families who will discover what a real tomato tastes like, and how different it is from the perfectly round, waxed, shiny, buffed red tomato that you buy for $1.99 per pound with a cool sticker on its genetically modified thick skin. The anticipation of watching your own seeds sprouting to a mature plant, and watching the small yellow flowers turn into tomatoes can easily be life-changing. That irregular, dirty, sticker-less tomato from the garden will have so much more flavor than its grocery store counterpart that you will want to eat it like an apple.
Next time you're sipping wine in our Reserve Room, take a moment and check out our garden. We have already harvested bushels of sweet little strawberries for our Wine Club Member amuse bushe in the Smokehouse Restaurant. And soon, we will have enough life-changing tomatoes for our bruschetta appetizer and caprese salad. -Derek Van Gompel
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Post a CommentJump to Top Other Recent ArticlesSometimes the simplest meals are the most extraordinary. Jump to Top It was the kind of heat that makes the air stand still. Jump to Top They call it “The Windy City.” It’s famous for Oprah, Wrigley Field, Sears Tower, da Bears and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, among other things. Jump to Top A recent wedding at Ponte had us all stunned by the beauty, creativity and eco-minded elements incorporated by the bride and groom. Jump to Top We continue advancing our sustainability efforts at the winery and the addition of a pulper in our kitchen is helping us do just that. Jump to Top The opening lyrics to Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind” always take me away to my own memories of New York City. Jump to Top Did you know that Ponte Winery is a drop-off location for the Inland Empire’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)? Jump to Top “We are preparing for landing, please return your seats to the upright position and stow away your tray tables,” sang the flight attendant. Jump to Top Our Festival of Brides was no ordinary bridal show! Jump to Top Come and enjoy DreamWorks Monsters vs. Aliens at our 2nd annual Family Movie Night. |
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About this Page: The Ponte Blog is your online destination for the latest information about what’s new in the Temecula wine country, as well as informational and education articles about all things wine.