Our friends are leaving this Friday for Hawaii until April 1. Can’t say that we blame them for that — the worst of this New England weather is yet to come. In any case, it was a good excuse to invite them over on Presidents’ Day for an afternoon snack and to taste some wines with us.
The snack menu was straight from jars and odds and ends in the refrigerator. In keeping with the needs for low-glycemic dishes, I selected a group of savory items we all like:
- black and green olives
- Spanish Piperras Peppers
- Greek Pepperoncini
- Chris’ homemade pickled peppers and onions
- Chris’ hot-smoked salmon (done over apple wood)
- daikon and watermelon radishes, thinly-sliced, with tapenade and microgreens
- Greek Kefalotyri cheese, fried and served with tomato sauce
We served three different wines in sequence:
- Sans Liege Rhone blend of Viognier, Grenache Blanc, Marsanne and Rousanne
- a French sparkling Pear Cider (only 4% alcohol)
- 2003 Beaux Freres Pinot Noir
The whites did well with all the pickles, and the Pinot Noir complemented the fried cheese. Bon Voyage, my friends!
That night Barbara made a late supper with her trademark Jumbo Lump Meat Crabcakes, with Cole Slaw (finally using that cabbage!), and hand cut homemade french fries.
The next morning we awoke to a surprise two-inch layer of snow and ice in our driveway. No matter; the tractor with my snowplow made short work of it all.
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