I have always wanted to engage myself in a wine pairing experience. But the price of the events turned me off in the past. This time I bit the bullet and went for one. Mainly because the event was hosted by Eden Canyon Vineyards (no relation although I like the name of the winery). :) I learned about Eden Canyon Vineyards via a syndicated TV Show named In Wine Country. I think it is the only Filipino owned winery. Who knew that there were Filipino winemakers... Now, I do. And I decided I am going to support them through my family's wine consumption.. hmmm.
So my daughter, Tracey, and I met up in Redwood City at a restaurant named The Red Lantern. The wine pairing event was called Taste of Southeast Asia. My kind of food. The fare was an 8-course food and wine pairing hosted by Elaine, the daughter of the owners of Eden Canyon Vineyards. Here is their website if you are interested in the story behind the vines and bottles.
http://www.edencanyon.com/ourstory/
First Course: We started with some lumpia - the Filipino version of eggrolls. These ones were stuffed with vegetable and taro served with sweet and spicy dipping sauce. 2005 Jolie Bordeaux Style was poured. Light and did not over power the lumpia.
#2 on the menu was Adobo, Pork Short Ribs. This is a traditional Filipino food simmered slowly that the meat melts in your mouth. This dish was glazed with its own sauce reduction and black peppercorns.
#3. Along with the pork dish was Cambogee Beef, cubes of beef seasoned with lemon grass, lime and other herbs, I can not even pronounce. From it's name, I am guessing this is Cambodian. This was delicious as well. These meat dishes ( #s 2 &3) were paired with 2004 Cabarnet Sauvignon. (This was my favorite of all the wines poured.)
No pictures as these dishes did not photograph very well... either that ... or we ate the dishes before I could take the pictures.... or it could be the good wine too...
# 4. Sarawak Samosas. The samosas were stuffed with duck and wild mushrooms served with cucumber salad. We polished every dish that came our way... 2005 Estate Cabarnet went with this dish.
# 5. Chicken Rendang, which is probably chicken curry in my simple language. Nothing simple about this though as it was delectably flavorful. I love curry dishes, in any form but this one was one of the best.
# 6. Wok Tossed Green Beans that tasted out of this world and some of our table mates wanted more. Quote from Erica, Elaine's BFF " If green beans were made this way when I was a young girl, I would have eaten more green beans". Yes, it was awesome.
Elaine had us try the 2005 Reserve Cabarnet Sauvignon to go with #s 5 and 6..
# 7 was another wonderfully crafted dish. Fillet of Chilean Sea Bass with wild mushrooms and leeks in Fermented Black Bean relish. Honest to goodness, I need to recreate this at home! It was great. I know that it is politically incorrect to consume Chilean Sea Bass, but in the back of my mind, I can be so unPC on this and not feel guilty because I love this.
2007 Zinfandel Barrel Sample was poured... I can still taste the sea bass and wished for more...
I think this is the point where they gave us some palate cleanser... Honey dew melon and jalapeno granita... Jason said it had jalapeno so I take his word for it...
I am noticing that I totally forgot to take picture of the Sea Bass and this granita picture is as blurry as my mind after all those wines. :)
# 8. For the last course, we had Chocolate Lover, Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse, Flourless Chocolate Cake and Scehzuan Peppercorn Chocolate Sauce. One word, decadent! We had no shame and asked for seconds... LOL
What a shame... picture does not do the dish justice. Lesson to learn... Know when to quit drinking wine to be able to take good pictures... :)
Here we are with the winemaker, Elaine... Tracey, Elaine, and Elaine's BFF and former grad scholl roomate, Erica.
This really was one of my over the top evening events ... And I need to go back to Red Lantern and try their dinner menu...
Comments (2)
Yikes! How does one edit after publication? School... not scholl... and a school teacher did it!
Posted by Eden | August 6, 2008 7:07 AM
Posted on August 6, 2008 07:07
This looks like an amazing evening. I really enjoy events like that! Confession - I have never tried Filipino food. I shall have to correct that shortly by the look of things.
Posted by Jerry | August 6, 2008 6:03 PM
Posted on August 6, 2008 18:03