Christmas Traditions

Most of us have some kind of holiday tradition. For me it's a blend of childhood Christmas past and a married Christmas present which I hope lasts for many years into Christmas future.

Today we awoke at my parents' house a couple of hours south of Richmond on the edge of the North Carolina border. Kids, parents, grandparents, - wild excitement of ripping into packages and then consuming ham rolls, apple dump cobbler, and pounds of bacon. We eat lounging in the living room or standing in the kitchen. We attempt to avoid the remote control tiny cars or giggling electronic guinea pigs.

My hubby and I then pack up and head back to Richmond. It's a quiet drive listening to carols of the season and lost in thought gazing upon the stark winter country landscape.

Upon arrival home we kiss and snuggle with our kitties. Haul presents and gifts of food into the house and light the Christmas trees (yes, I have more than one). We snack on smoked eye of round, goat cheese, pepper jelly, and crackers. And then pop open a bottle of champagne. This year a Heidsieck Monopole Blue Top. We always crack open the real bubbly for Christmas mid-day. Lovely and yeasty. The right prelude for opening our gifts (this year included bottles of sambuca and anejo tequila!).

After presents, I make egg nog for after dinner. The nog is my own recipe. The only change this year is using vanilla infused Wild Turkey bourbon.

And this year, snow. An actual white Christmas. We walk around the neighborhood and enjoy the flakes as they begin to cover the ground and trees.


A wee nap before starting Christmas dinner. Dinner is always just the two of us and the menu changes each year (except for some type of mashed potatoes - these are a must-have). This year we enjoy salt and pepper encrusted filet mignons with a red wine shallot sauce as well as garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed green beans with shallots. To drink... a 1994 Heitz Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon.

I hope you are having a fabulous holiday season and enjoying old or new traditions.

Cheers and Merry Christmas!

Make Your July 14 a Very Happy One!

This announcement was in my email box today from J. Emerson:

Don't forget to stop by on Wednesday, July 14th from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm to raise a toast to our 25th Anniversary. We'll be opening some sparkling wines for tasting including, as tradition dictates, Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne.

Hope to see on Bastille Day.

Thank-you

J. Emerson Inc.

5716 Grove Ave

Richmond, VA 23226

804-285-8011

Champagne Possibly Pairs Well With Anything

At least according to my hubby.

We broke open a bottle of Laurent-Perrier Brut. Mighty fine stuff.

He had it with a peanut butter and banana sandwich.

You can decide for yourself.

Cape Cod

Cape Cod in late September. And our first visit to the Cape. What a lovely time. We stayed at a sweet little cottage off of Main St. in Chatham for the week owned by a couple of artists. Perfect for two and within walking distance of Chatham Light and the quaint and upscale shops and restaurants in town. The weather maintained a breezy 65-70 degrees during the day, heaven. Of course, it had to pour one of those days, but we were able to get in our early morning beach stroll before the deluge.

We stuck to the exploration of the Lower and Outer Cape. While we ventured into Hyannis one day, we quickly retreated to the more natural landscape of the National Seashore. Highlights included visiting several light houses, experiencing the unique and festive Provincetown – right before the place closed up for the season, whale watching, climbing Pilgrim Monument, seal communing, wild turkey lurking, meandering rocky and eerie seascapes along the bay at Wellfleet, trekking tidal vistas that had previously captivated Edward Hopper, learning about natives and washashores, wine-tasting at Truro, and consuming a whole heap of incredibly delicious seafood!

Check out a few photos:

And now, on to the food. As stated earlier, we had seafood most lunches and dinners. A few so-so, most mouth-watering and delightful. I’ve listed all of them with a few comments about each. You’ll see where I waxed rhapsodic.

First up, the interesting food-related shops:

Chatham Cheese Company – good stuff, good variety

Gustare Oils and Vinegars – Probably some upscale chain, but all they feature are infused olive oils and balsamic vinegars. All can be tasted before purchasing. We bought lavender infused balsamic vinegar.

Chatham Jam and Jelly Shop – An expanded salt box house where the living room is the shop. Featured jellies include rose hip, cranberry, and wild beach plum (from locally harvested wild plums). Once again a taste before you buy establishment. We bought several.

Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod – the cab franc grapes looked fantastic in the vineyard, but the wines left a lot to be desired, lighthouse wine bottles keep sales brisk as well as the cranberry wine. Except for the cab franc, all other grape varieties are trucked in from other places

Now the restaurants:

Seamen’s Inne at Mystic Seaport – on the way, decent fried shrimp, abysmal service . Next time if the weather is nice we will check out the seafood shacks we saw before we arrived at the historic area and eat outside

Vinings Bistro – housed over top of the Dunkin’ Donuts and sharing space on the second floor with the Town Hall. Looks great, but a bit sketchy on the hostess service. The spitted and roasted chicken was delightful – a perfect mix of smoked, grilled, and roastedness. Decent lobster and spinach soft taco. The scallops competed with too many flavors and were not enjoyable. Crusher Petite Sirah from Clarksburg, CA took the edge off

Chatham Village Café – locally roasted coffee, very expensive sandwiches – but open every day starting at 6 AM (so one can enjoy coffee during an early morning beach stroll)

Chatham Squire – so good we ate there twice, a list of mouth-watering daily specials including seafood (all sorts), other meats, and a pate of the day. We had shrimp scampi over spinach and pasta one night, excellent and succulent shrimp, and the best snapper ever. Our 2nd night was another scampi dish with gulf shrimp (Maine gulf), scallops, and big lobster chunks over lobster-stuffed ravioli, and get this – a bottle of Perrier- Jouet was only $45!! This is a must-eat place if you are ever in the neighborhood – relaxed, casual, reasonable bar drinks and a ditzy, yet friendly and fun waitress. They also have a great bar for four-legged companions

Pepe’s Wharf (Provincetown) – excellent view of the bay while we ate on the sheltered lower deck, waiters definitely paid more attention to my hubby than me, good lobster roll with a lot of the succulent white meat, decent margaritas, too

Wild Goose Tavern – Chatham clams (or steamers) and shrimp Caesar salad. The clams were good, but very gritty, they were served with broth, but I was not able to figure out how to use the broth to get rid of the grit (yeah – I’m such a tourist), Hitching Post Pinot Noir – yum

The Original Gourmet Brunch (Hyannis) – 50 different variations of omelets from this mom and pop place



Marley’s – we were suckered in by the cat, but this locals place had great fried shrimp and a waitress that kept our wine glasses full of Wolf Blass Yellow Label the entire evening, best wait service

Moby Dick’s (Wellfleet) – fantastic lobster shack. I took great delight in tackling a steamed lobster, yummy, yummy. Hubby tried the Wellfleet oysters and while he liked them, he prefers the Virginia variety. For lobster, a must-eat place

Impudent Oyster – very busy, even mid-week, very good filet and grilled lobster tail, delicious Seafood Putanesca, tasty Cabernet Sauvignon from Moon Mountain Vineyard in Sonoma

Chatham Pier Fish Market – take out only with a large variety of seafood choices, we were thrilled with the fried shrimp and onion rings

Woody’s Lobster Pool (Eastham) – probably a real rocking place during the summer, order at the counter and enjoy the huge bar, really good fried clam strips

Chatham Bars Inn – our big splurge night, fantastic clam chowder, 2005 Savigny-Les-Beaune 1er Cru Les Peuillets from Rodolphe Demougeot (HUGE splurge, but very yummy), exquisite duck breast and leg confit, enjoyable tuna, very dark dining room, service was unfortunately second rate

Bottom line – if you go, devour the local seafood and enjoy the nature of the Cape.

The Tea House at Lewis Ginter

Friends gave us a couple of day passes to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. We decided to visit today. Although a tad humid, the sun was not cruel and most of the children relegated themselves to the small water fountain play area. We encountered a plethora of bees, butterflies, lotus flowers, roses, etc. I hope you enjoy the slide show below:

For lunch we dined at the The Tea House run by Meriwether Godsey. I've always appreciated the iris-patterned carpet and the tables today also sported irises. We arrived just before noon to a sparsely populated dining room (a few more came in as we ate) and ordered champagne cocktails (the traditional kind with brandy, bitters, and a sugar cube).

The menu offered an eclectic variety of sanwiches, salads, and heartier fare. We both took a risk and ordered something that we would normally not select. My hubby took a chance on Crook’s Corner Shrimp & Grits - stone ground grits with cheddar & Tabasco topped with large shrimp sautéed with bacon, mushrooms, scallions roasted tomato & garlic. Unfortunately, all of the ingredients except for the veggies and shrimp competed with each other for the top dog prize. Too rich, too bacony (unusual for either of us to say anything has too much bacon), too tabasco hot, too cheesy, and way too much grease/oil. The presentation was not pretty either.

My order, on the other hand, was absolutely stunning in both taste and presentation. I had Shrimp Toasts with Sambal - sliced baguette topped with avocado cream, spicy mango sambal, & chilled shrimp. The dish was served with my choice of side and I chose the watermelon and feta salad. What an excellent choice! This was a fantastic summertime dish that popped with color and flavor.


Thus, my question is this - How can a restaurant get one item bang on and beyond, yet fail miserably at another? Because this was The Tea House prices were in the $12-13 range. Not inexpensive for lunch. Perhaps sticking to salads and sandwiches (typical "tea room" fare) might be the key.