The Gift Of a Beautiful Day In Late Winter

Today was a lovely, almost Springlike day here in Central Oklahoma.  A rare treat, since we've had snow and COLD off and on for weeks, with only a day or two of respite.  (Not exactly normal for us.)  Today was sunny, and bright, and not too cold.  A perfect day to get out and visit our friends at the winery.

Canadian River Vineyards and Winery in Slaughterville, OK is a lovely place to visit. Friendly folks (even if they haven't known you for years), and GREAT wine.  They have a nice deck overlooking the vineyards where you can sit and enjoy the view.  You can taste all the wines they have available in the Tasting Room, and we ALWAYS buy some, even though we really go just to see our friends.  All the grapes are grown locally in Oklahoma, and their wines have won awards at several festivals.  My favorite right now is the Moscato, which is sweeter than the wines I usually like.  They also have a fabulous Merlot, and Shiraz, and chardonnay, and ... it's ALL good!

We have a long tradition of taking food out to share with our friends (and even other customers if they want some).  Today I took a simple appetizer that I got the recipe for from an email pal years ago. You take a small wheel of Brie (or, as I did this time, Camembert), put it on a microwave safe plate, and spread the top with basil pesto. (I use my homemade pesto.  I try to put enough in the freezer every Summer to last until the basil comes back again in late Spring.)  Then you pile some toasted slivered or sliced almonds on top, and zap it in the microwave for a minute or so, just until the cheese is softened.  Served with toasted baguette rounds, it makes a lovely accompaniment to all types of wine.  We also took some of Matt's homemade beer mustard and some corned beef.  All were very popular.
I made a batch of dark chocolate shortbread and took that as well.  A few folks were eating that with the Moscato and with the Merlot.  (Dark chocolate and Merlot pair very well!)

Being able to share good food with good friends is a great joy.  Wish we could do these things more often, but life is so very busy.  I just decided that the laundry could wait this week, and we should go see friends we haven't seen in awhile.  We had a very nice visit, and I only used my phone a couple of times to upload a photo or two.  Spent the rest of the time talking with our friends and other visitors to the winery.  It was a very, very nice day.

Now we are home, the wine is safely stashed in the wine rack, and Matt has the brisket in the brine for the home made corned beef for St. Paddy's Day.  Time for me to finish this up, start the laundry, and see what else I can get into.

I hope your Saturday was enjoyable as well!

We made a happy wine rack today.  All full up.  (The liquor shelf was already happy.)