Wednesday we made reservations for a winery tour, including a tapas tour with wine pairings.  Chateau Chantal is located on the Old Mission Penninsula and there are some amazing views from the winery.  The tour lasted about 3 hours total, and we sampled several of the wines.  My favorite was the Smoked Whitefish Pate, paired with a Semi Dry Riesling.  Some of the other dishes we sampled included BLT Bites and Cracked Pepper, Blue Cheese and Walnut Twists, Thai Cauliflower and Peanut Satay , and a very simple Greek Salad Bite on a cucumber slice.  The recipes are available on the winery website....http://www.chateauchantal.com.  There is a bed and breakfast located at the site, so if you are ever interested in spending some time in Northern Michigan, it's a great place to consider.

Day 2 of vacation and much of today went a lot like yesterday.  I sat and enjoyed my coffee this morning and made more headway on the book I'm reading.  Dan made cabbage bread like his Grandma Margaret used to make and while the bread dough was rising, we took the paddle boat out on the lake.   The cabbage bread, also called a Runza when made in smaller sandwich sized servings, is a bread dough filled with ground meat, cabbage, onions and seasonings.   After dinner, we took a drive to Lake Michigan and watched the sunset.  We ended the day with ice cream, loaded with bananas, crumbled chocolate chip cookies, strawberry syrup and pineapple.  I'll post a recipe and some pictures of the cabbage bread and some of the beautiful sunset when I get back to Denver.  Tomorrow we are heading out early to Mackinac Island, and I'll be sure to share that as well.

It's been a year in the making.....a vacation that is about doing  nothing.  Dan and I left Denver around 1pm on Friday and drove 1300 miles to Northern Michigan.  We rented a fabulous house on Lake Bryan.  The house has 2 kitchens, 3 bedrooms, pool table and most importantly plenty of space to do something or in our case, absolutely nothing.    Dan made waffles for breakfast this morning, then we spent a good portion of the day sitting on the upstairs deck, reading.  Later we went for a 4 mile walk, then came back and grilled some hot dogs ( I know, I know, not exactly the culinary delicacy you might expect), but it fits right in with the theme of the week...do nothing unless you want to.  Having said that, I have to get back to doing nothing again...talk to you later.

Okay, Okay, I know it's not really spring, but it is time to clean out everything.  As you may or may not know, I am moving in a month.  Throw in a 10 day vacation and being out of town for work and it doesn't really leave me much time.  I am proud to say that I have well over half of my stuff packed, although living in a house stacked with boxes isn't my real idea of ideal, in fact, as someone who likes everything in its place, it borders on all I can stand!  But my mission to not buy groceries for the past few weeks and to clean out the freezer and cabinets has worked really well.  Last weekend, I made dinner completely out of the freezer, with the exception of the onion and the tomato sauce,  it  was a total improv, throwing in some of this and some of that, and ending up with ...voila...dinner.   It became a monkey bread of sorts, only savory and italian style.  Check the recipe section for the ingredients and steps.

So as most of you know, yesterday I got the fantastic opportunity to do a cooking demo on "Everyday" here in Denver and I can't say enough thank yous to all the people who wished me well beforehand, but especially to everyone who sent me such nice messages after the show.  It was incredibly fun for me, and something I really love to do.  I hope there will be more opportunities like that in the future.  (If you didn't get a chance to see it, it is posted on the home page of this website, so go check it out!!!)   After the show yesterday morning, a great weekend continues.  Last night was First Friday in the Santa Fe Art District where their was a celebration of Andy Warhol's birthday.  There was the opportunity to get your picture taken wearing the infamous Andy Warhol wig and sunglasses.  I passed.  After that, a great dinner at The Avenue Grill....dirty martini with bleu cheese stuffed olives and Lo Mein.  This morning, the celebration continued with brunch at Bistro Vendome in Larimer Square.  I can't believe I have lived in Denver for 3 years and this was my first visit.  There were at least 10 things on the brunch menu I wanted to try.  I settled (although settled isn't really the right word), I decided (that's better) to have the classic french Croque Madame.  It was served with french fries (or should I say pomme frites).  As you know, if you are a follower of this blog, there are no pomme frites that can stand up to those served at Balthazar in NYC, these didn't match up either HOWEVER, these have a place all their own.  There is a slight hint of sweetness to the fries, which I find really delicious.  I also had an amazing french press coffee.  Sitting outside on the patio under the trees, it really was a perfect summer morning.  Now, back to reality.  As some of you may already know I am moving out of my apartment next month, and with my schedule in full blown mode, I am faced with the dreaded task of packing.....I won't have many opportunities to get it all done between now and the time I move, so I have sequestered myself to the task at hand.  That doesn't mean that I haven't strayed a bit.  So far this afternoon, in an attempt to avoid the inevitable (and use up some aging lemons) I have made a lemon yogurt cake and 4 bars of lemon soap.  Ridiculous I know, making soap when I have all this other stuff to do, but it's what gets me through the day....Have a good weekend. 

I'll share a couple pictures from last nights Art Walk......