Champagne and Chambolle at Scott Paul Wines

Scott Paul is one of my favorite Oregon wineries. They both produce their own Oregon wines and import wines from France, so you can taste Bourgognes next to Pinot Noirs and so forth. Plus, the folks there are so nice and down-to-earth.

They are doing this Champagne and Chambolle event on the 21st - a great chance to slow down and get out of town with friends before holiday madness begins.

Here is some info:

Date: Saturday, Nov 21, 12 noon – 5 p.m.

Where: Scott Paul Wines, 128 S. Pine Street, Carlton OR, 503-852-7300, www.scottpaul.com

What: $10 tasting fee for 5 wines -- one Champagne, two of our Burgundy imports, specifically from Chambolle-Musigny, a celebrated village in Burgundy, and two of our Scott Paul Oregon Pinots. Tasting fee refundable with purchase.

Guests will be able to taste a lovely and vivacious Champagne from Marc Chauvet, two different wines from Chambolle-Musigny (from Domaine Anne and Hervé Sigaut), and two brand-new releases from Scott Paul Wines own production (2007 La Paulée Pinot Noir and our 2008 Audrey, of which we only make 200 cases). You can read more about the producers and tasting notes on our website at http://www.scottpaul.com/spselections/.

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Spinach-Kale Turnovers

I love foods that involve seasoned, mushed up spinach. For instance, the spinach pies at Basha's, Andre's mom's spanakopita, and saag anything are all delicious.

After realizing last week that I actually like spending time in the kitchen and don't, in fact, have that many things I'd rather be doing, I have suddenly become interested in the kinds of time-consuming recipes I used to always avoid. Yesterday afternoon I made these spinach and kale turnovers, which involve both dealing with large, unwieldy greens and forming things out of dough. But it was fun and I didn't care! They are a lot like something I would buy frozen to take to work. So I froze them to take to work.

I figured out that a good way to de-stalk kale is to grab the end of the stalk with one hand, grab the leaves on either side with the other hand close to the stalk, and pull down. The stalk strips off pretty easily.

I also used pre-made pizza dough. The recipe calls for those fun dinner roll tubes you hit on the counter, but the store didn't have any. Pizza dough handles a little differently. Here is a video of the process.

All in all though it wasn't that difficult or time-consuming. I would make this again, maybe with a different filling, or maybe just the filling on its own, as a side. The combination of the kale and spinach created such a deep, complex, woodsy flavor, and the feta provided a nice balancing tartness.

Outfits

It feels like New Year's day. Hungover and camped out on the sofa with the cat, looking at the wardrobe remix feed on Flickr. It is one of the things that make me happy.

Yesterday I bought a new pair of boots and tried them on with all of my outfits. They look great with everything I own, including a Wonder Bread costume.