My apologies

Yikes; it's been a while!

I made all kinds of goodies for Thanksgiving dinner... and then didn't take photos. And since I hate posting recipes without photos, I didn't put 'em up.

I've had what feels like a zillion new wines lately. And again, photos were few and far between. I'll put up a few wine reviews here shortly (I attended a Champagne class last week and have some new favorites!), but I have been slacking there as well.

I got my first box of cookie exchange cookies in the mail today! The packaging was super cute and made me feel a little inadequate. So to the wonderful ladies who will be receiving my cookies, I apologize for the disappointing packaging. I also should not admit to eating all 12 cookies by myself today. Oops!

I've been travelling quite a bit for work lately. Rock Bottom Brewery in San Diego - good burgers, but mediocre beer. (Their red is very thin/weak, and their winter wheat is nothing to get excited about.) The Wine Encounter in San Diego - their flights are a little spendy, but paired well. And I guess they have half-priced flights for happy hour on certain days, which would be an awesome deal. (We had their World Tour flight - reds from Argentina, France, and Italy. They were all pretty tasty.) I found a gem in town, too. Pita Jungle, here in Tempe. Everything on their tapas menu for happy hour is either one or two bucks, and it is all excellent!

And a quick review for you, since I realized I haven't talked about my go-to cooking wine yet.

Image from www.chilean-wine.com

Santiago Station Sauvignon Blanc. It is from Chile, but in the New Zealand style. Definitely citrus-y. But my favorite thing about it is that it's only $3.99. Almost every reaction to the price... not a favorable one. Fear not, though! This is not your Barefoot/Pacific Peak. It is a surprisingly drinkable wine. I served a glass of this with dinner last night, and my house guest/couchsurfer commented on how tasty it was. It's probably not going to be anyone's new favorite drinking wine, but for someone who does a lot of cooking with dry whites, it is perfect. I use this most often for chicken piccata. I also use it in my crockpot chicken kiev. When you're using a bottle and a half of wine to make dinner on a college student's budget, a $4 bottle is much better than my favorite $15 bottle! They have changed their labels since this photo was taken, and I couldn't find any with the new label. It looks almost identical, but is green instead of gold.

And with that, I'm off! My finals are over mid-next week, so hopefully I'll have a little more time to spend in the kitchen, and actually take photos this time! Thank you for being so patient with me. :)

Lemon garlic spinach

I love spinach. I love lemon, and I love garlic.

I've had some fresh spinach in the fridge for the last few days just begging to be used, so I threw some things together tonight to make a spinach side.

Lemon Garlic Spinach

9 oz. baby spinach

1 1/2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

juice of 1/2 lemon

Saute the garlic in olive oil until soft. Add in the butter and spinach. Cook until wilted - about 5 minutes. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over spinach and let cook for about one minute more. Serve! 

I accompanied dinner tonight with a Kemblefield Sauvignon Blanc 2010. It's from the Marlborough region of New Zealand. Nice and citrusy. Grapefruit is very prominent. Dry and almost tart. The perfect compliment to the lemon in tonight's spinach. $9.99/bottle. Excellent for the price. 

I'll work on my picture-taking skills. In the meantime, I think I might help myself to a second glass from the bottle!