The Coastal Wine Trail

I think we've established the fact that food and wine is my life.

When I was 44 years old, I left everything for France. This goes under the heading of what is now my motto: 

"It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Since I was eating my way around France, I figured I should really learn about wine. So, I signed up for the Wine and Spirits Program at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. As you can imagine, I developed a taste for the good stuff. How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree? 

Flash forward to an undisclosed number of years later and I'm still on the hunt for a good time and a great taste.  

If, in 2018, you don't have a passport or the money to travel to the major wine regions here or abroad, you can get yourself a "Coastal Passport" and have a great time exploring the Coastal Wine Trail - fourteen wineries of the Southern New England Appellation from Cape Cod through southern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. 

Your guide to a good time

Wine a little or a lot

This handy little guide with location information and hours of operation was indispensable for us in exploring the wineries. In the back of the guide is a page for passport stamps. In 2017 when we did a wine tasting, each of us had our own passport stamped at the wineries. I'm not bragging or anything but we collected 13 stamps (which means we visited 13 of the 14 wineries) and are both eligible to win a Bermuda Cruise as well as other fabulous prizes.

I believe that the wineries will be continuing the prize portion of their program for 2018. The adorable guy who runs the passport program and works at Running Brook Vineyard & Winery, Inc. could answer any questions you might have. This funky place is open year-round and features entertainment on the weekend. I recommend the spirits tasting here.

As you might imagine, each winery has its own personality.

Truro Vineyards is just about at the tip of the Cape in Truro, MA. If you're looking for a sprawling lawn with seating, you'll find it here along with a couple of tasting areas, a food truck on occasion, and the fabulous South Hollow Spirits Distillery. 

The most elaborate winery of the lot is Newport Vineyards, Middletown, RI, open year-round with several tasting bars and two restaurants. Carolyn's Sakonnet Vineyard, Little Compton, RI, also has several tasting locations and lots of outdoor seating to enjoy. It's owner is famous for her Alex and Ani line of jewelry. You'll find her pieces and other treasures for sale in the barn on the premises. You're welcome to walk throughout the sprawling property (but not in-between the vines) and relax on Adirondack chairs, some shaded with umbrellas, and enjoy a lovely outdoor cafe. (While some wineries may allow visitors to picnic on the grounds, outside food and beverages are not permitted at Newport or Carolyn's.)

Carolyn's Sakonnet Vineyard

Two wineries that we really enjoyed were Greenvale Vineyards, Portsmouth, RI and Langworthy Farm Winery, Westerly, RI. Greenvale offered some wonderful whites in an unpretentious, relaxing atmosphere. Langworthy was the smallest winery we visited. We had a tasting on the deck overlooking the vineyard and enjoyed a delicious cabernet-merlot blend.

An unusual owl overlooking the property at Langworthy Farm Winery

Some tasting rooms that are small and intimate include Langworthy Farm Winery, Westerly, RI; Maugle Sierra Vineyards, Ledyard, CT; and Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery, Westport, MA.

Outside and inside
Maugle Sierra.

Named after a couple: Maugle is the last name of the husband, Sierra - the first name of the wife

We found a few wineries very busy with private buses and vans, girlfriends all-a-twitter, and brides-to-be with their entourage. You just might catch a few in the bridal party all dolled-up with their bathrobes on. It seems that most of the wineries are available for weddings.

All the vineyards are beautiful, all the wineries unique, and all definitely worth a stop.             

The beautiful Jonathan Edwards Winery - one of my all-time favorites.
Some might say that they cheat by using California juice.

I say...

 If lovin' you is wrong, I don't wanna be right.

Favorite tastes:

Zinfandel - Jonathan Edwards

Avondale Cabernet Merlot - Langworthy

Rose - Stonington 

Unexpected Miracles (Chardonnay) - Carolyn's Sakonnet

Brandies - Running Brook

Twenty Boat Amber Rum -  South Hollow Spirits (at Truro Vineyards)

Zinfandel

Avondale Cabernet Merlot

A Taste of Vermont

Every experience I've ever had in Vermont has been a good one.

Every gorgeous season I've ever visited (which is all four of them) and every place I've ever stayed (from B&B's to hotels to Just Wingin' It types of establishments) has been totally awesome. What's more, as Vermont has a great support network for small food producers, there's no shortage of culinary delights to enjoy throughout the state.

Take, for instance, several years ago, when I was in a country store way upstate in the Northeast Kingdom: I discovered a beautiful bottle that contained something called Eden Ice Cider. It was gorgeous and intriguing. I'd never had it, but it sounded wonderful. "Buy it!" my oldest son said.

"But, I've never tried it," I said.

"So what?! It's probably good," he said.

So I bought it. Their promotional material said they gave tours. I called the number.

"We're not really open on Sunday," the woman said. "but, we're bottling. Would you like to see that and come for lunch?"

(Excuse me??! Is this a normal thing in Vermont?)

 "I have my 3 boys with me." I said.

"That's fine," she said.

She gave me directions. "...Then turn right by the crappy trailer."

Enter right. Another wow. Up the hill, a newly constructed home, in its finishing stages, and a company in its infancy. Fine china set on the dining room table and a gorgeous luncheon before us - for me, my kids, and our host. Chicken, salad, fresh bread, and a bar of Eden Ice Ciders just waiting to be tasted.

Made from locally grown, fresh heirloom variety apples.
The juice is naturally cold-concentrated outdoors in our cold Vermont winter weather.

Two weekends ago we had the chance to get away for the Maple Syrup Celebration. We stayed in Quechee and visited Sugarbush Farm in Woodstock.

The folks at Sugarbush know what they're doing. And they've been doing it since 1945. The employees and family of this farm are super-friendly. They know how to welcome people and it's obvious that they love what they do. A visit to the sugar house and the owner's excellent explanation of their maple syrup process made for a great time.

In their house, they give you lots of tastings of syrup and cheese. Wander into the other rooms and you're on your own to try a variety of other products like jams, savory spreads, and sausages. If you can't go there, visit their online store. I recommend the smoked onion cheese, blue cheese, pepperoni, blueberry bourbon jam, and maple butter. Yum.


 Another stop on our mini-vacation was the King Arthur Flour campus in Norwich. Get inspired by watching bakers at work, browse the well-stocked, gorgeous store, and enjoy a bite to eat at the cafe. I was inspired by a curried chicken sandwich I had there and created this delicious version below.

Curried chicken salad

3 cups cooked chicken breast - cut up or shredded
3-4 TB mayonnaise or yogurt
Curry powder to taste
1-2 tsp. Vermont maple syrup to taste
Himalayan sea salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 TB chopped walnuts

Romaine lettuce leaves and sliced apple for garnish.

Mix all ingredients together, season to taste. Place in pita bread and tuck in lettuce leaves and apple slices. Makes 2 sandwiches.

Experimenting with flavors

Blueberry and Orange Walnut
Friendship Breads

In my last post, I described making Friendship Starter. It's a 10 day process that starts with a mixture of yeast, flour, sugar, and milk that you keep on the counter, stir, and "feed" until it's ready to use in a sourdough sweet style bread. (Recipe for the starter is repeated at the bottom of this post.)

Today was the final day of "growing the starter".  At this point, you end up with 3 cups of starter.

I put 1 cup of starter in the refrigerator to give to a friend, and the second cup I kept on the counter to begin another 10 day cycle.

To the 3rd cup of starter, I made this recipe,  

Friendship Bread with Two Variations

1 c. starter

2/3 c. vegetable oil

3 eggs

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda
(original recipe includes 1 tsp. vanilla, but I omitted it at this point.)

In a large bowl, combine starter with oil, sugar, and eggs.  Mix flour, salt, baking powder, etc. Add to batter and mix well. 

At this point, I divided the mixture into 2 batches to try out a couple of different flavors.

To one bowl, I added 1/2 tsp. vanilla and a generous 1/2 cup of frozen wild blueberries. 

To the second bowl, I added the grated rind of an orange (about 1 & 1/2 tsp.) and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. I didn't add vanilla.

I buttered and floured mini aluminum loaf pans (3 1/2" x 6 1/2"), and added the batter to about 3/4 full. I ended up with 3 pans of blueberry, and 2 pans of orange/walnut and sprinkled with sugar. Coarse or demerara sugar would be best.

I baked the loaves in a preheated 350 F oven for about 35 minutes until the breads tested done. If you use 9 x 5 loaf pans, bake for about 50 minutes.

The breads are moist and flavorful. Using small loaf pans allows you to experiment with various flavors, extracts, fruits, chocolate, etc. Cinnamon chocolate, apple cinnamon, lemon, cranberry walnut, almond flavored are some ideas to try. If you hit on a good combination, let me know!

Friendship Starter

1 (.25 oz) pkg. active dry yeast

¼ c. warm water (110 degrees F)

3 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. granulated sugar 

3 c. milk

(Today you will be using only 1 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. The remaining cups of flour, sugar and milk will be used over the next 9 days.)

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart glass, plastic, or ceramic bowl (do not use metal container or metal spoon), combine 1 c. flour and 1 c. sugar. Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. Slowly stir in 1 c. milk and the dissolved yeast mixture. Leave loosely covered at room temperature. 

Consider this Day 1 of the 10 day cycle. 

On days 2-4, stir starter with (non-metal) spoon.

Day 5 – stir in 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar and 1 c. milk.

Days 6-9, stir only.

Day 10 – stir in 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, and 1 c. milk. 

Now you're ready to take 1 cup of the starter and make your Friendship Bread.

Starter

I took the week off between Christmas and the New Year just hanging around the house. Now I'm hunkering down with 8 to 14 inches of snow in the forecast.

I'm so cozy...

I can bearly stand it!

This morning I tortured my sons with text messages. That was fun for awhile.

Until my oldest suggested...

And with that, I thought of baking and blogging!


I recently re-organized my recipes. I spent an entire weekend removing recipes from the old photo albums that I had them in. Those albums were in rough shape from years and years of use. I finally organized them into new binders. I use that term "new" loosely.

Do you know how difficult it is these days to find regular photo albums with three ring binders? Well, they come in pretty handy, bub, especially when you want to shift the pages around.

Benny's to the rescue! Good ol' Benny's. I bought the last of their stock which they probably had on their shelves since "19-ot-9" as my stepfather would say.


Here are my beautiful recipe files - all neatly categorized.

And in album number 3, the first recipe is...

Friendship Starter

There was a time in my life when I was totally obsessed with Friendship Bread. I kept that starter going for months. I made all kinds of variations... orange, lemon, date, cinnamon... you name it!

I remember my sister Dottie saying to me, "Be done with it already! Just use the whole batch and finish it up!"

And so I did.


Why do I listen to people?

Friendship Starter

1 (.25 oz) pkg. active dry yeast

¼ c. warm water (110 degrees F)

3 c. all-purpose flour

3 c. granulated sugar 

3 c. milk

(Today you will be using only 1 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. The remaining cups of flour, sugar and milk will be used over the next 9 days.)

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. In a 2 quart glass, plastic, or ceramic bowl (do not use metal), combine 1 c. flour and 1 c. sugar. 

Mix thoroughly or flour will lump when milk is added. 

Slowly stir in 1 cup milk and the dissolved yeast mixture. 

Leave loosely covered at room temperature.

Consider this Day 1 of the 10 day cycle. 

On days 2-4, stir starter with spoon.

Day 5 – stir in 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar and 1 c. milk.

Days 6-9, stir only.

Day 10 – stir in 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, and 1 c. milk. 

Remove 1 c. batter (considered "starter") to make your first bread. Give 2 cups of starter to friends along with this recipe. Store the remaining 1 cup starter in a container in the refrigerator, or begin the 10 day process all over again with one cup of starter and begin with day 2 to make even more starter!

You can freeze the starter in 1 cup measures for later use. Frozen starter will take at least 3 hours to thaw at room temperature.

This is the basic recipe using your starter to make bread. You can add grated lemon or orange rind, etc. to vary the flavor.

Friendship Bread

1 c. starter

2/3 c. vegetable oil

3 eggs

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 9x5 loaf pans. In large bowl, combine starter with oil, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Mix flour, salt, baking powder, etc. Add to batter and mix well. Pour into pans. Bake 50-60 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, remove from pans, and let cool completely.

You can add grated orange, walnuts, dates, whatever you like. Experiment!

Here’s another recipe using your starter if you don't want to venture off experimenting just yet.

Apple Walnut Friendship Bread

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 c. starter

3 eggs

2/3 c. oil

1 tsp. vanilla

½ c. chopped walnuts

2 apples, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 9x5 pans. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and set aside. In large bowl, stir together the starter, eggs, oil and vanilla. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in nuts and apples. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 15 minutes, remove from pans, and let cool completely.