MyPlate

Wow! Goodbye confusing, misleading and flat out incorrect food pyramid and hello MyPlate. With the help of the First Lady, Michelle Obama, the USDA has finally done something right! I'm impressed. I am also impressed with how my fiance has stepped up to the plate when it comes to preparing dinner. Now that he has a (short) break from school he is seriously taking initiative.

My favorite aunt had mentioned that she had extra George Foreman Grills, so when we were visiting we were lucky enough to acquire one. The plan all along was to have Rumil use it to prepare his meat. Well, the day has come! On Wednesday he bought an organic, grass-fed NY Strip and although slightly over cooking it, he loved it.

He also made some fabulous potatoes, sliced like chips, tossed with a new olive/rosemary oil we picked up (as well as a case of wine that we wrapped in our clothing in our suitcases) from Dutcher, a winery in Healdsburg. He added some fresh cracked pepper, sea salt and of course, cayenne and baked for an hour. Voila! Baked potato chips.

I had already prepared the salad fixings for lunch on Tuesday so we were good to go in the vegetable department. That along with a delicious cab from Dutcher Crossing really was a perfect treat...always a little nerve racking after ordering a case and becoming a member while being slightly tossed at the tasting. Now for some new cutting boards...definitely not down with the whole veg/meat sharing thing. Not in the least.

There was something special about Dutcher the moment Rumil saw their website. wink wink. Our friend who was navigating asked Rumil to pick a place to go and after seeing two other websites, he chose Dutcher. I'm not going to lie, we were a bit nervous. Well, it turned out to be a fantastic little winery. Very warm and welcoming with beautiful sprawling vineyards, a lovely little grassy area, a picnic area and a wine dog named Dutchess to boot!

Dutcher Crossing Vineyards http://www.dutchercrossingwinery.com/
The take away:
2 bottles of Sauv
2 bottles of Proprietor's Reserve Cab
2 bottles of Proprietor's Zin

Where not to go: Coppola
Our friend had been wanting to go back to Coppola and from what he says of his last visit, it was a barn. I'm not sure if it was the full service bar next to their day resort pool, the gold tassels on the white uniforms or our sleep deprived server who seemed to be hopped up on something, but it was awful and there was no barn in sight. It was like California Adventure in the middle of Wine Country. The insanity!