Fall for J.Crew

One of my favorite looks, love the color of the crop pants and the plush beige of the structured but casual jacket

J.Crew has released their fall look book.  (I know....we just started summer, but early fall dressing is one of my favorite times as you still have some of the colors from summer bleeding into pieces and one is generally tan and more fit from the summer so everything you try on looks great!)  Love the shoes and material combinations but I am noticing that J.Crew is offering a larger handbag selection now.  Not completely sold on them yet, need to see them in person.  But if the quality and design are comparable to the shoes then I am sure I will like.  (Which would be bad as my husband already refers to this brand as "J.Screw" as I spend too much money here.)

Dig the skirt length...as I am never one for mini's (even if I had legs for them)

Love the booties and the juxtaposition of the beige dress with the bright orange shirt

High waisted pants look chic and easy to wear

Not sure if the silhouette is super flattering on normal people, but love the shoe color against the soft oranges of the clothing

OMG!  Want these pants!

Why does the model look so pissed?  Maybe because of the fedora hat?

Trench reinvented as flare skirt/dress jacket....whatever....love it!

Dress will be MINE!

Not sure normal gals can pull off horizontal stripe skinny pants....but they are cute on the model

Wine brownie

So my trip to Paso Robles inspired me to make wine brownies!  Combine two things one loves right...wine and chocolate....nothing could go wrong, right?  Well I tried to recreate this brownie that I had served as a food pairing in Paso, but have really failed both times I have tried.  This post shows only one recipe I tried, but I felt the brownies were to cakey and not quite gooey enough.  So I cheated and then just bought a box of brownie mix and that wasn't gooey enough either.  So maybe I bought the wrong box mix...whatever, at this point I am not going to waste wine anymore, unless it is one of those bottles that has been opened already and we haven't gotten around to finishing...so there take that you elusive, sweet, tart, crisp on top and gooey in the center brownie!

Simmering wine, I guess to burn off the alcohol, but really who wants to do that?

Chocolate chunks mixing with butter....look away those who don't want to know why it tastes so good!

Butter/chocolate mix almost done

Mixing dry ingredients with wet

Before baking....looks promising

After baking, doesn't even look rich and chocolaty....not an epic fail, but semi-fail

Dolce vino

Our cache from Paso

A quick rundown of some of the wineries we visited on our recent trip to Paso Robles.  Since we went in May, the grapes are just beginning to grow.  (I will have to post our visit last September where the grapes were plump and juicy; ready to be picked.)  Paso Robles is a great area to wine taste as there are more then 200 vineyards, most places have a good wine to taste and you don't feel too overwhelmed with the jargon and/or people.  We have tasted in Italy, (which was weird because unless you work for the vineyard they don't really offer tastings....but that is another story) Los Olivos, Santa Barbara area, Placerville, Temecula (which some might laugh at, but hey it is in our backyard) and of course Napa Valley.  I loved really every place, but was overwhelmed with Napa Valley and felt like I didn't know enough about wine to enjoy myself.  But I think we should go again to see if I feel the same the second time around.  Anyways the point being that the Paso Robles area makes all feel welcomed!  My cousin who actually makes wine always tells me that really "knowing" about wine is really about knowing what you like.  

Our favorite winery in Paso, Denner (we are members of their wine club)

Entrance to Denner tasting room and vineyard

Denner wine club tasting area

A new winery for us, Oso Libre

Nothing to do with wine, but saw this artichoke bush at Oso Libre...I had never seen how they grow until now!

Oso Libre really had  beautiful vistas on their property

Grapes just starting to bud

New and modern, Niner vineyard

The tasting room was really impressive

Loved the cork tasting menu!

Was it too much wine or did I really see a heart shaped grove of trees?

Playing in the Niner vineyard with Luna

Picked up these preserves at Denner, good but a bit too sweet for my taste

Risotto 101

I can't believe I have made it this far without posting about risotto!  It is one of my favorite dishes to make as it can be very versatile.  This demonstrates a "basic" risotto just using extra onion and a bit of tomato flavor.  In any risotto you will always start with onion, but because I didn't add any additional veggies or meat I upped the amount of onion.  As well please note you will have to begin cooking 5-6 cups of your choice of broth as you start your risotto.  I obviously use vegetable broth, but you could use chicken, beef whatever.  The broth choice could compliment your other dishes you are serving.  As well you will need to add a bit of wine, but again just use whatever you might have....once I used beer because there was no wine in sight.  If you are making a special risotto try champagne!  I think risotto while it is a humble and satisfying dish, is also very special.  You have to really stand there and watch it, you can't really set it and walk away as you are constantly stirring and adding broth while it cooks.  So a lot of attention and care goes into its preparation.  I recently read about a famous "engagement chicken" recipe where if you make your man this chicken he will propose.  I think any risotto could be considered an "engagement" dish, because anyone you make it for is sure to feel loved.

Dice up 2-3 large onions and begin to cook in olive oil over medium high

Add a few cloves of garlic...I add them whole to get the flavor and not to be overpowering

This is a basic risotto, so sometimes I add tomato puree to add more tomato flavor, this time I just add the magic Cirio paste I have mentioned here : http://www.americanina.com/2011/04/pasta-with-clams.html

What you get after the onions cook with the garlic and tomato paste

Depending on your crowd I cook 2 cups of arborio rice

Let the arborio cook for a few minutes before you add your wine, then commence to adding broth

Here is the set-up, have your simmering broth next to the pot with the rice this way you are ready to go when the rice calls, basically add one ladleful at a time let the rice absorb then add more, all the while stirring to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan

Here is how it looks after adding a ladle full of broth, the rice will absorb it so watch carefully

After cooking for 20 minutes adding broth and stirring, add a pat of butter at the end to tighten it all up

My husband usually likes a heaping mound of grated parmigiano but this amount is just fine

I would call any risotto "engagement" risotto, as it takes time and care to make