September 27 and 28, 2017. Chili and Wine To the Trade Tasting and Book Club

September 27 and 28, 2017. Chili and Wine To the Trade Tasting and Book Club

There are events that alter our normal schedule of shopping and cooking.  The two above are two of them.

The Chili and Wine Festival is the largest food and wine event in New Mexico.  The Grand Tasting that occurs on Saturday that typically includes 150 wineries and 100 restaurants typically fills three large tents and sells 2,000 or 3000 tickets.  The lines for food and wine are long, but it is a really fun event.  The drawback for me is the cost, $150, and the huge lines that require you to wait ten minutes for a taste of wine or food, so we go only once every five years.

Alternatively, we attend the To the Trade Tasting every year for several reasons.  First, it is free and, secondly, there are hundreds attendees instead of thousands, so you can talk and drink and eat without any waiting.

There are 90 to 100 vineyards and importers, one half affiliated with National Distributing on one side of the hall and the other half on the other side affiliated with Southern Glazer Distributing.  In the middle between the two halves is a long forty to fifty foot table filled with all the latest luxury items offered by Sysco. This year we enjoyed the large 15 count boiled shrimp, the roasted oysters on the half shell, and the roasted suckling pig.  At one end of the table were the traditional cheese and charcuterie and then desserts, but things got progressively more elaborate as one progresses toward the other end of the table where two chefs stood, one cutting slices from a standing rib roast and the other cutting slices of meat from a whole suckling pig that appeared to weigh fifty to seventy-five pounds.  There was a nice dish served in a plastic cup with a spoon, creamed bay scallops with celery root cubes that I liked very much.

Among the wineries were some of the best, I drank Heitz Martha's Vineyard, which was lovely, Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon, and Mary Edwards 2016 Sauvignon Blanc, which was my favorite wine of the day.  We drank dozens of other wines until I could not accurately taste them because I swallow rather spit out he wine.  Each winery or importer offers from four or five labels to a dozen and a half, so there are up to a thousand different wines to try.  I tried to limit my Tasting to interesting wines I had never had before and probably tasted forty to fifty wines in the little over two hour period.  I forgot which ones I tasted after a while but Suzette marked the ones we liked on the entire listing of wines that she picked up. I do recall that I enjoyed a fresh 2017 release rose’ from France.

We grabbed three bottles of Cold Icelandic water as we left a little after 5:30 and returned to our car in the basement parking lot. I drank a bottle of water and drove home sipping as I drove to keep alert.

 When we returned home a little after 7:00 we collapsed and watched the Vietnam War and then went to bed.

I had eaten lightly during the morning, yogurt and fruit with granola and a bagel with cream cheese and whitefish around 11:00 because I knew the Tsunami of food and wine was coming.
Thursday –

Food strategy for book club day is the opposite. I try to eat a regular diet and a light dinner before attending, because food is usually not emphasized. I ate the usual granola and yogurt with blueberries and peach for breakfast.  Then a salad with the PPI steak and roasted potatoes for lunch.

When Suzette returned home at 5:00 she made a chicken salad with the PPI pesto rubbed chicken breasts, celery, tomatoes, and onion in Mayo and stuffed three leaves of Romaine lettuce with the salad for each of us that we ate with glasses of the PPI Concannon Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a delicious light dinner.

Charlie drove us to Keith’s house for the discussion of Code Talker by Chester New, the last of the original 29 Navajo code talkers.

Keith and his daughter had prepared some Navajo food for our group.  There was a large loaf of oven bread from Jemez Pueblo served with slices of cheese and baked shortbreads from the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center topped with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert and a tray of small chicken tacos with cheese and sliced lettuce that were delicious.

I took notes.  Every one liked the book and Nez’ personal history of growing up as a Navajo before, during, and after WWII. He lived in Albuquerque and worked at the Veteran’ Hospital, so there was that personal element.

Bon Appetit