Running, Ravioli, and Gelato

The runner, complete with finisher's medal (and ice pack).

This past weekend my sister Anne ran her very first half marathon - and rocked it's socks off for that matter, by finishing in a mere 2 hour 2 minutes and 29 seconds! To celebrate her efforts, I decided to treat her to a glutinous dinner (what better way to celebrate getting up at 3 a.m. to run 13.1 miles?).

Anne's favorite food on the planet is ravioli. It doesn't matter what type of ravioli it is, she loves them all. Although I have tried to make homemade pasta once or twice before, I have always been too afraid to try making ravioli. But in honor of her effort at trying something new, I decided to get over my fears and try something new too.

The first step in making homemade pasta is making the dough. This starts with 4 whole eggs:

which you whisk together with 1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tbsp of salt. Place 3 cups of all purpose flour in a food processor and add egg-oil-salt mixture. Pulse a few times to combine, then stir for about a minute. When you are finished, the dough will not be smooth and will look something like this (I think it looks like couscous):


Remove dough from food processor and form into a ball on a lightly floured surface:

Cover with saran wrap and let the dough "rest" for 30 minutes. After the dough is done resting, roll it into sheets using a pasta maker to your desired thickness. There are all sorts of fancy pasta makers out there, but I own an old fashioned hand operated one:

Once you have finished rolling out all of your pasta sheets, let them rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board:


After the dough has rested and started to dry somewhat, cut the sheets into the desired width of your ravioli and spread your filling on the sheets. The filling I used for these ravioli consisted of 1 small package of goat cheese (4 ounces), 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and 1/4 cup of mascarpone cheese mixed together with 1 tsp dried basil and 1 tsp dried oregano, pictured here:


Then I used a ravioli attachment to my pasta maker to roll out the ravioli. (If you don't have a ravioli attachment, never fear - you can cut your dough into squares by hand and pinch the dges together with a fork to seal them.)

Once I had rolled out all of the ravioli, I laid them out to dry on a drying rack for another 10 minutes:

Then I got to work on the following sauce (which, by the way, was so delicious that I wanted to eat it alone as a soup):

Brown Butter Walnut Sauce

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp dried rosemary

Melt butter over medium-high heat. Add walnuts and saute until golden - about 2 minutes:


Add garlic - saute for another 30 seconds. Add wine and simmer until mixture reduces by about half. Add both herbs and simmer for another minute. Toss with ravioli and serve:

It looked so perfect that I almost didn't want to eat it. Then I smelled it and I got over that really fast. :)

And because no glutinous feast would be complete without dessert, we also had homemade nutella gelato. I use Giada's recipe for this gelato, which is fantastic, although I do recommend that you strain it twice - once after you make the custard (as she says) and once after you let the custard and nutella mixture cool overnight in the fridge, because it comes out looking super clumpy and unappetizing like this:

So I put a strainer over my ice cream maker and pour it through, like so:

Then it enters the ice cream maker looking like chocolate milk:

And you'll know it's done once it starts to thicken up, like this:

Scoop it into bowls and eat it fast - it melts really quickly since it has no preservatives! Or you can freeze it for up to a week (but I highly doubt that you'll be able to resist eating it for that long).

Mmmm - gelato.

Wine Country Weekend

This past weekend I flew up to meet my sisters for a Northern California wine tasting trip. If you frequent this blog, then you know how much I love wine. And delicious food. Lucky for me, this weekend was chock full of both! A trip of wining and dining of this magnitude, although it does not come around often, is like a mini trip to heaven for me.

We started the trip in Healdsburg, CA where we had dinner at the Bear Republic Brewery (a woman cannot survive on wine alone). We did the full 22 beer sampler. The food was nothing special, but the beer sure was delicious. My personal favorites were the Red Rocket and the Wangdoodle (and yes, I do realize how that sounds).

Mmmm, delicious beer samples.

After dinner, we went to a speakeasy called Prohibition.

The bar is hidden behind an old phone booth, which made for some entertaining photo ops:

My sister Renee in the "phone booth".

Because you never know when Al Capone might show up.

The next morning, we made our way south east to St. Helena. Our first stop was Terra Valentine winery. This place was amazing. It sits high up on a hill overlooking the Napa Valley and the original owner built the entire place himself by hand over the span of about 30 years. Everything from the doors to the stained glass was made by him and has been preserved by the new owners.

All set up for our tasting on the balcony (we were fortunate enough to be the only people there).

The view from our tasting table overlooking the Napa Valley some 2000 feet below.

Just one of the many beautiful handmade stained glass windows found throughout the winery.


Me, Renee, our gracious driver and wine country tour guide Andrew, and Anne in front of the hand carved wood doors.

Our next stop was for lunch at Taylor's Refresher in downtown St. Helena. (You may have seen this place on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri.)


If you are lucky enough to see this place in person, run (don't walk) towards it and grab your place in line (because there is always a line). No matter how long the line looks, don't let it deter you - it is well worth the wait.

I had the Ahi Burger - ridiculously good!

The nest stop on our journey through wine country was at Pine Ridge winery. Renee's friend Jason was recently hired on as the Assistant Wine Maker at this winery, so we got the VIP treatment, complete with cave tour and barrel tasting.

The vineyards at Pine Ridge all dolled up for their evening lobster boil.

Their wine cave had a Chihuly sculpture.

This time our tasting was held in the wine cave.

Posing amongst the barrels.

Our last stop for the day was at Mumm Napa. They have a great patio overlooking the vineyards and give you the option to taste multiple wines or just sip a glass of your favorite.

They also give you coasters with famous champagne related quotes on the back. My personal favorite came from Napoleon: "Champagne! In victory, one deserves it; In defeat, one needs it."

The twins soaking up the sun on Mumm's patio.

That evening, we returned to Healdsburg and had dinner at Scopa. This adorable Italian restaurant had great food.

Be sure to make a reservation - this place gets packed.

Renee was nice enough to share one of her bottles from Pine Ridge over dinner.

After dinner we were exhausted so we headed back to our bed and breakfast for the night: The Grape Leaf Inn.

This adorable little B&B was named one of Conde Nast's top five romantic hideaways in North America.

It's surrounded by enough lavender to make you feel as though you're in Provence.

After our first course of banana walnut crepes, chicken apple sausage, and gorgonzola creme brulee (I am not even exaggerating), they brought out this cute little rabbit tureen, which was filled with this delicious mixed berry panna cotta:

Did I just die and go to heaven? How awesome is this breakfast?

After breakfast, they let us check out the speakeasy downstairs:

Which was hidden behind a bookcase!

By the time we had finished gorging ourselves on our delicious breakfast and goofing around in the bookshelf speakeasy, it was only a few hours until Anne and I had to catch out flight home to San Diego. Luckily, we had enough time to make one more stop at Cakebread Cellars, where we learned all kinds of interesting facts. For instance, did you know that Napa produces only 4% of North America's wine but accounts for 30% of it's wine sales?

Just a fraction of the barrels tucked away in their enormous cellar.

They also had an entire ceiling covered in corks - how's that for recycling?

I hope this post gave you some inspiration for a trip up to wine country. I know I am already dreaming about my next trip . . . . .

Date Night Delicacy

When I think of romantic date-worthy food, my mind automatically turns to France. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was proposed to in one of the most romantic cities on the planet - Paris - right beneath on of the most romantic icons in the world - the Eiffel Tower - (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes have got nothin' on me), but I like to think it's something more. After all, what's more romantic than a candlelit dinner at a sidewalk cafe with a nice bottle of wine? And while this type of dinner can be romantic anywhere in the world, the French have truly perfected it.

For those of us who can't afford to jet over to France for an evening meal, I provide the following recipe for French-style scallops in white wine and butter sauce with capellini. This is such a great date night meal. It literally takes less than 10 minutes to make, but it tastes so decadent and rich that your date will think you spent hours slaving away on it. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

Scallop Capellini with White Wine Butter Sauce

1/2 lb (1/2 box) capellini pasta
1 lb fresh scallops (avoid frozen or previously frozen scallops)
salt and pepper (for seasoning)
all purpose flour (for dredging)
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, divided in half
3 large shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
1/3 cup white wine
fresh lemon juice

De Cecco = Delicious. Plus, capellini only takes 2 minutes to cook (no joke).

Chop scallops in half and season with salt and pepper.

Dredge in flour.

Turn to coat both sides with flour.

Place scallops in hot pan with 1/4 stick (1/2 of total amount required for recipe) melted butter over medium-high heat. No matter how tempted you may be, DO NOT under any circumstances touch or turn the scallops for at least 2 minutes.

After two minutes, flip the scallops over. They will have this lovely golden brown crust. Cook for another two minutes on the previously uncooked side, then remove the scallops from the pan.

Melt the remaining 1/4 stick of butter and add parsley, shallots, and garlic. Saute for 2 minutes.

Add white wine and return scallops to pan so that all of the flavors can meld together. Cook for two minutes, then add several squirts of fresh lemon juice just before serving.

Plate the pasta. Top with scallops.

Pour sauce over pasta, then toss to coat evenly.

Serve al fresco with the wine you used in the recipe (and, of course, candlelight).

Dog Beach

One of my favorite things about San Diego (and the thing I missed the most while living in the mountains) is the beach. If I could, I would go to the beach each and every day. I love the beach when it's stormy, when it's sunny, when it's cloudy, when it's hot, when it's cold - you get the idea. There is just something so soothing about the sound of the waves and the smell of the salty breeze.

There are so many things that I love to do that I don't get to share with my dogs, but luckily the beach is not one of them since there are at least 4 different dog beaches around San Diego that I know of. Taking the dogs to the beach is quite the undertaking though, so I have only made it to one of the dog beaches so far - the one in Del Mar near the fairgrounds (which also conveniently happens to be the one closest to my house).

When I first took the dogs to the beach, I was worried that they would be afraid of the ocean. Tenaya is a total water dog and has always loved swimming in lakes and rivers and streams any chance that she gets, even when she was just a tiny puppy. Charlie, on the other hand, is a total weirdo around water. (I was actually convinced for almost a year that he just wasn't able to swim at all because he never went in to water any higher than his knees. Then one day, he was chasing a dog at the Sunnyside dog park in SLC like a bat out of hell. The dog went leaping into the lake and Charlie followed full steam ahead. I thought that was the end of Charlie and he would surely drown, but he shocked me by swimming across the entire lake like he had been swimming his whole life. That dog never ceases to surprise me.)

Even though I knew the dogs could swim, I thought for sure that when they saw and heard the crashing waves they would be scared and not want to get anywhere near the water. Let's just say, I couldn't have been more wrong! They BOTH dove right in and now dog beach is probably their favorite place to go. Watching them play there is one of the cutest and funniest things that I have witnessed. Here are some photos I managed to snap on our most recent visit this weekend:

When Tenaya sees water, she has only one priority - fetch.

Super dog!

Charlie, on the other hand, is more interested in exploring and finding other dogs (or sea creatures) to play with.

This time he met another husky who wanted to be his girlfriend.

They were basically inseparable the entire time. It almost made me wish I had another husky for a second (until I imagined all of his craziness multiplied by two).