Wine and Food Pairings

I had never been to a wine and food pairing dinner before last night. 90% of my posts are recipes and 8% are about weather, so now I'm making 2% about this experience because I feel like it's worthy of a post. This is a food blog after all! If you have never been to one of these, take some time to find one and shell out the extra few bucks to go. It's a super fun experience getting to try so many different foods with all the wines they offer you. What's even better is going with your mom or someone like my mom (aka someone whose pallet isn't quite as diverse as yourself and doesn't drink as much as they give you). 

The dinner that I went to was at Tall Oaks in Pasadena, MD. It started out with some appetizers like cheese, crackers, and veggies which was nice cause I was already starving. Then the show began! The wine rep told us about every wine as we were being served and why it paired well with each dish. The chef of the restaurant even came out to do a cooking demo to show us how the second course was made. The whole thing was so informative and an amazing deal at only $45. By the second course though, my wine was going rather quickly so one of the nice young men got me an extra glass of wine while I waited. (I feel so old saying that, totally turning into a grandma at the ripe age of 25) Then my mom didn't finish 2 of her glasses AND we got 2 wines to try with the fourth course. It was neat how they were showing that a red and a white could work with the same dish. Needless to say though, by dessert I was feeling awesome.

Overall, I feel like I must have gotten spoiled for my first wine and dine experience. The staff and owners/chef were all so kind. Every single person took the time to ask us how we were doing and the owners and wine rep all sat down at our table with us to talk, just to chit chat. I am going to be waiting impatiently now for the next time Tall Oaks has one of these dinners. If you all live in the area, you should probably check their site frequently so you'll know when it is too! If you don't, check some local wineries for events. Here are some pictures of our dishes, my phone is a dinosaur and was acting up and then died so some are better than others. 

First Course: Garden noodles with lemongrass vinaigrette 

Second Course: Veal Scallopini with balsamic drizzle and couscous

Third Course: Crab stuffed artichoke hearts with fontina cheese

Fourth Course: Ahi Tuna with soy ginger glaze

Dessert: Peach Betty (whatever that is, I call mini peach cake muffin)

Tall Oaks has no idea I'm writing this so no one made me do this, I was just that impressed.