BostonZest

Toasting July with Szigeti Grüner Veltliner Brut

On a recent check of our wine rack, we remembered enjoying a few bottles of Szigeti Grüner Veltliner Brut  over the years. We first toasted with this back in 2011. It's time to share the remaining bottle with friends at our July 1st toast to a Happy New Month. 

This wine is from Austria and is made from 100% Grüner Veltliner grapes. This is a grape we turn to when we're eating foods that are difficult to pair with wine, like salads, asparagus, or artichokes. It's a food-friendly wine, also perfect with seafood, oysters, fried, salty, fatty dishes. As a grape we just enjoy, we often try any bottle we spot by a new producer on a wine list. 

Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month!

This is another wine from a trusted importer, Winebow.   If you ever see us shopping for wine, you'll notice us reading the back labels to see who selected this wine to import or distribute. When in doubt, we opt for someone who has introduced us to wonderful wines in the past.

 

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Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast...

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2019 Penny Cherubino 

Another Taste of Patrice Colin Les Perles Grises for Our June Toast

Tonight we'll toast the month of June with a bottle of Patrice Colin Les Perles Grises. Sometimes the choice of a sparkling wine to feature for our monthly toast is made by visiting our favorite wine shops. Other times we pull a bottle from our wine rack. This bottle had a note added to the side with our trusty Sharpie glass and bottle markers. This bottle will bring extra smiles tonight because it was a gift from a friend who we hope will enjoy it with us. 

Here is a full report about this bottle of "grey pearls" (as the name is translated) when we featured it a few years ago.

Wine Lovers Tip

We highly recommend adding a set of these markers to your wine supplies.

You can use them to mark the price and where you purchased a wine or, as here, note who gave it to you. Not only do we enjoy sharing gift wines with friends when they visit again, but we also enjoy the wines more ourselves because they're part of a friendship.

Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month!

Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast...

A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2019 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Seasonal Farmers Market Opening Dates 2019 Summer to Fall

Here is our round up of the summer farmers markets opening dates around Boston. We visited the Copley Market's opening day today and it reminded us to share this list with our BostonZest readers.

Early in the market season, we enjoy dishes like “Asparagus Two Ways.” Here it is roasted and starring in a simple salad of shaved asparagus, fennel, and capers.

Boston Public Market News
The Boston Public Market (BPM) headquartered at 100 Hanover Street, will have outdoor markets in three locations. In addition to their popular Dewey Square market (near South Station) they will have a market on City Hall Plaza and in the Seaport.

What Is There to Buy at Early Markets?
You can expect a selection of storage, greenhouse, and hoop house produce at early farmers markets: mushrooms, potatoes, scallions, spinach, lettuce, and greens. In June we can hope to see strawberries, asparagus, beets, bok choy, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, peas, and radishes.

Naturally we’ll also be offered meat, poultry, seafood, maple syrup, honey, dairy, cheese, and eggs which are not seasonal in the same way as plant-based goods.

Here are opening dates for the 2019 area seasonal markets:

Boston Public Market: Open daily, year-round 

May Markets
South End/SoWa: Open Market: May 5th (Sundays)
Copley Square: May 10th (Tuesdays & Fridays)
Egleston Jamaica Plain: May 11th (Saturdays)
Central Square, Cambridge: May 13th (Mondays)
Boston Public Market at Dewey Square: May 14th (Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Cambridge Center (Kendall MBTA): May 15th (Wednesdays)
Davis Square, Somerville: May 15th (Wednesdays)
Jamaica Plain (677 Centre Street): May 18th (Saturdays)
Union Square, Somerville: May 18th (Saturdays)
Boston Public Market at City Hall Plaza, May 21 (Tuesdays)

June/July Markets
Roslindale/Adams Park: June 1st (Saturdays)
Boston Public Market at the Seaport (85 Northern Ave.) June 5th (Wednesdays)
Brookline/Coolidge Corner: June 6th (Thursdays)
Harvard University Farmers Market, Cambridge: June 11th (Tuesdays)
Charlestown: Thompson Square at Main & Austin Street, June-October (Wednesdays)
East Boston/Central Square: July 3rd (Wednesdays)

What's on your food lover's shopping list?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2019 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

(Adapted for BostonZest from one of our Fresh & Local newspaper columns.)

Our Happy New Month Toast for March Will Be with a Prosecco...

However, we have not decided which Prosecco, so we have chilled two of our favorites. 

On the left is Adami Bosco di Gica Brut Valdobbiadene DOCG Prosecco Superiore.

We have written more about that here.

On the right is Bisson Glera Vino Frizzante Trevigiani. 

That one was covered in this post.

We love both of them and have been going back and forth all week about which to have. They are both light and lively and perfect for the start of our favorite hospitality season. It is traditional in parts of Italy to greet guests with a glass of prosecco. 

They are both just 11% alcohol by volume which is an important stat for the warmer months.

We'll have to come back and let you know which one we opened or if we opened both and took the opportunity to taste them together.  

Trying wines from different places, made with different grapes, and produced by different methods adds spice to our monthly ritual. Since 2007 we have raised a glass of sparkling wine to greet each new month!

Related Posts:

Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast...

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Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2019 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Duchess Poppy Is Seven Years Old

If you see Duchess Poppy out and about with us this weekend, say Happy Birthday. She turned 7 years old yesterday. That is 44 in human years for a small dog. Here's a chart and link to an article from WebMD with the conversion by dog size.

 

Get to know all of our Sunday Dogs at Boston Dogs.

Thanks to everyone who Hops over to Amazon from here to do their shopping. We appreciate your support.

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2017 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

Go to Toro and Order This Combo! It's a Best Bite...

It had been a while since we'd visited Toro, but at two recent lunches, we really enjoyed this combo of tomato bread ("Pan con Tomate -Toasted bread, tomato, garlic" on the menu) and Chorizo ibérico de Fermín proving that simple, high quality ingredients, perfectly prepared and presented can be wonderful. 

That board was filled with slices of the most delicious chorizo before we tucked in, and the tomato bread had a perfect, crisp, grilled bottom to stand up to being handheld as you munch. A glass of sherry or a beer will match this snack well. 

Try it the next time you're in the area. By the way, if you have found Toro too busy and too noisy, we highly recommend visiting at lunch time on a weekday. 

 

Toro, 1704 Washington St, Boston, MA 02118

617-536-4300

 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Here's something we love having in our kitchen. It's perfect for getting all the foam out of our Nespresso Aerocchino frother.

 

 

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2019 Penny & Ed Cherubino 

No Fooling! Our April 1st Toast Will Be with a Glass of Artomaña Txakolina

Why Artomaña Txakolina? We wanted to pick a wine that would be fun and a bit of a surprise for our toast to April 1st. Txakolinas are just that. These wines from the Basque region are light, lively, low-alcohol, food-friendly, and the tiny supply that reaches our shores usually shows up this time of year.

We scanned our wine rack and grabbed a bottle we had picked up somewhere in our travels. As we tried to remember where, that star on the label brought back a special memory. We think this is the first Txakolina we ever tasted many years ago at Tinto in Philadelphia. This was before Chef/Owner Jose Garces was well known. If he's as gracious to his guests these days as he was to us back then he will always be a success.

We'll add him to our toast as we pour a glass of this wine from on-high with the help of our special Txakoli pourer.

Tidbits you might want to know if you'd like to try this wine:

• In the Basque language TX is pronounce CHA, so this wine is pronounced “chah-kuh-leena.”
• And, if your server is in the know, the wine will be poured from high above the glass to aerate it and activate the fizz.
• Finally, that glass may be a large tumbler rather than a stemmed wine glass.

Related Posts:

Our Sparkling Resolution is covered in this post : Join Us as We Toast...

A Few of Our Favorite Gifts for Wine Lovers

Here are all the wines we've covered. Since this is a category, this post may appear at the top. Just scroll down for more.

 

What's on your Food Lover's Shopping List?

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: ©2019 Penny & Ed Cherubino