Valdez wine dinner at Eventide

A few weeks ago, we found out that the owner of one of our favorite wineries, Valdez, would be in DC for the week doing several dinners in the area.  I called the winery and their distributor, got the schedule, and immediately called Eventide in Clarendon to book our spot.  We visited Ulises and Adelina Valdez on our trip to Sonoma last August, and fell in love with them and their wines.  

Ulises with Chef Adam Barnett

There were 4 beautiful tables set upstairs in the dinning room at Eventide.  It was almost full with about 30 people in attendance.  We were certainly the youngest in the group, but enjoyed the conversation with the folks at our table.  

Before the dinner began, we each enjoyed a French 75 cocktail while we listened to Ulises talk about his background, vineyards and winery.  He moved from Mexico when he was 16 looking for work, and began to work in the California vineyards.  A few years later, he returned to Mexico to bring his high school sweetheart to the states with him...just a few years after that, he and Adelina were married!  What a great story he shared.  

Chef Adam also spoke a bit about his background and his philosophy at Eventide.  For this evening, he created an amazing 5 course menu paired with the Valdez wines.  

Sweet Corn Veloute paired with 2010 El Diablo, Russian River Sauvignon Blanc.

After each course was served, Chef Adam and Ulises talked about the plate and wine, explaining some of the characteristics of each and why they were put together.

This was M's favorite.  It was a play on the classic peanut butter and jelly.  A grilled foie torchon sandwich with Virginia blackberry jam on toasted challah.  He served this with the 2007 Landy Vineyard, Russian River Zinfandel.  This is my favorite of the Valdez Zins.

Next came the pan roasted monkfish loin with a hominy-coriander puree and chorizo vinaigrette.  The vinaigrette was amazing, and the meat flavor was delicious with the simple flavors of the fish.   This was served with the Valdez 2008 Pinot Noir from the Silver Eagle Vineyard in Russian River.

The char grilled beef culotte steak with a play on mole sauce to honor Ulises' Mexican heritage.  This was served with the 2008 Lancel Creek Zin.

Desert was amazing - probably my favorite dish of the night!  The pastry chef came out and explained it to us - it was so creative!  It's a chocolate 'napoleon' with ganache, chocolate chile mousse and a white chocolate cilantro fluid gel.  It sounds totally weird, and it was, but it was awesome.  There was even a crystallized cilantro leaf on the plate!  This was served with the final zin of the night, the Botticelli Vineyard from Rockpile from 2008. 

In case we weren't stuffed enough, there was one more surprise.  A few more sweets to end the evening.

After the dinner, we enjoyed chatting with Ulises, Adelina and Chef Adam.  They had one more wine event before spending the day sightseeing in DC - neither of them had ever been there!  

If you ever see a bottle of Valdez on a wine list or in a store, get it!  You certainly won't be disappointed - not only is it delicious, but the story and people behind it are fantastic.  

Weekend snapshots

Last weekend was a fun and packed 3 days!

Dinner at Lyon Hall in Clarendon and our last Nats game of the season, complete with a "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" shake from the new Shake Shack. 

A last minute decision to make the trip to College Park for the WVA-MD game

Went downtown to 'our bar' to celebrate the recent marriage of a good friend, and wish him the best of luck as he moves to Roanoke next week.

Joe "Johnny Drama" Brown, you'll be greatly missed!  Visit often :)

And despite being out late Saturday, I was wide awake at 7:30 am Sunday morning.  After an early trip to Wegmans, I spent most of the day in the kitchen.  Brownies, dinner for a friend who just had a beautiful baby girl, a massive batch of breakfast burritos and this delicious chili...

Recipe to come this week!

This weekend wasn't quite as exciting...DVR catch up, laundry, couch time and other chores. 

We did venture up to MD on Saturday to visit my cousins for dinner, and had a blast!  It is unusual for us to get together when it's not a holiday, and without the parents.  We had a great time laughing, telling stores, and dancing!

Busy spring weekend

This spring has been even busier that most with so many special events!  Weddings, showers, baptisms, races...so many fun things going on.  Last weekend was especially packed.  First, it was National Committee weekend at work - and I was hosting a committee for the first time.  My team at work put together a 'Corporate Relations Task Force' this year.  We've had our Corporate Advantage Partnership Program going now since 2007, started an affiliate program about 1.5 years ago, and moved back to our own show after parterning with the Golf Industry Show for the last 4 years.  We wanted to put together a group of members from across the country to get their feedback on everything.  The meeting went extremely well - we had about 12 members come to DC for the meeting, and we really learned a lot about what we've done well and put together some good action items for us to improve on.

After a Friday night dinner and early Saturday morning meetings, I rushed home to pick up the husband.  That afternoon was his cousin Cheri's wedding down in Madison, VA, about 2 hours away.  It was a small wedding reception at the American Legion lodge.  The ceremony was private, so we didn't attend that - it was just immediate family up on a mountain.  The reception was nice - small and intimate.  It was nice to see the cousins Cheri and Kelly, Kelly's husband Matt and baby Sarah, as we haven't seen them since Kelly and Matt's wedding a couple of years ago.  And we got to meet Sarah!

Congratulations Cheri and Kris!

After the wedding, we drove back to Arlington as I was changing clothes in the car.  A good friend of mine, Jenna, was celebrating her upcoming wedding with her shower and bachelorette party that day!  While I had to miss the shower, I wasn't going to miss all of the fun!  I met the girls out at Restaurant 3 in Arlington.  We went to Eleventh Street and Ri Ra to round out the crazy evening.  The band TAG was at Ri Ra and they were so fun, playing lots of great music that we danced to!

Now, to some, that might seem like a busy enough weekend.  But not to us!  We slept fast and hopped  crawled out of bed on Sunday morning for another friends' special event - the baptism of their baby boy!  With coffee in hand, we drove out to Leesburg for the special service.  The church is beautiful, and is where the couple was married in 2007.

Chase with his ladies



Proud parents with the guest of honor

Cutie Chase with his adorable cousin Lucy



Husband and I managed to run some errands Sunday afternoon...and then we crashed.  It was a great weekend, celebrating so many wonderful occasions with our friends.  It's going to be a busy month - lots more weddings and events to attend!  We are so blessed to have such great friends who want us to share in their special days with them!