Will Sell Wine for Free Wine!

It’s no shocker that I love wine. I’ll take it a step further and admit that I’m obsessed with wine for it’s color, different varietals, how it’s produced, for the neat labels, beautiful vineyards, for food pairings, picnics, celebrations… oh, and after a few glasses, I just LOVE the way it makes me feel! Am I wrong?! So you’ll be surprised to hear that I’m hosting a Wine Down Party tomorrow night, for the first time EVER! I’m sure this will be the first of many if I know my girlfriends. While soaking in an Epsom bath this morning, I started pinning (this is Pinterest talk) cool wine decoration ideas and I’m headed out this afternoon to pick up a few bottles of my favorite vino. Did you know my maiden name is Iovino? Yup, I-Am-Wine! Huzzah!

Checking out Sextant Vineyard for the first time!

When I first moved to Chicago in 2002, I worked for A Taste of California, a national monthly wine club featuring bottles only from California. It was my job to sell these wines… over the phone! I was wicked good at that job seeing as how I have the gift of gab (thanks Ma) and I am a true people person and can get along (and obviously sell wine) with anybody! For every 10 bottles of wine we sold a day, we got one bottle for ourselves. I used to joke with my girlfriends about this, telling them “Will Sell Wine for Free Wine” should be my motto! My boyfriend that I was living with at that time, did not enjoy or “get” wine at all so it was a relief when I met Andy (three months into my relationship with that guy) so that I had someone to share all my “free” wine with!

Now my husband, he’s a “wine guy” this much is true. Sure Andy enjoys his IPA’s, Red Stripe’s and Pacifico’s, but at the end of a long day (and this guy puts in 10 plus hours at a time) there’s nothing he longs for more than a good meal and a glass of wine. He taught me how to cook with wine, which I never really did before, thus introducing me to a new way to consume my favorite drink! I am a white wine drinker at heart; I love the crisp, cool, refreshing first sip of a glass and I enjoy adding white wine to bowls of steaming clams, heaps of fettuccine and soups. But red wine is the way to go when cooking. There is something about the aroma and the vibrancy it lends to the dishes and I’ve started to add it into my stir-fry medleys as well.

Not to get off subject, but do you know what pairs really well with red wine besides chocolate? Red cherries! No offense West Coasters but the state of Michigan, hands down, has the BEST cherries of all! Since I can’t get my hands on any of those, I settled for some dark and sweet red cherries at my local Farmer’s Market. I decided to add the cherries to the chicken dish I was planning for dinner and the combination was a success! Please note, if you don’t eat meat, you can leave out the chicken and just add more veggies instead. It’ll be just as good and I know because this whole cooking with chicken thing is new to me!

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Finger Lickin’ Cherry Chicken- serves two

Ingredients:

-1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

-1/2 cup cherries, sliced

-2 shallots, sliced finely

-1 cup crimini mushrooms

-1 cup cauliflower, chopped

-1 cup broccoli, chopped

-2 carrots, chopped thinly

-1/4 cup red wine

-1/2 avocado, sliced for garnish

-1 T coconut oil

-cilantro

-salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Chop up all of the vegetables and fruit and slice the chicken into tiny bits. If you don’t eat meat, don’t add it!

2. In a large sauté pan, add the coconut oil and everything else you’ve just chopped up.

3. Cover and let cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, mixing often. Add the red wine half way through.

4. When the veggies are soft, slice some avocado and chop up some cilantro for a nice garnish on top. I like to look down to a whole lotta color on my plate!

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P.S. It’s really warm out today and I just returned from the windiest scooter ride ever! My upper arms are so tired from white knuckling it the whole way! I plan on leaving Orangina (yes, my scooter has a name) at home and walking to my next yoga class that way my arms can have a rest. And I’m hoping to catch one of the amazing sunsets we’ve been having lately on my walk back… I mean, this is as good as it gets, no?! I’m going to sit on my front porch and continue reading Jo Moyes’ The Girl You Left Behind, my latest recommendation to you. She also wrote Me Before You and that book will leave you heartbroken for days! I’ve got a few hummingbird friends out there waiting for me thanks to the feeders I just refilled. I think there’s too much sugar in them though for the birds won’t stop swooping close to my head (very uncharacteristic) and they’ve drunk almost half in less than a week!