In May, during our very first-ever trip to Montana for the Montana State University Wine & Food Festival, we made a point of tasting through as many Montana-produced wines as possible.

Special thanks to our gracious host, Stella Fong (co-chair of the festival, pictured above at the left), who amassed 17 wines from the state. During a tasting with Idaho chef Tom Atkins, wine merchant Sue Rydquist (owner of Simply Wine), my husband Spencer, Stella, and me, we decided that five of the 17 were good enough to recommend. Here’s a majority of the contenders:

And here’s a shot of the “winning” wines. 

Interesting to note that four of the five winners are fruit-based wines, and four are from the same winery. These include Ten Spoon Flathead Cherry Dry ($15), Ten Spoon Sweet Mountain Cherry Dessert Wine ($21), Ten Spoon Paradise Dry Pear Wine ($16), and Hidden Legend Huckleberry Mead (honey/huckleberry wine–$20). Ten Spoon won again for its Range Rider Montana Red Wine ($16), made up of interesting Montana-grown varietals including Leon Millot and Frontenac. With 13.89% alcohol, this wine retails for $15 and is reminiscent of a good-quality Beaujolais. 

We’ve been remiss in writing much about our four-day stay in Carmel-by-the-Sea last Christmas. So when a good friend and colleague from British Columbia spilled the beans by telling us he’d scheduled his wife’s 50th birthday celebration there, and asked for restaurant recommendations, we couldn’t help but jump in. Following are the highlights from a very long e-mail we shot back to him with places to be sure to go (and some to skip).

Some of you know that in late February, I received a fellowship to attend the fifth annual Wine Writers Symposium at Meadowood Napa Valley. It was my second time to attend; first time was the inaugural Symposium in 2005. 

As at the earlier Symposium, workshops and events were held in various venues, but primarily at Meadowood and the nearby Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. I always love going into the bookstore/giftshop there. This time I was very pleased to see Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining displayed in the Food & Wine Pairing section just under CIA Wine Director Karen MacNeil’s books. (PNWD is the book in the lower shelf, right-hand side, with the green spine!).

I was lucky enough to have dinner one evening with the sponsor of my fellowship, Tony Terlato, patriarch of Terlato Family Vineyards. We managed to sample through 17 wines and sit through five courses. In the photo below, Tony is flanked by The New York Times’s chief wine critic, Eric Asimov, and yours truly.

Another fun evening was spent at Trinchero Napa Valley, where almost 90 of us gathered around the massive banquet table in the barrel room. Food and wine (”only” about a dozen wines were offered that evening, not only from Trinchero, but other Napa Valley wineries) were yummy, although it was rather like eating in a medieval castle! Here’s a shot from on high:

During our eight days in California over the holidays, we experienced some gorgeous scenery, such as these magical double rainbows over the vineyards near our hotel, the Vintners Inn, in Santa Rosa.

Here’s another gorgeous shot, taken at sunset right off of our hotel-room patio. 

At the end of October, we spent nine blissful days in Hawaii to attend the Les Dames d’Escoffier annual conference and a few days of r&r. Here I am enjoying my very first Mai Tai of our vacation at the House Without a Key lounge at the host hotel, the Halekulani, on the beach at Waikiki.

Our lunch included a delicious Ahi Tuna Sandwich:

And a Cobb Salad, complete with blanched edamami (boiled soy beans), green beans, and crab salad. 

Not to be outdone, here’s the Coconut Cake we had for dessert:

We are just back from a lovely five days in the Okanagan at the Okanagan Fall Wine Festival. Here’s a photo from the WestJet Wine Tastings event, which was crowded with people and many of the area’s top winemakers.

Among our favorite wines were Inniskillin Okanagan Discovery Series 2006 Malbec, Hester Creek Estate Winery 2004 Reserve Merlot, Rollingdale Winery 2006 8 Barrels (a red blend made from Oliver vines), Blasted Church Vineyards 2007 Hatfield’s Fuse (an off-dry white blend), and 8th Generation Vineyard 2007 Merlot.

Once home, we got the good news from the weekly Okanagan Grocery Artisan Bakery e-newsletter that several of the people profiled in Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining, or those whose restaurants/wines we had tried during our trip, had been included in Western Living Magazine in an article entitled “Top 40 Foodies Under 40.”

The list includes: Ofri Barmor (Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan, “Top Producer of the Year”, Kelowna); Rhys Pender (Wine Plus+ Education & Consulting, Cawston); Ned Bell (Cabana Grille, Kelowna); Cameron Smith and Dana Ewart (Joy Road Catering, Penticton); and Heidi Noble (Joie Wines, Naramata).

Here’s a photo of Ofri Barmor serving up some of her amazing goat’s-milk gelato (24 flavors available depending on the season!). 

We were lucky enough to travel to New Orleans for the International Association of Culinary Professionals conference in April where we experienced some unique local foods that I’d like to showcase in this post.

Our first dining experience took place at the world-famous Acme Oyster House. After standing outside in line for about 15 minutes, we were ushered into the casual restaurant and snagged one of the front tables. Here are a few of the dishes we had, none of which was particularly inspired. Founded in 1910, perhaps Acme is resting on its laurels and catering to tourists more than locals?

Here’s the gumbo. We like Chef Kevin Davis’s version at Steelhead Diner in the Pike Place Market better.

And here’s a honkin’ huge heap o’ seafood and fries. In the background, note the Chargrilled Oysters, which were more burned than carefully broiled. 

Interestingly, we had a much better experience with Charbroiled Oysters at Drago’s Seafood Restaurant, which was in the host hotel, the Hilton New Orleans Riverside. I ate at Drago’s three times; Spencer twice, it was so good. Here are the Fried Crab Claws, which I’d never tasted before. You put the mini crab claw between your teeth and pull the meat (and delicious fried crust) into your mouth. Yum! The huge Crab Salad with a winning Greek vinaigrette was also a winner. 

Our best meal took place when five of us maneuvered out way to Frank Brigtsen’s long-running restaurant, Brigtsen’s Restaurant, in the University District, about 30 minutes outside of the tourist district/French Quarter. Here’s the Seafood Combo plate, a.k.a. “the Shell Beach Diet,” that bowled all of us over, not to mention the homemade breads and wonderful appetizers.

But not all the news is good. Since Katrina, the wild shrimp fishers have really struggled to maintain their fishery, according to a workshop I attended hosted by Southern cooking expert Nathalie Dupree. Here is a photo of the wild shrimp species we sampled. Don’t forget to buy Wild American Shrimp as a sustainable seafood source. 

We had a festive time at the International Association of Culinary Professionals 30^th Annual International Conference in New Orleans in April. Here’s one of my fave shots, taken during the Gumbo Giveback where we tasted Gumbo Z’Herbes, Seafood Gumbo, and Gumbo Ya-Ya, among others. The event was held at the Crescent City Farmers Market, one of the first markets back in operation after Hurricane Katrina. We enjoyed dancing to a blue-grass band with the backdrop of a farm scene painted on the vintage brick buildings. Let the good times roll! 

Another interesting find at the Gumbo Gala was softshell crawfish, a local delicacy that rivals the East Coast’s famous softshell crab. Having been born and raised in Philadelphia, I grew up on those. Mom (may she rest in peace) used to cut the heads off the live crab with a pair of small manicure scissors reserved for the job, dip the limp crabs in egg wash and Ritz bread crumbs, and fry ‘em up in a skillet bubbling with at least half a stick of real Land O’Lakes butter. Those were the good, ol’ (innocent!) days, before Lipitor and Crestor.