Ferris’s Day Off – Wine Tasting, Shopping & a Llama, Oh My!

If you’ve never taken a day off Ferris-Bueller-style and skipped work or school to play, you owe it to yourself to do it!  Friday we loaded the car with 4 women, delicious cheeses (Red Dragon cheddar with mustard and ale, Triple Cream Goat Brie), artisan breads, and chocolate truffles and headed for some of Oregon’s beautiful Willamette Valley vinyards.

Breakfast in McMinnville at the Crescent Cafe was a meal worthy of James Beard (our most famous Oregon foodie) or a whole blog, but we’ll just give a few highlights.   The small main street cafe is open and cozy, but always buzzing with locals and gourmands who love owner Michael.   He’s the San Francisco transplant, nuevo-farmer who’s the creative genious and gracious host.  We ate as many things on the menu as we could and still stuff into our not-so-skinny-jeans.  Homemade cornmeal molasses bread toast slathered in fresh butter and Oregon marionberry preserves, cheesy grits, homemade English muffins, local blueberry pancakes, and chicken hash that was more like a complete Thanksgiving dinner in a patty of sagey chicken and potatoes.  Top this off with fresh squeezed orange juice and a side of heavenly flakey buttermilk biscuits, and we felt like prize porkers ready for the county fair.

Needing a little exercise before wine tasting, we found a charming cooking & wine utensil shop and each bought an Original Spaghetti Scrubber made of corn cobs.  It works to clean veggies or scrub a grill or cookware, or if you’re the creative type, it might  work as a necklace or wall decoration (really, check out this design).

OK Sonoma-top this!  Driving down the curvy mountain road, we were approached (nearly attacked) by a spitting, galloping llama.  We stopped to get a pic, and he truly wanted to get in the car.  One of us was scared and screaming….

Off to Vista Hills Vinyard-gorgeous tree-house venue that was hosting a conference of food scientists–not nerds at all!!  We tasted & bought a Pinot Gris and wonderfully smooth Pinot Noir.  The real find at this vinyard was the Soiree Wine Aerator — very cool and pretty hand-blown glass ball with gaskets to fit in any bottle and it decants as you pour.  I swear that every single food scientist bought one, so we , of course, had to have one.  For $20 it will be a great  hostess gift — hummm–I’m a good hostess….

Erath Vinyard is one of Oregon’s first and award-winning wineries.  The best tip from them was to pair any food you’d typically drink with beer with their dry Gewurztraminer — we could totally taste that & are eager to cook spicy Indian curry soon to test the tip.

On to another vineyard, then home with our treasures.  So thank you, Ferris, for giving us the inspiration.  This will become an annual (at least) event for Shoe Chefs and friends.