As promised, here is our latest South African Wine Pairing Dinner Menu. As Phil would say, the event was a screaming success. Enjoy.
Raisin, Hazelnut & Shallot Bread .. And DOUGH.
June 9th, 2010I’ve made a lot of bread in my lifetime. Like, a lot of bread. So I thought it was about time I gave credit where credit was due. Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads is by far the best how-to bread making book out there, especially if you want real bread. You know, the kind without all those chemicals and preservatives that give store-bought bread that scary-long shelf life?
Dough breaks down bread making into simple steps, making the process quick and, dare I say, EASY. You’ll learn 5 basic doughs – White, Olive, Brown, Rye and Sweet – and from those, well, you can pretty much make anything your little heart desires. Baguettes, Spicy Moroccan Rolls, Flatbread, Pizza, Doughuts – and yes, you can make Raisin, Hazelnut & Shallot Bread!
The loaves below were happily gobbled up at a recent South African Wine Pairing Dinner (I’ll post the menu next!). Served with warm cinnamon butter, it was a match made in heaven 
Go Browns!
February 7th, 2010A special thanks
February 2nd, 2010
Photo by Alison Conklin
Just a quick post to thank all of the incredible vendors who helped execute the most outrageous reception of all time – OURS! Phil and I have decided that it’s impossible to say thank you as many times as we feel it’s necessary, so here is our one big thank you:
To all of the couples out there planning a wedding, USE OUR VENDORS! Seriously, use each and every one of our vendors. You will not be disappointed!
Let Edge host your affair in their stunning dining room and lounge. They’ll also serve up insanely delicious food and perfectly mixed cocktails.
Have Sarah at Allium Design take over flowers and decor. She’ll create an atmosphere you thought only possible in your dreams.
Call up Jesus at Pure Mix DJ and have your guests dancing ALL night long (like from the second they walk through the door to the very last song .. and then two songs after that!).
The Flour Shop will fix your sweet tooth with an oh-so-yummy wedding cake and any miniature dessert you can think of. Try their butter cookies!
And last, but absolutely not least, ask Alison Conklin to capture the magic. How can one person see ALL OF THIS in one night?
So once again, thank you thank you thank you. You mean the world to us.
Eating our way through DC, as usual
January 29th, 2010Let me start out with these incredible photos taken by my soon-to-be-brother-in-law, Matt. Kinda makes you wanna drop everything you’re doing right now and race for wine and cheese, right?!
This was the start to a fabulous weekend in Washington DC; celebrating engagements and family with my sister, Kristen, and her new fiance, Matt. I had spent the good part of a month thinking of engagement gifts, racking my brain for that one unique present that they surely had not received yet. Finally, it came to me. Phil and I would simply do what we do best – wine and cheese! So we packed up the cooler, jumped in the VW and told Kristen and Matt to get ready for the most memorable gift of all – a wine and cheese tasting on their DC rooftop, courtesy of Sauced!
If this sounds like a gift idea you’d love to give, but simply don’t have the time to organize, contact us. We love to help people celebrate!
Double-Double Animal Style
January 29th, 2010Wow. One minute it’s the holidays, the next .. it’s almost February! Here’s a few pics to fill you in on what Sauced has been up to since Phil’s last “Sauced in Utah” blog. You probably thought we never came back 
Double-Double Animal Style in Vegas: Here we are hitting up our favorite burger joint on the west coast, In-N-Out. We order them the only way you should eat them – double meat, all the traditional fixings, extra “spread” and grilled onions. Yea, that’s ANIMAL style!
Freezing our buns off in Zion National Park: We weren’t exactly dressed for a snow day, but hiking through this magical scene was the perfect way to work up an appetite for more burgers. We picked up a nice bottle of red before leaving Vegas to help with the chill in the air
can anything (ANYTHING) be bet…
December 7th, 2009can anything (ANYTHING) be better than a dunkin’ donuts hot chocolate? i really don’t think so.
cold cold COLD run. time for o…
December 1st, 2009Sauced in Utah
November 23rd, 2009Jill and I will be heading out to Las Vegas in the near future. It kind of started on a whim in a Hotel room one blissful fall evening. We took a stab at scoring some concert tickets for a Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds acoustic show at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. We threw our name into a lottery scenario and to our surprise we received an email confirming our tickets. Beautiful! Exciting! We’ve decided to make a four day weekend out of it. Why go all the way out there if your gonna have a super quick turnaround!? Anyone who has ever been to Vegas will more than likely confirm that you only need to spend a night or two there to grasp the excitement and offerings the city boasts. Any longer than that you end up $1000 light in the wallet and deprived of sleep. One thing that must happen while we’re here is a quick pit stop at In and Out Burger for a Double Double Animal Style. You either can get this in California or Vegas and we’re not making it as far west as California this time. Who knows it, understands.
So we’ve decided to take in two nights of “Sin City” and spend a day or two in the mesmerizing back-country of Utah. Many don’t realize, but Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park are within 2-4 hours of Vegas. In fact, I didn’t realize it until I checked out the map. You also get the experience of the drive itself. You know, renting the cheapest car possible for a ballpark $20 a day and speeding off legally into some of the quietest parts of the continental United States. In doing this, you need an Atlas, a good old road map. In the days of GPS technology, we miss the subtle beauty of reading a map and following a road into a large patch of land, color coded green with a variety of elevations attached to it.
Jill and I have a thing for stopping in midst of beautiful landscape equipped with copious amounts of wine, potent cheeses and crusty bread. What better place to indulge than the magnificent panoramic lands of Utah’s famed National Parks. As much as we both like to go out to eat, we equally enjoy this sort of engagement. We’ve actually cooked pancakes over sternos on a windy beach in Georgia one morning and watched the sunrise with an off-dry bubbly. I didn’t produce the best pancakes that morning but the experience was unforgettable.
This time, in addition to the wine and cheese, I want to make something warm and delicious, cooked from scratch over minimal flame with meticulous simplicity. I want smells and flavors to permeate the crisp Utah air. All the while, looking intently into the distance of some of the best scenery know to man. I envision wild, earthy mushrooms cooked crisp and creamy in the best butter I can find with floral herbs and coarse sea salt. Maybe even finish it with some creme fraiche or mascarpone. I want to spread that on some crusty bread and as I bring it towards my mouth, I want the smell and steam to weather my face. I want to nosh on that and wash it all down with a peppery Zinfandel from the Sierra Foothills. What else should I make?
