L'Opera and a new wine review

Last night we ate dinner at L'Opera on Pine in Long Beach. This is by far our favorite Italian restaraunt.

At the recommendation of management (thanks Nicole), we tried a wonderful 1999 Vigneto Antica Chiusina Vino Nobile Di Montepulciano. This is a deep, thick Tuscan from the Fattoria del Cerro estate. This was a real treasure. It was rich with a lot of intense oak and spice. We couldn't drink the entire bottle - it was so rich. We corked it and took it home. Tonight we'll have another glass.

For an appetizer, we started with the bruschetta. L'Opera makes the best bruschetta I've ever tasted. I've worked on perfecting my own home version. I'll post more on this later.

We feasted on our favorite dish at L'Opera - the platter of four different pastas. Our favorites are the ravioli de zucca ( a butternut squash filled ravioli with a burned butter and sage sauce), the porcini mushroom ravioli (yum!), and the gnocci with pesto.

To cap the evening, we shared a glass of muscato in which we dunked an assortment of biscotti, cookies and chocolate-dipped strawberries. Very sensual.

Biscotti and Vin Santo

While we were honeymooning in Italy, we noticed some people dipping biscotti into a thick, golden wine for dessert. We were quite intriqued.

When we returned to the states, we found out that it was probably Vin Santo. Last week, I found a bottle of Castello di Meleto Vin 1999 Santo del Chianti Classico at Larry's Market while I was travelling on business. We're going to try it out with some real imported biscotti. Mmmm.

Tonight we're dining at our favorite Long Beach establishment, L'Opera. Updates forthcoming...

Rex Goliath - a great inexpensive wine

Looking for a decent, inexpensive wine to stock up on? We bought a couple of bottles of Rex Goliath at Cost Plus and just love it. This is the perfect wine to celebrate the year of the rooster! The wine has a cute label featuring a vintage poster image of a 47lb. rooster that boxed. One image shows Rex sparring with a kangaroo. Take that cheap Southeast Australian wine!!

So far we have tried the Merlot and Zinfadel varieties. We are looking forward to checking out the Pinot Noir and Syrah. We went back to Cost Plus and bought a whole case (and a cute Eiffel Tower wine rack). We'll let you know.

By the way, it goes great with vegan gnocci and pesto. Recipe forthcoming....

Intro Post

Welcome...

Here lies the story of two creative geniuses and their everyday experiences. I hope to post everything here from our wine reviews to travel explorations, our art and crafts (available for sale on Ebay) and many nifty ideas.

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