Friday, October 14, 2005

Indulgent Thursday

It was a very indulgent evening for us last night. My husband and I first attended a wine tasting at Azzura Point Lounge at Loews Coronado Bay Resort. The sommelier, Kurt Kirschenman, served us a tasting flight of three California Cabernets: a 2001 Mason Cabernet from Napa Valley ($28), a 2002 Leal Vineyards Estate Cabernet Sauvignon ($26), and a 1997 Cabernet that I forgot the name of, but it wasn’t really that impressive. The Mason wine was very light and enjoyable. It was soft on the palette and it had lingering aroma of berries and plum with chocolate finish. The 2002 Leal was my favorite. It was soft yet robust (I know, a contradiction) with a strong finish. It had soft flavors of cocoa, expresso coffee and raspberries. This was quite enjoyable. All the wines were paired with appetizers prepared by Chef Martin T. Batis. We each got a plate with large spoons filled with the tasty treats. From L to R: The first spoonful was a soft-boiled quail egg with roasted beets, pomegranate sauce and a shaving of truffles. The second spoon contained a broiled piece of steak, very well seasoned with garlic and a lot of peppercorns, and topped with a shitake mushroom. It was oozing with its own juices. YUM! And the last spoonful was a poached fig in wine, topped with a shaving of a very stinky, musty and woodsy Swiss cheese, but it worked well with the fig.

Finally, to end our evening of indulgence, we decided to try out Karen Krasne’s Extraordinary Desserts. Her offerings range from cheesecakes, tortes, creme brulees, and mousse cakes to tarts, loaves, and cookies. She also serves coffees imported from Hawaii and Italy and teas from Paris. My husband had a berry filled strudel that was flaky and buttery and delicious. I had a passion fruit meringue tart topped with fresh berries and a scoop of raspberry sorbet (pictured above). All her desserts are wonderful, but a bit too sugary for me. I believe she offers some low-sugar desserts, which I’m thinking of trying next time. BTW, the pictures here were taken by my mobile phone.

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