Slow Food - Spanish Tapas

I attended the Tapas Party that Slow Food Boulder hosted at the Highland City Club (in the garden) this past Thursday evening. It was a really nice party and the weather was perfect.

They had 6 tables set up, each with their own food and beverage pairing.

This was the menu:

Cava paired with a platter of cured meats and Spanish cheeses

Sherry paired with spicy roasted nuts, olives, and grilled peaches

Albarino paired with seared scallops served with a roasted Catalan vegetable sauce

Monastrell paired with mushroom and leek tarts with zucchini and white bean puree

Pompano paired with chilled potato and tomato loaf served with a Spanish vinaigrette

Grenache paired with roasted chicken with saffron and seasonal vegetables served on crostinni

Rioja paired with minted lamb meatballs served with marinated gigande white beans

The beverages included:
Cava - Gran Gesta Reserve Brut from the Penedes region of Spain.
Albarino - Orballo from the Rias Baixas region
Monastrell - Merum from Jumilla
Verdejo (Pampano) from the region of Rueda
Grenache - Vina Alarba from Calatayud region
Rioja - Dominio Heredia from Rioja Alta region of Spain.
Fino Sherry - Barbadillo from Jerez region.

YUM! My favorite food table was the cured meats and spanish cheeses. One of the cured meats was a Honey Smoked Trout that was extra delicious. I am not a huge trout fan but this was really good. The Serrano Ham was most excellent along with the Manchego Cheese and the most delicious blue cheese!

There were a few Niwot Eats members in attendance and I met some really nice people.

July Ales for Females - Belgium beer

On Monday, July 27th, I attended the 'Ales for Females' monthly meeting at Left Hand Brewery. This meeting focused on Belgium-style and Belgium beer tasting. We tasted (in order) Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales - Bam Biere, Left Hand St. Vrain Tripel Ale and Duchesse De Bourgogne.

According to the Jolly Pumpkin website, the Bam Biere
is a 'Farmhouse Ale that is golden, naturally cloudy, bottle conditioned and dry hopped for a perfectly refreshing balance of spicy malts, hops and yeast.' This was paired with a slice of smoked salmon/cream cheese roll. It was delicious.

The St. Vrain Tripel Ale was paired with Gertie's Finest Pickled Green Asparagus - which apparently had been purchased at Costco. These were delicious and went very nicely with the St. Tripel.

Next was the Duchesse de Bourgogne from the Brouweij Verhaeghe. According to their website Duchesse de Bourgogne is a traditional Flemish red ale. It is 'matured in oak casts; smooth with a rich textture and interplay of passion fruit, and chocolate, and a long, dry and acidic finish.' This beer was paired with dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds. These were delicious and really went well with the Duchesse.

I am really enjoying the Ales for Females group.