Yes the words Chardonnay are coming out of my mouth, shocking since I don’t drink much white wine. But this Chardonnay is worth looking at. One we found at the Kowalski’s Wine Store after a caterer tasting, the wine was priced right but the catering price. Well, that is another way way way over our budget story 
This was on sale for $8 dollars, usually less than I spend but I picked it up while a friend was in town and we didn’t end up drinking it. So in the fridge it sat for 2 weeks. I pulled this out to serve with a soup. It balanced the lentils nicely and paired well with all the veggies.
After reading the label further I know why I liked it so much…an Italian white. And those super smart Italians don’t age their whites in oak (usually) so their whites are lighter, crisper and so much tastier (again, my opinion, if you like oaky go for it!)
For $8 dollars this is hard to go wrong with!
This month was an extra special Foodie Pen Pals, a bit more local one. Kelly from Brownies and Zucchini is a Madison blogger who knows my love of tea and Spotted Cow. If she would have been a bit closer I may have gotten Spotted Cow but you never know if it would make it in shipping. Darn mail. Denying me my Spotted Cow.
But the tea and chocolate, seriously awesome. I have been enjoying delicious mugs of tea at work. My favorite is the Sugar Plum Berry Black. A hint of sweetness in complex black tea.
The Macrobar was my breakfast one morning and that chocolate was shared with a few of my coworkers. I think they liked Foodie Pen Pal’s this month even more than I did 
Want to join Foodie Pen Pals? Email theleangreenbean@gmail.com and get on the list for next month. Curious about how it works?
1) On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact each other and a mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
2) You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. This will ensure everyone receives their goodies in time to post about them. There is a $15 spending limit for the contents of the box.
3) As the end of the month you post about your goodies. Delicious food and a chance to meet new friends. I love it!
I love to read, especially books about food! I joined the Kitchen Reader Book Club last Spring and have barely had a chance to participate. Apparently we have picked hard to find or popular books because my library has not had a few of these available for months after we post about them. Annoying but I understand. So I have sat a few (ok more than a few) months out but my local library actually had this months pick. How exciting!
February was A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg. She writes the blog Orangette, which somehow I have never read and considering my love of all things orange is somewhat shocking. A Homemade Life is stories and recipes from Molly’s life. I liked this book but didn’t love it. She had a great writing style and some very intriguing recipes.
Look how many recipes I flagged! I need to figure out how to best copy them from the library book…
I read this book in about 4 days and it was a really easy ready. I really liked the life stories mixed in with blogging and recipe development. I give Molly a ton of credit for being one of the first big food bloggers who is really a foodie and has amazing recipes. This would be a great vacation read. Would I recommend? Sure. Easy read and she has a great sense of humor. And how can you not like something with orange in the title.
The recipes I really must make:
Fresh Ginger Cake with Carmelized Pears (Scott loves ginger and I know he would go crazy for this)
French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon
This is one of those drinks where you only need one. I promise just one. Perfect on a hot summer day or perfect on a bright sunny winter day when you are packing up a house. That was yesterday mid-afternoon.
I only has a few sips but Scott finished this with no problems…
Ingredients
Serves 1
2 shots of Hornitos tequila (Use a good tequila)
2 shots triple sec
1 shot Rose’s Sweet Lime Juice
6 ounces Mexican Style Beer (Corona or Landshark)
Ice
Margarita Salt
Directions
Pour everything but the beer in a shaker filled 1/4 of the way with ice. Give it a good shake and pour into a salt rimmed glass. Top with beer.
See, I told you 1 was enough. Just 1. Promise me not to drink 2. I know from experience that 2 is way too much. This was before I even knew that they were all alcohol and after a night when I had 2 and did not feel so great the next day. I even give permission to pass this around in pitchers at your next party and just pretend you whipped this up. It’s that good.
`
