Wine & Cheese

Threw a wine & cheese party last night in honor of my sister, who was in town visiting. Had a pinot grigio, a chardonnay, and a rioja, plus a merlot that we didn't get around to opening (there were only 4 of us!)

To have a unique vegetable offering, I decided to make kale chips. I may have misjudged the 15 minutes of cooking time, because when I pulled them out, they were decidedly brown and starting to smolder around the edges! However, there were a couple that still had some green bits, so we gave those a try, just to see if the experiment was worth repeating. It was. So now I'm going to try again, and check the kale starting at 10-12 minutes.

Fabulous finds at the Farmers' Market this morning: pluots, white nectarines & peaches; broccoli, cauliflower, & red cabbage; and 5 varieties of beets! I was in the market for melons, but it's too early in the season yet. I'm very excited about the beets. A recent issue of Vegetarian Times has some beet recipes to try: cooked and mashed in brownies, raw and grated in beet slaw, and gently roasted in plain ol' delicious roasted beets.