It’s that holiday time,
where we take a break from the news and doom,
where we look inward, to family, friends and lazy days,
where we finally take a second to stop and be grateful.

So I’d like to make my list here:
I’m thankful for
my daughter’s healthy birth,
my handsome husband,
the fact that we live and work in Napa Valley (most lovely place I’ve seen),
our ladyfriends at BlogHer
the folks at (oops) for being so flexible with me after the birth of my daughter.

I’m lucky to be here, writing this post.
I’m lucky to work with such great people, making great wine.
I’m lucky.

We’ll be giving thanks at home with some friends this year.
I’ve got the turkey brining in a icy cooler in the garage,
pie crusts have been baked off and
the cranberry sauce is in the fridge.

And since it’s pretty food friendly up and down the table, (oops) Cabernet Franc will be there too.

Speaking of cranberry sauce.
Man, that sauce was painless.
Cranberries, 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of orange juice, bring to a boil and heat until bubbly and 2/3 of the berries have popped. Give it a squirt of lemon after it’s cooled and voila! Cranberry sauce.

In December, we’re running a contest in which you share some of your glorious holiday disasters.
To kick it off, I’ll spill the beans on some of my holiday oops.
(Hint: home permanent solution)

Happy Thanksgiving!

As soon as the weather turns (which in Napa Valley has only been this week).
As soon as the weather turns, my husband starts to request Braised Short Ribs.
Oh man, it’s every week.
“Can we have them yet? Can we have them yet?”

Tonight I said, “Yes. Yes we can have them.”

They’re embarassingly easy, really.

I brown four meaty short ribs over high heat in an oiled cast iron pan on my stove.
Before I do that, I cover them in kosher salt and pepper, especially pepper.

(They’re meatier if you ask your butcher for them. They’re less gorgeous if you just take the package in the grocery store… Still good, but less meaty.)

I cut up two leeks, six carrots and mince four cloves of garlic and add them to a slow cooker.
I then add two bay leaves for emphasis.

After the short ribs are browned on the outside, I stand them up in my slow cooker.
I pour a can of beef broth in the slow cooker and turn it to low.

Roughly eight hours later, they’re ready to go.

When the meat is done cooking, I remove the ribs and put them on a platter with the vegetables tucked around them. I make a little gravy with the remaining pan juices and well, that gravy is so special, it’s for another day.

I serve them with my labor-intensive whipped potatoes and sauteed greens.
(You would too.)

The (oops) Cabernet Franc is always the wine we pair with our short ribs. It’s my favorite of the bunch and the purple looks good on the table next to the meat.

Sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the whole thing and your partner will swoon.
Happy slow cooker day!

This recipe is a welcome respite from a giant roast bird that everyone’s expecting. It’s a stylish way to serve a little more than expected. It’s great for smaller groups too — those Thanksgivings with your urban family.

Ingredients
2 Italian sausages with the sausage removed from the casing and browned
2 cups of baby spinach, steamed
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Salt and pepper
1 4-pound boneless turkey breast
Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.

Steam the spinach in a skillet over medium heat. Just before removing from heat, add the garlic to the spinach and heat through. In a bowl, combine the sausage, spinach, Parmesan and oregano. Add salt and pepper until you taste it and it tastes right (grin).

Place the turkey breast skin side down on the cutting board. Flatten the turkey breast, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Spread the sausage/spinach/cheese stuffing on top of the breast and roll the turkey. Wrap kitchen twine or string around the roll and tie snugly.

Put the turkey roll in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and season again with salt and pepper. Roast about 1 hour or until the temp inside the roll is about 165°F.

It’s important to let the whole roll rest for 10 minutes, before you remove the twine. Slice the turkey vertically and put the rolled slices on a platter. Pour those oozy tasty pan juices over the slices and serve.

Stylish, tasty and perfect with our (oops) Cabernet Franc Carmenere.

It’s November, the month of the big meal, the übermeal, the meal with the highest expectations.

That’s Thanksgiving.

Here, I’m pairing an easy crab cake recipe with the (oops) Chardonnay.

One of my favorite parts exceptional starters is that they can help take the spotlight from less successful dishes.

(I’m just helping you with your Thanksgiving recipe margins here.)

And crab cakes are always greedily scooped up.

This recipe does have an awful lot of ingredients. But for the most part, you’re just mixing them all together, like you’re a kid. In fact the crab cake mixture turns out best when you do use your hands.

These are served with a lemon dill sauce, adapted from one of Paula Deen’s recipes, the crab cake recipe itself is from The Barefoot Contessa herself, Ina Garten.

One of the ways to avoid holiday disasters is to stick with those in the know.

Ingredients for the Crab Cakes
1 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small red onion, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, minced
1 tablespoon drained capers
16 shakes of Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 pound lump crabmeat, drained and picked to remove shells
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup olive oil

Ingredients for the Lemon Dill Sauce
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 minced clove of garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill tips
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 lemon’s worth of squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
dash of salt
pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions for Lemon Dill Sauce
Mix all of the lemon dill sauce ingredients in a bowl.
Stir until combined.
Refrigerate until cold. The sauce gets thicker in the fridge.
That’s the end of the sauce story.

Directions
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and oil together in a heavy skillet over medium high. Add the veggies, the onion, celery, red and yellow bell peppers, parsley, capers, Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay, salt, and pepper. Slowly cook until the vegetables are soft, for about 10 – 15 minutes.

While the vegetables are cooking, get a large bowl. In that bowl, break the crab into small pieces. Toss that crab the bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard, and beaten eggs. When the vegetables are done cooking, add them to the crab mix and mix until combined. I like to use my hands.

This is important, but annoying.
You’ll need to cover and chill this mix in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

When the mixture is cold, shape into tiny, bite-sized crab cakes.

Combine the 4 tablespoons unsalted butter and 1/4 cup olive oil in a skillet. Heat to medium high. Saute the crab cakes in the hot oil-butter mixture for approximately 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown. You can also bake them for approximately 7 minutes in an oven at 400°F.

To serve, I like to put the lemon dill sauce in a squeeze bottle and squirt a plop next to each crab cake.

Easy peasy, Thanksgivingeezie.