Flight Savor Fare

Pick up the latest (free) issue of Carolina Home and Garden and see Chef Rob in startling close-up with his version of NC trout, a favorite at Flight. The recipe is included in the article, modified for home use. You do know that chefs don’t whip out that 1/4 teaspoon ever, don’t you?

CH&G is a sister publication of Bold Life and soon-to-be-born Verve for women. Remis and Mary are building a publishing empire all of Hendersonville can be proud of.

Food & Wine tested more than 300 inexpensive wines and named 67 winners. Here is a sampling, but follow the link for more info.

Chardonnay

2005 Pine & Post Washington Chardonnay ($6)
2005 Manzanita Canyon California Chardonnay ($7)

Sauvignon Blanc

2006 Estancia Pinnacles Ranches Sauvignon Blanc ($12)
2006 Rodney Strong Charlotte’s Home Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc($14)

Cabernet Sauvignon
2005 Beaulieu Vineyards Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon ($15)
2005 Hawk Crest Cabernet Sauvignon ($14)

Merlot and Pinot Noir

2005 Columbia Crest Grand Estates Columbia Valley Merlot ($11)
2006 Castle Rock Mendocino Pinot Noir ($12)

Flight always keeps the core menu — applewood grill selections, but Executive Chef Rob Keener spruces it up with seasonal offerings. You’ll read it here first! Or maybe not. Might be on Rob’s blog first.

Snooth.com, half sleuth and half smooth, offers access to some two million reviews of reputable wine critics such as Wine Spectator and Wine Advocate. You can add your critique as well.

So Valentine’s Day is over, but Easter is coming and aren’t all holidays associated with chocolate?

“punishing percentages of cacao” have been the height of chocolate connoisseurship until recently. Now, milk chocolate, really, really good dark milk chocolate is making a come-back, according to The NYTers tested 30 milk chocolates and “found a surprising range of flavors… from butterscotch to near-black.” Near-black is a flavor?

The favorites: Guittard, Theo and ScharffenBerger from the US and from Europe, Michel Cluizel and Valrhona.

All made fabulous hot chocolate when simply melted and stirred into hot milk, a drink known in Argentina as a “submarino.” Yum!

The Wine Century Club elected Nan Jennings, Flight’s Sommelier, Secretary of the newly formed French Broad Chapter. Nan is a recipient of the Wine Century Award which means, I think, that she tasted and identified 100 different grape varieties. (Nan, please comment!) The only requirement to join this club which meets every other month to, what else? drink wine, is that you enjoy wine!

Check out this photo of the new chapter for faces you might know. Looks like a rowdy group to me.

is NCAA basketball. The ACC Tournament is March 13 through 16th in Charlotte. Go Heels!

Flight is offering, at Jack Hastings’ recommendation, Bushmills 10-year single malt whiskey on St. Paddy’s Day (March 15) for half off the regular price. I didn’t know much about Irish whiskey even though I’m Irish, but Jack’s story intrigued me: Bushmills claims to be the oldest licensed distillery. Despite a lack of historical evidence, it is believed that troops of King Henry II enjoyed the taste of Bushmills some 400 years before the distillery became officially licensed in 1608 by King James I. In 1784 the Bushmills Distillery became an officially registered company. From 1740 to 1910 Irish emigrants to the USA spread the word of Bushmills, and it soon became a huge success at international spirit and whiskey competitions.Also offered at half-price on St. Paddy’s Day: Guinness (pronounced IPA: /ˈgɪnɨs/) beer, which is, according to wikipedia, a dry stout that originated in Arthur Guinness’s St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The beer is based upon the porter style that originated in London in the early 1700s. It is one of the most successful beer brands in the world, being exported worldwide. The distinctive feature in the flavour is the roasted barley which remains unfermented. For many years a portion of the beer was aged to give a sharp lactic flavour, but Guinness has refused to confirm if this still occurs. The thick creamy head is the result of a nitrogen mix being added during the serving process. It is extremely popular with the Irish and is the best-selling alcoholic drink of all time in Ireland, where Guinness & Co. makes almost €2billion annually.

We barely have time to turn around and it’s Easter, March 23. Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).

This “dating of Easter” is based on the lunar calendar that the Hebrews
used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar. Here are a couple of things you might be interested in!

Based on the above, Easter can actually only be one (1) day earlier -
March 22, but that is pretty rare.

This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of
our lives! And only the most elderly of our population (95 years old or
above!) have ever seen it this early.

None of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier.

Here are the facts:

The last time it was this early was 1913 so, if you’re 95 or older,
you are the only ones that were around for that.

The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today
has or will ever see it any earlier than this year.

The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year
2228 - 220 years from this year.

The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year
2285 - 277 years from this year.

Where did you get that special bottle? Was it a gift? Or a special occasion? Why have you saved it? Is it expensive or sentimental?

Click comments below this entry. You will then be asked to register, but it’s quick. Then, leave your story before and after “Open That Bottle” night, February 23.

We’re waiting to hear from you! Best story will win a special bottle of wine!

…in a wine bottle.” (Dorothy j Gaiter and John Brecher in the Wall St. Journal, Friday, January 25)

I wish I could link you to the above referenced article in the Wall St. Journal, but I can’t. So, I’m going to tell you about it.

February 23 is Open That Bottle Night.

If you’ve never heard of such, it is the night that has been designated as the moment to open a bottle of wine you’ve been saving for a special occasion that never comes along. So, special bottle sits and sits.

“Carolyn Pearce of Kerrville, Texas is finally going to open a bottle of wine she calls “Nancy.” It’s a Corbett Canyon Chardonnay that was served at a salute to Nancy Reagan during the Republican National Convention in New Orleans in 1988. After the event, a Secret Servie agent gave two bottles of the wine, specially marked for the occasion, to his girlfriend and her roommate, who were both medical residents at the time. The girlfriend soon opened the wine and forgot it, but the roommate, Dr. Pearce, saved it. Next month, she and her husband will open the wine. With a backup bottle.”

Because often that “special wine” has gone very wrong.

Here’s the pitch: Come to Flight for Open The Bottle night. We’ll waive the corkage fee and provide a (not free, but half price) backup bottle ON THE CONDITION you tell your wine story to flightsavorfare.com