This past weekend was our last for tastings in 2012. We have a few more events before we re-open in April — the SoVA Wine Fest on the Lawn at Berry Hill on November 10, and the next day an appearance at Olde Virginia Gourmet and Gifts in Stafford. We’ll attend the Virginia Wine Expo next February, but apart from that, sales will primarily be wholesale orders to restaurants and wine shops. If you need anything, call — we’ll be around some weekends, but will conduct no tastings. Happily, the online store is always open. We are licensed ship in Virginia and to North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, California and the District of Columbia, and soon to West Virginia, once we finish the paperwork.
Initially we were going to reflect in this post on the past year, but with Hurricane Sandy wreaking havoc, it’s hard to be concentrate with one ear trained on the television reports of the progress of the storm, while working on this and other projects. We tend not to dwell on the past, anyway — so what’s next?
We aren’t making light of a difficult situation, but there isn’t much we can do about the storm here in Southern Virginia. Being housebound, domesticity beckons. With Thanksgiving in sight, we spent several hours polishing the silver, since we’ll be hosting about a dozen friends. Here’s a recommendation: the best silver polish on the planet is Mish’s Silver Polish. Their web site is a bit of a time warp, and would be campy if it wasn’t so honest. Love it, love them — we have a case of the stuff in the basement. Some antique dealers swear by it — we certainly do.
What else to occupy idle hands? We decided to make cookies, and immediately regretted it, having consumed far too many. They’re simple and fill the house with the best of smells. And with silver on the brain we turned to an iconic cookbook that is on the shelves of just about anyone of a certain age, so here’s a classic we’d like to share from The Silver Palate Cookbook (by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, with Michael McLaughlin, New York: Workman Publishing, 1979).
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Steps
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a cookie sheet with butter.
- Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.
- Sift dry ingredients together and stir in, mixing thoroughly. Add chocolate chips and walnuts to batter, and drop by tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven while the centers are slightly soft. Coll on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring cookies to a rack to cool completely.
Makes about three dozen 4 inch diameter cookies
