Salmon Asparagus Foil Packs with Garlic Lemon Butter Sauce
(very long name!) :)
2 slices of salmon filet
2 Tbsp. vegetable or chicken broth
1½ Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. hot sauce
dollop of maple syrup
4 tsp. minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 Tbsp. butter, diced into small cubes
2 Tbsp. parsley or cilantro
1 pound medium thick asparagus, woody ends trimmed off
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut two sheets of 14x12 inch heavy duty aluminum foil then lay each piece on a baking sheet. In a small bowl, combine the ingredients for the sauce - broth, lemon juice, hot sauce, and maple syrup.
Divide salmon filets onto the foil near the center of each sheet, then place the asparagus along the side of a filet. Sprinkle the garlic over the top and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Divide the butter pieces evenly among the foil packets over the salmon and the asparagus.
Wrap packets and crimp edges together then wrap up but don't wrap too tightly. You want to leave some space inside for heat to circulate. Place in the oven with the sealed side facing up. Bake for about 9-12 minutes. Carefully unwrap the foil packets and drizzle with more lemon juice. Garnish with the parsley or cilantro if desired.
Again with the beautiful skies - this time in June. It has been so pretty lately. This perfect blue sky with fluffy white clouds was my 'ceiling' while reading on the patio one evening. It was hard to concentrate on my book! :)
This was another beautiful evening - I took these as I was finishing up a swim.
You could see how high the grass had gotten after all the rains -
looked almost like we were baling it. :)
This was a pretty good storm that blew in this day. And it came out of nowhere! I kept hearing something rumbling and couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Then I realized it was thunder and checked the radar. Sure enough there was an angry red cell that had come up out of nothing and was just north of us. Then more cells popped up and converged and it turned into quite a deal! This first picture was me trying to capture a strange looking thing. There was a tower of dust that was lifted up and blowing along. It sure got my attention. It looked like a twirling wind was carrying it, although you can't really tell in the photos...
Marvin and Jonathan were down at the horse barn 'battening down the hatches'
I took some video of this one... it was pretty interesting.
the aftermath
the calm after the storm
This was our view one evening as we were driving home. I felt like we were chasing that big cloud all the way from town. By the time we got to our place it had basically moved on. But it sure was pretty as it led us home.
Okay, so who knew that Riesling could smell and TASTE like gasoline?? I did not! Even though that little fact was apparently in the book and one of the videos I picked out for our group to watch. I must have been so horrified by the concept (and perhaps a bit unbelieving) that I just glossed over it and refused to consider the possibility. Well... it is true! And wow, is that a bad thing (in my opinion). I had assumed I would love every single wine from this months study of Riesling. I was wrong. I loved 3, liked 2, and really wouldn't give much for the rest. :) Two smelled and tasted like gasoline and I actually had to pour one of those out. Couldn't even choke it down for the tasting process. Then one smelled very floral - like a wedding bouquet. But it tasted like a huge bottle of perfume! As Janet said, 'this is from the Estee Lauder collection'. :D Again, had to pour it out. But, as always, our group had a blast. And were were glad this was one of the few months that Julie could make it to the evening. We needed her foreign language skills to read the bottle labels for us. A lot of German and French (Alsace) for Riesling month! I do love Wine Night and sure enjoy the company of these wonderful ladies.
And can you believe that I took ZERO food pictures? What??? How did I manage to forget that part? Crazy. Well, here is a rundown of what we had... we had coconut frozen yogurt, california sushi rolls, vegetable sushi rolls, muenster cheese with fresh baked bread and mustard, mustard potato salad, grilled chicken breast, polish sausages, potato chips, carry out General Tso's Chicken, carry out Curry Chicken, Apple and Lemon pastries, and chocolate mousse. We always do well with food! :)
We had the largest group we have ever had before. It was pretty crowded! I think I need a bigger dining room! :)
This face from Hannah came after she had just tasted #11,
the gasoline one that several of us had to throw out. :)
hahahaha! Dana was determined to not have another photo of her raising her wine glass.
Instead, I accidentally caught this moment... Dana raising the sketchy looking
paper bag covering a wine bottle instead! hahahaha!
2017 Kung Fu Girl (Charles Smith) Columbia Valley, WA #1 on wine tasting sheet
One of my top two favorites. (#8 was the other favorite with #9 close behind)
From Charles Smith winery - I generally like their wines.
2016 Barefoot Riesling #2 on wine tasting sheet - not bad!
Chateau Ste. Michelle Harvest Select Sweet Riesling 2015 $10 #3 on wine tasting sheet
BAD!!! Gassy!! And I have another bottle of this swill
in the basement if anyone would like to have it... :D
2016 Hogue, Columbia Valley, WA #4 on wine tasting sheet - not bad!
Fernand Engel Cuvee Alsace Gewurztraminer 2016 $20 #5 on wine tasting sheet
A Ringer for this month - this one was pretty good.
Landshut Riesling (Mosel, Germany) $6 from Aldi - #6 on wine tasting sheet
This is from Aldi. It hung in there with a 3 out of 5 rating for me. Not bad for $6.99!
Boundary Breaks Ovid Line North Riesling 2016 $15 #7 on wine tasting sheet
This one was pretty good, also.
2016 Thomas Schmidtt Kabinett Riesling Germany #8 on wine tasting sheet
I loved this one!
2016 Schloss Vollrads Riesling, Germany #9 on wine tasting sheet
This one was good. And fun to have Julie read the label...
2015 Alsace Domaine Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer #10 on wine tasting sheet
BAD!!! Estee Lauder perfume!! (and a ringer for the Riesling month)
2016 Yellow Tail Australian Riesling #11 on wine tasting sheet
BAD!! Gasoline!!!!
I score on a 1-5 scale. (Note - this month had three zeros!!) :D
Thank goodness Julie was there to pronounce all the wine bottle labels for us! :D
Julie's fluent pronunciation of the German words on the label had Lisa (and Megan) trying to replicate it. Lisa was giving Megan a little advice... it has to be a guttural sound, apparently. :) ha!
...from down in your throat!
After the tasting we relaxed on the patio a bit.
Melinda and Laura
Lisa is always soooooo coordinated! Note her shoes, shirt, and necklace all match! :)
Then it was back inside to watch a few Riesling videos.
Barb, Dana, Janet, Judy
Megan, Andrea, Julie, Melinda
Laura, Megan, Lisa
Megan, Hannah, Alayna
hahahaha!
Here are some of the videos we watched for Riesling month.
The Best White Wines for Beginners - Riesling - Marc Supsic
Marc tried to warn me about the gasoline smell but I ignored it when I was choosing the videos we would watch that night. :D
Battle of the Rieslings
Riesling Wine Guide
Everything you need to know about Riesling
We don't watch these on wine night, but the Jancis Robinson wine course series is available on YouTube. Although it is old (1990's) it is still a good and interesting course on wine, if you are so inclined. Here is her episode on Riesling.
And because we always like to have a Wine Folly video if possible... :D She tries a sweet Riesling in the video and, turns out, it is our #3 from tonight. We hated this one, although ours was a different vintage so maybe there is a big difference between years? Who knows!
We use this book and tasting kit as the foundation for our wine study.
