Wine Country

Good afternoon, my friends. We spent a lovely day with our friends Debi and Jim. They are members at several of the wineries north of Escondido in the city of Temecula. I'll say more about that in a minute, but first I had some kitchen duties to take care of. 

A few days ago, I received an email from America's Test Kitchens with a recipe for testing. It was for a Pumpkin Gingersnap Icebox Cake. Looking it over, it seemed easy enough to do in the RV. There was no baking involved...just a little microwaving of the glaze. It meant purchasing a few things we wouldn't ordinarily buy while traveling, but nothing seemed overly burdensome. I decided to make it this morning. It needed a minimum of 12 hours in the refrigerator before serving. I had it done early enough we'll be able to taste it for this evening's dessert. Since it's a test recipe, I can't share it, but you'll find it in an upcoming issue of Cook's Illustrated. It's made from pureed pumpkin, heavy cream, cream cheese, and flavorings that are layered with gingersnap cookies. When I had the first part finished, it looked like this:

It makes a huge 9 x 13 cake. I made just half and assembled it in an 8 x 8 baking dish. 

From there, I microwaved a glaze made from white baking chips, light corn syrup, butter, more pumpkin puree, and vanilla. It was spread over the top, and then into the refrigerator it went.

And now we wait. I'll have to report back in my next post how we liked it. It seems a little on the gorpy side, but I won't know until we taste it.

But enough of this kitchen stuff. Let's get out of town, shall we? Smitty was completely stressed out at the idea of our leaving him.

On our way out of town, I noticed the Escondido "E" on the hillside above the RV park.

We were headed north to Temecula. The wine industry has grown up during the time since Mike and I left the area in 1975. None of what you're going to see here was around back then. 

We could only marvel at the growth of the area in a relatively short period of time. The pace of development must have been astonishingly fast. When Mike and I lived in the area, the population of Temecula was barely over 200 people. It was something of a joke, even though our town of Vista wasn't exactly overcrowded back then. Here's an image from 1909:

The thing I remember about then-little Temecula is that Clorox had a television commercial about knocking on the doors of all the residents and trading them a bottle of Clorox for their old brand of bleach. 

Here's the gist of what happened: In February of 1973 the Clorox Company came to Temecula with a proposal.  They asked every household in town to give up their Clorox for 30 days and agree to be interviewed about their experience at the end of the 30 days.  The commercial aired between August, 1973 and May, 1974 and opened with a photograph of Temecula’s Main Street (above) with the name “Temecula” superimposed on it.  The announcer began by saying, “We actually took away everybody’s Clorox in Temecula, California – population 270….” A month later, they went back and surveyed the residents about how much they liked their Clorox. Of course, they were all astounded at how much cleaner their laundry was.

Fast forward to today, and the population of Temecula has swelled to over 110,000 people and the city has grown by leaps and bounds. We were in both the new and "old town" area today. We were on our way to one of the wineries. Turning east from I-15, we passed through a ranching area. There were fenced paddocks on both sides of the road.

We passed by one where about a dozen bison were grazing, but I wasn't quick enough to get a picture.

Crosswalks are marked for "Equestrians." I guess if you're a "pedestrian" you're on your own.

But here we are. This was the object of our desire today.

It's a pretty winery and tasting room.

Grape vines line both sides of the driveway.

Once parked, I walked to the edge of the lot and took this picture of the structure across the way. I'm assuming that's where the wines are made. As you look at this image, insert the sound of Louis Armstrong singing "Hello Dolly," and you'll know what we saw and heard.

Of course, I took pictures of every blooming thing. There were a lot of white roses.

Rosemary is blooming in abundance everywhere we've been. I'm afraid my rosemary back at home was probably done in by this winter's ice storm. I consider it an annual these days since I have to replant nearly every year.

Also, some dianthus.

I can't see a vintage tractor without thinking of my grandfather. His farming days were over by the time I was old enough to care, but I remember his tractor.

Okay, before we go inside, let's get the rules straight. If any of you are underage, you'll need to make your way to the left patio area.

And...oh. You don't suppose they mean us, do you? We haven't even misbehaved yet. Please just mind your manners, and I think we'll be okay.

It's a pretty tasting room.

The have some cute merchandise for sale there. I got a chuckle out of these coasters and towels.

We had several options for tasting. We could taste many wines, or we could select a glass of something. I forget what I chose, but it was a bold, fruity red.

Sitting in the patio, this was our view of the surrounding area.

This guy joined us intermittently.

We had a nice lunch there, and then Debi asked if we wanted to see an Olive Oil bar in Temecula's Old Town. Well...sure! I'm up for anything! 

We backtracked the way we came, and I looked again for the bison. We didn't see the bison, but I'm pretty sure they were in this same paddock where the cows were now grazing.

Also, we saw sheep.

And horses.

In about ten minutes' time, we were in Temecula Old Town, established 1859. When I see these dates, I'm reminded that the Civil War hadn't even started when this town was established.

We parked and walked a couple of blocks down the main road, which happens to be Historic US Hwy 395.

 I-15 took it's place, but that was after Mike and I left the area. I'm always amused when I happen on something that is now considered "historic," but was just plain old, plain old back when we knew it. And what does that say about us?

Okay, so we walked a couple of blocks and found it on the opposite side of the street.

Here's how it looks going through the front door. That's Mike on the left.

Inside, I was amused by the shirt on the right.

There was a small gift shop. Walking on through, we came to their tasting room in the back.

These bottles were lined up showing what was available. The bottles on the right are flavored vinegars. Those on the left are flavored oils.

We tasted several. They were all good. I selected two bottles of this "Just Dip It" oil. It's for dipping slices of bread, or it can be used in marinades and salad dressings. I got one bottle for us, and I'll give one to Mae for her birthday on May 1st. Isn't it a pretty bottle?

On the outside of the bag was this:

Cute.

So...a lovely day with good friends. Thank you, Debi and Jim. 

Tomorrow we'll meet some other friends for lunch at the Oceanside Harbor, and then we'll go for a walk on the Oceanside Pier. We're expecting the best weather of the week tomorrow, and we're looking forward to visiting the pier. It's one of our favorite things to do when we're in the area. I'll have more for you in tomorrow's post. For now, I need to rest up before dinner.

I've been watching the news reports of the terrible weather you folks in the Northeast are having. I can only hope all of you are safe and sound.