Que Syrah Syrah...

Tonight my SWEET friend, Claudia, treated me to one of the most enjoyable evenings ever! We went to a wine tasting at Charlie Palmers at Bloomingdales , South Coast Plaza.

Our friend, Chris worked with us at Montage and is now the Wine Director at Charlie Palmers. As part of the wine tasting event, Chris brought us FIVE different wines, telling us about the flavors, aromas, where they're from, and what we should be experiencing as we tasted each one.
It was fabulous!

Appetizers are served throughout the tasting, but Claudia and I needed a little bit more. We delighted in the KOBE sliders and French fries (best with the Syrah!)

Along with the Syrah, we enjoyed a Sparkling Brut, a Pinot Gris, and two different Pinot Noirs.
All were absolutely fantastic. And the conversation? Oh, so great.
Claudia told me that she had recently written a paper on me...
about how I am inspirational to her!
wow

The restaurant is gorgeous...it's located at the south west corner of the brand new Bloomingdales at South Coast Plaza.
Wine tastings are every Tuesday evening from 5 to 7pm and are $25/person.

Oh, come on, you know we had dessert too!
The pastry chef, Maren, used to work at Montage as well!
This is four tempura-battered ganache chocolates (yes, that's deep fried chocolate balls!) and a scoop of chocolate sorbet, along with a little marshmallow--just slightly seared.
Absolutely spectacular!!!

We TRULY miss having Chris at Montage...Charlie Palmer's is really lucky to have him there! He is an incredibly gifted (and hilarious!) person! Our friends Heidi and Evette walked in as we were getting ready to leave and we spent a half hour talking about our fabulous wine tasting and food loving adventure! I walked out OH so happy!
As I drove off, I literally started to cry. The weather was just perfect, the sun setting in the sky, John Mayer was singing to me in my car...and I was having that "no where I'd rather be" feeling.
Who knew that life could really taste this good!
Every single bit of it.