Wine Tastings and Steak Night Saturday

It was quite an eventful weekend!  Many things to post through this week. 

Friday night Terry and I went downtown to use a Groupon that was the last day to use before it expired.  We ate at Clark Street Grill in the Westin directly across the street from the Cardinals Stadium.  We had a great meal; French Onion Soup (which we realized neither of us had EVER had before...strange but true) and Calamari for Appetizers, then I had Sea Scallops with Blue Cheese Macaroni and Terry had Chilean Sea Bass with Veggie Pilaf.  We got a bottle of wine to go with dinner since we figured we could splurge a little since the Groupon was for $40.  We got a Chilean Pinot Noir called Cono Sur.  Overall it was a fine wine, it got better as it aerated, and I probably would order it again with pork or just to have with cheeses and crackers, but not one by any means that I'd go raving about.  It was a very pleasant date night.  :-)

Saturday during the day, we (mostly Terry) had a very busy day, but that's for tomorrow's post.  Saturday night however, not only did we have our usual "Saturday Night: Steak Night", but we also threw in a side-by-side wine tasting. Earl and Catherine were both over, but Earl did not partake in anything having to do with wine, ha.  The last trip to Costco, Terry bought three bottles of Kirkland (Costco's generic) brand Cabernet Sauvignon's. One was from Alexander Valley, and the other two were their "Signature Series" Cab's from Stags Leap District and Mountain Cuvee.  After trying all three, we were all torn between the Alexander Valley and the Mountain Cuvee.  The Stags Leap easily took third place for all three of us, not that it was awful, but it just paled in comparison to the other two.  The Alexander Valley I felt had a lot of smooth tannins to it, which I liked, and the Mountain Cuvee was more acidic but it had better flavors with notes of blackberry and bing cherry.  It was interesting seeing how different they tasted when you got to have them side-by-side.  We had a lot of fun.

Before the tasting

Steak night was delicious as usual.  I am SO lucky that my man can cook.  We made steak (obviously), scalloped potatoes, and green beans for dinner.  We also snacked on a platter of cheeses, hummus, and salami rolls with wine beforehand.  Catherine made toffee coffee brownies for dessert, but we were all so stuffed we couldn't eat them (they were great breakfast Saturday morning!!) 

It was a very relaxing Saturday evening.  Great Company, Great Wine, Great Food, and we went to sleep Super Early, which never happens so it was wonderful!