As you all know, I have been loving Blue Diamond almond butter for the last few weeks. Latest favorite is a stack of thinly sliced apples, each spread with a thin layer of ready spread honey almond butter. Time consuming, but delicious and filling. Kristen at Blue Diamond has been great to work with, and I am excited to announce that one of my readers will now have the opportunity to win some almond butter! The giveaway starts. . . NOW. I will announce a winner next Monday from Yountville, I promise, even if that’s the only computer-related thing I do that day between visiting wineries and eating at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon (eee!). To enter: 1) Check out Blue Diamond’s site and let me know what product looks yummiest to you. 2) Tweet about the giveaway with an @traveleatlovemm. 3) Link back if you have a blog. 4) For an extra entry, tell a friend. If they comment and mention your name, you get two chances to win! Good luck, and thanks again to Blue Diamond for this!
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On Sunday October 26 we attended another great fine wine flea market at Bin Ends. If you live in the Boston area, check out their website for the next flea market; it is definitely a great way to taste a lot of wines and to get great bargains. This time around we were stocking up for the holidays, gifts, and of course our own personal collection. Collecting wine has definitely become a hobby for me over the past year. Our purchases included the following: 2000 Terre del Barolo Barolo (originally $30, flea mkt price $20) This wine is just beautiful. Made with the Nebbiolo grape, Barolos are best after they have aged for several years. This one is complex, with many layers of flavor, big but really elegant as well. 2007 Kris Pinot Noir (originally $15, flea mkt price $9) A perfect mix of berry flavor and earthy complexity, this is an Italian Pinot Noir from the foothills of the Apennines. 
Shannon Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (originally $16, flea mkt price $12) One of my new favorite wines from Northern California. A blend of 90% Cab, 3.5 % Zin, 3.5% Petite Syrah, and 3% Petite Verdot. I would love to visit this winery, but it is north even of Napa Valley, so it might be out of the time scope that we have. Reason enough to plan another trip? 🙂 
2005 Belle Vallée Oregon Red (originally $13, flea mkt price $8.45) This was my favorite wine of the day. Unfortunately, though it was marked for 2 bottles on my order sheet, I never got charged for it, and it never ended up in my case 🙁 Reason to return to Bin Ends soon. I got a lot of black pepper off of this wine, especially at the finish. Apparently it ages very well, if it lasts that long around the house. 😉 This is the second Belle Vallée wine that I have tried, the other being their Whole Cluster Pinot Noir, which is just delightful. You can really get a hint of raspberry that makes it easy to drink and makes you want more! 
Love my wine collection These are just a sampling of the great wines and great prices that we encountered at Bin Ends. Plus, part of the sale was going toward a cancer charity, Hugs for Healing. Its so easy and really nice to incorporate charity into events like this. Speaking of which, I am thinking of planning a wine tasting to help me raise money for my 2010 Boston Marathon run: https://www.firstgiving.com/meghanmalloyteamally. In the past when I raised money for Team in Training, I had a party at a bar, but I was 23 then, and I think its a bit different this time. I may reach out to local wine shops and/or wineries to see if they would donate and then either hold it at my house or see if a shop would be willing to maybe incorporate my event into a tasting they are already having. I will keep you all posted. I am sleepy and need to start seriously planning for San Francisco. The cats need litter and treats, and I need to pack a comprehensive yet compact wardrobe! If you missed it, check out my recap of our Boston Bloggers lunch yesterday. I mentioned doing a Boston food crawl, and there was a lot of interest. Maybe that will be another little something that will need to be planned for December 🙂 🙂 Check back tomorrow for another giveaway! Goodnight everyone.
Tags: wine
Wouldn’t that be fun, if a whole bunch of food bloggers did an eating crawl of Boston? Kind of like a pub crawl, but to try all different types of food? Hmmm. . . Yesterday I got to meet up with a few of my favorite Boston bloggers at Myers + Chang in the South End, undoubtedly one of my favorite places to eat because of its deliciousness, reasonable prices, and menu flexibility. They really offer a range of foods, lots of veggie items, and everything is incredibly fresh and tasty. For our 1:00 reservation, I met up with Caroline from Caroline Dines, Gina from Simply Life, Kelly from She Wears a Red Sox Cap, Kirsten from Tales from Two Cities, and Meg who often guest blogs for her sister on Blue Plate Special. We sat down and perused the dim sum menu, then started marking our choices. From pretty much any seat in the house, you can watch the busy cooks at work, and they are FAST!
We ended up ordering a bunch of different dishes and sharing, which was a lot of fun.
Sweet potato fritters with sriracha aioli and papaya slaw 
Shitake mushroom and Chinese greens dumplings 
Yummy lychee and prosecco cocktail 
Five spice tofu and garlic chives
Crispy spring rolls 
Kimchee pancakes. . . so good 😉 It was so much fun to have lunch with a group of people with similar interests. We talked about blogging, food, work, travel. Myers + Chang was a great location for such a meeting as it is laid back, and the family style service allows for lots of sharing and tasting. I am obviously obsessed with this place, and it was fun to introduce a group of foodies to another great Boston restaurant. Let’s do it again soon, ladies! Have you ever been to or hosted a blogger meetup in your area? I can not believe it, but I am about to meet hundreds of food bloggers in one place. Aaaaah!
Savor Healdsburg Food Tours
Travel, Wine, and Dine on Fox 25
