T'was the day before christmas eve....

Although I had off the day, I was a dutiful husband and dropped my wife at her job this morning.
My day consisted of finishing off a little Christmas shopping I still had to do at Arundel Mills, a lunch date with my wife planned at Cheesetique in Del Ray, and since I was off for the day I was preparing the night's meal. I decided to be lazy and go with a slow cooker meal since I had a couple hours of gift wrapping still needing to be done.

Our menu consisted of a spicy slow cooker chicken, risotto rice with parmesan cheese, and a black bean and corn salad. Although I hadn't made this recipe before I was very excited to give
it a whirl. Since I was chef tonight, I decided to put my wife chief in charge of bar tending for the evening.

She selected a fine cocktail to get the night started, a fine bourbon and coke, but I was really excited for her wine selection. She slected delicious VA white that should match perfectly with the spicy chicken.

Since I won't claim to be a chef extraordinaire I was surprised how well my dinner came together tonight. I took the liberty to check the 2009 Hiddencroft Traminette to make sure it wasn't corked (Ok I just wanted a taste, but any excuse right). The bottle was still a bit cold from chilling in the fridge. The nose came across with a hint of banana and melon with a good balanced acid.

After serving dinner for my wife and I, the wine had a chance to warm a little. It became real floral with hints of honey suckle. It still maintained its delicious acidic balance, but also showed hints of mineral essence on the finish. It has a sweet composite, that ran smack dab through the spicy chicken, the white balsamic in the black bean and corn salad added to the flavor profile leaving a clean fresh feeling through out the mouth. Overall, I thought all parts of the meal complimented in each other.

As a bonus, this Hiddencroft Traminette made a great sipper while watching Cops. It was great relaxing evening heading into what should be an enjoyable Christmas Weekend. Merry Christmas to all my readers.