Marek the Winemaker

My latest column in the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper is about Marek Wojceichowski, owner and winemaker extraordinaire at Chatham Hill Winery in Morrisville, near RDU airport. Chatham Hill is what is now known as an urban winery. No vines-- the Triangle is not the area to cultivate vinifera vines. But really good wine made right here in our backyard! Marek and his wife, Jill Winkler, own Chatham Hill and have been making wine since 1999. Ten years!
Here's the link to their website: http://www.chathamhillwine.com/
If you want to read my article, scroll down to The Town is Talking... section and then to the first link The Rise and Fall... I did some research on the wine industry in North Carolina. Very interesting topic!
Ah bon, mes amis, c'est vendredi et le weekend s'approche! I am going home this afternoon to make two of my soon-to-be-famous tomato tarts to take to a middle school faculty party. We are getting together to celebrate the successful beginning of the 2009-10 school year and our survival of Parents' Night last night. (I am lucky-- all of my students' parents are so supportive!)
I've had such great luck the past couple of weeks with cookbooks. I now have my very own copy of Julia's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, my dear friend Alex Goolsby sent me a copy of his favorite French cookbook La Bonne Cuisine (the pictures make me drool... I intend to try the steak au poivre very soon-- my guys love this dish!), my friend Dani Harrell found a 1961 copy of Larousse Gastronomique (English translation) for me at a local thrift shop (it's amazing-- a French cooking encyclopedia!!) and then Ann Propero's Chefs of the Triangle. Wow! Even one of my 7th graders remarked that I have had a very good cookbook week.
I just opened up Larousse to page 655 and found this entry...
Niçoise (A La)- A method of preparing various dishes, all of which have tomatoes among their ingredients. They are usually flavored with garlic. (No kidding! Sans blague!) See MULLET, Red Mullet à la niçoise.
That brings back memories of eating in Old Nice, la vieille ville, at La Table Alziari. What a treat. Pat, Joan, Yolanda and I went there in 2006. Sorry you missed it, Betty. (We will always have our evening shared wining and dining while watching the sunset over the Mediterranean Sea, though, won't we? That shade of pale pink is forever burned into my memory... oh, to have a scarf in that exact color!)
Bon weekend!!