One Potato, half an Onion, and a bottle of Cava...

Sometimes you just have to live on the edge. After a weekend of blog work, and facebook, and twitter, and yelp and managing photos, and learning how to tolerate post-braces retainers, and actually writing recipes that are more than "some of this and some of that", Jake and I decided to just hang on Monday. After quick kitchen examination, I located two potatoes (one for each of us) and a nice yellow onion (half an onion for each of us); plus we had a bottle of chilled Cava (see a quick explanation on Cava after the post) in the fridge; plus I still had my deep frier on the counter and ready for service. End result: Fresh made potato chips, fresh made onion rings and a bottle of Cava.

The desert weather finally started to cool, so we ate our chips and rings along with our bubbly on the back deck (if you visit Jake's Photography links you'll shots of the amazing mountain views we have)... PERFECT WAY TO START THE WEEK!

Fresh made onion rings

These turned out amazing. I saved the recipe. If I posted it would you make them?

Chips, Rings and Bubbly...

Ready to eat; bowl of fresh salt & pepper chips, and onion rings; glasses waiting to be filled with chilled Cava.

MUCH MORE AFTER THE BREAK
Cava - a quick primer

Cava is the Spanish version of sparkling wine, and is generally made like Champagne (Methode Champenoise), basically meaning, its secondary (bubble making) fermentation is in the bottle. The Spaniards use an assortment of traditional Spanish grapes for Cava, including the three most common:

1. Macabeo - Nice aromatics such as wild flowers, and bitter almonds. This grape thrives in the arid Spanish interior.
2. Parellada - This grape offers nice citrus and golden apple notes.
3. Xarel-lo - Green Apples, and bright acidity. 

Cava is growing rapidly in its popularity and can be found in most well stocked wine and liquor stores, and is generally far less expensive than French Champagnes.  

Stay Tuned: I have a client in Temecula who has planted all these traditional varieties and is in the process of making a Cava style sparkling wine to sell in the U.S. market.  I'll let you know as soon as it's available! In the meantime, I'll be looking for options to offer at my soon to be unveiled Mood Wine online wine club and store.