Cato Corner Cheese tasting

We brough some samples back from Cato Corner to sample with our friends, who we know would have a vested interest in our ultimate choice. But, to be honest, it would be difficult to make a 'bad choice' when it comes to Cato Corner.

I paired each cheese with Belgian style beers from my 'cellar', which is almost spilling off the shelves. Esther artfully arranged the cheeses on a plate. The beers included selections from California, Belgium, Maine, and New Hampshire. The baguettes were warm from the oven, homemade from dough I started fermenting the night before. I made a nice, simple rustic roasted chicken and root vegetable dinner to follow the cheese and beer pairings.

What a nice way to spend a cold Sunday evening in February.

Saltwater Farm

Esther reminded me that we still haven't really posted much about our choice of venue for our wedding. It was quite the hefty endeavor...we narrowed a list down to eleven (!!!) places in the Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut area to visit over the course of a few weekends. We were feeling pretty good about one of the first places we visited earlier in the process, but once we walked in to Saltwater Farm Vineyard, we knew that we found what we were looking for. 

For us, its just a perfect blend of natural environs and bold, angular contemporary materials. The open design lends itself to a great flow, and everything is new. And best of all, they had a 'prime' wedding date available...the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Most of the other venues were going to make us make a sacrifice on many things, the date being one of them. Before we found Saltwater Farm, we were contemplating a Friday wedding, golf courses (if you know us well, that is not us), and very limited food options. We had the option of working with a great caterer who would be very open to working with us on the menu (Thank you Anna!) and they were BOTH Ok with me brewing beer for the day. So cool. It really just all fell in to place once we met with Merrilee and Michael, the couple behind Saltwater Farm Vineyard.

We went to their first tasting a few weeks ago, and were quietly blown away by their estate grown 2006 Cabernet Franc. Yes...I know, but it is a complex and spicey aromatic but still very quaffable red, grown entirely by a new vineyard on the Connecticut coast. We hope to be able to serve some to you at the wedding. It should go nicely with some of the cocktail hour passed hors d'oevres and the artisan Cato Corner cheeses.

But, for now, I'll leave you with some pictures I snapped that will give you a sneak peak at what you can expect to see at Saltwater Farm (without giving too much away, of course).