Birthday Wishes and Gifts: Cassoulet with Côtes du Rhône Villages

“I love skiing!” piped up the young girl from the next stall at the mid-mountain SnowFlake Lodge at Diamond Peak, Incline Nevada on a sunny but brisk January day. 

“I do too!” I chimed in. “How old are you?”

“I’m five but I’m going to be six on my birthday January 9!”

“Well, happy birthday to you! My birthday is January 11!” 

SnowFlake Lodge at Diamond Peak, Incline Nevada

While young Juniper loves skiing and wanted nothing more than to go skiing for her birthday, I love cassoulet and wanted cassoulet for my birthday. I didn’t tell young Juniper but her birthday is the same day as a very important one: CASSOULET DAY! Fortunately for me, my birthday and Cassoulet Day are so close Sue has almost no choice but to make it for me as a birthday gift and we had the gift of three samples of three AOC Côtes du Rhône wines to pair with it tying this post into this month’s Winophiles prompt; I’ll add links to participants.

So Happy Cassoulet Day today January 9! And Happy Birthday to Juniper, and to me too!

Continue reading →