Fried Chicken and Rosé—Recap from Our Anniversary Trip!

I thought I’d tell you all about my Valentine’s Day this year, because it was quite eventful. I managed to travel across the country, get some work done, spend a beautiful weekend together with Scott celebrating our anniversary, and meet a few kindred spirits in the wine industry! To say the least, after a busy start to 2020, a nice weekend away with my wonderful husband provided me with just the break I needed!

I may have mentioned this before on social media, but Scott and I got married on Valentine’s Day. So every year, we have double the reason to celebrate our love and our family’s love on this holiday. Well, this year, we had known for some time that we were going to have to take a business trip the weekend of the 14th, as Scott had to purchase some new equipment for his expanding dental office. We ended up having to fly out to Portland, Oregon, for the weekend. Knowing that we’d have to stay the weekend out there anyway, we thought why not stay in style?

Luckily we didn’t have to break the bank, and we ended up staying at the gorgeous penthouse suite at the Allison Inn and Spa. Man, this hotel was stunning! From the moment I stepped into the lobby I was in love. It helped a lot, too, that it was so beautiful, because Scott’s flight was delayed a whole twelve hours later than mine. I had a lot of time to kill, so I wandered around in the lobby until I could find some interesting people to talk to.

After taking in the beauty of the hotel, I ended up stumbling into a wine-tasting party near the hotel bar. I definitely met some interesting people there, including a young couple just starting out in the wine business and a woman who had the same anniversary date as mine! What a crazy coincidence. Her and her husband had also decided to get married on Valentine’s Day.

Once Scott finally got in that night, we rested up for the long day we had planned ahead. We were going to spend the day with the dental equipment suppliers. They turned out to be fabulous hosts, actually, as they invited us on a tour of some of Oregon Wine Country’s best vineyards.

We had a blast on that trip, enjoying some delicious cheese and antipasto platters and sampling amazing wines, some of the best in this country! I’ll always remember the conversations I had with some of the vineyard owners—they felt like kindred spirits! I particularly enjoyed my conversation with the guys at Varnum Vintners, who definitely had a taste for both fine dining and fine wine.

In fact, once they learned about my cooking experience, we couldn’t stop talking about all of the amazing pairings one can experience between Oregon wine and Southern cooking. A particular recommendation that stood out to me was the pairing of the Varnum Pinot Noir Rosé with southern-style fried chicken. My mind instantly started racing at all the possibilities with my numerous fried chicken (and other fowl) recipes.

I promise I’ll get a traditional fried chicken recipe up on the website soon, and I’ll tell you what I think about that wine and chicken combo. In the meantime, some of my favorite sides to pair with fried chicken include: Southern Fried Cornbread, fried okra, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Black-Eyed Peas Salad, and Corn Pudding.