Cooking

Date night at home

I wouldn't call it a tradition yet, but on a few special occasions we've stayed in and Scott's made us dinner. He likes to try new recipes, and it always involves several hours in the kitchen and a lot of research, prep and planning. I'll tidy our place up nicely and put on a pretty dress and some music (I recommend Carla Bruni's Quelqu'un M'a Dit, she has a voice like velvet), and we'll have dinner at home together. Aren't we nauseatingly romantic ?

We had plans to do that this year, and then the Leopard's Leap Wine Stork paid us a visit.

This marvellous image is from Snobby Tours, of Texas.

So suddenly we had a magnificent recipe, the ingredients to make it, and the perfect wine to pair it with. The recipe is one of Chef Pieter de Jager's creations: Roast salmon with olive, tomato and feta. Being Valentine's Day there was a rose theme. So the salmon paired with Leopard's Leap 2016 Chardonnay Pinot Noir.

I'll be honest with you Chef P... this one was an intimidating challenge. Scott rosé (hyuk hyuk hyuk) to the occasion and did it though, what a guy. And what a superb recipe. Click here to download it - and if you make it, be sure to tag @LeopardLeapWine and @Pieterdjgr on Twitter, and @LeopardsLeap on Instagram.

My part in all this was to set up a dining area. I'll take this opportunity to own the fact that we live in a very little studio apartment. The section with the desk in we refer to as The Office. The desk is actually a dining room table so it worked out nicely. And so, The Office morphed into The Dining Room to do some justice to Scott's kitchen-art.