Codi and I went to the gym yesterday and had a really good workout. To celebrate, I made a really tasty dessert – carmelized bananas (in a lavender and riesling reduction), vanilla ice cream and shortbread cookies from the Honolulu cookie company. Yum!

Both Codi and I had our birthdays this week (today is Codi’s 24th, and my 36th was on July 18). Happy birthdays to us! =)

After stopping at Argyle Winery the other day, I drove up to Knudsen Vineyard where Argyle grows most of its premium grapes. The skies were gorgeous and the vines were so alive and fresh! The grapes aren’t juicy yet, and this raging heat isn’t really helping a lot, but they’ll be tasty by the end of August.

Can you see Mt. Hood in the distance?

Codi and I went raspberry picking again today. We picked nearly 8 pounds of fresh Coho and Willamette raspberries! When we got home, I made a fresh raspberry coulis for a special dessert dish (vanilla bean ice cream, raspberry coulis and carmelized banana – wowow!).

Of course, the base of this coulis is Argyle Winery’s special Blanc de Blancs sparkling wine, straight from the Dundee Hills.

As a sweetener and special flavor surprise, I used natural lavender syrup made from local lavender fields – that and very rare white Hawaiian honey from the kiawe tree. OMG, this is good stuff!

Once strained, the coulis will chill and thicken a bit. It should be served cold along side the vanilla bean ice cream and carmelized bananas. Diet shmiet.