I drink and I smoke!

Hey, I bet you just got a visual of me! Ha! But what I mean is, I drink great wine and I smoke food on a smoker. What? Let me explain.

I live in Northern California and LOVE eating outside during the spring, summer, and fall. A few years ago, my husband, a licensed general contractor, built me an outdoor kitchen. My love for this kitchen is deep! However, the grill he installed scared the living daylights out of me. I was literally afraid to use it, and my husband, busy with work, didn’t have time to grill. So, I found a school—yes, a BBQ school. We signed up for classes and spent a weekend in San Francisco, CA, learning all about grilling, using that intimidating grill, and getting creative with our summer meals. Then, there was a segment on smoking. Hmm, I thought I wouldn’t want to do that, but since it was part of the course, we gladly learned about it.

This is where things took a turn—I became OBSESSED with smoking food. I mean, really obsessed! So guess what? We came back home and bought a Traeger smoker! And guess what I do more than grill now? Yes, you guessed it—I smoke!

As a sommelier, I love pairing wines with food, and I find it super fun and interesting to pair smoked foods with wine. Does anyone else smoke? Let’s talk!