Wine Cork Place Card Holders

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Having a dinner party with assigned seating?  Can’t decide on how to display your guests’ name? Well T.W.O. has the perfect solution for you! All those wine corks you are “saving” for a special occasion can finally come in handy.  It’s as easy as one…T.W.O.…three!!

What you will need:

– Name Tags (T.W.O. printed the name tags on Avery template pages)
– Wine Corks
– X-Acto Knife or Swish Army Knife

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Step 1: Design and print out your name tags.

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Step 2: Using your knife, cut a ½ cm deep line into the cork (lengthwise).

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Step 3: Place the name tag in the slit and make sure it’s secured. *

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Voilà!

Now that’s an easy DIY project! Happy designing!!!

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* If the wine cork place card isn’t standing upright, shave the bottom of the cork to create a flatter surface.

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Grilled Peach Caprese Chicken Salad

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Labor Day weekend is almost here, so get that BBQ fired up because T.W.O. is ready to grill a Peach Caprese Chicken Salad with you! T.W.O. decided to put a little spin to the traditional caprese salad and add grilled peaches for some sweetness and chicken for extra protein. It is a healthy, refreshing dish that everyone can enjoy!

Grilled Peach Caprese Chicken Salad

Ingredients

– Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
– Fresh peaches
– Fresh buffalo mozzarella
– Tomatoes
– Cucumbers
– Crimini Mushrooms
– Lettuce of your choice
– Balsamic dressing

First, season your chicken breast with your choice of spices. T.W.O. used Krazy salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Let the chicken season for about 8-10 minutes.

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In the meantime, fire up your grill and wash your lettuce, vegetables and peaches. Cut your peaches in half and remove the pit. Next, place your chicken on a clean grill and turn the temperature down to low-medium, depending on how hot your grill gets. While the chicken is grilling, start chopping up your lettuce, cucumbers, and mushrooms. After the chicken has been grilling for about 8 minutes, place your peaches on the grill, cut side down. Keep a close eye on the peaches and chicken because you don’t want them to burn! Assemble your tomato and cheese stacks.

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When the chicken and peaches are done, cut the chicken into strips and the peaches into slices. Alternate the chicken and peaches in between the cheese stacks to create your “caprese” salad. Next place the caprese salad on top of the bed of lettuce with cucumber and mushrooms. Finish the dish with a balsamic dressing of your choice. Wah-lah! Now you can enjoy this original, gastronomical dish this holiday weekend with your family and friends.

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peach salad

Wine PairingT.W.O. suggests a Rosé

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T.W.O. Throws in the Towel!

One of the most popular hostess gifts is a bottle of wine. And the most popular way to bring the bottle is unwrapped, no gift bag. The main reason for not having a bag is that you forgot to purchase the bag or you think to yourself, “They will just throw it in the trash anyways!” Well, T.W.O. has a solution for you….Just “throw in the towel” and you will have yourself an original hostess gift! Plus, the host can use the towel again! Not just throw it away.

What you will need:

-Decorative kitchen towel, brand new
-Raffia
-Wine bottle

IMG_1882*T.W.O. has featured one of their favorite Old Vine Zins by Brazin.

Take your kitchen towel and lay it flat on a table. Place your wine bottle in the center of the towel. Gather the ends of the towel and bring up, towards the center of the wine bottle so that it is entirely covered. If your towel is on the larger side, you might need to twist it when wrapping the wine bottle so the ends are not flopping over. Secure the towel in place by tying the raffia around the neck of the wine bottle in a knot. Finish with a bow. You could also add a little name tag (tying it when making the knot) to make it more personable. Now you are all set for the party!

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Friday Night Pizza

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Friday Night Pizza has been a tradition in T.W.O.’s family for decades.  It’s one night of the week that everyone partakes in the preparation of dinner by creating his or her own pizza.  It’s all about the dough, the ingredients and the cooking style that makes every week a unique experiment.  We aren’t afraid of trying new recipes and of course making it our own….T.W.O.!

T.W.O.’s first featured Friday Night Pizza was taken place in San Francisco with family.  Around 6pm, everyone was in the kitchen chopping, shredding and dicing their favorite ingredients.

The chefs made a total of 4 pizzas:

1. Peach & Ricotta Pizza with Arugula
2. BBQ Chicken Pizza
3. Deep Dish Pizza
4. Chicken & Pesto Pizza

PHOTOS BELOW:

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T.W.O. will be featuring the Peach & Ricotta Pizza with Arugula

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Ingredients:

1 – pizza dough (T.W.O. suggests using SF’s Molinari’s pizza dough or Whole Food’s brand)
1 – yellow peach, ripe
1 – cup ricotta cheese
2 – tablespoons honey
½ – cup balsamic vinegar
1- tablespoon olive oil
¼ – cup lemon juice
8-10- fresh basil leaves
1 ½- cups arugula
¼ – cup cornmeal
Flour
Pizza Stone

The key to having a perfectly rolled out pizza is to make sure the dough is at room temperature.  Roll out the dough on a floured surface that is lightly sprinkled with cornmeal.  Once rolled out evenly in a circular shape, place the dough on a pizza stone.  T.W.O. decided to bake their pizza on a stone so that the crust would be thinner and the peaches would not be buried inside the dough.

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In a separate bowl, mix the arugula, olive oil, ¼ cup balsamic vinegar and lemon juice.  Place aside for later.

Now it’s ricotta time! First, add the honey to the ricotta and mix well.  Spread the ricotta/ honey mixture evenly on the dough. Make sure your spread it all the way to the edges. Thinly slice the peaches and remove the stems from the basil.  Next, place the peaches and basil on the ricotta.  Once the pizza is “dressed,” start the BBQ.  It is important to make sure the BBQ is pre-heated so that it cooks at the set temperature.  (The temperature should be around 414° – 450° depending on your BBQ)

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BBQ the pizza for about 15 minutes, depending on how you like your crust.  T.W.O. highly suggests that you take your glass of wine out to the BBQ and watch the pizza, so you achieve the perfect crust and not a charbroiled crisp!

Once the pizza is done, drizzle ¼ cup of the remaining balsamic vinegar on the peach, ricotta and basil topping.  To finish, add the arugula salad to the top of the pizza.  Now you are ready to serve! Bon Appetit!

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Wine Pairing Suggestions: Kaz, Winemakers Red Blend (of course, signed by the winemaker himself!)

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