This has been the longest week. Ever. You know how a short week can make the following week feel insanely long? Well, I’ve had several short weeks in a row (really not complaining about that part!) followed by a full week last week. This was technically another short week because I have every other Friday off *please don’t throw things at me*, but for some reason it felt like last week bled into this week. Needless to say, I was ready for Friday on Tuesday… or for Thursday, which was technically my Friday this week. 😉
To make my Tuesday feel a little more special, Josh and I had a wine and cheese dinner with a side of Blue Diamond almonds. They sent over Whole Natural and Rosemary & Black Pepper. I’ll be the first to admit that neither of us were originally very excited about the Rosemary & Black Pepper, but they were CRAZY AMAZING. Savory almonds definitely have a permanent place in my snack repertoire. To make a pairing, I settled on a smoked cheddar and parrano (which is basically if gouda and parmesan had a baby). I also grabbed a Michigan-made sparkling Riesling. Apparently it’s pretty rare to find a sparking Riesling (??) but any semi-sweet white wine, carbonated or not, will work well. (or maybe they’re really common and the guy at the store was just trying to upsell me).
So how did everything taste? FANTASTIC. The Whole Natural almonds were the perfect blank almond canvas and I love the only ingredient is almonds — exactly what I expect in something called “Whole Natural”. The Rosemary & Black Pepper were boldly flavored with black pepper, were extra salty, and the rosemary contributed a nice herby flavor. The semi-sweet wine complemented both nuts nicely and kept the black pepper from being too over powering — the guy at the store warned me that a drier wine might make for an overpowering black pepper taste (Note that the almonds eaten on their own are nicely balanced, so no worries if you aren’t into drinking a bottle of wine on a Tuesday). The cheeses probably didn’t add much to the nuts themselves, but why would you say no to cheese? They provided a contrast in flavors, at least, so you could taste all the deliciousness the almonds had to offer without getting monotonous when going for your 3rd handful 😉
This would make the perfect appetizer spread for a party, but I liked it as a low key weeknight. I’m going shopping for a bridesmaid dress this Sunday, and I can only picture how fantastic it would be for entertaining a group of ladies. Happy Friday everyone and have a fantastic weekend! Phew, I’m wordy today.
This post was sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds (through the Tastemakers program). I received free almonds but my opinions are absolutely 100% my own.
Tagged with: Almonds • Egg Free • Gluten Free • Party Food • Soy Free • Sponsored • Vegetarian
[…] especially the flavored ones, and I loved topping desserts with slivered almonds. When I got the whole natural and rosemary almonds is when I first started thinking about pairings. When I got the new honey flavors in the mail, I […]
What a great idea for a dinner! Love cheese with one glass of wine.
And your almonds are so good!
Yes, it’s really rare to find sparkling Riesling!
I’ll have to take full advantage of the fact that my local party store has a sparkling Riesling stocked then!
I am kind of addicted to diamond almonds. The honey vanilla are my current favorite. I can’t get enough! But the rosemary sounds great too!
Weeknight impromptu wine and cheese night?! I’m there! What a fun way to make a weeknight feel more special!
I’ve had their wasabi and soy sauce almonds and their habanero ones and they are both so good! I’ve never seen the rosemary and black pepper ones, but I imagine they are amazing too! I’ll have to keep an eye out for them!
Ooh, I haven’t seen those ones! Now that I know how much I love savory almonds I feel like I need to track all of them down
Ooo, those rosemary and black pepper almonds sound so good!