Our grapevine is growing across one side of our brick wall along a trellis. Let's just say we are going to get more grapes than we know what to do with! Perhaps it's time to take a stab at making wine? Hmm...

The grape leaves are so nice and delicate! We clipped about 20 grape leaves for this recipe.

We blanched the grape leaves for about 30 seconds to a minute, until it turns into a dark dull-green color.

We removed the blanched grape leaves and placed it in an ice bath to stop the cooking process.

Instead of the usual white rice, we thought it would be more Mediterranean to use couscous to stuff the grape leaves. Couscous is the easiest thing to prepare! It's just 1 cup couscous, 1 cup water, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 tsp butter (optional). Bring the water, salt and butter to a boil and add couscous. Stir quickly, remove from heat and cover. Let stand for 4-5 minutes and fluff with a fork before serving.

Sorry for the crappy photo! For the stuffing, we used 1 lb. ground pork and added 1/2 cup of cooked couscous, 1/4 cup minced shallots, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp finely chopped oregano, and 1 tsp finely chopped sage. Mix it together.

We took a blanched grape leaf and placed about a tbsp in the center. Next, we folded the stem end over the filling, folded in the edges of both sides, and wrapped it up. This is like rolling an eggroll!

In a large pan, place the 20 Dolmades down and pour in 1/2 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil, and just enough water to fill the grape leaves. You can also use chicken stock.

To prevent the stuffed grape leaves from floating around and unwrapping, we placed a heavy plate on top. Another option is to use a pan that will hold all of the rolls snugly, that way you don't have to worry about it moving around. This gets cooked on the stove at low heat for about an hour and a half. Let it cool in the liquid when done.

From our small vineyard to the dinner table! This is our version of Dolmades that is perfect as an appetizer or snack. It's definitely a great way to use the young grape leaves and put it to good use! The leaves are soft and has a tartness from the lemon juice, and the pork filling is flavorful from the fresh herbs. If you haven't eaten grape leaves lately, now's the time to try! We have plenty to give you. Ha!

Take about 5 cloves of garlic and thinly slice them and fry in vegetable oil. When they start to brown, take them out and place on paper towel and set aside.

We used 2 packages of 12 oz. brussels sprouts (24 oz total) but you can definitely use less. Quarter the sprouts and blanch them in salted boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain and shock them in an ice bath.

The ice bath is done by simply using 50% water and 50% ice in a bowl big enough for the sprouts. This helps keep the sprouts from continuing to cook and also helps retain the bright green color.

In a large pan, add some butter and olive oil and then drop in the brussels sprouts. Put the heat on high so that the sprouts get some brown color and continue to toss them. Next, add about 4 oz. of ponzu sauce and 4 oz. of soy dashi. (Tip: We didn't use soy dashi per the recipe, but instead used a little bit of miso which works just fine). Let this reduce to desired taste.

Toss the finished brussels sprouts with the reserved fried garlic, bonito flakes, and Togarashi spice (if available). Chef Lee's recipe actually includes guanciale, which is an unsmoked Italian bacon. We omitted this ingredient because 1) we didn't have any and 2) we wanted to make this a healthier version without the bacon. Ultimately, we still got a wonderful plate of brussels sprouts that is full of flavor from the ponzu sauce and bonito flakes. It's a winner in our book!

The key to good BBQ is the marination! We did a few different flavors to offer variety. For this photo, we took pork and dressed it up with olive oil, garlic, paprika, garlic powder, and fresh rosemary from our backyard.

For the Korean BBQ lovers, we took the remainder of the pork and soaked it with soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, brown sugar, plum sake, pear juice, ginger, garlic, and green onions. FYI, this is a great combination for short ribs (which we didn't have on hand).

Can't forget chicken! For this batch, we used mainly dry seasonings like paprika, garlic powder, dried onion flakes, garlic, pepper, seasoned salt, olive oil, and fresh chives - also from the handy dandy garden in the backyard. (We can't wait to show you photos of our herb garden when it gets huge!)

And finally, this crazy red thing here is basically pure Red Rooster hot sauce! You'd think it will turn out extremely spicy, but don't fret - it's actually very mild, with a little kick. You'd be surprised!

Looks like this is one happy BBQ grill. We couldn't forget corn on the cob and some grilled eggplant!

It was tough to get a picture of all the finished meat because our friends devoured it like there was no tomorrow. Luckily, I was able to save a few pieces of meat including the New York steak strip (no chicken though)! It was a fun and FULLfilling day. Don't you want to be our friends? Hehe.