I’m starting a small window garden! Let’s Hope it works… there is basil, chives, and oregano. We’ll check back in a few weeks to see how it’s going!
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Archive for the 'wine' Category
Stacie and I have been drinking a lot more wine since we moved to Bloomington. I think I’ve said this before, but it’s (still) true. What happens is, when we’re picking up ingredients for that night’s dinner, we’ll pick up a bottle of wine that (we hope) goes with dinner.
Last night, the dinner was chicken and caesar salad. Plain ol’ chicken. I, off-handedly, said we should pick up a bottle of wine. I was joking. Sort of. So we settled on a pinot grigio–but, we were at the grocery store, not a big party store–and there wasn’t anything there over $20. Honestly, I’m not big on really expensive wines, anyway.
I think I’d heard or read something about 3 Blind Moose before, that it was a decent brand for the price. So, that’s how we settled. It certainly did not disappoint. It was light and crisp–and I just realized that if I were going to write about the wine, I should probably have paid more attention! But, the point–it was tasty, and for $7, it was priced right. We certainly enjoyed it.
Do you have any inexpensive wines you enjoy? Have any experience with 3 Blind Moose you want to share?
As a result of the Blog Swap, I actually came across another blog that talks about wine for people who don’t know wine. I like wine, a lot, but there are still many things that I don’t know. For instance, the extent of my wine knowledge is that the flavor of the wine should match the flavor of the food its served with (regardless of the “Red-White” debate).
I found this post particularly interesting. It describes the history of wine storage and the more recent development of storing wines for several years before storing them. It turns out, this is only a development of the last 200 years or so. The issue was wine would turn to vinegar (which I knew), so wine makers would fortify their wines with honey or top them the oil to keep them from turning. Very interesting!
Anyway, if you want to check out some of the more technical things about wine making, wine varieties, and wine storage, check out “Wine for Newbies,” both from this post and from the blog-roll on the right side of your screen.
Happy Saturday!
Since our move, my wife and I have been finding interesting ways to entertain ourselves. One such way has been to experiment with different wine flavors and try some things out with some of the meals we create.
Another thing we like to do is to bring some of the unique tastes of our home to our table–we’re originally from the Greater Cincinnati area. You wouldn’t think this area has some unique foods, but it’s very true. One of the things we miss most is Cincinnati Style Chili. I’ve not tried a good recipe for the chili, yet, because we can still get it from the grocery store in cans or in spice packets (our favorite Cincinnati style chili is Skyline).
So, I bought some ground beef and made some chili Friday night. My wife wanted to check out some wine, so I turned to my favorite wine pairing resource:
Food & Wine Pairings : Wine and Drinks: Party Ideas: Food Network
This site is great, because it gives you an idea of what flavors go well together. You see, the trick with pairing wine with food is to find a wine that has a similar flavor to the food you are serving it with. You’ll find that if you serve a sweet wine with a dessert, the sweetness of both mellows and the wine becomes a refreshing accompaniment.
The dominant flavors in Cincinnati style chili are garlic, cinnamon, and something sweet–maybe some nutmeg or chocolate. The grid doesn’t help much with that description. Looking at some of the foods it does suggested, I decided the food type that most likely had the same flavors was “Asian foods, Ham, Chicken, Turkey, Foie gras, and Cheese.” This is because these flavors are generally a little sweeter than savory. So my first suggestion for a wine was either a Riesling or a Gewurtztraminer. Both wines are white and little on the sweet side.
Second, since I was cooking ground beef, and there would presumably be a lot of grease, I wanted to suggest something that would cut through the grease and be sweet at the same time. This seems to describe most Champagnes or sparkling wines, so that was my second suggestion.
Finally, just to cross check to see if there was anything I missed, I ran a Google search for “skyline chili wine pairing” and the second hit was Best Zinfandel Wine Pairing Recipes - Top 20 Zinfandel Wine Pairing Recipes. Of course, this makes perfect sense–a regular Zinfandel (not white!) is a little on the sweet side, as well. So, that was my third suggestion.
Well, my wife picked up the wine, choosing a Gewurtztraminer. I have to say, it paired up very well with the chili. I don’t know the first thing about describing the combination to you, or the technical details of why it worked, but it did. I suspect that any other three types of wine would have been great, too, but that is another post for another day.
