Wine - The Experience & the Adventure

1 Package Fettucine noodles - cook to directions

1 cup cream & 1 egg yolk (Mix together)
1/2 cup Romano Cheese
1 stick real butter

Mix together while noodles are hot. Sprinkle with
Parmesan.

I cannot tell where it came from, but trust me
it's the best !

Here is a tip to decipher what "Open Bar" means
when you go to sign that all important Catering Contract for your Wedding.

It is not necessary to have an Open Bar for the entire reception or for even more than one or two hours.

Here is the best way to get the most out of your beverage buck with everyone happy including your checkbook.

For the first hour you can have an open bar which means upon entering guests will be offered a beverage choice of cocktails, mixed drinks, or beer and wine or sodas.

Again, you pay for the brand a call brand such as a normal bar drink like scotch will cost less for say J & B vs. Chevas Regal. If you go to a premium bar (top shelf liquor) that costs a lot more. A call brand is usually sufficient unless it is a really upscale event.

House brands are the best buys of the house which are offered to the hotel. You can get your best discounts on the house brands vs. the call brands.
And call brands cost less then premium bar brands.

You only need 1 hour of open bar before the dinner,
so no one gets overly intoxicated.

A really cost effective thing is to close the bar during dinner and offer wine to be poured by the glass. You can specify once around or twice around during the dinner, usually once is sufficient. Again, if you use a house wine instead of a named wine which is not house it will cost you less. Just specify if you want red or white to be poured.

You can also opt to have a champagne toast, this can be used in lieu of wine poured or in addition.

After the dinner, you can reopen the bar for one or two hours. Again, a rule of thumb is one more hour open bar say call brands and after that you can go to a cash bar for an hour or two.

This is a good suggestion because once they are paying people do not generally imbibe as much which is good for them as well. Sometimes the open bar is paid by the couple for one or two hours after the dinner but is rare to open the bar for 3 more hours.

If you think about it this is far better than open bar throughout and you will save a lot of money.

People can only drink so much anyways.

Cheers !

ok, she did win a prize for this so here goes:

APPETIZER PIE

1 - 8oz. package of cream cheese (softened)
2 - Tablespoons milk
1 - 2 1/2 ounce jar of slice dried beef, finely chopped
2 - Tablespoons instant minced onion
2 - Tablespoons finely chopped green pepper
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup dairy sour cream
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts.

Blend Cream Cheese and milk. Stir in dried beef, onion, green pepper and pepper, mix well. Stir in sour cream. Spoon into 8 inch pie pan (can use
foil pie pan). Sprinkle walnuts over top. Bake at 350 degree oven for fiteen minutes. Serve hot with Triscuits or other bland cracker.

You don't have to have a special occasion or a party to celebrate. Have this fabulous dessert on hand and offer a glass of wine with it. Try it at home, I know you're going to love it !

Cheesecake Cups

2 - 8 ounce packages of cream cheese
3/4 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
1/2 Teaspoon of Lemon Juice
24 Vanilla Wafers
Can of fruit pie filling (blueberry, cherry of pineapple)

Silver Foil Cupcake Holders (in baking section at the grocery store)

(20 cups)

Soften cream cheese in a bowl and blend with all of the above ingredients. After mixed, pour into individual cups with a wafer on the bottom.

When cool garnish with cherry, pineapple or blueberry pie filling.

Salud!

Notice how all good things attract an audience? Go to any local wine tasting and you are likely to see curious guests observing, learning and asking questions about wine. What other experience lets you swirl, taste, smell and combine flavors while tasting great food and quenching your thirst at the same time? I am sure this is why we all enjoy wine and the total experience. In Europe they are much more accustomed as wine is part of their life but here we are babies in terms of wine culture. If you saw the movie Sideways (hilarious) all wine experiences are certainly nothing like this. In Napa Valley and Sonoma they have learned to live the wine culture a little bit and we give them credit. It is for all us other novices that our experiences can be shared. Join us for some fun and opinions. We do not claim to be experts at all.

Ok, picture this. A scene from of a food television show with 10,000 people in the audience. This is what an experience at a food trade show is like. Let me give you the step by step agenda of what actually happens. On the first day, we were loading in and that was basically bringing your own product to the dock and hand carrying it in with a dolly to storage before the event. (We exhibited wine). Before that our task was to pick out our booth exhibit space and make sure the signage was correct and double check the diagram. On the initial day of the show everything went smooth but we only had one person on staff. It was a Friday afternoon. Everything was going fine when he ran out of cups. I got an emergency phone call "We're out of cups". Luckily the office was 15 minutes away and our warehouse manager rushed over with 600 more cups. The next day we got started early (no one drinks before noon, anyways) by that time we were friends with the cheese vendors and a couple of chefs that we were exchanging food for wine (nice). Anyways, all that brought activity to our booth which is where the fun starts and for 3 days we did nothing but pour 1 oz. samples of 4 different kinds of wine. Being they were all foodservice professionals no one went away disappointed and we exchanged a frenzy of brochures, business cards and notes to each other.
(who has time to sell???) We saw a lot of chefs who were on break and they had a lot of questions also. Meanwhile there was literally tons of food coming from every direction. Seafood, appetizers, desserts, cheese, wine, soft drinks, you name it they had it. No one went away hungry. It was a great experience and afterwards we got a lot of calls and some new business out of it. It's a rewarding event and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the business and also if you can buy admission anyone else would enjoy it, too.

Technically, there is a difference but in the real world they are all referred to as one and the same.
We are speaking of wines from Italy, particularly the Tuscan region, being that they do not have to conform to DOC or DOCG guidelines which stipulate very high percentages of Sangiovese grapes. So, IGT refers to yes they are from a particular region but no they are not DOCG status. They still have Sangiovese but can be mixed with other grapes such as merlot, cab, and so forth. The quality is also good as some people prefer the mixture hence the name SuperTuscan. Table wine means a good wine from the region that everyone uses all the time a/k/a "table wine". You will find IGT's in both Red & White. Feel free to correct as needed and we can have the debate of urban legend or not, however, as we hear it this is how the story is told.

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A common misconception of a flight of wines is that we are going on a trip. Yes, we are so to speak but hopefully not one that will cause you to fall down. In the wine world, when we say a "flight" or a flight of wines what we mean is you will be tasting a few. Now it varies on what should be the first leg of the flight. The experts assume white should be tasted first; however, I vary mine from high to low in price, or low to high, white, and then red, or just 2 high. Whatever. By logic, my favorite being Italian, I like to start with an IGT Red, Classico, and then Riserva. ( we are speaking about Chianti Classico and Chianti Classico Riserva). Or if you want to go uptown, do a Rosso di Montalcino and then a Brunello. Or you can also do IGT, Classico, Riserva, and Brunello or the other way around. With me it all depends on my mood at the time. They all work when you are trying good wine. Just don't try to put a bad one in there. Salud.

This is like one of those multiple choice questions from school. (Or if you're into math call it a thought problem). The consensus on the Best Vintages for Italian Region wines (Tuscany) from the recent past.

A. Best - Vintage 1997 - Type: Chianti Classico Riserva & Brunello di Montalcino

B. Good - Vintage 2001 - Type: Chianti Classico Riserva & Brunello di Montalcino (and some Super Tuscans)

C. Better - Vintage 2004, 2005 & 2006 - TBD To be
Determined.

Why you may ask is 2004 & up TBD. The answer is because Riserva has to be aged in the barrel at least two years after the harvest (difference between Classico & Riserva) so those are just coming up and before all the tasters agree we won't have a definitive answer yet. (Any Sommeliers out there?)

Also, in regards to aging....YES these wines are considered to come to their best quality from 5 to 10 years beyond the bottled shelf date. If you want proof check out the prices on your favorite wine webs, and see what they are asking for 1997 Brunello? Isn't it great we live in a free country?

Buy and enjoy it now or later, it's up to you. But as one fellow wine drinker told me, how is it possible to save good wine? Well that is another TBD answer.

Salud.

Wine is as ancient as history. In fact it goes back to Biblical times. It is not a new thing for those of us who have just discovered our favorite wine. It also unconditional for location, type or taste. You can have any kind of wine you want from anywhere in the world. In today's market there are so many ways you can find good wine. It is on the menu in your favorite restaurant, in the grocery store, gourmet food market, beverage store, and last but not least on the internet. It goes through the supply and demand chain and is labor intensive from manufacturing to distribution to the front of the house. The Sommelier or waiter is at your service to find the best selections. There is hands on learning all the way from the vineyard/winegrower to the tasting notes, to training in the field. All these people and all these customers have one thing in common. They like wine!
So it is not just a glass of wine but the total experience of everyone involved. Our advice is to find out what your favorite wine is, and then to suggestively seek it in all the different avenues available. This will help increase your knowledge of wine and bring consumer satisfaction at a reasonable price point.

Ever notice there are always legends associated with wine? I heard a few this weekend at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival in Disneyworld. One talk was about the difference between old vines and new vines. Another one was about Old World wines vs. New World wines.

Certain wines are made from older vines because of the quality of the grapes. Old vines have longer roots and the wines can become more dense and complex due to the nature of the grapes from the older vines. Young vines can also produce good wines but there is a difference in the grape and therefore the wine.

As far as the Old World vs. New World wines; the old world wines are from countries such as Italy, France and Greece. Winemaking has been in their culture for centures. New World wines are from countries such as the United States, Australia and Argentina that have not been producing quality wines as long. The choice is totally up to you. Old vs. New or Old vs. Young. Whatever appeals to your taste is the best wine for you. One more legend as a final thought; the reason a cork is used to close wine bottles frequently is mainly due to tradition.

Salud

A beautiful Bar & Stools by Thomasville.

See the Hemmingway collection at www.thomasville.com

This top will look great anywhere. It's also
a great price.

Find it at:

www.anatomiestyle.com

Classic Collection

Put on the ritz and go in style.

www.anatomiestyle.com

JET SET Collection