Wine and Spirits

We’re going out for Chinese Food tonight which prompts the question: “What wine pairs well with Chinese?” Like the Dude in the photo, a nice cold beer sounds just about right. But, what if beer makes you bloated or you’re just not a beer-kind-of-person? A great choice for a spicy meal is a Spanish Cava, which is a dry white sparkling wine similar to Champagne. A personal favorite to quaff with spicy Asian food is Freixenet Cordon Negro Brut. If you’ve never consumed this magical wine in the classic black bottle, try it the next time your meal is too spicy for a traditional choice. For example, with our Texas Grilled Shrimp recipe, with a Curry, even with BBQ. Now, back to the issue of wine pairing with Chinese cuisine. It seems Read more [...]

It is perfectly fitting that this first post should be about something very odd, but hopefully interesting and useful. Anyone familiar with foraging in Hawaii or Florida has probably spied a bush loaded with red berries. And, anyone brave enough to taste the berry would have a reaction based upon the exact stage of ripeness of the fruit. At any stage other than being ripe enough to drop off its stem, this fruit will be very sour and quite bitter. However, when you can easily remove the fruit without twisting it off its stem, it is deliciously sweet and tart with a pleasing vegetal aftertaste, and just a slight note of bitterness (tannins). Sounds like a wine description, doesn’t it? Not being wine makers, we decided to attempt to make flavored Read more [...]

Chabernet with Chinese

Pitanga Flavored Vodka