Two Buck Chuck is a love of my life. No kidding. During my, approximately 16 months of living in the Land of Port, we became good friends. And I have to give props to Pautz as the person whom introduced us. After all of her fond stories tasty glass fulls I was thrilled to finally live in a location where there was a Trader Joe's. Which brings me to a point: the nearest Trader Joe's is in Nashville. A glass of wine at the end of the day is one life's most delightful pleasures.
Cheap wine isn't like cheap liquor. It won't make you sick from cheap production or products. If the bottle of Two Buck Chuck didn't flip my bic I could have always used it in cooking, but that was never the case, and I've never felt bad from purchasing the low price wines. I can taste the difference in the good stuff but my wallet doesn't allow for that anymore. I drank a lot of wine in Hawaii, a lot more than I should have, a lot more liquor than we should have but I digress. Costco was allowed to sell liquor in the stores in that state therefore liquor and wine was ridiculously cheap and we could afford to buy really nice wines for sunsets on the lanai.
But the point of this blog is in response to this article on Slashfood. Most wines have the same alcohol content so that can't really be a factor. One can judge wine on the label or the vineyard reputation, which are noteworthy, but it really leaves the taste, and everyone's taste buds are different. Everyone interprets the smell and taste from wine differently despite an attempt to add smokiness, berries, wood, etc in the wine during production. I can't wait to visit a local Whole Foods and try a bottle from Three Wishes Vineyards.
What are your thoughts? Can a $3 bottle of wine taste good?
Cheers!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Just like Martha
Over the past few days as we were putting up our Christmas decorations, the Captain came across an older issue of Martha Stewart Living that had cups of hot cocoa with homemade marshmallow snowflakes on the cover. He made a comment and I took notice and yesterday Callie and I made him heart marshmallows for our hot cocoa. Snowflakes were not an option among my cookie cutters and since all I have is love...well..gag.
Upon his arrival home today, he was greeted with a delicious cup of hot cocoa with heart marshmallows. I think he was surprised. I was surprised. Why don't you be surprised also! They are surprisingly easy to make-check out this recipe!
Items needed:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3/4 cups of sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
Dash of salt
Lots of Pam cooking spray
1/3 cup of water
Cornstarch
Spray a 12x17 inch pan generously with cooking spray, line with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray again. Set aside.
Pour half of 1/3 cup of water in mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin on top, let set while you prepare the rest.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, vanilla, and rest of the water in medium saucepan. Stir well. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove lid, stirring occasionally until syrup reaches 238 degrees, apparently this is the "soft ball stage" of candy making.
Pour syrup mixture into gelatin mixture and start mixer on low. Slowly increase to high. Mix on high for about 12 minutes. Product should at least double in size.
Pour mixture on to slippery pan. Smooth down with a spatula which you have also generously sprayed with cooking spray. Trust me, this marshmallow mixture is sticky. After you have spread the mixture out to your depth preference, set aside for at least 2 hours. I let mine set nearly 24. My life gets busy peoples.
Coat your preferred cookie cutter shape with plenty of, yep you guessed it, cooking spray and cut out as many individual marshmallows as possible. After each marshmallow is cut, lightly dust it with cornstarch. This will prevent it from sticking with the others in the container. Sidenote: the cornstarch doesn't prevent perfect melting in the beverage nor does it affect taste. Storing these in an airtight container for a week will lead to many yummy cups of hot cocoa, and it's the perfect season for that!
Cheers
Upon his arrival home today, he was greeted with a delicious cup of hot cocoa with heart marshmallows. I think he was surprised. I was surprised. Why don't you be surprised also! They are surprisingly easy to make-check out this recipe!
Items needed:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3/4 cups of sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
Dash of salt
Lots of Pam cooking spray
1/3 cup of water
Cornstarch
Spray a 12x17 inch pan generously with cooking spray, line with parchment paper, spray with cooking spray again. Set aside.
Pour half of 1/3 cup of water in mixing bowl, sprinkle gelatin on top, let set while you prepare the rest.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, salt, vanilla, and rest of the water in medium saucepan. Stir well. Cover and bring to a boil. Remove lid, stirring occasionally until syrup reaches 238 degrees, apparently this is the "soft ball stage" of candy making.
Pour syrup mixture into gelatin mixture and start mixer on low. Slowly increase to high. Mix on high for about 12 minutes. Product should at least double in size.
Pour mixture on to slippery pan. Smooth down with a spatula which you have also generously sprayed with cooking spray. Trust me, this marshmallow mixture is sticky. After you have spread the mixture out to your depth preference, set aside for at least 2 hours. I let mine set nearly 24. My life gets busy peoples.
Coat your preferred cookie cutter shape with plenty of, yep you guessed it, cooking spray and cut out as many individual marshmallows as possible. After each marshmallow is cut, lightly dust it with cornstarch. This will prevent it from sticking with the others in the container. Sidenote: the cornstarch doesn't prevent perfect melting in the beverage nor does it affect taste. Storing these in an airtight container for a week will lead to many yummy cups of hot cocoa, and it's the perfect season for that!
Cheers
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