Wine Class #3- Pairings

...taking a wine class. this evening i took a wine class at brooklyn oenology in williamsburg, brooklyn (of course!). it was soooo much fun and interesting. one thing that i loved about boe is that everything that is sold: wine (all the grapes are grown in ny and the labels on the bottles feature brooklyn artists (sooo cool)), cheese, meat, or other snacks are made in new york, quite a bit of them even made in brooklyn (i'm totally down for supporting the n.y. economy!!) the owner of the boe was the one to lead the wine class which was on pairing wine, cheese and cured meat. she put together 5 pairings for us.

wine: 2009 boe friend riesling (seneca lake, finger lakes)

meat: finochietta, salumeria biellese (pork salami, seasoned with fennel seed and fennel pollen)

cheese: kunik (triple cream, white mold ripened from goats milk and jersey cow cream)
**best pairing**

wine: 2007 boe chardonnay (cutchogue, north fork of long island)
meat: cacciatorini, salumeria biellese (coarse ground, air cured pork sausage, seasoned with red wine and garlic)
cheese: barat, sprout creek farm (raw cow's milk--dense and dry)

wine: 2009 boe cabernet franc rose (seneca lake, finger lake)
meat: salami toscana, salumeria biellese (coarsely ground berkshire pork shoulder, seasoned with traditional tuscan spices)
cheese: frere fumant, 3 corner field farm (raw sheep's milk)

wine: 2006 boe merlot (cutchgue/ southold, north fork of long island)
meat: ciacciatorini al diavolo, salumeria biellese (seasoned with mediterranean spices)--quite spicy
cheese: eden, sprout creek farm (raw cow's milk)--stinky

**bonus**
wine: 2009 bouke perlant (mattituck/cutchogue/southold, north fork of long island)
sweet: better brittle west-african style peanut brittle-- the bomb diggity!!!!!!!! best peanut brittle ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so of course i tried everything, and it was crazy how the wines complimented the meats and cheeses they were paired with. though i would probably never eat cheese made from sheep's milk on my own, with this cabernet franc it was so delicious!! that one was definitly a surprise.  the first pairing was the best of the four. the wine was tasty, i liked the creaminess of the cheese (tasted almost like soft cream cheese) and the meat was a great compliment. i even learned a few things: 1. spicy foods go great with sweet wines. 2. rose= red wine + white wine. 3. rose wines are made from bleeding the skins of red grapes. bleeding the skins for a small amount of time= rose. bleeding the skins for a long period of time= red. 4. dry wine= no sugar is added to the wine. there are a couple that i would definitely buy in the future but i didn't buy any wines this time. however, i did buy some treats made in new york/brooklyn ... peanut brittle, bourbon-coffee caramel corn with candied bacon popcorn, and sweet potato chips (i am salivating just telling you about them! i can't wait til tomorrow so i can eat them!!). the owner was interesting and informative causing me to thoroughly enjoy myself during this experience. this is totally something i would like to do again!

xo

Irie Man! Jamaican Jerk and more...

...taking a cooking class at mopac (meet other people and cook) in williamsburg, brooklyn! you might be saying to yourself, c'mon aimee you don't know how to cook at your age?? i don't want to toot my own horn, buut...i'm gonna :), yyyeeaahhh i can cook and i cook pretty well!! i really took this class to see what a cooking class was like. overall it was a pretty good experience. the class started at 6:30 and as usual i was early so i got first dibs on where i wanted to sit and i kinda set the tone for the class. as people came in, they sat in my general area.  i thought that was cool because usually people tend to spread out to giving themselves some space, making it hard to get acquainted.  as an icebreaker, we were given a sheet of paper with questions and we had to ask 4 of them to someone in the room we didn't know (that was easy for me because i didn't know anyone!). they were questions like: lake or ocean? chinese or thai? facebook or twitter? what do you know about west indian food? beer or wine? subway or driving?--those were the popular ones...what was nice was that in the beginning the 10 of us started off in pairs and like 5 minutes into the icebreaker we ended up in a big circle talking together. the actual cooking session started around 7. first we made escovitch fish (a fried piece of tilapia sauteed in a vinegar/onion/carrots/peppers concoction), fried plantains and jerk chicken (really, it was chicken with jerk seasoning...totally different). because i'm used to seasoning my meat/fish before i cook it,  it was so weird for me to throw (place gently in the oil) a fresh piece of meat on the stove. for a 2 hour class the food tasted the best it could taste and i would try the recipes again at home when i have time to season my meat and soak it in a marinade. the best part of the class was meeting the people, they were very cool. we all talked through the entire class getting to know one another, i even exchanged info with a few people to catch up at a later date. this is definitely a great class to introduce you to west indian food if you're not familiar with it. since i have an idea of what these dishes taste like authentically, when i get the recipes, i think i might have to do some tweaking. nonetheless i've already signed up for another class--fun time, great experience!! can't wait to do it again!!

escovitch fish

xo

jerk chicken with fried plantains

DiGiorno Pizza

...eating a digiorno pizza. you might think this is a whack first but i wanted to share it with you-- you may need digiorno in your life!!!!! it is without a doubt the best frozen pizza in the world (yes, that's what i said)!!!! i am not even joking! we've all seen the commercials and we know their slogan, 'it's not delivery, it's digiorno' -- well as far as i'm concerned they don't need to be delivery because it tasted better than any delivery pizza i've ever tasted...or maybe they should deliver and put the others out of business (haha, that was mean)!!! what i liked most about this pizza was that the crust wasn't hard at all after baking (a serious problem that i've had with all the other frozen pizzas, cutting the inside of my mouth because the crust was so hard... i felt like i was chewing on tiny knives, hahaha -- that may sound a little extreme but that's how it felt!). yes, the crust was soft all the way through, the sauce was delicious (you could taste the seasoning) the cheese was good, and it evenly covered the pizza. i decided to try digiorno on a whim as i walked through the frozen food section of target and what a wonderful spontaneous purchase! i think this is a great dinner for 2 on a rainy night with a bottle of wine (or juice, if that's your preference) and a movie!! until there is another pizza that can compete, i will never buy another!!!!

xo

Redmond Ranch Zinfandel

...drinking redmond ranch zinfandel 2007. i bought this wine a couple of weeks ago from wineinsiders.com for the great price of $9.99. i actually tried it on wednesday night and didn't like it, however when i read about it, it recomended that you drink it at room temperature. i tried it again tonight and i really enjoyed it! who would have thought that the temperature would make such a difference...not me! it was really much more tasty and full of flavor at room temperature. this is a red california wine that contains the fruit flavors of berries and cherries with a slight taste of grittiness and spice. when i starting drinking it, i suddenly started craving lasagna or a piece of steak. though i prefer white wines, this is another wine i would definitely try again with some sort of beef dish on the side.

xo

Almond Milk

...drinking almond milk. i wanted to try it for a long time, however, i didn't want to waste the money buying a half gallon just in case i didn't like it. while visiting a friend's house, i peeped in their fridge (i asked permission to peep, i promise!!) and got excited when i saw the almond milk (this one was from whole foods) because now i could finally try it. almond milk is sooo delicious and creamy. it tasted like melted ice cream...it was a delightful surprise. i really enjoyed it. this is a great alternative if you can't drink regular cow's milk. i will definitely head to the supermarket to get me some almond milk and you should too!!

xo

PopChips and Baked by Melissa

...eating popchips and cupcakes baked by melissa. i've seen popchips in the store for years and for the life of me i don't know why i never tried them. popchips are supposedly healthy because they are neither baked or fried but they tasted fried to me. supposedly they add a little heat and pressure and pop goes the chip! i don't know if you remember munchos potato chips from back in the day (they may still be around), well the orignal popchips tasted exactly like that minus the truck load of salt that munchos had or may still on them. i could take or leave popchips, i think target or lays baked chips taste better...while i was visiting midtown this evening i passed baked by melissa on e.42nd street, right off of lexington ave (next door to grand central station). i was drawn into baked my melissa for a couple of reasons: 1. the decor was completely white and the cupcakes drew me with all their vibrant colors!  2. midtown is very monotone, all the buildings are the same color but baked by melissa was such a bright spot on the block--i was drawn right in!! the cupcakes are the size of quarters (bite size) --i was slightly disappointed by this but i guess that's melissa's thing, so i won't knock it. i wondered how many i would have to eat to get the full taste of the cupcake. i bought 6 for $5.50, 2 red velvet (of course), 1 cookies n cream, 1 cinnamon, 1 cookie dough, 1 tie dye. of course, i tried the red velvet first. not badddd...not the best red velvet i've ever tasted, but delicious and light enough that i would definitely eat more and more and more. it's a great place to stop in for a quick tiny treat in midtown!!

xo

Tasting Brooklyn, ohh so good!

...tasting so many delightful delectables made in brooklyn. this evening i went to a event called the first annual brooklyn exposed: tasting brooklyn. it was about 25 brooklyn restaurants and businesses that brought samples of their food, wine and drinks... it was soo a-mazing!! most of the restaurants are located in park slope, williamsburg, red hook, prospect heights and cobble hill. restaurants like: mojito, bati, cheryl's global soul, boe, barrio, fornino, the chocolate room, palo santo, stone park cafe--just to name a few... the slogan for the event was eat, drink, be merry-- exactly what i did!! when i was originally told about this event, i wasn't all that eager about the ticket price--$35, however as i read the details i upgraded to the vip ticket -$60, which included a gift bag worth $110 and entry into the event and hour early.... and boy was it worth it!!!!!  i was able to enjoy and savor everything before most of the public came in to touch and spit all over it, haha!! i was able to talk to the owners of businesses and/or those that work for them about the passion of food or how their businesses got started. it was quite interesting!! the menu consisted of things like:  lamb sliders, they were soo juicy, succulent-- cappuccino chocolate cheesecake, it was pretty good even though i'm not a lover of anything with a coffee flavor-- rabbit tosadas (yup you read that right!) that were actually pretty tasty--crab cakes that were totally and utterly a-mazzziiinnggg!!! seriously they were the best crab cakes i've ever tasted, you could taste and actually see the crab. i've never shopped at fairway supermarket but i seriously need and want to take a trip to red hook to stock up on crab cakes-- the duck and orka jumbo was very good. it was full of flavor and spice with a kick-- chicken and pork adobo in purple yam pan de sal with philippine heirloom rice, it was interesting. the rice was just ok because even though it looked good, it really had no taste. the chicken and pork adobo was actually pretty good. the braised short rib ravioli was also ok the meat was wayy better than the pasta part so i ate out the inside and threw away the outside. there was also stuffed mushroom crostini, jerk wings, german sausage, shrimp rolls, herbal water, ham croquettes, spinach croquettes, breuckelen cupcakes--seriously, overall everything was good, along with my gift bag, i totally got my $60 worth!!! i was so glad i upgraded to be vip! as i passed those waiting in line to get in, i said, "suckas, i bet you wish you were vip like me!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahaha! since this event is annual, i will definitely be there next year, life be spared!! if you missed this you definitely missed something awesome!!! you better catch it next year!!!!

 

xo