Wine Tasting for the Average Joe

Going to a wine tasting can be a very fun and enjoyable experience. However, many people do not attend for fear of not knowing exactly how to act or what to do. There no great mystery to wine tastings, just a few things you should remember.

As far as etiquette, usually the ladies are served before the gentlemen. Some wine tastings offer you bottled water. Use this to rinse out your mouth between tastings so your palate is clean for the next wine. There is often unsalted and unflavored crackers and bread to help palate cleansing as well. You should always handle the wine glass by the stem. This helps avoid heating the wine with the warmth of your hands, thus altering the taste. Avoid wearing strong perfumes and colognes to a wine tasting. That may take away from not only your smell, but also that of the other guests. Also, avoid smoking, gum, and mints before and during a wine tasting to be able to enjoy the full flavor of the wine.

You can tell a lot about a wine just by looking at its color. When you attend a wine tasting, the glasses should always be clear so you can get a good look at the wine. The tables may also be covered with white tablecloths to help you see the wine’s color clearly. Do not let the wine name full you. For example, white wines are not white in color. They may range from yellow to green to brown. Red wines range in color from pale red to a deep brownish red and often become lighter with age. Sometimes the color of a wine may indicate age or flavor. You may be able to tell the age of a red wine by doing a rim test. Tilt the glass slightly towards the rim of the wine glass and look at the wine. If the color of the red wine is more of a purple, it is usually a younger wine. If the color of the red wine is brown, it is an older wine.

Another thing you may have seen people do before they taste wine is swirl it slightly in the glass. This is to help open up the wine’s flavor. Remember that the wine may have been in a bottle anywhere from six months to many, many years. When someone swirls a wine, it helps release the flavors. Just like when you’re cooking at home and stir the food to help blend the flavors.

The color of the wine is just one aspect you will want to look at when you attend a wine tasting. You will also want to smell the wine. After swirling, this is the next step in the tasting process. You have probably seen people smell wine before and wondered why they did it. Smell plays a very important part in what we taste. Researchers have determined that perhaps as much as 75% of what we taste is actually based on what we smell first. You can smell your wine one of two ways: taking a small whiff to get an idea of how the wine smells, then a deeper whiff or take one deep whiff. After smelling the wine, take a minute to think about the smell. You do not want to immediately taste it after smelling but give yourself time to explore exactly what you smelled.

Finally, you will need to know is how to taste the wine properly. Your tongue has taste buds in both the front and back. These taste buds can detect bitter, salty, sweet, and sour flavors, but some are more sensitive than others are. There are three steps in tasting a wine: the first impression, the taste, and the aftertaste. The first impression happens when you take your first drink and the wine actually hits your taste buds. It should awaken your sense to the wine. After taking the first drink, you should swish the wine around your mouth for a few seconds to let all your taste buds discover the full flavor of the wine. Think about what the wine tastes like. Is it light or heavy? Is the smooth or harsh? The aftertaste is the sensation that remains in your mouth after swallowing the wine. How long did it last and was it pleasant?

Before attending a wine tasting, it may help you feel more confident to read about the different types of wines. This will give you a better idea of what to look for as far as flavor and taste. Next time you are invited to a wine tasting; do not be afraid to go. You may be missing a great experience!

Special Easter Recipes

As Easter draws near, we’re often left scrambling trying to find the right ham recipe for easter dinner, or even the right demi-glaze to make for that ham. What about dessert? Surely you’re going to need a great dessert recipe, right?

Well, I’ve included a couple of my own for your own use. Please feel free to use these recipes for your next family gathering and enjoy the feast that is sure to come.

1) Cinnamon Pork Roast
Serves 6
Ingredients:
• 3-1/2 to 4 pounds boneless center-cut pork loin roast
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 onion (about 1/2 cup), finely grated
• 4 garlic cloves (about 2 tablespoons), minced
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
Recipe Properties:

Combine cinnamon, salt pepper, sugar, onion, and garlic. Blend in 1 tablespoon soy sauce. If not spreadable, add another tablespoon of soy sauce. Rub mixture into loin. Refrigerate 3 hours to overnight. Grill pork over medium-low indirect fire 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until the internal temperature is 155 degrees F. Allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into thin slices.

2) Raspberry Glazed Ham
Ingredients:
1 (4-5 lb.) fully cooked boneless smoked ham
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/3 c. seedless red raspberry jam
1/4 c. dry white wine
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. butter

Recipe Properties:
Score ham in diamond pattern, if desired. Place on rack in a shallow roasting pan. Bake, uncovered, in 325 degree oven for 1-3/4 hours. Meanwhile, in small saucepan, blend wine and lemon juice into cornstarch. Add about half of the jam. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in remaining jam and butter. Heat and stir until butter is melted. Brush ham with raspberry glaze. Bake 10 minutes more. Spoon remaining glaze over ham. Garnish with watercress, if desired.

3) Scalloped Zucchini

Ingredients:
• 2 small zucchini, cut up and peeled
• 1 egg, beaten with one fourth cup whole milk
• 1 ounce pepper cheese
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 to 2 slices white bread, torn in pieces
• 1-4 ounce can mushrooms or 4 ounces fresh, sliced if large
• 1 ounce smoked sausage
Recipe Properties:

Mix all ingredients in a buttered casserole dish. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes. Easy dish to make, goes great as a side dish.

As you can see, there are some great recipes to make for Easter. Go ahead and stop by http://www.easterrecipes.org to find more recipes along with pictures and reviews of your favorites as well as ones you’ve never heard of. Good eating this holiday!

Why cheesecakes make the perfect gift.

Cheesecake makes a perfect gift. There are guidelines that should be followed when choosing the perfect gift. For one thing, the gift should be chosen specifically for a certain individual whose tastes are known to you. If you are not well acquainted with the recipient, you must give a general-type of gift that will not offend. Another guideline for choosing the perfect gift is that the gift must fit, and most important, if the recipient doesn’t like the gift, it must be passed on to someone else.

Do you know anyone who doesn’t like cheesecake and wouldn’t consider it the perfect gift? For gift-giving occasions the ultimate gift is one that is adored and can be shared with others, and this makes cheesecake the perfect gift. Even if the recipient is on a low fat, no fat, no sugar or no
carb diet, cheesecake is the perfect gift because it can be made to adhere to almost any diet by carefully choosing the ingredients. In today’s society there is almost no limit to the availability and variety of ingredients that go into a cheesecake.

Can you imagine the pleasure on the face of that special someone on whom you have bestowed a freshly made cheesecake? Add a few different toppings such as a variety of fruit toppings and streusels to adorn the cheesecake and you have created the perfect cheesecake gift. There are different varieties of cheesecakes such as the original New
York Cheesecake, which is probably the most well known of all the varieties.

Create a cheesecake in your own kitchen and present it in a special dish to a special person. When you see the pleasure on their face, you’ll know that cheesecake makes the perfect gift.

Send a Cheesecake to someone special today.

Ever Think About Getting A Barbeque Pit?

The barbeque pit has been around for ages. Some people claim that barbequing in the pit is better then cooking in the kitchen.

Barbeque pits came out around 1920. But they only became popular in the 1950 when practically everyone owned one. Back in those days more people had family and friends gathering and big cook outs, but now it’s hard to find time for all of that. But even if you use it once in a while it’s still wroth having.

You might find it challenging looking for a BBQ pit, but the best place to look for them is on the internet. There you can see how to build one from scratch; it’s not as hard as it sounds.

But before starting anything, be sure to check with your city, if you’re permitted to do so. Some may even require inspections before or after you build it, so be careful. Don’t just start making something in the back of hour house. See if you’re allowed to first you don’t want to get in trouble and pay a fine.

Take some time to research before you go see them. Decide if you want to add electricity or a gas burner, because their might be additional permit that are required, they might even ask you to have the electrical stuff be installed by a professional to ensure safety.

You’ve got to also decide on how extravagant of a pit you want. Do you want something simple or do you want to go all out. Think about how much you are willing to spend and your need. There are many optional features that you can have put in; in the end it’s up to you. There are many things to consider, such as what type of grill do you want, do you need a grill to place the food in or a place for the fire that is well ventilated.

There are boundless things to remember, like are you going to make the pit withstand the harsh climates that you may encounter. Think about the type of weather you receive. Think about where you’re going to place it, be sure that it looks good before you start building it.

If you need any help just look for books and check out the internet. Use all the resources you have before embarking on this big project.

Coffee Facts – A Brief History In Time

It is probably common knowledge that coffee was discovered in Ethiopia. The ‘red’ cherries which the sheep ate and become very active were taken home and tasted and what was known as the devil’s fruit become coffee as the world knows it today. However, this is just one of the stories which revolve around the history of coffee. Another tale which has been around for some time involves an Arabian who use coffee beans to survive an exile and was discovered near the town of Mocha and thus we also refer to coffee as Mocha. As you will read on, there are more to these interesting coffee facts.

Coffee remained in Arabia for quite some time and was a secret which Arabians were not keen to share with outsiders. India was one of the first few countries outside Arabia to get a taste of coffee and then there was no holding back the growth of popularity of this drink. There is a lot of history which revolves around coffee and many legends which exist which help in creating a mystique for the beverage. Famous luminaries seem to have had some kind of brush with the drink and it is said that The Boston Tea Party, so well known for throwing away boxes of tea, considered coffee drinking a patriotic act!

Coffee beans revolved and took the avatar of instant coffee which is used the world over. Many well known words and trends have been the output of coffee as it gets accepted as part of the global culture. Coffee facts tell us that countries such as Brazil have an entire economy dependant on the production of coffee and the United States is one of the largest coffee drinking nations in the world!

Bars in Tuscany – a Gastronomic Experience

A small town in Tuscany, ancient red brick and stone, narrow cobbled streets winding around the contours of the hill upon which it is built, a few shops, all closed now, as it is siesta time. The only sign of life comes from the doors of a bar, an appetising aroma of espresso coffee wafting out to give hope of food and sustenance to the tardy traveller. If you’re lucky it will be one of those bars that provide a fine array of freshly made sandwiches and pastries.

Italian bars are not primarily about drinking…alcohol that is. Coffee is their staple, the reputation of the barista stands or falls on the espresso he produces. (A fine, literary example is provided in ‘The Food of Love’ by Anthony Capella. Set in Rome, the barista is forever tinkering with his coffee machine in pursuit of the perfect coffee, cannibalising his van to add parts to the machine to build up ever-higher pressure.) Bars provide a social function: most of the neighbourhood will pass through the bar during the day, for a breakfast cappuccino and brioche (pastry), mid-morning espresso and regular doses of the same throughout the day. Even today most people stop work at lunchtime for a two or three hour siesta break, then work until 7 in the evening.

Anyone with any respect for their digestion would take a leisurely lunch either at home or in a restaurant or trattoria, but for those in too much of a hurry, wanting food on the go, the bar provides the equivalent of ‘fast-food’: tramezzini (sandwiches made with sliced bread, usually intended to be toasted), panini (filled rolls of all sorts), pastries both sweet and savoury, ice-creams. Of course quality varies – at worst a sad selection of curling-edged tramezzini, at best an enormous variety of breads and fillings, tantalisingly displayed and beautifully wrapped, if you intend to take away.

My memories of the best include: Nannini’s in Siena, where it can take hours just to choose; the bar in the main square of Colle di Val d’Elsa (Bassa), where you could get a slice of flaky-pastried pie filled with spinach, ricotta, egg and more that melted in the mouth and ice-cream that kept you there all day, just to try all the different flavours; a simple bar on the main road below Monteriggione, which would make you up a panino fresh, with a crusty roll and ample slices of prosciutto, carved straight from the ham, as you waited; a bar on the Via di Citta in Siena near the Duomo, which had the best breakfast brioches ever, tempting you beyond the sensible ‘just one’, into the realms of second cappuccino, second brioche and beyond!

It is eight years since I was last in Tuscany, (having children put a halt to travelling for a while), but I am sure that those bars still endure, serving coffee and food, the same mouth-watering treats: Tuscan ‘fast-food’ at its best.

Copyright 2006 Kit Heathcock