The Dingo Ate My Baby!

The Australian wine tasting we held was a huge success. We've been part of this group for a year now and I believe that Australia, surprisingly, produced the best wines we've tasted so far. I actually didn't even want to do Australia but Bill talked me into it. We did steer people away from Yellow Tail by quoting the statistic that YT is the #1 import in the US (which I'm still shocked by). We were also surprised that no one brought any Rosemont Estates or Penfolds.

We always provide a sheet for taking notes but due to confusion over my notes, B and I had to devise a new method. Before, as the night would go on, my notes - for the same wine - would be: "Just okay. Yummy! Good. Great!" Obviously when reading these the next day, you had no idea what I really thought as I apparently didn't either. The note "pretty good" has also caused problems. There's "pretty good" as in "Eh, it's pretty good." and then there's "pretty good" as in "Wow! That's pretty good!". This time, we decided to go with "buy/no buy" because that's really all it should come down to - would you want to drink it again or not.

While I did stick to the plan so my notes were much less ambiguous, I did start to lose some descriptive adjectives towards the end. Here are some of the standouts from the night.

• 2006 The Innocent Viognier - Sweeter than most viogniers; medium bodied (Side note: By dumb luck, we were able to try The Guilty Shiraz the very next night. It's a buy. They also make The Verdict Cabernet which I'd really like to try.)
• 2007 Brujeria blend - smelled and tasted like BBQ; would def buy
• 2006 Schist Rock Shiraz - like!
• 2006 St. Hallett Faith Shiraz - yum!
• First Class Shiraz - yum!

Aside from the standard assorted cheeses, we made two hot plates that were very, very good. The mushrooms are supposed to be served as a side dish but we served it with toast points instead.

Southwestern Mushroom Casserole
Courtesy Rachael Ray

• 2 8-oz. packages sliced mushrooms
• 1/4 c. beef broth
• 1 T. flour
• 1/2 c. heavy cream
• 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• Salt & Pepper
• 1/2 c. breadcrumbs
• 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
• 2 T. butter, cut into pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Place mushrooms in a 9x9 baking dish
3. In a medium, microwaveable bowl, combine broth and flour. Microwave on low until slightly thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the cream and cayenne. Season with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over mushrooms.
4. In a medium bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs and parmesan. Sprinkle on top of the mushrooms, top with butter and bake until browned, about 45 minutes.  Serves 6.

Aromatic Lamb Meatballs
Recipe courtesy Nigella Lawson

• 2 pounds ground lamb
• 1/2 cup finely chopped scallions
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground allspice
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 6 tablespoons semolina
• 2 eggs
• Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions
Put the lamb into a bowl and add the scallions. Sprinkle over the spices, salt, and semolina, and then beat the egg adding to the bowl. Work everything together thoroughly with your hands, and then cover with plastic wrap and leave in the refrigerator for half an hour.Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap and scoop out about one tablespoon of the mixture. Roll in your hands to form the meatball and place on the lined baking sheet. Have a bowl of cold water beside you to dampen your hands with; this helps them not get too sticky for rolling the meatballs.

When you are ready to cook them, heat about 1/2-inch of oil in a frying pan. Line another baking sheet with kitchen towel, and when the oil is hot, fry the meatballs in batches without overcrowding the pan. Cook them for 2 minutes a side.  Makes approximately 40 meatballs.

Lent

Lent is upon us and being Catholic, we are not supposed to eat meat on Fridays. You're also not supposed to eat meat on Ash Wednesday which kicks off this whole shindig. So far we're 0-2 and will be eating meat again this Friday. See, we've made an agreement with God that as long as we sacrifice meat one day a week we're cool, so we've just been swaping our meat-free days. I can feel the heat from hell now, however, we've had good excuses. On Ash Wednesday, we had invited friends over to watch the Top Chef finale. You can't watch the most amazing food contest show on earth without cooking some yummy food so I whipped out a Bobby Flay pork recipe (a castaway from my V-Day selections). It was good eats, let me tell you. On Friday, we went out to celebrate Bill's grant being funded. His lab took him out for chicken wings and beer. I don't think I need to explain myself on that one. This Friday, we're hosting a wine tasting at our house. We're part of a group that has a tasting once a month. The host picks the region and then everyone must bring a bottle from that region. Our theme is Australia and while we could serve meat and restrain ourselves from eating it, a wine tasting without good food pairings is just silly. We have a recipe for lamb already picked out. Hopefully we'll get back on schedule next week so I don't have to worry about lightening striking down.

On an exciting note, Bill's parents were in town this weekend and brought us homemade egg rolls. His mom watched me put them into the freezer and was shocked at how full it was and how many things were falling out of it. If you're not quick, you're getting a frozen solid pound of ground beef smashed on your toes. Anyway, I mentioned to her that we were eyeing a deep freezer at Sam's to alleviate the problem and she said that they would take us to Sam's and buy it for us!!!! On Sunday we all jumped in their minivan and went and got the freezer. An exciting time in our lives. Really we're just excited because we've been wanting to buy a quarter of a cow but never had the space for it until now. Makes me giddy!

My Not So Favorite Food Things

I've been asked if there are any food things I don't like. Absolutely! Perhaps I will have to maintain a list of these too.

• A steak served to me either sitting in or covered with some type of sauce. If it's truly a good steak it should be able to stand on it's own and doesn't need a sauce.
• Sauces that have a heavy liver taste. Yes, they do exist.
• Deep dish pizza
• Pop - I only really like Mt. Dew and root beer
• Beef stroganoff
• Prime rib - shocker, right? I haven't had it in years and should give it another try.
• Shrimp with their heads still on
• Wait staff who serve your food, come back less than a minute later to ask if everything tastes good before you've even had a chance to take a bite and then never appears again except to give you the bill. Does everyone learn this in training? I wish they'd give you a little more time, maybe glancing over every little bit to see if you're trying to get their attention, and then go back. Maybe even one more time after that for refills and just to be sure everything's okay. I understand that diners don't want to keep getting interrupted but seriously.
• Dark beers
• Alcholic drinks that all you can smell or taste is the alcohol - thanks to college, this makes me gag
• Captain's and coke - again, thank you Ohio State
• Weak coffee - I use a level 1/8 cup of grounds per 2 cups coffee plus a half scoop for the pot. YUM. Skip the extra half scoop for really bold blends.
• Breakfast restaurants that don't carry Splenda
• Breakfast restaurants that only have set combo meals and charge you up the ying-yang for subsitutions or a la carte items - Bill and I have a restaurant idea for when we're old and gray (or find a bunch of investors) that will challenge this concept.
• The fact that McDonald's stops serving breakfast at 10:30 - seriously? Who is eating lunch at 10:35? I want to meet these people. 11:00 would be more reasonable.
• Being put in the position of sending food back - if you're eating at IHOP for $6.50, unless you find a hair or nail in your food, you're going to choke it down without much complaint. If you're spending over $30 for steak and wine, you have an expectation that if you order your food medium rare, that's how it's going to be cooked. If it's medium well, you have every right to expect them to fix it but don't you feel like the guilty jerk for doing so? I really, really hate sending food back and always get a sick-to-my-stomach feeling.
• Restaurants claiming to be something they're not - Joseph's Steakhouse here in Iowa City is the epitome of this. They claim to be a Chicago steakhouse and a Chicago steakhouse they are not. First, they wet age their steaks. Most places in Chicago dry age. They also charge you $32 for an 8 oz filet which is more or the same as the dry aging places. That's a tad steep for me. And, unfortunately, we've eaten there 4 times and twice had to send our food back. One time, the second steak for Bill came out worse than his first one. If we go back it will only be for their dessert and french pressed coffee.
• Overpriced food - I was once called a snob because I complained that for the high price, I didn't like a restaurant's food. The person went on to say that food doesn't have to be expensive to taste good. I agree 100% but the higher the price, the higher my expectations. The restaurant better deliver or I will assume the food is overpriced. Since when does not wanting to spend high dollar on mediocrity make someone a snob?
• People who become vegetarian based on the inhumane treatment of animals argument but then go on to eat eggs - I've heard a quote before "there is no such thing as a humane egg". I think PETA might agree based on their excitement over California's recent passing of Proposition 2.
• As mentioned in My Favorite Food Things list, people who claim not to like something and yet they've never even tried it.
• People who absolutely refuse to try something - I have to admit though, there are a few things that I will never, ever try. I will never eat a domesticated animal - dog, cat, horse - including non-domesticated pets. This is why I could never live on a working farm. I'd name all of the animals and then starve to death. I could also never eat a Filipino dish called balut (not commonly found in the States). It's a fertilized duck or chicken egg that contains a nearly-developed chick, that's boiled, cracked open and then eaten whole....WHOLE. I've been told it's good and I will take those peoples' word for it. Bill, my brave soldier, plans on trying this one day. And finally, I won't eat something if there is a real chance that I could die from eating it, such as blowfish.
• Brut champagne
• Being pressured to tip 20% - I'll be really, really honest, I tip based on service and it doesn't seem like a lot of people do that anymore these days. I also tip like a Canadian - before tax. Tax inflates the tip and why should the server get more just because the government wants their share? If you're just average you're getting 15%, if you go a little above and beyond 18%, if you're stellar 20%. If you were really terrible, I don't go below 10% but I'll usually include a little note as to why you're getting stiffed. The person should know how to correct whatever it is they're doing wrong if management isn't. Plus, they should know that I'm not just an asshole and that I had a reason. The whole notion of tipping people, including the entire restaurant industry's mentality of paying their people nothing and expecting us to pick up the rest, really bothers me but that's a different topic for a different blog.
• Wine glasses without a stem - what can I say, I'm traditional.
• Food Network's new website - could it be more cluttered and impossible to find recipes??
• True food or wine snobs who think they're better than you - I've said this before and I'll say it again, it's all subjective. People are free to eat and drink whatever they want and they don't have to like it. And the whole notion of someone being better than someone else just because of food? Please.
• Orange push-up desserts - do they even still make these things?
• Artificially flavored cherry or orange, and sometimes grape, gum or candy
• Plain potato chips
• Brie cheese - I think it's the consistency
• Custardy desserts like flan
• Tofu
• Most Filipino desserts
• Tawny port - I prefer ruby
• Saki - except for saki bombs, yes, I'm mature
• Being ignored by wait staff after being seated in a restaurant
• Watching someone clean off a table in a restaurant using a towel and then using that same towel to wipe down the seats and then proceeding to the next table - I can't even begin to describe how disgusting I think this is
• Being seated at a table while it's still wet from the aforementioned cleaning
• Watching Bill eat something that fell off his plate onto the table in a restaurant - oh yes, he does this unless I stop him first. He's gotten better about it.

I don't like being negative but this list was kind of fun. I'm sure I'll think of more.

Do a Little Happy Dance

Bill found out today that his grant submission to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will be funded!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Thank God! Additional religious expressions! I can't tell you how happy for him I am and how proud I am of all the work he's put into this. We were working on his first grant submission while in New Orleans at the National Championship football game - yes, we actually worked on it together in the hotel while our friends got blitzed on Bourbon St. - the first weekend in January 2008. It's been a really long road since then and we're exhausted. But YAY!!!! This can be used on his resume to prove that he's capable of securing funds, something future employers should take note of. The long nights and weekends have finally paid off.

RIP Twomey Glass

In my clumsiness this morning, I accidentally knocked over one of our favorite wine glasses - a glass from Twomey - that was waiting to be washed. Actually, I knocked into an empty wine bottle waiting to be recycled which in turn hit the glass, knocking it into the kitchen sink where it shattered. I am very sad and thankfully, as sad as I know Bill was too, he didn't say anything other than, "That's okay, dude, we'll just have to go back to California to get another one." I'm bummed.

Menu Roulette

When it comes to our dinners, B and I are pretty structured. We (mostly me) will sit down on Saturday or Sunday and write out our menu for the week. From this, we create our shopping list. If we didn't do this, we would never have the proper ingredients on hand and the meat wouldn't be thawed* so we'd end up going out to eat and spending a ton of money. This also prevents multiple trips to the grocery store - instead, we just go once. We found that we were choosing the same recipes over and over again and not forcing ourselves to try anything new. Introducing menu roulette. Now, instead of just picking and choosing what we'll have, I take out all of our cookbooks, including a stack of random recipes, and open each one to a page. Whatever I land on or pull out of the stack is a dinner for the week. I won't lie, I've taken a few mulligans but for the most part, it's working very well. If we land on something we've already had, we pick again. My goal is to try every recipe in each of the books. This is also helping us save a ton of money. We only went out for dinner once in the month of January and I anticipate that again for February. As you know, we love us a good dinner out but at $50+ a pop, it ain't worth it. Spice up your routine a little and try menu roulette yourself - a co-worker has and so far she's digging it.

*We buy 99% of our meat in bulk from Sam's Club about 3 times a year. When we get home, we break down the packages into serving sizes, vacuum seal and freeze. We are looking into buying a stand alone freezer to keep in the garage and found one that we like. I could buy more ice cream then too!