New Years Eve - Pairing Food Choices with your Champagne/Sparkling Wines

So on New Year’s Eve I am partaking in one of my part-time adventures, pouring wine samples at the Ivy Ridge Wine & Spirits Shop from 2-4pm (for you locals…it’s in the shopping center at the corner of Ridge Avenue & Domino Lanes).  Being that it is New Year’s Eve, I will be sampling all Barefoot Bubbly for this visit – Barefoot Brut Cuvee Champagne, Barefoot Extra Dry Champagne, Barefoot Moscato Spumante, and the new addition to the line Barefoot Pink Moscato Champagne.  I have listed them from driest to sweetest.  Since this is a food and wine pairing blog, and I figure many of you WILL be serving some sort of sparkling wine or champagne in two days, I would like to share some information to help you figure out what food goes best with what champagnes/sparkling wines.  I am going to use my Barefoot selection above as a guideline here….

Brut Cuvee:  The Barefoot Brut Cuvee has hints of green apple, jasmine, kiwi, and peach and has a long, crisp finish.  I personally do not taste the jasmine or kiwi, but everyone’s taste buds are different.  Very strong in the green apple department.  This varietal is made up of Chardonnay…I’m not a big chardonnay fan, but I love this champagne.  It's pleasantly dry and has a rather astringent feel on the tongue.  I can verify, since this is my FAVORITE Barefoot Bubbly out of the 6 varietals, that is goes very well with seafood (lobster), and the dryness makes it great for pairing with a powerful cheese platter that holds cheeses like Gorgonzola and other blue cheeses such as Maytag.  The acidity should also be nice and cleansing with sweet desserts like cream puffs or rich desserts like bread pudding or creme brulee (my all-time favorite dessert!).

Extra Dry:  The Barefoot Extra Dry Champagne has more apple flavors (think Honeycrisp apple here) and a smooth, clean finish.  This varietal goes very well with a mixed berry plate and some hard cheddar cheese (not that 8oz block-o-cheese from the supermarket.  I also have a recipe for a Shrimp & Avocado salad that goes really, really well with the Extra Dry Champagne!

·          ¼ c white wine vinegar, ¼ cup EVOO, 3 cloves garlic, ½ lb medium shrimp-cooked, cleaned, etc., 2 ripe avocados, butter & read leaf lettuce mix, 2 tbsp chopped roasted walnuts, 1 tbsp chopped cilantro, 1 tbsp chopped scallion, crumbled blue cheese

·     Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl.  Chop shrimp, add to bowl.  Arrange your lettuce on a plate so it looks nice, cut avocados into sections and place on lettuce, spoon the shrimp mixture on top, sprinkle with walnuts, cilantro, scallions, blue cheese.  YUMM-O!

Moscato Spumante:  The Barefoot Moscato Spumante has overtones of apricots and peaches mixed with some citrus, with a tangerine finish.  I have had this varietal with spicy food (think Thai here) or a dessert.  I also have recipes for this varietal that include a BBQ Chicken & Red Velvet Cake (contact me…I’ll email them to you).  This one is a bit too sweet for my pallet, but my husband loves it.

Pink Moscato Champagne:  Rounding out the 6 bubbly varietals that Barefoot produces is the newest one to the pack – Barefoot Pink Moscato Champagne.  It is the sweetest champagne that they produce with hints of red tree fruit and fresh berries with a candied cherry and citrus finish.  This varietal goes well with mild cheeses, fresh fruit, spicy cuisine (again…think Thai here!) and dessert.  I cannot tell you how many people LOVE this varietal…I never empty bottles at my samplings, and this bottle is always gone…every visit.  My taste buds do not care for it…it’s just too sweet for me.  Think Moscato wine on overload.

So…Happy New Year a few days early and I welcome ANY comments on this.  I would LOVE to know what you are cooking for New Years (or eating if you’re going out) and what champagnes/sparkling wines you are teaming up with your choices!

Follow up on the Pineapple Wedger - IT'S A WIN! (pictures)

So I told you all that I would report back on the Pineapple Wedger.  Can I tell you how many pineapples I have thrown out over the years due to not getting them peeled in time and they went bad?  The Pampered Chef Pineapple Wedger is one of the most unique gadgets that I now have in my kitchen for use.  It peels and cores the pineapple in one swoop.  Little to no waste...it is worth every penny!  I tried to take step-by-step pictures to show you how it works, but the pictures do not demonstrate how easy and effortless this item is to use.  It does not take much effort AT ALL to push the wedger through the pineapple...not like some of those apple wedger/corer products that you (as well as I!) have in our kitchen drawers that we struggle with.  NO struggle with this awesome tool.  We will be eating much more fresh pineapple in this house now that I have this awesome gizmo!

Tuesday...it's raining, but I STILL went to the gym!

Well, I realize this is a FOOD AND BEVERAGE blog, but all that food and beverage means heading back to the gym.  Today I officially started back.  15 minute warm up on the treadmill, 15 minutes at 3.9mph on a 4 grade incline, and then 9 minutes on the elliptical.  YAY ME!

Had myself a nice salad when I got home, using up some of that ham that's left over.  Pairing with WATER at this point...haha!

Frank and I will be watching our 4 seasons of Big Bang Theory today...at least until this evening when we are contemplating heading to Harrah's (why?  cause I like to throw money away I guess!).  We will be entertaining ourselves with fresh pineapple and maybe some oranges.  I absolutely HATE peeling pineapples...to the point where I buy them and they rot before I peel them.  HOWEVER...I have a brand-spankin'-new PINEAPPLE WEDGER that is supposed to core and peel a pineapple in one happy swoop. When I get to that point, I will post an update (and some pictures!)...if this works as designed, it will be an AWESOME addition to my healthy household!

Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome!  Yes...my first post in an attempt to document all that I do with food, wine, and other libations.  I am a 46 year old married mother of 3 daughters.  I have always enjoyed cooking and inexpensive wines, but have recently turned my interest into a passion.

My day job is as an Event Planner for a Fortune 100 company pays most of the bills and takes care of those necessities like health insurance, etc.  Within the last 8 months I have embarked on several part-time adventures that have led me to my true passion - food & wine/beer pairings.  The art of cooking an awesome meal and pairing it with an inexpensive libation is a learned skill.  I truly enjoy it and, more so, enjoy sharing my knowledge with friends, family, and even strangers!

I work part-time as a Wine Sampler for a marketing company where I pour samples of The Naked Grape and Barefoot Wines & Bubblies at your local wine & spirit shop.  These wines are good...but the part-time employment status has helped me fund wine and beer education classes (and...I can write them off on my taxes!).  I have learned all kinds of interesting things during my education and have intentions of taking higher-level classes as time and cash affords.

In addition, I have now signed up as a Pampered Chef Independent Consultant.  Now...don't run away because I'm selling you anything..this is just the story of my journey.  I signed up for more part-time income, but honestly the items which I have obtained (and...I had NOTHING before I signed up) are pretty interesting!  I'm still learning about the stuff, but from what I have used so far, I'm sold.  My favorites are the stoneware items...at this point...

I also enjoy traveling.  I cannot wait to eventually move to Europe.  I love it there.  I have been to Italy twice and, except for the healthcare in that country, I could live there forever.  The food is different, the attitude is different, and I feel this is where I will eventually end up...

So...welcome to my blog and I hope you stop back and check it out.  I'll be posting my trials in the kitchen...the good, the bad, and the "don't try this at home", along with what libation I would pair with my dishes.

Here's to a very interesting 2012!!