Reviews

I hope you have had time to read a few books and see a couple of interesting movies this summer. I would like to mention one of each, both relevant to lovers of wine and food.

When I picked up The Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace, I was skeptical of the story's ability to hold my attention. It is the story of the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold, and the circumstances surrounding the sale. It just did not seem to me that there was enough story here to make a book. I am happy to report that I was wrong. It is an interesting, fast read involving history, mystery, crime and the clash of personalities. It reads like a novel, in the same way books like The Perfect Storm and Into Thin Air do. The characters, many of whom will be familiar to wine lovers (Michael Broadbent, Marvin Shanken, Jancis Robinson), are well-developed and engaging. The reader will get a look into how wine appreciation came to be viewed as a pretentious endeavor. The exorbitant, over-the-top, competitiveness of both the collectors and sellers of wine will make the average wine lover's head spin. One does not have to be a wine aficionado to enjoy the book. It's a good, well-written story.

Last night I watched The Future of Food, a documentary by Deborah Koons Garcia, widow of Jerry Garcia, of the Grateful Dead. The film discusses the history, legality and science of genetically modified foods. It gives a highly critical look at the agribusiness giant, Monsanto and the government agencies that are supposed to be regulating it. (Monsanto is a bio-tech company that has created and patented genetically modified organisms. For more info visit Monsanto's web site and the Organic Consumers' Association's site Millions Against Monsanto and form your own opinion.) The film also brings up the legal issues surrounding patenting living organisms and labelling of foods containing GMOs. It is not an unbiased look at these practices; in fact, no one from Monsanto, or any pro-GMO scientists are interviewed. The intent of the movie is to expose and bash GMOs; it does that well. Whether you agree or disagree with Garcia (I happen to agree), it is a thought-provoking movie that should move you to research the subject more.

Next week's post will be from Spain - if I have time!

Summer's End

Since the summers here are amazing, yet unbearably short, I have spent every possible moment outside and taken a break from writing, both my blog and my book. If only I could see my computer screen outside! School is about to start, and it's time to get back to writing.

If you'll forgive me, I'm going to start out with a bit of a rant. And it's on a subject, about which, you probably have strong feelings, or maybe you are just sick of hearing about it. It's health care reform. Am I the only one who thinks that both the left and the right are missing a very major point? Why is nobody even suggesting putting more resources into preventative health care? Wouldn't we save money, in the long run, if fewer people got sick in the first place? If we educated people about eating healthfully, exercising and managing stress? Why do we wait until someone is ill, before we think about health care? Wouldn't it be a good idea to take care of our health while we have it?

What if, at our annual physical exams, we were given nutrition and exercise counseling? What if we got rid of soda machines in schools? (The question should be, how did soda machines ever get into schools in the first place!) What if school lunches were chosen for nutritional value, rather than cost-effectiveness? What if schools made recess mandatory, instead of eliminating it? What if physical education and health classes consisted of more than dodge ball and condoms?
What if employers, instead of being forced to carry unaffordable health insurance policies for their employees, were encouraged to give stress-management exercises or gym memberships? What if we stood up to the giant agri-business lobbies and demanded real food? What if nutrition and cooking classes were offered to low-income households as part of social services?

I can hear some of the arguments against my proposals. Too expensive. Well, if we weren't (publicly and privately) putting billions into treating preventable diseases like hypertension, diabetes and heart disease, there would be a lot more money to put into these programs.
Another argument I've heard is, "people don't want to be told what to do." Well, I've got news for anybody touting that line ---YOU ALREADY ARE BEING TOLD WHAT TO DO, YOU JUST DON'T REALIZE IT! The big agribusiness companies have some of the strongest lobbies in the nation. They control both the producers and the consumers. They mislead us with their labeling, making us believe that unhealthy, fake foods are good for us; they market to children; they even manage to control the government agencies that are supposed to be regulating them, by putting their board members on the regulating committees! For more detailed information, please read Marion Nestle's Food Politics and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation.

Of course, there are a few doctors making these points, Drs. Andrew Weil, Mhmet Oz, and Deepak Chopra, to name just a few. But they are on the fringe. Movements such as Slow Foods and Local Harvest are educating and encouraging people to eat locally produced, real food. Amazing people like Chef Alice Waters, and groups like Better School Food are working tirelessly to bring real, vital food into schools.

Please click on the many links in this post to learn more. If you are motivated, get involved. Please send me your thoughts and suggestions.

Life is too short to eat bad food or drink bad wine! Cheers!

Fun at Food & Wine

I have been attending the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen every year for the past 11 years. Some would envy me, others would pity me. When I was with my former employer, the large wine distributor, the event was hellish for me, before during and after. The details of the stress would bore the average reader, but suffice to say, that I was put in a position where I had to please all the people, all the time, and as we all know, "you can't." This year was very different for me. Working for a small distributor, with only a few wines at the event gave me the chance to experience the event the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I tasted some great wines, sampled some delicious food, chatted with lots of old friends, and of course people-watched. Allow me to recap the tasty, the funny and the downright absurd - Food & Wine 2009...

First the important things - the wines and the food. I tasted a lot of good wine last weekend. Some standouts include the new Benziger Signaterra line of wines, including the 2008 Shone Farm Sauvignon Blanc, the 2007 Bella Luna Pinot Noir, and the 2006 Three Blocks, a Bordeaux style blend. The Benzigers farm biodynamically, and the Signaterra lines symbolizes the link between the three forces of earth, nature and man. A nice bargain line is the Folie a Deux Winery's Menage a Trois line, which makes a white, a red and a rose' by blending unexpected grape varietals, such as Gewurtztraminer in the rose'. All retail for about $10. The Rolly Gassman wines from Alsace were new to me. I tasted the 2007 Pinot Blanc, the 2006 Riesling, and the 2004 Pinot Gris. All three were lovely, recognizably Alsatian wines, but with a bit more residual sugar than one would expect from this region. I did not find this to be a fault, on the contrary, it gave the wines a nice richness. They run in the $30 - $40 range. Rolly Gassman wines are also produced biodynamically.

I found the food in the tent to be less over-the-top than in previous years. Not as much foie gras or caviar as in the past. The food seemed slightly more down-to-earth. No less delicious, just not so excessive. A reflection on the state of the economy? A desire to change our ways from past excesses? Either way, I didn't mind. The American Lamb council served up yummy lamb tostadas, cheeses from all over the world abounded and the lobster meatballs were perfect with the Patron Tequila Bloody Marias for breakfast. Lots of sushi too, which you will never hear me complain about. Which brings me to my next point - Sake' is the new...sake'! I don't know much about sake'; if anyone knows of a good book or course on it, please let me know. But I do know that I am hooked! This is not your grandmother's bag-in-the-box hot sake'. I'm talking about the small-batch, artisan-produced, expensive, sake's that are served cold or at room-temperature. My favorites were the Wandering Poet and the Divine Droplets. I can't tell you any more about either, because all the writing on the bottles is in Japanese!

On to some of the sillier parts of the event. The cell phone hug is huge here. Not familiar with it? Follow these simple instructions: Walk along while talking on your cell phone; see an aquaintance you have not seen in ages; smile,hug with one arm while continuing to talk on your phone; continue walking. It's all the rage. Then of course, there's the people-watching. Aspen is always a great place for this activity, but during Food & Wine, it's at it's best, with all the industry celebrities out and about. For foodies and wine geeks, running into Giada De Laurentiis is as good as seeing Angelina Jolie in person. Mario Batali might as well be Ben Affleck. My best friend, I'll call her Treena, is obsessed with Bobby Flay. So Bobby-stalking is always part of the event for us. Treena, at first dismayed at not being able to track him down in the first few days, was overjoyed to find out the reason for his absence - he had been called away at the last minute to cook for the Obamas! Check out this video of the Commander and Chef.

Reporting from Aspen, Colorado, this is Alexa Bond, signing off...

Coming soon....look for big changes to this blog. A new name, new content, still lots of fun.

Summer Wine Drinks

I got a suggestion from one of my readers (Thanks, Dad), that I do a blog on summer wine drinks. While considering such a post, I was asked if there were any summer wine drinks besides Sangria. A quick Google search came up with hundreds, with names such as Cockney Champagne, Arctic Kiss and Lady Madonna. I'm going to stick to the more basic ones, and my favorite recipes for each.

Sangria is made with red wine and a variety of fruit and served over ice. This traditional Spanish wine punch should, naturally be made with a Spanish wine. The Tempranillo grape is traditional, but, a Garnacha would do just as well. For a lighter twist, try it with a dry Rose'.
1 750 ml. bottle of red wine
2 cups sliced fruit (oranges, lemons, nectarines, peaches, mango - your choice)
4 Tbs sweetener (sugar or honey) more or less to taste
4 oz Cointreau liqueur or fruit flavored brandy
8 oz club soda
Serve in individual glasses over ice.

Bellini. This Champagne cocktail would be perfect for a summer brunch. It is one of a handful of cocktails that can trace its origin to a specific time and place. it is said to have been invented in the 1930s at Harry's Bar in Venice. These days it is made with a multitude of different sparkling wines, most often Champagne, but I like it with Prosecco, a dry Italian sparkler. Some recipes call for peach schnapps. Personally, I would rather put a corkscrew in my eye than drink anything made with peach schnapps. I like it simple.
4 oz cold Prosecco
2 oz peach nectar or fresh pureed peaches
Serve in a Champagne flute without ice.

Kir. This drink brings me back to the summer I spent in Europe with my grandparents as a teenager. (Yes, they let me drink, quite a bit, for that matter! But, we'll save that for another post.) It's simply white wine, with a splash of Creme de Cassis, a black currant liqueur, and served with a lemon twist. The Kir Royale is made with sparkling wine. Some make the Royale with Chambord, a raspberry liqueur, but I find that too sweet and stick with the Cassis. Don't use your best white wine, but stick with something drinkable. My rule is, if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it, or mix with it.
5 oz still or sparkling white wine
splash of Creme de Cassis
lemon twist
Serve in a wine glass without ice.

Andito. This is a twist on the rum-based Mojito, invented by my friend Andy (or so he claims!) For this refreshing cocktail, the rum is replaced with white Port, and the mint replaced with basil.
4 fresh basil leaves, muddled in a rocks glass with
1 Tbs simple syrup (sugar dissolved in water)
Fill glass with ice, then add
5 oz white Port
1-2 oz fresh lime juice
splash of club soda
Shake & pour back into rocks glass.

I hope the weather is hot where you are, so you can enjoy one of these summer drinks today!

What Farmers Market?

Ah, spring in the mountains! Life at 10,000 feet is lovely at this time of year....not. All the foodie magazines are full of phrases like, "Summer, with its bounty of fresh produce.." or "The farmers markets are bursting with fresh vegetables of every kind..." I'm looking out my window at a mountain covered with snow and bare Aspen trees. Everyone is talking summer, yet I still haven't had spring! The Western Chorus Frogs are chirping in my pond and I have noticed that the blueberries in the grocery store are now coming from California, rather than Chile, so I do believe that warmer weather is coming.

I am blessed to live in this wonderful place. I never (well, rarely) forget to appreciate the majesty of the mountains. I'm always blown away by the sight of a moose in my yard. And really, spring is the only season here that is not fabulous. Summer is gorgeous and never too hot. In the fall, the mountains turn golden as the Aspens get ready to drop their leaves. I love to start baking and cooking stews. I pack away (or drink) all of my Sauvignon Blancs and Pinot Grigios in favor of Pinot Noirs and Cabernet Sauvignons. Then comes winter! I realize that if you are reading this from Green Bay or Duluth, you are probably wondering why I put an exclamation point at the end of the last sentence. But, here in the mountains, we love winter - skiing, snowboarding, sledding, snowmobiling. And let's not forget the holidays! Spring, however, has essentially no redeeming qualities; it's cold & wet and cold & wet. So, we pretend; we go out without coats, break out our shorts and sandals and freeze our asses off!

And we keep cooking and drinking wine. I'll dabble in a main-course salad occasionally; my husband will tend the barbecue while shivering in the freezing rain. He cooked some killer burgers the other night. When it comes to burgers, I've got two words for you - Ground Chuck. Please, forget about the 93% lean and the ground turkey. Burgers need fat. Without it, they are bland and crumbly. Unless you eat burgers every day, make the splurge and make up for it tomorrow. By the way, the splurge is only caloric, chuck is cheap. And while we're talking fat, don't be afraid of making your burgers a little bit fat. (My husband refers to mine as meatball-burgers.) You can't get a flat burger to cook medium rare. If you need a flat-burger fix, you can always hit McDonald's later in the week.

With your fat, fatty burger, I suggest you drink an equally large wine. A California Cabernet or Syrah would be perfect. Or try a Spanish Garnacha or a Cotes du Rhone.

Pass the ketchup and keep dreaming of summer!

Sushi, Sake & Psychedelics

No, we were not doing acid with our sushi. We were at the Denver Art Museum

for The Psychedelic Experience: Rock Posters from the San Francisco Bay Area, 1965 - 71. It's showing through July 19, and if you have the chance, you should go and see it, especially if you were alive in the sixties. I was born in the mid-sixties, so my memory of the original posters is limited. Although, there was one that I am sure I saw regularly throughout my childhood, but just can't remember where. Doubtful that it was at our house; my parents were definitely not hippies. Was it at my hippie uncle's house? At our summer house in Montauk? Anyway, it, and all the others and the stories that went along with them were simply far-out! Each artist had a different style and the styles changed over the years. What these artists all had in common was lifestyle - life in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, LSD, and music. The posters advertised concerts, many at the Filmore East, for bands such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Buffalo Springfield, Big Brother and the Holding Company and more - even Sha Na Na. The Museum did a wonderful job of combining art, music and story from the time period epitomized by the summer of love. My only complaint was that although the show was put together somewhat chronologically, there were no signs or directions to help the observer take it all in in chronological order.

After 90 minutes of trippy posters, we headed to Izakaya Den in Denver for some sushi, sake and Japanese-influenced small plates. This beautiful restaurant, modeled after the sake houses of Japan, is a culinary delight. Along with delicious sashimi dishes, the chefs dish out a variety of fabulous small plates, such as Pomegranate Braised Bison Short Rib with Crispy Fig Polenta,

Lemongrass Vichyssoise and Duck Confit on Crispy Wontons Served Over Forbidden Rice.

Although the wine list is rather small, the sake list is extensive. It assigns a number on the sweetness scale to each sake, -20 being the sweetest to +10 for the driest. We ordered the Otokoyama, Hokkaido, +10. It was excellent, but I realized that although I like my sake to be relatively dry, I do like a touch of sweetness. I think that a tiny bit of sweetness in sake has the same effect as salt on food. It wakes it up, gives it a little zing. The completely dry sake is, to me, just a touch flat.

It was a great evening - fabulous food and drink, great company, and LSD influenced posters. What's not to love?

Easter Treats

When you were a child, did you ever sing the nursery rhyme:

Hot Cross Buns,
Hot Cross Buns,
One a Penny,

Two a Penny,
Hot Cross Buns

Did you wonder what it was about? Probably not. Hot Cross Buns are spiced yeast rolls traditionally made on Good Friday. They are thought to have originated in England, sometime around the fifteenth century. They are soft, only slightly sweet, and studded with golden raisins or other dried fruit. A white cross of frosting tops each bun. Delicious with a hot cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk for breakfast. You can find a great recipe at King Arthur Flour's blog, Bakers' Banter

I wanted to serve these for Easter breakfast, but being yeast rolls, the buns have several hours of rising time. Not wanting to rise myself at 3:00 in the morning, I started the dough yesterday. I've wanted to experiment with this method for a long time. Cinnamon rolls, coffee cakes and all kinds of yeast breads are great for breakfast, but time-consuming. I've heard several theories on the overnight rise; some say to put the dough in the fridge after the first rise and form the dough in the morning. Others say to completely shape the dough, put it in the baking pan and put it in the fridge without a second rise, letting it rise slowly overnight in the cold. I went with the second method, then took the buns out in the morning, set them on the counter to come to room temperature and then baked them. They came out perfect!

On to Easter dinner. We're making a leg of lamb, although our foodie 5-year-old thinks rabbit stew would be more appropriate! I've got a ton of mint growing in the sun room, so I'm going to make a mint butter, with some tarragon and fresh thyme and oregano thrown in for basting. We'll serve it with sauteed baby carrots (the real ones, not the ones shaped to look like babies).

Then, I'll throw whatever vegetables I have left into a puff pastry, maybe add a little goat cheese, and bake a tart. I think we have a couple of bottles of Pax Syrah in the cellar, though I'm not sure of the vineyard or vintage. But getting down into the cellar is a bit of an effort, so we may have to settle for the Reynolds Family Winery Los Carneros Pinot Noir, 2006. Settle? Life's tough....

Happy Easter!