WineLife365

Archive for December, 2009

…Making a list and checking it twice!  I posted a wine tip earlier this year, and thought that it would be a useful and helpful piece to share again for your holiday party planning.

1.    What’s considered a “full” glass of wine?  Answer: About a ½ glass.  A half full glass allows the swirling folks to play “merry-go-round” with their wine.

2.    How many bottles of wine should you purchase for a full evening of entertaining?  Answer: Assuming you have a bunch of wine drinkers – at least 1 bottle (750ml) per person.  Note:  You gotta know your crowd and plan accordingly.  If you’ve got guests coming that you know can throw’em back; best to buy more wine or be prepared to holler “Last Call! But you’re welcome to stay for a cup of Nescafé Crème de Menthe coffee…”

3.    What’s the approximate number of servings in a standard size (750ml) bottle of wine?  Answer: 5. The pour is a tad light at 5.  But generally speaking, you get about 4-5 glasses per 750ml bottle depending on the generosity of the person pouring the wine.

4.    How many calories are in a glass of wine?  Answer: A standard bartender’s pour is considered to be 5 ounces. The approximate number of calories based on a 5 oz pour is between 100 and 150 calories.

5.    How many different glasses do I need?  Answer: 1 red and 1 white wine glass.  Or, just one great all-purpose glass.  If you like the bubbly stuff or wear an ascot and a smoker’s jacket, then you’ll need a Champagne flute, a brandy snifter, or maybe even a cocktail glass too!

6.    How long do I need to fully chill a white wine in the fridge before serving it?  Answer: About 2 hours.

7.    How long do I need to fully chill a red wine in the fridge before serving it?  Answer: None.  Most red wines should be served at room temperature unless you’re dealing with a “cross-dresser” red wine like Beaujolais or Pinot Noir.  It all depends if you prefer to serve these particular types of reds at room temperature or with a little chill on them.

8.    What’s the best storage temperature for wine to not freeze or “cook” it?  Answer: Generally speaking an ideal storage temperature would be somewhere in your home that is constantly between 50-55 degrees Fahrenheit.  That’s why the basement makes for an ideal cellar.

9.    How many days do leftover wines keep?  Answer: Generally speaking, about 2 days. White wines tend to last a little bit longer than reds. I would say that red wines should be finished the day after opening it.  If the wine comes in a box, you’ve got a month to suck it all down.

10. How many different bottle openers do I need?  Answer: One that is sturdy and capable of opening several bottles over the course of an evening.  Any wine bottle with a cork enclosure can be opened with a decent and relatively inexpensive Spinhandle Screwpull.

By: P. Collins

If you’ve ever uttered anything like - “I can’t cook”, “Cooking takes so long”, “Cooking is so hard”, then I’ve got an easy recipe for you to try at home.  This meal idea takes less than 15 minutes to prepare – tastes GREAT and is healthy too!  That’s right – Less than 15 minutes from start to your plate… tastes great …and…and…and – it’s good for you! 

Yep, this “you can have it all meal” from Health.com is called Garlic Ginger Shrimp, and it left everyone begging for more.

Here are the ingredients that you’ll need:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (use olive oil, bit better for you)
• 2 tablespoons grated or minced peeled fresh ginger  (the dry stuff is fine, find it in the spice aisle)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (buy the already chopped stuff in the produce area)
• 1 pound medium shrimp, thawed, peeled, and deveined (buy a bag of frozen, COOKED shrimp) 
• 1/4 cup rice wine or dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chopped scallions
• 2 cups hot cooked brown rice (use Success boil in bag brown rice – throw in the microwave, takes 10 minutes)

Okay, pay close attention now, this is where it gets really tricky… – first, throw the first 6 ingredients listed above into a warm/heated pan and cook them up.  Next, cook rice in microwave.  Third, put a cup of cooked rice onto a plate.  Lastly, spoon shrimp mixture over top of cooked rice and Eat.

“Teachable moments”

1) Start the cooking when you are ready to eat – if having salad or something, eat that first then do the cooking – this meal is best served up as soon as its done, reheating or keeping it warm isn’t so great. 

2) Notice that ingredient #5 is rice wine…not rice wine vinegar which I somehow got in my head.  My version turned out great, but I lost sleep imagining just how AWESOME it could have been had I read that ingredient right.

3) Recipe calls for medium shrimp (might be labeled as 41/50 in your store), but my shrimps were scrimps (i.e. – tiny runt shrimps) – so you might want to go for medium large (labeled as 36/40) or maybe even large (labeled as 31/35).

In summary, if you try to cook this recipe and can’t: A). you fall into the category “moronic human”; B). all eating privileges should be taken from you.

What’s a good wine pairing to go with this dish?   I paired it with a white blend from California‘s Clayhouse Wines, called “Adobe White”.  This 2008 Central Coast White wine packs an interesting blend of 22% Viognier, 18% Sauvignon Blanc, 17% Grenache Blanc, 16% Roussanne, 6% Chardonnay and 5% Chenin Blanc – Shew, what a mouthful!  But, trust me – this perfectly allocated white wine will do right by this tasty shrimp dish.  For another take on this very different California white wine, here’s what the folks at Clayhouse have to say:

“The Adobe White is a blend created for that passionate, adventurous white wine lover inside you, elemental like the adobe but elegant with exotic floral and fruit aroma and flavors”.

There you have it, an easy, affordable and healthy supper with a rather usual California white wine to boot. 

Bon Appetite!