Champagne Name Game
Only 5 shopping days left until New Year’s Eve! Sorry. I know it’s probably the last thing you wanted to hear.
But that means that I have precious little time to weigh in on the heftiest of matters for the holiday – what to drink.
And the answer is Champagne, of course. Or maybe it’s not. There are people who insist that it is not a celebration unless Champagne corks are popping. They would be wrong on two counts.
For me, the celebration comes from the bubbles. And bubbles exist in sparkling wines found well out of the grasp of Epernay and Reims. You see, to be Champagne a wine must come from that specific region of France. Despite what people may tell you, there is no Champagne made in the United States.
This wine is one of many internationally protected regional products. The U.S. didn’t exactly buy into this scheme. But so many wineries are owned by international conglomerates that many American sparkling wines still observe this nomenclature. Some, on the other hand, do not.
What we have here are méthode Champenoise sparkling wines, or in English, sparkling wines made as they are in Champagne.
Let’s All See a Movie
Admittedly I don’t know a ton about Christmas. Happy Christmas, by the way. But I do know that pretty much everything is closed except for movie theaters and some Chinese restaurants – although that seems to be loosening up a bit.
I also know that it can’t just be us Jews who go see movies on Christmas Day. There are just not enough of us to make those record-breaking holiday box-office receipts.
So here’s a question: Do you really want to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks with the kids? After shelling out all that money for gifts, do you really want to spend more on an underwhelming over-hyped spectacle? (I’ll give you a pass if you are planning to see Avatar, Up in the Air or Princess and the Frog.)
“But watching a movie on Christmas Day is part of our family’s tradition.”
Well, I have the answer for you. Plus it won’t cost you a dime. And, if you are reading this on a non-mobile device, you should have all the technology that you need.
Hamtastic
I figure there is a fighting chance that people will read this post before the big holiday meal, and I have some critical information for those of you who will be enjoying a HoneyBaked® ham.
It’s so important that I’m going to put it before the jump. I never do that. I always make you click to read more and then wade through some kind of relevant anecdote before I give you the one little nugget of information you want.
So here it is, direct from the official serving instructions of the producer:
HEATING MAY CAUSE THE HAM TO DRY OUT AND LOSE FLAVOR.
The caps and the bold face are mine, but really this statement needs to be much more strongly emphasized on the packaging instructions.
Holiday Spirits
A fellow blogger, reader and commenter has been encouraging me to write a post about port wine. Really, he has been tweeting about it.
Tweet 1:
I’ve been drinking a ton of port lately. I think it is extremely under appreciated. You should write about it.
Tweet 2:
Port is very inexpensive, even for great examples of it and most people think it’s just for after dinner.
Tweet 3:
Oh my god, this $9 Jonesy port is pretty damn good. http://tinyurl.com/yf5o73j #70 on the wine.com top 100 too. Amazing, and only $9!!
Port is great. I went through a big port phase in my mid-twenties. My mother once came into a 100-year-old bottle of the stuff, which ruined her on all other port forever. Lucky for me, I didn’t get to try any. Regretfully, I haven’t been drinking enough of it recently to justify a post, although I will be keeping my eyes open for the Jonesy.
But all this talk of Port got me thinking about my current favorite fortified wine: sherry.
And if I were going to recommend something to sip on all day while trapped with relatives in a house full of food, it would absolutely be sherry. Here is why:
Last-Minute Gift From a Musketeer
There are only three more days until Christmas. And perhaps my suggestion of mail-order farmed-raised caviar was a bit too rich for your blood in this craptacular economy.
Well, there is another decadent food gift that can be had for significantly less. Shipping is still going to be a killer, because like the fish eggs, this needs to be sent overnight on ice.
But the up side is that it doesn’t look like a last-minute gift. It always has to be sent FedEx. It’s the nature of delicious highly perishable food.
This too came from a gift I received many years ago. Mrs. Fussy and I were sent a box from D’Artagnan. Not the musketeer. Rather, the company that specializes in mail order of specialty poultry, meats, foie gras, and other gourmet sundries. And while everything in the box was delicious, there was one thing that ruled the roost.
The Best Gift Ever
Here is a little something you may not know about me. I’m a bit of a hoarder. I like to hold onto things. This causes some problems, especially since some of the things I like to keep are foodstuffs. Just this weekend I had to toss a bunch of expired Carnation Malted Milk. Sniff.
My sister, the brilliant woman that she is, found a solution to this. Knowing my long-held childhood penchant for Astronaut Ice Cream, she wanted to get me a pack for a gift. But instead of buying me one, she bought two. “One to eat, and one to save,” the card said.
This was not the best gift ever. But it was pretty close.
The best gift ever achieved a similar function, but with a different approach. And as opposed to the astronaut ice cream, it may have a broader appeal – although its appeal may be limited to true food lovers. And here’s the best part. You can still get it to your loved ones in time for Christmas.
Better Wine by the Glass
It feels like forever ago, but it was only back in June when I first wrote about the problems of ordering wine by the glass.
Since then, I had a reasonably and unexpectedly positive experience with ordering a glass of wine at a family-style Italian restaurant in Albany. Actually it was my mother who ordered the glass of wine, despite my protestations. But that one decent glass gave me the hope to carry on.
Although I am afraid that hope was misplaced.
Recently I was at a fancier local restaurant with a significant wine program and thought I’d try a glass of their Sonoma County pinot noir. It did not work out very well. But it was not an entire loss. I left that evening with a few additional strategies for how to get a good glass of wine when dining out.
Ice is an Ingredient
Just yesterday there was a conversation happening over at On The Edge about cocktails that made me realize the need for today’s post.
A commenter named Jaci eschewed the use of ice in her peppermint cocktail, lest it water down the drink. Instead, she chilled the cocktail shaker. And while I’m sure that is a reasonably effective method of chilling down a drink, it misses a broader point.
Ice is an important ingredient in cocktails.
Like it or not, cocktails are all about dilution. You dilute a base spirit with liqueurs and other flavorings. And the small amount of water that is thrown off by your ice is a critical component to a balanced drink.
Buckets of Love
Yesterday I got to vent. Thank you for your continued patience. The downside of getting things off one’s chest is that people seem to remember the vinegar, but they quickly forget the honey.
There are plenty of things in the Capital District that I have found to love, many of which I have already written about. Others assuredly will be written about in the future. Please remember I am only on my third year in the region. All things considered, I think I’m doing pretty well.
The FUSSYlittleBLOG was never intended to be a review site. I continue to review local businesses and such on Yelp. You can look at my favorite Albany restaurants and institutions here. I like to think that I am tough but fair.
Today, I have put into buckets of love things that I have specifically written about in this forum. It’s not an exhaustive list to be sure. Somehow I haven’t written about Mrs. London’s, and I haven’t even made it to the Chocolate Mill.
Albany is not nearly as small as I had once feared.
Taste the Cheese
Have you ever been somewhere where everyone thought something was so great, and you go only to find out that it’s not?
It’s the hype machine. And it’s everywhere.
Right now I am thinking about one such example here in Albany. When I mention my love of cheese, everyone lights up and says, “Have you been to the cheese counter at the Honest Weight Food Co-op? I love it. They give you tastes of anything you like!”
1. Yes, I have been.
2. No, I do not love it.
3. They damn well better give tastes.
I’m thinking some people might be surprised by that last one.
Maybe less surprised by number two.
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