Thursday, October 2, 2008

Whatever! .... and a great wine dinner tonight coming up!

This day gets a giant "Whatever!" from me. Started off just fine, as this week was starting to seem kind of fun compared to last, but after a few incidents today (including, but not limited to, a B.S. parking ticket for $75), you just gotta wonder if the stars are not quite aligned. Of course, I'm not alone in this - the whole country and the whole world seems to be suffering a bit right now...... the only decent entertainment and escape seems to be making fun of Sarah Palin...

Anyway, chin up, gotta be at a wine dinner in a couple of hours. Part Two at Benley Restaurant. Part One was last week and ended up quite successful, with many happy diners enjoying the pure pleasure of pairing German wines with Vietnamese-French food. Gotta love that fusion.

I expect more of the same tonight, so I'm pretty relaxed about it - the food will be excellent, the wines will be excellent, and the guests will be happy. I know the wines like the back of my hand, so there is no stress there.

Wines to be served tonight:

2007 Gunderloch Jean-Baptiste Riesling Kabinett - always a winner. Medium-dry with a great body, a perfect apertif or food wine, goes with almost everything! Here, it is going with a light dish of mini rice crepes topped with shrimp flakes and scallions.

2003 Milz "180" Neumagener Nusswingert Riesling Kabinett - A Kabinett from a warm vintage, this wine shows some smoky brown sugar/candy qualities along with a slightly aged Riesling profile. Actually pairs quite nicely with the second course, which is braised duck on shaved white cabbage salad with citrus-ginger dressing.

2002 Milz Trittenheimer Felsenkopf Riesling Spatlese - Rich and balanced Spatlese from the Mosel, great acidity off-setting the sweetness - pairs awesomely with the deep-fried soft-shell crab nestled on rice vermicelli.

2006 Becker Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir) - My favorite little German Pinot Noir, nice and fruit-forward without being overbearing, to be paired with the diced filet mignon on celery root puree & potato cream, all dressed with a red wine reduction.

Yum!

3 comments:

Michael Hughes said...

I like your attitude. The days that you just can't get ahead or can't win just have to be written off. Don't let it get you down!

Amen, sister! The only thing that makes me feel better during this economic meltdown is watching Sarah Palin play the "deer in headlights" role (or should I say moose?) that she is so good at. Its laughable!

Samantha Dugan said...

Morning Nancy,
Sounds like you had a crap day....damn I hate those but I'm with you and Michael, gotta just let it go....takes too much energy to stew about it!

I hope the dinner went well, love the food over there and your wines are perfect partners so there is your silver lining.

As for Palin...check out my blog, that idiot is setting women in politics back so many years I shudder to think about it. Put on a big smile, look pretty and behave the way old white men are comfortable with....lipstick on a pig!

Nancy Deprez said...

You guys rule! Thanks for the comments! I just laff in my car when I'm stuck in rush hour traffic listening to all the funny commentary on the radio about Sarah Palin. It's just too stunning these days to think that we want this person to run the country should anything happen to the president.

Things are too f'd up right now! Even the brightest and smartest man/woman on the planet is going to take 5 years to clean up the current mess, in my not so humble opinion!