A Huge Wine Tasting Event Featuring Full Thanksgiving Spread…What a Grand Idea!

Ever witnessed an idea so fine, you wished you thought of it yourself? That’s how I felt about the Thanksgiving Wine and Food Gala put on by Doris’ Italian Market. I hope they do it again next year. As soon as the store closed for regular business hours last Friday night, the doors opened wide to about 150 wine lovers; ladies were handing out wine glasses like long stemmed roses, and everyone was encouraged to head straight to the Thanksgiving banquet built around—and because of—the 62 wines available for tasting.

As you can see from this photo, a full, traditional Thanksgiving dinner took center stage, giving guests a chance to try pairing all sorts of wines, to see what worked best.

There was a wine specialist on standby, answering all the typical FAQ, like, “turkey can be so bland. Are there any wines that bring out its flavor instead of just overwhelming it?” To which Mr. Oenophilia answered, “all of the wines here today were carefully selected to pair well with turkey and all of the classic sides for Thanksgiving Day.”

The specialist was also asked what HE would be drinking on Thanksgiving, and he motioned toward this bottle of grapes:  

The Chateau Ste. Michelle Canoe Ridge Sauvignon, adding that it was “just lovely.” On the wine point system it ranked close to 100, the best a wine can get. At over $30 a bottle it did hover just a little bit above the suggested $25-per-bottle-maximum a lot of Thanksgiving wine tips tell you to set. The reason caps are set fairly low is for quantity reasons. You really should have a bottle of wine for every 2 guests, which, on Thanksgiving adds up quick.

A less expensive wine that popped up as the wine specialist’s “Next Best Thing” (My Sunday Best book fans will know why I inserted a smiley face here : ) ) is the St. Michelle Indian Wells Red Blend. I tried both wines and they were—just as the specialist said, really, really, lovely and nice.     

I knew I was going to pick up a bottle of red, white and at least one dessert wine—but not until I’d tried as many as I could; these wines, besides the 2 mentioned above were the clear standouts:

• 667 Pinot Noir (This was just so fantastic with squares of parmesan cheese that I could go on for pages….) If you’re having a round of appetizers before your big turkey meal, this is really the way to go—but it tastes great with the main event, too.
• Morning Fog Chardonnay: Just read the description in this picture. Get in my cart, you rascal!
  
• Gnarly Head Authentic Red: The labeling looks like a scene out of The Legends of Sleepy Hallow; it’s got a concentrated dark fruit flavor and comes from a city in California (Lodi) where the vineyard vines really are gnarled.
• Dreaming Tree Everyday White: This was the driest white wine to ever cross these taste buds—and I could see a lot of people liked that at this tasting. Guests were standing at end caps in the store, balancing their holiday plates on crates stacked high with Dreaming Tree. The dry and subtly sweet nature of the wine went so well with the roasted turkey breast drowning in Doris’ gravy.
• Frostbitten Ice Riesling: This emerged as the event favorite; the store ran out of this awesomely sweet-but not too much—wine in the first hour and, as of yesterday, is still sold out! It comes in a beautiful bottle with a snowflake on it, and is such a great pairing with all the holiday pies you’ll comes across in the next 3 months that I wholly advocate it as a stocking stuffer. Jam Jar Sweet Shiraz was the next best thing.

So, what did I learn at this event? The short answer is that Pinot Noirs, Rieslings and Chardonnays are some of the safest bets when you’re talking turkey. Give some of them a swirl (in your tasting glass!) and you’ll see what I mean.

On March 25th, We Can All Have a Drink with This Guy

How to plan a Mad Men dinner party 

We’re all (well, aren’t we?) addicted to a certain T.V. show, and for many of us that’s Mad Men, which returns to AMC on March 25th. Friends of mine have either set the DVR for the 2-hour Season 5 premiere, or plan on catching it Sunday night. Per usual, I’ve got my antennae trained in the direction of party talk, and its picking up a big buzz for sixties themed cocktails and appetizers.

What are my friends doing? April got herself revved up for the series by reading Mad Women by Jane Maas. It’s a day in the life of a female copywriter in 1960s Manhattan. April’s Mad Men menu is a healthy affair that makes up for all the chain smoke surrounding the Camelot era. She’s having classic roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans with dinner rolls. She’s not sure about the dessert yet, but it’ll probably a cobbler, and most certainly what April describes as “straight up” Tanqueray martinis! We’ll have to visit her blog in a few weeks and see what’s on tap!

Ahhh….a girl after my own heart. I love a nice, stiff drink.

My little Mad Men gathering features The Perfect Martini. You’ll just have to click the link if you want its secrets (i.e. how many ice cubes; how much vermouth). In my 60s research I learned that servings sizes—especially when it came to drinking glasses in bars—were much smaller in the old days; about 5 ounces, compared to today’s 8! Is that why they were able to drink at work? In addition to martinis, I think Mint Juleps would be nice. I’m growing fresh mint in my backyard.

While the cocktails are reserved for show time, there’s the perfect 7 o’clock dinner to consider, one that pays homage to a time when there was more time. That’s right. It’s a dinner just like Mama (or in this case, Betty Draper used to make.) Some of us have held onto our TV trays, right? Well, get them out again for a reprisal of the Swanson TV dinner.

Got any rosemary growing alongside that mint? Fabulous. Use it—and fresh thyme—in my Meatloaf with Mushroom Gravy.  You’ll be amazed at how moist it is—you’ve just got to make sure you buy high quality ground beef and equally fresh breadcrumbs. Stylize your own salad and/or vegetable sides for this All American supper—and don’t forget Cocoa Angel Food Cake with Raspberry Sauce for dessert; it’ll pick you up by your Fedora hat and take you straight to heaven.

If you’re looking for more great ammunition in your chilled glasses and shaker, please click on my 10 Kicked Up Cocktails post; though originally intended for Labor Day weekend, these elixirs could win over the toughest client…I mean party guest. You may also want to read my Mad Men inspired tiki party post for more retro ideas. I’d also like to suggest a nice book club party menu, since interpreting this show appeals to the art and literature geek in all of us.

Don’t hesitate to post your reviews the day after Mad Men premieres. It’s sure to leave a welcome after-taste when we’re all battling a case of the Mondays the morning after. Sounds like the perfect excuse for a 3 martini lunch to me.

Bottoms up, folks : )

The Perfect Martini

2 ounces Vodka

¼ ounce dry vermouth

3 to 4 ice cubes

Twist of lemon peel, olive or cocktail onion

Combine the vodka, dry vermouth and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake to chill.

Strain the martini into a well chilled glass and garnish with either  a lemon peel, olive or cocktail onion.

Makes 1 cocktail each

Preparation time: about 5 minutes

PAWSmopolitan!

1 ounce vodka
½ ounce triple sec
½ ounce fresh lime juice
½ ounce cranberry juice
Crushed peppermint candy on the rim of the glass
Fresh pitted cherry for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the vodka, triple sec, lime and cranberry juices. Shake vigorously and set aside.

In a separate bowl, grind a candy cane down into finely minced crumbs. Turn an empty cocktail glass upside down and coat the rim in the candy cane dust.

Strain the contents of your cocktail shaker into the glass and garnish with a fresh pitted cherry.

A Summer Tiki Party

Where the Birds Sing and the Flowers Bloom

Welcome to a tropical hideaway, you lucky people, you…or so the Enchanted Tiki Room song went, when it was written for Disney World in 1963. In Mad Men, (if you’ve never heard of the AMC television series, come out of your cave) Don Draper would definitely approve of the ambience found in a tiki room; a party with the kind of atmosphere where “Skirts” and fedoras drift by, the booze flows freely and kool kats enjoy a little intoxicating food and drink, their smokes, and music that gives Elvis’ Blue Hawaii a run for its money. To recreate such a scene, I’m recreating the Polynesian PuPu Platter and serving up my Hurricane Brew in hollow coconut shells—what a way to cool off this summer!

Tiki Time Event Menu

Purveyors of tiki culture were the proprietors of Don the Beachcomber restaurant and Trader Vic’s; both were, in the 1930s, young men who had sailed throughout the South Pacific and loved exotic rum punches, rattan furinture, tropical flowers and tiki torches—it was a way of dining and entertaining that peaked in the 50s and 60s, vanished in the 70s and has come back for an encore now. In homage, her’es my PuPu platter, defined as a tray of Chinese American/Hawaiian assorted small meats and seafood appetizers: think egg rolls, chicken wings, savory skewers and other temptables for kool kats.

Get out your best monkeywood platter and load it up with all or some of the following:

Grilled Rum Marinated Flank Steak Sandwiches with Chipotle Lime Aioli
Barbecued Pork Tenderloin Skewers with Cranberry, Corn and Avocado Relish
Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps
Mustard Coated Chicken Skewers with Grilled Veggie Salsa
Fried Calamari with Tuna Caper Dipping Sauce
Tropical Trifle for Dessert
Signature Drink: Hurricane Brew

I can’t say enough about these tiki-rific choices. Make sure you have a jar of Maraschino cherries standing by to garnish the plate in true PuPu platter style. For the flank steak sandwiches, your everyday sammy gets a makeover with a big burst of flavor, and the chicken skewers offer an update on fast food chicken fingers that’s easy to prepare. Fried is a distinguishing factor to any PuPu platter, which is why I added the calamari, but with a dipping sauce that cuts through that salty, deep fried heaviness.

As Seen on Mad Men…Drink It, Wear it or Use it at Your Tiki Party!
And now to introduce my signature drink for the big event. My Hurricane Brew is best whipped up in a pitcher, then authenticated by pouring the concoction into hollowed pineapples. You’ll need a few tools to serve the Brews this way; first a pineapple slicer, which removes the core and gives you a neat stack of pineapple rings—and drinking glass!!—in seconds. This is a cocktail that will have you looking all over for those little paper umbrellas; it calls for rum both light and dark, grenadine, fresh citrus juices and plenty of granulated sugar. If you don’t want to trouble yourself with real pineapple glasses, check out the Tiki drinking glasses I found shopping online; you’ve probably seen this same set with lipstick stains on the rim in Mad Men. Oh, and speaking (again!) of that series, did you know Banana Republic is coming out with its own Mad Men clothing line in August 2011? That’s this summer! View the whole Retro clothes collection by clicking the link.

Here’s a hyperlink shortlist of other tiki bar supplies I found for cheap…real cheap…on Amazon:

Paper Cocktail Parasols - Pack of 144
Pineapple slicer
tiki luau drinking straws

And while you may love behaving like "Mad Men" at your tiki party this summer, don’t expect to see the show again until 2012…how many great parties will you have before then!

Happy Mai Tai Sipping, Everyone!

Hurricane Brew

8 ounces light rum
8 ounces dark rum
½ cup grenadine
½ cup fresh orange juice
½ cup fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Lime wedges for garnish

Place all of the ingredients in a large pitcher. Stir well to dissolve sugar.

Pour the mixture into 8 tall glasses that have been filled with ice. Garnish each glass with a lime wedge to rub around the rim.

Derby Time Makes Us Crave the Southern Classics

The Secret to Really Good Oven-Fried Chicken, Collard Greens and Pecan Pie

We all know and love the term, “Spring is in the air,” but imagine, too, the divine way it smells, sliding into summer with our barbecues, mint juleps, potato salad and corn on the cob. Whether you’re setting an elegant table, or wearing a Kentucky Derby hat as you graze an outdoor buffet, three of my freshest traditions in American cuisine are laid out for your perusal.

Something to Toast the Most Exciting 2 Minutes in Sports With…

You can round up your friends, serve fried chicken and all the fixins, and tune into live Kentucky Derby coverage; click here for all the broadcasting info. Encourage frilly hats and sundresses on your party invitations, and channel pure Paula Deen when it comes to the menu. One day of butter n’ bacon never killed anyone—and I’ve got some twists and turns on the old Southern classics that’ll make your party guests start humming My Old Kentucky Home. Just make sure you serve plenty of Authentic Mint Juleps before the karaoke begins!

Fried Chicken: Every Southern Girl’s Favorite Food

For my Oven Fried Chicken, brining the chicken pieces makes the end result extra juicy; then, when you bake it in the oven, expect a crusty coating that’ll make you reach for thirds. Looking for spirits to drink with it? My summers in the Blue Ridge Mountains got me excited about wine—asking around and doing a little taste testing, yielded the answer I was looking for: a hearty young Argentine red (click here for best reds between $10 and $20 a bottle) is the way to go when you’re looking for the perfect pairing with fried chicken.

Collard Greens EXTREME--There’s nothing quite as flavorful as Slow Simmered Collard Greens. My gal pal, Cindy, makes the world’s BEST collard greens. Her secret is the addition of Balsamic vinegar—hopefully, Cindy won’t mind this, but I found a way to kick up the dish even more: by adding kielbasa! Just slice the sausage into thin rounds, and brown it in a little olive oil. Toss in the chopped collard greens and stir, adding chicken broth and water until it all comes to a slow boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 1 hour, and up to several hours adding liquid as needed. Remember that younger collard greens cook more quickly than older ones. If you are using purchased chicken broth, be sure to use a low sodium product for this dish. Kielbasa is plenty salty on its own!

What’s for Dessert, Darlin’?

This traditional recipe is a winner on every dessert table; I feel so strongly about that, my Southern Pecan Pie has already been featured on my entertaining blog as a must have Thanksgiving treat. But it’s great for a Derby party too, and begs for a little Southern comfort…I mean, experimentation! Try substituting black walnuts for pecans and Bourbon for rum. Yumm!! And take even more Southern comfort in the fact that you can use prepared pie dough for this recipe; no one will notice—especially if you add ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips to the filling, for a chocolate-pecan pie.

Enjoy your taste of the Derby…whether it’s from your living room, or under the twin spires and a deep blue Kentucky sky, it’s all GOOD!

Will & Kate, Plus 8 Great Reception Ideas

Starring Two Cakes, Two Drinks and Four Cocktail Infusion Flavors

There’s a lot of heavy stuff happening in the world right now, yet the royal wedding between the late Princess Diana’s son, William and his lovely bride-to-be Kate Middleton continues to capture headlines across the globe. The big day is scheduled for April 29th. How many millions will flick on “the telly” and watch these two exchange vows in GORGEOUS Westminster Abbey? Before she settled in for her royal breakfast reception, Princess Di and Charles brought in 750 million viewers! Wow.

Reading over all the whipped cream surrounding the event—fun stuff like what the bride and groom have planned for their individual wedding cakes, and where they’re honeymooning (I here they’re planning on Australia)—was highly addictive for an EXTREME party planner like me. Inspired by what I read about Will & Kate’s tastes in cake, I dusted off my best springtime event menus. Sure they went to sleep over the long winter, but now they’re back for a green and blossom-filled season, one that begs for a splash of elegance and ideal springtime table settings.

Groom Cake Drumroll…His Royal Highness Likes His Trifle!

There’s a charming story—very Knave of Heartsish—surrounding Prince William’s choice for the groom’s cake. According to the former chef who served the royal family in the late 90s and published his recipes in Eating Royally, William and his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, had a custom of taking tea together in the garden, eating Chocolate Biscuit Cake whenever he was home from college. The Queen shared the Prince’s love affair with this dessert, and paid close attention to whether or not anyone from the royal kitchen stole a piece—or so much as nibbled from an edge. In my Chocolate, Banana and Walnut Trifle, you have something very similar—it tastes dark and decadent, but it’s airy light too—a British classic. Well done, William!

Kate Middleton Chooses a Bride’s Cake that Screams for Edible Flower Decorations!

My Lady Marmalade Coconut Layer Cake is fit for a Duchess, bride-to-be or Chairman of the Board. The bottom line is, it’s elegant—a show stopper on any buffet table—not to mention tres au natural, just like the fruit cake, Kate has planned. This layer cake is the perfect canvas for pansies, rose petals, snapdragons and violas; it’s an eye catching, spring-fresh trend that helps GREAT party favor ideas materialize, like mini watering cans for every table and seed cards, as place cards, that can go home with every guest…and come up roses later! Two

Cocktail Recipes that Let You Create a “Signature Drink”

Nothing personalizes your wedding day, quite like a signature cocktail. With sultry weather on the rise, wetting one’s whistle while gently taking the edge off, is a matter of serving crisp, cool thin-stemmed flutes of Raspberry Champagne Cocktail or Bourbon Minted Iced Tea. These drinks can be garnished with many of the herbs that define the flavors and aromas of spring, like rosemary, sprigs of bright green mint, and other edible flowers, such as cherry blossoms, lilacs, lilies of the valley, peonies and the ever-popular daisy!

Look toward a companion blog on the royal wedding on Nana’s Kitchen where the new Favorite Thing is Cocktail Infusion Flavors, great for upping the anti on thirst quenching spring and summertime drinks. You can mix infusion sachets into virgin lemonade, iced tea or high-octane cocktails, creating such personalized medleys as Lavender Citrus, Lemongrass Mint, Silkroad Chai or a Sour Apple Twist. Just remember to stay sweet on each other! Best Wishes and Congratulations to Brides and Grooms everywhere, in Summertime, Wintertime, Springtime and Fall!

Bourbon Minted Tea

Juice of 4 lemons (about 1/2 cup)
1 ½ cups simple syrup
12 ounces bourbon
5 cups prepared iced tea
Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

1. Place lemon juice, simple syrup, bourbon and iced tea into a large pitcher. Stir.
2. Pour into 8 large glasses that have been filled with ice.
3. Garnish with lemon sprigs.

Raspberry Champagne Cocktail

1 bottle chilled champagne
Framboise liquor
Fresh raspberries

1. Place 1 to 2 fresh raspberries in the bottom of a champagne flute.
2. Add a few drops of Framboise liquor.
3. Pour chilled champagne ¾ full into the flute.

The Extreme Party Planner’s Irish Coffee

Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Granulated sugar for dipping
8 cups brewed coffee
1 cup cream
2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
¾ cup Irish Whiskey

Dip 8 tall, glass coffee mugs first into cold water and then into granulated sugar. Use a cooking torch to carefully brown the sugar on the glass.

Whip the cream with confectioner’s sugar.

Divide the whiskey among the 8 mugs. Pour in the hot coffee. Top with whipped cream.

Here’s Lookin’ at You, Kid: 10 kicked up cocktails, perfect for Labor Day Weekend

This is a great time of year to enjoy the tinkle of ice cubes in a glass, and revel in the chilled class of a carefully concocted drink. If you’re not the hostess and attending somebody else’s Labor Day shindig, the recipes included here travel well. Just jot down the ingredients and slip them in your pocket; whoever is manning cocktail hour will appreciate your little love-note as you hand it over the bar.

But before I dive in, let me remind my readers that they must take care over the holiday weekend and drink responsibly—designate a driver if you plan on partying hard, or borrow the nearest couch or guestroom. Now that my public service announcement is taken care of, I’d like to introduce 10 of my wildest, tastiest Kicked Up cocktails, legendary in my own soiree circles—sometimes we even put our signature on the drink. If your name is Doreen, I look forward to toasting you with a custom blended dirty martini. “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”

You’ll see from these recipes that when champagne meets the Sex & The City Girls’ favorite drink (Champagne Cosmo Cocktail) and your cherry colored sangria takes on a paler shade, in the form of a thirst quenching White Sangria, you’ve got yourself a kicked up version of a classic. I’ve also pumped up the tang on lots of other favorites; a simple Bloody Mary gets converted into a “Hair of the Dog” you’ll lap right up, and dirty martinis get edgier, thanks to my best friend’s aforementioned personal recipe…and so much more! Get ready to drink and be merry. I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than Isaac had elixirs at The Love Boat Bar.

You’re about to indulge in a happy hour no one will soon forget.

Champagne Cosmo Cocktail

12 ounces pomegranate juice
2 ounces Chambord raspberry liqueur
Juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
1 (750-ml) bottle Champagne
Fresh pitted cherries

Stir together the pomegranate juice, Chambord and lime juice in a pitcher. Pour about 1 ounce of this mixture into the bottom of a champagne flute. Top off the glass with Champagne. Garnish with fresh cherries.

White Sangria
1 (750-ml) bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja reds, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
1 whole orange, cut into pinwheels
1 whole lemon, cut into pinwheels
1 whole lime, cut into pinwheels
2 tablespoons all natural sugar
2 ounces Cointreau Orange Liqueur
8 ounces Prosecco wine or Champagne

Pour the wine into a pitcher. Add the fruit, sugar and Cointreau. Stir and refrigerate for several hours to combine the flavors. Add the Prosecco to the pitcher just before serving. Pour into glasses filled with ice cubes.

Lemon Sugar Rush Drop

1 ounce citrus flavored vodka
1 teaspoon super-fine sugar, plus more for rimming the glass
Juice of ½ large lemon, about 2 tablespoons
Lemon twist

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Pour in the vodka, sugar and lemon juice. Shake well and set aside. Run a lemon twist around the rim of a martini glass. Dip the rim into superfine sugar. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass and plop the twist in the glass.

Doreen’s Dirty Martini

2 ounces vodka
½ ounce olive juice
Whiff of dry vermouth
2 to 3 colossal size olives

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the vodka and the olive juice. Shake well and set aside. Add a touch of vermouth to a martini glass. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass. Garnish with olives.

That’s Mr. Tom Collins to you!

2 ounces gin
Juice of ½ large lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon super fine confectioner’s sugar
Club soda
Lemon wedge

Fill a cocktail shaker half full of ice. Pour in the gin, lemon juice and sugar. Shake well and set aside. Fill a cocktail glass with ice cubes. Strain and pour the mixture over the ice. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Old Fashioned Bourbon

3 maraschino cherries
Orange pinwheel
1 tablespoon super fine sugar
2 ounces bourbon
Club soda

Place two cherries and orange slice into the bottom of a cocktail glass. Sprinkle with sugar and stir with the back of a wooden spoon to blend flavors. Pour the bourbon over top. Fill the glass with ice. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with the third cherry.

White Wine Spritzer

2 ounces white wine
Club soda
Lemon wedge

Fill a wine glass with ice. Pour in the wine. Top it off with club soda. Garnish with lemon wedge.

Light as Air Daiquiri

1 ½ ounces light rum
Juice of 1 large lime, about 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon super fine sugar

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the light rum, lime juice and sugar. Shake well and set aside. Fill a cocktail glass with ice cubes. Strain and pour the mixture into the glass.

Gimee a Gimlet

2 ounces gin
1 ½ ounce Rose's lime juice

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Pour in the gin and lime juice. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice cubes

Hair of the Dog

12 ounces tomato juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon prepared horseradish
2 to 4 drops (or more) hot pepper sauce
1 whole lemon, cut into wedges
1 tablespoon celery salt
2 (12-ounce bottles) beer
Celery stalks with leaves

In a pitcher, stir together the tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish and hot pepper sauce. Rub the rims of the cocktail glasses with lemon wedges. Dip the rims into a saucer containing the celery salt. Fill each glass with ice cubes.
Fill half the glass with beer and top it off with the tomato juice mixture. Garnish with celery stalks.