White Sangria
May 30, 2008 by Andrea
Filed under Beverages, Spanish Foods
Getting my red wine-loving husband to drink white wine is like trying to get a kid to eat spinach, so he was not exactly thrilled when I told him I was making white sangria. I talked it up, trying to get him interested in tasting something new, but he’s just not a white wine kind of guy.
I, on the other hand, enjoy white wine and felt excited about the white sangria and the chunks of delicious fruit. This recipe uses fresh plums, cherries, peaches, nectarines, oranges, and orange and lemon juice, then tops it all off with Amaretto and sparkling water, and I knew I had a winner when Michael went back for a second glass commenting on how good it tasted.
This refreshing sangria goes well with seafood or light tapas. You can mix it up 12 hours ahead, and I love how the fruity flavors mingle with the wine when it’s had some resting time, but remember to hold the sparkling water until just before serving to preserve the bubbles.
Reminder: There’s still time to enter the Spain and the World Table cookbook give away! Visit the original post and tell us about your favorite Spanish food or a Spanish food you want to try. The contest ends at 8 pm May 31! Read more
He Said Beer, She Said Wine and a Give Away
What do you get when you put together a highly regarded sommelier and a craft brewer? You get a very entertaining evening of good food and beverages as well as good-natured banter about the attributes of the wine and beer and how well each pairs with particular foods. Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, and Marnie Old, award-winning sommelier and wine educator, put their talents and impressive knowledge of wine and beer together to create an accessible and informative book about pairing beer and wine with food.
The book, recently released by DK Publishing, is a spin off from the “competitive dinners” that Old and Calagione started in 2003 at his brewpub in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Each evening offers a five course meal, and each course comes with both a beer and a wine pairing. Using anonymous ballots, the diners vote for the best pairing for each course, and though both Marnie and Sam thought there would be a clear winner, that has never been the case. The margins have been slim, and the number of wins for either side has been pretty even, strong evidence that beer and wine both pair well with a variety of foods. Read more
Sangria for Cinco de Mayo
May 4, 2007 by Andrea
Filed under Beverages, Spanish Foods, Summer Favorites
Ev is my best girl friend, and she and I have been enjoying each other’s company over good food for almost 14 years. We met in 1993 in Bogotá, Colombia when I was teaching at the embassy school, and our favorite haunt was a little Japanese store and sushi bar around Calle 98 and something or other (long time ago, memory a bit sketchy on location). Asian food was scarce and expensive in Bogotá, and it was such a *treat* for us to enjoy some Japanese food. We hung out together quite a bit during our first year there, then the next year she left to do Peace Corps work in Africa, and I later headed to Saudi Arabia.
A few years later we met up again when we were both living in Chicago. She had married her Peace Corps partner from Africa, and she and I would go for a girls’ day or evening out to a local Korean restaurant and grocery store near Lincoln Square. When I got a new apartment in Logan Square, she would stop by for cocktails on Friday evenings after work and we would chat over some really good margaritas at a little hole-in-the-wall place near my apartment. We enjoyed many of those margaritas! Read more
