Get to know your Wine!

Earlier today on the B&C Show we had Brenda Audino, who's a wine expert for Twin Liquors here in Austin, with some pretty cool wine "pairing" ideas for the holidays if you're throwing a party. Here's some of the ideas Brenda has for your next house party;

There many books about the art of pairing wine with food, but I think it all comes down to eat and drink what you enjoy. Throw those rules out of the window! If you like white wine and are having a hamburger – fine! If you like red wine and are having fish – great! The wine police will not knock on your door warning you of these seemly ill-conceived wine and food matches.
There are some helpful hints in making even these food and wine pairings seem like a perfect match
Main Points
Balance
When pairing your wine with your food the most important element is the balance. You want the food and wine to complement each other and not compete. Rich heavyweight foods such as game or roast meats need a full-bodied wine regardless of color. Lighter foods such as fish or plain chicken are best complemented with a more delicate wine again regardless of color.
Flavor Intensity
Foods can range in flavor intensity and so can wine. A delicate wine can easily be overpowered by a strong flavored dish. Considering how a dish is cooked can influence the intensity of flavors. Take the chicken as an example. Chicken steamed with only minimal spices is very low on the flavor intensity and on the weight scale. A lighter more delicate wine would be a better match than a full-bodied one. Now imagine your chicken has been roasted in the oven. The flavor intensity increases as well as the weight. We could now match our chicken with a wine that has more flavor and weight as well. Finally we will braise or stew our chicken in a rich wine sauce. This dish will be high in flavor intensity as well as weight. This dish would pair nicely with a full-bodied wine. Notice still no mention of color…..
Helpful Hints
Pair Foods High in Acid with Crisp Fruity Wines
Dishes that are high in acidity will make your wine taste softer. You will want a wine also has high acidity or it may taste soft and flabby. Wines with good acidity can be great with rich, oily foods as well
Foods: Tomatoes, Vinaigrette, Lemon, Lime, Oily fish
White Wines: Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Un-oaked Chardonnay, Sparkling Wines
Red Wines: Rosé, Beaujolais, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Barbera

Pair Foods High in Fat with More Tannic Wines
Tannins in red wine create that drying sensation you often feel in your mouth. This is due to the tannins clearing away the protein molecules in your mouth. Foods with high protein content will soften the effects of these tannins in wine.
Foods: Roasted, grilled meats and poultry. Soups, stews and casseroles.
White Wine: Full-body Chardonnay, Viognier, Gewurztraminer
Red Wines: Pinot Noir, Merlot, Shiraz/Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Nebbiolo
Pair Hot & Spicy Foods with Fruity Wines
Hot and spicy foods reduce the sweetness in wines and can make a dry wine seem bitter. Spices can also accentuate the flavors of oak in wine. Hot spices seem to get even hotter with a wine high in tannins.
Foods: Chinese, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Spicy Barbeque
White Wines: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Un-oaked Chardonnay, White Zinfandel
Red Wines: Rosé, Pinot Noir, Beaujolais, Zinfandel, Merlot, Dolcetto, Shiraz/Syrah
Pair Sweet Foods with Sweet Wines
Sweet foods can make a dry wine seem tart. It’s best to match your dessert with a wine that is as sweet if not sweeter than the dessert.
Foods: Chocolate, Creamy desserts (crème brulee, cheesecake), Fruit desserts, Cakes and cookies.
Wines: Port, Madeira, Muscat, Late Harvest Riesling, Vin Santo, Sauternes, Tokaji, Ice Wine

2009 is almost here...we need some new useless words to describe stuff.

Here are some of 2008 wonder-words that got inserted into our vocabulary:

FLEXTING: Flirting through mobile phone texts.

MOBISODE: A clip of a full-length TV show or film made for watching on a mobile phone or MP4 player.

WOOF: Stands for Well Off Old Fogey : the sort a gold-digger goes for.

CHINDIA: The combination of China and India as a major economic force.

OH-NO-SECOND: That minuscule fraction of time when you realise you’ve just made a huge mistake.

NONEBRITY: Someone who ends up a minor celebrity despite having no obvious talent.

SWIPEOUT: The moment your debit card is swiped at a till and you find you’ve run out of cash. Also used to describe the magnetic strip on a card becoming worn out through overuse.

SINBAD: Stands for Single Income, No Boyfriend And Desperate.

MOUSE POTATO: A modern version of a couch potato. Someone who spends all their time at home surfing the internet.

Lenka: the next BIG thing in 2009.

For the past month, my favorite new song that will not be on the radio for awhile is "We Will Not Grow Old" by Lenka. It's been my title song on www.myspace.com/mix947 for awhile and tonight I just decided to blog about it. Right now it's just a CD track on Lenka's current CD called "Lenka." (hey, that's imaginative!) Lenka is from Australia, lives in L.A. now, and has been on the Hotel Cafe Tour a bit. That's the tour that launched Sara Barellis, Ingrid Michaelson, and more. The version of this song on video is not the version you hear remastered on the Lenka CD, but it's close...just a bit more produced on the album. Kind of like when Sara B. released "Love Song." The demo version really got jazzed up on the re-release and it worked. Anyway I am a big fan on this song, it's lyrics, and the artist. Kinda reminds me of The Sundays, back in the day. Tell me what you think. Peace!

Kevin Nealon in the House...

SNL's great Kevin Nealon stopped in the B&C house on Friday. He's got a new book "Yes, Your Pregnant, But What About Me?" in bookstores now, and he's doing some comedy on tour too (Cap City this weekend). Kev dropped some Hanz N' Franz on us and even did a little Mr. Subliminal. Nice! Love that guy.

Great Bridget & Carey listener email.

Yesterday on the show we talked about how people are cutting back on Christmas this year, and we asked you how the holidays would be diferent at your house this season! We got many great calls and emails and here's one of them I wanted to share!
Keep the spirit! Happy Holidays!

Carey, I listened to your program last night on the way home, and thought I'd share with you a couple of my favorite Christmas presents - you can't beat 'em - that are very inexpensive, and soooo memorable. No one has to go without being celebrated over the holidays. These are the times that inspire the gifts that we actually remember from one year to the next.

1.) The best one is a letter. No kidding. You might illustrate it; or if you feel like you can't draw well, just do something cartoony. You may not believe me, but what matters most is that it comes from your hands and your heart. Here are some ideas for content:
• A review of the recipient's year. Every year has some special - or weird - moments. Celebrate them! My daughter's favorite tv show is the oldie from the '70s: the Incredible Hulk. So I'll have a drawing of that in her letter; or I could photocopy or printout a Hulk Image and then color over it with crayons and colored pencils. Then I'll write a few words about the dangers of turning green! hehe
• What this person means to you in two easy paragraphs, or in a very short rhyme. Corny is beautiful, as long as its heartfelt. You already know this: think back on some of your favorite songs! hehe
• A favorite poem or song lyrics, one that you think reflects who the recipient is, or that you know has special meaning to that person. Put it in your own handwriting. You could say or write a sentence or two as to why you chose that poem or that song. The public library is a great resource for this. You don't have to have a card to look through the books.
• A humorous memory from this past year.
• (For older people) a letter about what you were doing or what you were like when you were the age of the recipient. Or when you got your first bicycle, your first job, your driver's license, your first cigarette, when you left home, when Romeo finally popped the question, when someone said just the right thing at the right moment....anything like that.
For a little something extra, enclose a photograph, a printed-out image (remember that most libraries have computers and photocopiers), a stick of gum, or the name of the book from which you drew the quote or poem. These are the priceless presents that people will have framed, or will keep under their pillow or in a special book for the rest of their lives. It only costs you a bit of time and things you already have on hand. Don't worry about how well you write. Just make it sound the way you talk. Bad spelling can make it all the more charming, so don't sweat the small stuff.

Years ago, when I turned 21, I received a piece of jewelry from my grandmother. It had a story all its own. But do you know what I remember most about it? The little slip of paper inside the box that said, "for Laura, on her 21st birthday!". It was in her handwriting, and she must have put away that little box before I was 10. Sometimes the "little things" are really big!

2.)"Small stuff" brings me to the second idea. I just went to a website (www.oldenglishcrackers.com - no; I'm not in anyway affiliated with them except as a customer) and for under $30, with shipping, ordered all the materials necessary to make 25 Christmas crackers. For up to 25 people, then. I will have to add in my own wrapping paper, low temp glue gun (you can get these for under $7.00), and fillings. (My order included the little "snap" strips that make the "pop" sound when you pull the cracker apart; small cardboard tubes - but you could use toilet paper rolls; folded crepe paper party hats; instructions (free)- but you can google these up; and one set of "rollers" to make the job easier.) So what will I fill these with? For the person who dreams of having a Porsche one day, I might look for a Matchbox Cars version of it. I'll find a box of gorgeous Christmas candy, and put one piece of it in each cracker (example: a petit four or a maple candy Santa). I might google up some Christmas joke - or other corny humour; I could get a librarian to help me find just the right thing - there's usually a person at the reference desk standing by for just such questions. (Yes, my sister is a librarian. And she adores helping folks find the information, or the quote that they want!) Or I might come up with a fortune cookie-style bit of paper, which might have a very few affirming words, or inspirational quote for a specific person. (Again, check out the library.) There are lots of little things out there - such as a marble that looks like the earth, foil covered chocolate, silver colored charms for good luck or to spark a memory, miniature Playdough; confetti; a beautiful stamp, a shiney, new quarter or half dollar - the bank will help you get a great one. Ideas will come to you as you get going. All you have to do is fill it with something that shows you know that person a bit, and that you care. Believe me, it will be fun for you to assemble and decorate; and they will remember that cracker. For years.

I hope these will be useful, and that everyone gives and receives a bit of joy over the holiday season. That's really what it's all about anyway.

Merry Christmas!
Laura

Wacky MIX video of the day.

My buddy, Rick, the dummer for Lifehouse is one wacky dude when he not onstage!