Posts Tagged ‘dining’
Wine Racks: Six Methods to Storing Your Wine
Temperature of the room: Most wines taste best when served at room temperature, or 55 degrees. Here’s where that rule gets confusing — sparkling wine is best served chilled, so wine refrigerator storage is best, while white wines are best kept in temperatures of 45 degrees. Temperature controlled wine refrigerators will allow you to set the temperature based on the wines you most frequently have, but a simple wine rack placed in a cooler spot of your home will also do the trick. Just make sure that the spot you decide to store your wine isn’t next to a heater or vent, as fluctuations in temperature can impact the taste and quality of the wines.
Height where wine will be stored: When using a wine rack, remember to keep sparkling wines on the bottom shelf, white wines in the middle, and red wines on the top. Since heat rises, the wines that are best served cooler will do best towards the bottom of the wine racks.
Surroundings: Did you know that keeping a wine next to fruit or vegetables can cause the wine to mold? Foods that can rot may send the moldy flavors into a cork of the wine, causing the wine to have unfavorable smells and tastes.
Keep Wine Away from Sunlight: When wine is exposed to light, it can age faster and lose it’s flavor. Keep your wine racks or or any wine stored in a rerigerator away from any sources of natural light, and preferably in a darker area of your home.
Sideways: Keeping wine on it’s side will keep the wine in contact with the cork, preventing air from escaping into the wine bottle. Different types of wine racks will allow you to tilt the wine to an optimal level, allowing the wine cork to stay wet and prevent oxygen from coming in.
Air Circulation of storage room: Wine can mold. If wine is kept in a closet or dark room, make sure that there is a steady amount of circulation. Just like you wouldn’t keep clothes in a moldy closet, make sure your that the place you choose to store your wine is clean and free of mold.
Tags: apartment, Decorating, dining, drinks, Food, furniture, gourmet, Home, kitchen, luxury, Travel, wine, wine rack, women
Texas Eats
Whatever enticements bring you to the great land of Texas, I can guarantee you one thing, the food is what will keep you there. The South has perfected their own unique standard of cuisine, and the Lone Star State is saturated with it. The delicacies and delights found here are quite lacking anywhere else in the world.
It’s easy to spell fun in Texas — BBQ. Despite the population, the biggest cities and the smallest towns all have their own barbecue establishment of some kind. Each self proclaiming themselves, no doubt, to be “The Best Barbecue in Texas!” With only slight variations, you can easily expect an atmosphere of brushed steel, wood planks, hickory smoke, and country music.
But since you are only there for the food, you should know that there exists any choice of beef, pork, or chicken. No matter where you go for your experience, you can expect the variation of a spicy kick, a sweet honey glaze, or a classic hickory smoked saturation to fit your preference. When I first came to Texas, it came as quite a surprise to find at even the most elegant of events a banquet arrayed in barbecue.
The barbecue succeeds due to the excess of Texas’ most precious asset of beef. Driving through the state it is not rare to see land roaming for miles with the most beautiful livestock. The great land spanning these acres feeds the most delicious animals in the state.
If you don’t prefer to have your animals barbecued, surely you couldn’t resist a melting piece of tender steak in your mouth. Fine Texas Steakhouses are hard to miss around the state as well. I would suggest a medium grill to your choice of cut in order to achieve the most tender and yet sufficiently cooked dinner delight.
Texas also has a lucky connection so close to the border which has given birth to a fascinating genre of food that only exists here as TexMex. The further south you travel, perhaps to San Antonio at least, the hispanic culture has authentically romanticized the food here. Warm tortillas, fresh salsa, and explosive flavors lull us away in this perfect union of Mexican style food made by the Texan grown culture.
All the acres of land that makes Texas proud gives fruit to unending varieties of succulent produce. Undoubtedly my favorite is, the peach. You can’t find a better peach cobbler than in the South, for good reason.
Peaches thrive in this climate and humidity. In our own backyard we grow a large fruitful peach tree that satisfies our craving for juicy sweet peaches with each summer season. Everyone in our community also looks forward to this season for my family to bring over paper bags full of peaches to share.
The land and humidity here in Texas are not always so unbearable. They bring forth the great fruits of quite enjoyable eating. Livestock, fruits, and vegetables all have a happy home grown in Texas. Any traveller will gorge with substantial delight in any of the unique culinary creations that all Texans should be proud of.
Tags: barbecue, bbq, beef, chicken, culinary, dining, eating, Food, livestock, Peaches, pork, produce, steak, Texas
Great Wine And You
It’s a fact that there is no one type of wine drinker to be sure. So when asking about a great wine, you could get a gazillion different answers. Of course there is no number labeled a gazillion, but it does seem to drive home the point that wine drinkers differ as do personalities.
The range extends from the down and out street wino to the extremely upscale wine clubs found in the eastern seaboard of America. And then of course there are our European cousins that consume much more wine than we Americans do routinely. So who you ask about great wine will definitely influence the answer you get back.
Is there any point in asking then? Yes there is. But who you ask will come as a surprise I imagine. And that’s because the person to ask is you….yes ask yourself. The bottom line is that it’s your taste buds that you need to please. And not anyone else’s, because you need to please yourself. You want to experience pleasure when consuming a glass of great wine.
What will play into and affect that experience is the surroundings with which you find yourself when drinking some wine. Why is that important, well there are some wines that just do not fit some occasions. And if you don’t know at least some basics, your wine selection could end with a very discomforting result.
Elementary Wine Course: There are 3 basic types of wine. What is known as White, Red and Rose’ in the color realm. There are dry (non sweet) wines and the options run all the way to the sweet desert wines. There are wines that typically go well with certain types of main course foods, desert wines and wines that can be enjoyed all by themselves. All wine actually fits this last category depending on your mood.
The days of wine snobbery are for the most part over. As the 21st century progresses, it has become more important for the individual to enjoy their selection than fitting a predetermined set of circumstances dictated by wine snobs. Those supposedly in the know.
While everything up till now is true, it’s pretty much an open game, there are a couple of things that you want to keep in mind. One is, you don’t want to select a desert wine such as Muscat to drink with dinner. That may seem like common sense and it is, but if you don’t know what Muscat is, then you could be at the front end of a very big surprise. Muscat is my favorite desert wine. As a child, I use to eat Muscat grapes fresh off the vine from wild grape vines that grew in our neighborhood. It was like free candy.
It is completely acceptable to drink a white wine with a dinner steak these days. Although up until recently, it was sort of taboo to drink white wine with red meat such as Beef, Veal, Venison or other game meats. Red was strictly the wine of choice. That is no longer true.
At some upscale eateries that have a wine Sommelier, traditional guidelines about food and great wine pairings seem to continue to a certain degree. When faced with this situation, it is up to you and your comfort level in making your wine selection. So a great wine would still be one that pleases your palette and feels comfortable ordering. Say a nice wine that makes you smile as you put glass to your lips. A wine type I failed to mention is Champagne. It is basically a sparkling wine, that when close to your nose make even make you giggle as the bubbles popping about your nose tickle the sniffer.
Back to the original question. What is a great wine? I believe it’s the wine that you like the most. A wine that brings you great pleasure. If you find fault with that, then just have a beer.
Tags: champagne, dining, Food, food and drink, wine, wines
Looking for a Healthy Meal? Try Fresh Lobster!
When you’re on a diet, it can be maddening trying to get the nutrients you need, and still lose weight. One of the hardest things is trying to find a lean protein that’s good for you, and that you like to eat. Tofu is always an option, but isn’t the same as meat. Red meat isn’t an option of course, but chicken gets tiring, after a while. And fish has been reported to have high mercury levels, meaning you shouldn’t eat it every day. So what protein can you enjoy? How about some fresh lobster!
Lobster has gotten a bad rap for years as being something that’s indulgent and bad for you. While it’s true that lobster does have a great indulgent taste, it just isn’t true that it’s bad for you. In fact, at about 90 calories for a three and a half ounce serving, lobster is an incredibly good for you way to get your protein, better than steak or even chicken? I know it seems hard to believe, but it’s true. You can eat fresh lobster as part of a healthy and balanced diet.
It may be hard to swallow that lobster is good for you, when all of the information you’ve seen in the past is that it’s unhealthy. But the fresh lobster meat itself has always been healthy, it’s simply the way that it’s been prepared that hasn’t fit a dieters lifestyle. By dipping fresh lobster in butter, the calorie and fat count of course goes up. And there is a lot of fat in a creamy soup like a lobster bisque. But when prepared, a lobster is steamed, meaning the meat itself is free from oils and fats.
Lobster is not only a low calorie food, it’s also good for your heart health. Like many other crustaceans and types of fish, lobster is high in heart healthy omega three fatty acids. These fatty acids help to promote the healthy of your heart, and are recommended by doctors. Many other food producers are even adding them to their products like milk! Fresh lobster is a great way for you to get the benefits of omega three’s in a natural way. it’s also a great source of protein to keep your energy up on long days.
Are you stuck for how you can enjoy lobster in a healthy way that will complement it? Here are some simple ideas. For a quick snack, try a few pieces on some rye bread. The strong flavors play off each other nicely. You can also add texture and flavor to a vegetable filled salad with some chunks of lobster. It’s an easy and low calorie way to get some protein. Feeding the family? Prepare whole wheat pasta with olive oil, and add some pieces of lobster. It’s elegant and good for you.
Fresh lobster is a great way to add some classic elegance to your diet, without sacrificing taste or your healthy. It’s a great tasting protein that can be prepared in many simple ways for both yourself, and for your friends and family.
Tags: beverage, cooking, dining, Food, gourmet, Health, lobster, recipes, seafood
How Well Do These Online Food Stores Handle Shipping?
It’s only natural to think, if you order your food online, how in the world is it supposed to stay fresh?
But if you sit down and think about it, how do you think most of these supermarkets and restaurants get their food. It has to be delivered to them. Most of the time, its actually done cross country, and their food tastes pretty good doesn’t it? So it really shouldn’t matter if its going to Winn-Dixie or a neighborhood suburb, you just have to make sure pick a place with a strong reputation.
The carriers they use tend to vary. For instance most people like to UPS because of their reputation, and the fact that you get various different shipping options. They are also the carrier that is more experienced in delivering food.
Now, when it comes to packaging, everybody is a little different. It will vary from one online restaurant to the next. An example of this would be Home Bistro. This is a company that specializes in gourmet meals. They are big fans of using dry ice when they package the food, so it can stay fresh. They also a have a good, solid turn around time for its delivery. You can normally expect it within 2-5 days.
With other online restaurants, they might do things a little differently.
On the other end of the spectrum is The Crab Place. This is an online restaurant that just deals with fresh fish and seafood, so you know they have to have a faster turn around time for shipping, and they do. It’s usually within 1-2 days when you can expect delivery. They also don’t use dry ice. Instead they use refrigerant.
The last category would have to be gift baskets. Now, when it comes to gift baskets, there isn’t a whole lot to worry about, because nothing has to stay fresh. The only downside to that, is the fact that you are going to have to wait a little longer for the package to get their. But on the upside, you don’t have to pay as much for shipping.
But the great thing about gift basket companies, is that almost all of them know how to properly package the basket, so there is no damage during shipping.
Tags: dining, Food, food reviews, Health, restaurant
