Liquid Bliss (lik’wid blis)

Its nice to have pantry staples that you can use in a pinch to liven up a meal or add interest to last minute entertaining. Chestnut honey is one of those perfect pantry staples. Be forewarned that this is not your standard grocery store ‘honey bear’. It’s unusally rich, dark and heady flavor will come as a bit of a surprise….and it is a strong, unique flavor that is not loved by everyone.

The slightly bitter, spicy flavor gives a kick of elegance to lots of different recipes. I love it stirred into my coffee, drizzled over toast or swirled into thick greek yogurt for breakfast. An easy, yet very elegant dessert would be to quarter a pear, spoon a bit of gorgonzola over it, drizzle with chestnut honey and sprinkle crushed hazelnuts over it. (more…)

A great, fun way to learn about wine is to go to a wine shop and ask them to recommend 5 wines under a certain price. It can be fun to give them certain parameters like all Pinot Noirs or wines from Tuscany. It is always fun to see what they come up with. This is a great exercise for wine novices and a fun way for regular wine drinkers to break out of a ‘wine rut’.

I tried this myself recently at the very expensive (and oh so fun to browse!) Dean & Deluca in Napa. As my price point was under $30 and I was specifying only local, small production wines I was worried that the choices would be limited, but the very knowledgeable wine guy suggested a few treasures. My favorite of these was a 2006 Rhone syle blend called ‘Beautiful Earth’ from McPrice Meyers in Paso Robles. (more…)