Hey Dan

A couple of weeks ago we had this dinner For Wine shark’s birthday. It was amazing, five courses and a bottle of wine that went with each course. The two of use were talking on Saturday about doing it again. We had gone to a wine tasting and while talking about what we thought of each wine we kept mentioning what food it would go with.

Wine and food do this thing, Wine Shark calls it ‘magic,’ it is when the taste of a wine and the taste of the food combine to make a completely new taste. For the dinner, a wine was selected that complimented each of the courses.

I played this trick on the Carbonated Girl on Friday night. She and the Dark Side girl were over and she was eating an espresso brownie. I gave her a drink of the Warren’s LBV I was drinking. It is a smooth sweet port type wine that played off the chocolate. This is part of the fun of wine.

So on Sunday K and I went cookbook shopping. A good cookbook is a great thing. Nevertheless, unfortunately there are many bad ones. A few rules for a good cookbook:
1) Pictures are good. I want to see how it should look. This both helps me get an image of what I am trying to do and how I will present it on a plate.
2) Talk about the technique of what you are doing. I do not need to have sauté define for me, however I would like to know how much crunch you leave. In the end, I will find my own way to make this dish, but teach me a new technique for doing some thing and it may show up in many dishes.
3) Write clearly. This is not poetry. I am going to be reading this in my kitchen while trying to create something new. More often then not, while running late to make dinner for some special occasion. Remember I not Martha, you are lucky if read the recipe before hand.
4) Avoid lumping ingredient together, for example dry goods. Say Flower, Salt, Baking Soda blah blah. You can see where I am going with this….
5) Give alterative for hard to find ingredients. The local grocery stores my not carry leaks, shallots, or even five-spice powder. Knowing what could be used as a substitute will make this recipe more accessible.

Wine and food are the stuff of life. I learn this at a very young age from my both my parents and my godparents. My father started my love of cooking, Mom taught me how to do the basics, and my godparents showed me how good wine, food and people make life rich.