Well, it has been far too long since my last post, but I have been riding one heck of a wave lately! My book,
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine & Food Pairing, came out on June 1st and since I got the first copy in the mail, I have been out on the road promoting it. In 25 days I have signed over 120 books at over 10 events and paired over 50 dishes/foods at these events. I have put over 4,000 miles on my car and taught classes to over 300 people... And I'm just getting started!
It has been so much fun to teach people about wine and food pairing basics and to experiment with some really unusual pairings at each of the classes. My coauthor, Jeanette has been able to also attend many of the events (often with her 4month old cutie in tow) and has shared so much of her cheese knowledge at each of our classes (many of which have been based around cheese, since we live in
the cheese state). One of my favorite wine/cheese pairing tips that she taught me (and I finally got to try first hand) is to add a little fresh-cracked pepper to your cheese when drinking it with red wine. It really makes the flavors of the red wine pop!
Some other new and unusual pairings that were fun to try included:
- Reuben Dip (all the ingredients you'd have on a Reuben sandwich, but in dip form) with a German Pinot Noir.
- Cream Puffs with an oaky Chardonnay (not a 'perfect' pairing, but it really made for an interesting combination. I need to seek out some late-harvest Chardonnay and try it with some cream puffs come State Fair time).
- Merieke Gouda with a lightly-oaked chardonnay.
- Sweet Salmon Spread on crackers with Spatlese Riesling.
- Dark Chocolate Bread Pudding with a dry, Paso Robles Zinfandel (the bread pudding wan't too sweet and worked wonderfully with the Zin).
Hopefully I'll be able to get back in the habit of updating my blog regularly and sharing other unusual pairings, as well as some new wineries and wine regions in the US that I'll be visiting. But until then, CHEERS!
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