All About Foods, Drinks etc.

Keeping a wine bottle sealed is probably the most important factor when it comes to maintaining a good wine.

A cork is essential, as it keeps oxygen out of the wine bottle. If a bottle of wine is not airtight then it may become oxidized and undrinkable

Traditionally, the only corks worth considering were those actually made of cork. Recently, however, many wine experts have recognized that cork may actually cause more problems than it solves.

Cork, due to its malleable nature may have imperfections; these can result in the seal of the bottle not being as airtight as it could be and the wine being spoilt. In an attempt to avoid this problem, modern cork manufacturers may treat the cork with a chemical called TVA. Unfortunately, this chemical can cause the wine to taste and smell a little damp and musty.

Having said this, cork is able to expand to fully fill the neck of the bottle, which therefore, still makes it the preferred option for special wines that need to be stored, over a long period of time.

Plastic corks are becoming increasing popular, of late. One of the main problems associated with traditional corks is that the wine becomes ‘corked’. Plastic corks prevent this occurring. Great! I hear you say. However, there can be minor irritations with plastic corks. A plastic cork can sometimes be difficult to extract from the bottle and virtually impossible to fit back into a half drunk bottle.

Another recent development is the widespread use of screw-top bottles. Until recently, this type of seal was used for only the cheapest of wines. Wine producers across the globe are now recognizing the benefits that screw tops provide. This type of seal ensures that wine is kept fresh; there is no chance of the wine becoming ‘corked’ and the bottle can be easily resealed. In reality, the only reason that screw tops are not more popular is because of the ingrained snobbery associated with this method of sealing a bottle.

No matter which type of cork you choose, it is important that you are able to recognize whether the wine has been properly sealed or not. A useful test is to see whether the top of the cork is level with the top of the bottle; if it isn’t, then that particular bottle of wine is probably best avoided.

If a traditional cork breaks when you are removing it - don’t panic! Use a corkscrew to attempt to ‘dig out’ the remaining cork. If this fails, simply push the remains of the cork down into the bottle. Contrary to popular belief, this will not destroy the wine’s flavor. You may have to fish out a few bits of cork, but the taste of the wine should remain unaffected. However, you’d be wise to finish the whole bottle, under these circumstances!

When choosing your wine, base your decision on the wine itself and not the type of cork. Resist the temptation to be a cork snob; a screw top bottle may just give you a pleasant surprise

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It is one of life’s oddities that we take a lot of trouble refrigerating meat, keeping food sealed and washing our hands before touching it, only to throw out the rule book when we have a barbecue. The meat is left out in the sun waiting it’s turn to be cooked, exposed to the elements and there is no washbasin to be seen. Another oddity is that it is men that do most of the barbecue cooking: 7 out of 10 according to the American Dietetic Association (http://www.eatright.org) in a survey. They also found that only 44% of these men washed their hands when cooking at the barbecue. Shame on us men! Why is it that, more often then not, it is women who get to do the day-in, day-out drudgery cooking, while men suddenly muscle in for those special occasions? Is this right, or am I imagining it?

Anyway, back to food hygiene. I am not suggesting that we plumb washbasins into our back yards but I would suggest that at least the following two precautions are still maintained.

The first one is that, even though it can be difficult to arrange, it is an absolute necessity that cooked meats never come into contact with raw meats either directly or via utensils, plates, bowls, trays or cutting boards. This is a very easy mistake to make, especially if you are not the usual cook of the house.

The other precaution is to try to keep wasps and flies away. You may know that their main purpose in life is to spoil your barbecue by diving at you and your guests and depositing some nasty germs - from nearby rubbish tips or animal dung - onto your food; and there is always the risk of being stung by a wasp.

A little tip is to avoid wearing yellow, as they are attracted to it. Of course, if there is someone you don’t like very much, you could make a point of inviting them, but telling them to wear only yellow clothes (just say it is part of a role-playing game you have laid on). The unwanted guest can act as a decoy, attracting all the wasps and flies, while the rest of you enjoy yourself.

As this is a particularly nasty thing to do to anyone, an alternative is to lay out some yellow objects in a circle around the barbecue area. For example, you could wrap 10 bricks in bright yellow paper and place them evenly in a circle at a radius of, say, 8 feet from the picnic/barbecue area. Drop some treacle on each. They will act as decoys and reduce the threat of wasps and flies.

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The Omega Zone Diet and specialists’ opinion

“Omega RX Zone - The Miracle of High-dose Fish Oil” is considered the best contribution that Dr. Barry Sears has yet made to a healthy diet. The benefits of fish oil are well-known. Species such as mackerel, lake trout, herring, sardines, albacore tuna and salmon are rich in two kinds of Omega 3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These fatty acids have had proven beneficial effects in complaints such as arrhythmia, high triglyceride levels, atherosclerotic plaque and high blood pressure.

The recommendations of the American Heart Association meet Dr. Sears’ up to a point

* Both the AHA and Dr. Sears recognise the benefits of Omega 3 fatty acids.

* Both parties tell us that fish is nowadays contaminated with various toxins like mercury, DDT or other harmful substances. See the AHA special report

* People with a high risk of coronary heart disease or of high-level trigliceride cannot obtain enough Omega 3 fatty acids from dietary fish. They may therefore need to supplement their diet with pharmaceutical fish oil.

Nevertheless, opinions vary on some points.

* High doses of fish oil are good for health, but the doses Dr. Sears recommends are much higher than those which AHA considers to be safe.

* Dr. Sears warns us to pay attention to what we buy. This is pharmaceutical fish oil preliminarily tested by International Fish Oil Standards program (IFOS). The AHA’s lab studies certified that all brands of pharmaceutical fish oil, even the cheapest, were free from toxins, at the moment of testing. But some of them did not meet the doses advertised on the label.

* Dr. Sears prescribes fish oil capsules for healthy people. The AHA does not.

* Dr. Sears claims that his fish oil supplements, Omega RX ZoneTM, will prevent and help cure heart and brain diseases. THey will also maintain healthy kidneys, immune system, joint movement, maintain cholesterol safe levels, stamina, strength, mood and general well-being. The American Food and Drug Administration did not evaluate any of these statements.

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Wine Tasting Component I: Look

The first step you have to undertake in wine tasting is visual.

1. Fill up the glass up to 1/3 of its volume; never fill it more than half;

2. Hold the glass by the stem. Initially you may find this too pretentious but there are good reasons for it:

?) by doing it this way you can actually observe the wine in it;

b) this will keep your fingerprints off the bowl;

?) the heat from your palm will not change the temperature of the wine.

There’s a good saying by one of the greatest French wine lovers, Emil Painot: Offer someone a glass of wine and you can immediately tell whether he/she is a connoisseur by the way they hold the glass.” Even though you may not think of yourself as a connoisseur, you could still learn how to hold the wine glass.

3. Focus on the color intensity and the transparency of the liquid.

a) the color of the wine, and more specifically its nuances, are best observed on a white background.

b) the wine’s intensity is best judged by holding the glass without slanting it and looking at the liquid from above;

4. Next comes the swirling of the glass. This can also seem too pretentious or even dangerous if you have a full glass or a white top. But this movement is important since it prepares you for the next step in wine tasting ? the Taste. The easiest way to swirl the glass is to place it on a table or other even surface, and to swirl your hand while holding the glass by the stem. Swirl hard and have the wine almost touch the rim of the glass. Then stop. The wine leaves tiny traces with irregular shapes on the inside of the glass. Some “experts” then read them with as much zeal as coffee-tellers. The truth is however, that they are just an indicator for the quality of the wine ? the more alcohol a wine has, the more wine traces it forms.

What does the color of the wine tell us? The wine’s color tells us many things about its character.

First, the color shows the grape variety. Let’s take two popular varieties as examples ? cabernet sauvignon and pinot noir. Cabernet’s grapes are smaller, with a thicker and darker skin than those of pinot noir. As a result, the color of wines made from cabernet sauvignon is usually described as violet to dark while the color of wines made from pinot noir is associated with ruby.

Second, the color is influenced by the climatic conditions. A hot summer and dry fall result in ripe grapes, with a dark, intense color. A cold summer and rainy fall will produce undeveloped grapes with a lighter color.

Third, wine-making practices also have an influence on the color of wine. For red wine, the grapes are fermented with the skin. Since the coloring agents are in the grape skin, and not in the juice, the longer the process of maceration, i.e. the longer the skin stays with the juice, the darker the wine color will be.

Fourth, the process of wine aging also has an influence on the color of wine. The young red wines are rich in coloring agents and that makes their color denser and fuller. In the course of time chemical reactions take place in the bottle and a sediment is formed at the bottom. The wine’s color gets lighter and is often described as brick or amber.

Let’s go through an example: you pour yourself a glass of red wine and after carefully observing it, you notice a full granite color, good density, and not so good transparency. What conclusions can you draw?Well, you can safely say that the wine is:

- from cabernet sauvignon grapes;

- from a Southern region;

- relatively young;

- from a good yield;

- that the wine-maker has gone for a good long maceration.

If you know the wine, compare what you know with what you see: maybe the wine has a very full color and the yield has been bad ? this speaks of a good wine-making technique; or maybe the wine is too pale for its age ? this speaks for undeveloped grape or poor wine-making technique.

Wine Tasting Component II: Smell

The second wine tasting component is smelling and inhaling the wine’s aroma.

Concentrate as much as you can and smell the wine, swirl the glass, and smell once again.

The stronger the aromas, the stronger the impression. Most of the wines, especially the more delicate and the older ones develop their aromas only after “being walked around” the glass.

There is no consensus as to the exact technique of whiffing. Some say do two or three quick whiffs, others prefer one single deep whiff.

The goal of whiffing is to inhale the aroma as deeply as possible so that it gets into contact with our sensory nerve and hence, with the part of the brain that is responsible for registering, storing, and deciphering sensations. The spot where that takes place is extremely sensitive: a cold or an allergy might completely block even the most intense aromas. With enough practice and concentration, you’ll learn how to extract the maximum from different aromas and how to interpret them.

The vivid connoisseurs love to concoct different aromas. “Dark chocolate!” says one. “No, that’s more like pepper,” claims another. “Tea leaves, tobacco, and mushrooms,” adds third. Are they joking?? Probably we don’t quite realize it but nowadays we are exposed to so many different smells that we find it difficult to find words to describe all the complex aromas that a glass of wine can offer.

Like color, a wine’s aroma can tell us a lot about its character, origin, and its history. Since our sense of taste is limited to only 4 categories (sweet, sour, bitter, and salt), the wine’s aroma is the most informative part of our sensory experience. So take your time, sit back and contemplate the aroma! Like the perfume of a loved one or the smell of freshly baked bread, a wine’s aroma can evoke memories of times and places that we cherish.

Wine Tasting Component III: Taste

This is the best part of wine-tasting. You might be enchanted by wine’s sparkling color or mesmerized by its aroma but it’s actually drinking the wine that the whole thing is about.

Maybe you are thinking that drinking is the easiest part ? after all we start drinking from a glass from a very young age and we keep practicing for a lifetime. However, there’s a real difference between just swallowing liquid and conscious tasting. Here, just like in all good things in life, the difference is in the right technique. The appropriate technique can make sure we get the best out of the whole experience.

1. Still under the influence of the aromas you’ve inhaled in step II, take a sip of the wine. Don’t make it too big or too small. You need just enough to walk the wine in your mouth and not have to swallow it just yet. Let wine uncover its secrets. For reference, you may keep good wine in your mouth for 10 ? 15 seconds, sometimes even more.

2. Walk the wine very well in your mouth, ensuring it touches each part of it. This is important because our tongue, palate, the inside of the mouth and our throat each detect different aspects of the wine.

For many years, it was believed that the tongue has different areas each of which is sensitive to a particular taste ? sweet for the tip of the tongue, sour for the sides, bitter for the back and salty for the whole tongue. Today we know that all the tastes can be felt with the whole tongue, only there’s a “blind” spot in the middle of it which is not sensitive to any taste.

Another important step in wine tasting is being able to tell one’s impressions of the wine. “Astringent”, “elegant”, “fruity”, “flat”, “young” are only a few words of the wine vocabulary you’ll need to amass.

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You just found that great recipe that you have been trying to find for over year. And now you’re dancing around your kitchen in glee!

That’s when you notice that it makes enough to feed a small army, but you only need to feed two.

Or perhaps, it only makes enough for two; and that’s just not going to cut it for your family of five.

You REALLY want to prepare that recipe for your family and/or friends. So what’s a cook to do?

Well, you’ll be happy to know that it’s a cinch to reduce a recipe or increase a recipe. And most of the time you only need to reduce the ingredients by half for less or double the ingredients for more.

Reducing Recipesto make half a recipe…

It’s pretty easy to reduce a recipe by half, you just use half of each ingredient. If the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons, you would use only 1 tablespoon.

It can get a little tricky with ingredients like eggs though. I mean, it seems kind of hard to come up with half of 1 egg, at first. But here’s the trick…

If the reduced recipe calls for less than 1 egg, beat one whole egg. Measure out what you need with a tablespoon to divide. You can use the egg that is left in scrambled eggs, sauces, or discard (but if you’re like me, you hate to waste food).

Remember, the size of your baking pans must be reduced also. The pans should measure about half the area of those for the whole recipe. Oven temperatures won’t change. However, approximate baking time will be the same or maybe slightly less if the proportions of the pan are different.

Increasing Recipesto double a recipe…

When doubling a recipe, you do just that - double it!

You’ll use exactly twice the amount of each ingredient. And you’ll need to add an extra minute of beating for cakes.

Remember, when doubling recipes, you only add the top numbers of the fraction. For example, 2/3 cup plus 2/3 cup equals 4/3 cup. If you’re good with numbers, then you can convert this to 1 and 1/3 cup.

However, if you’re terrified of fractions like a lot of people, simply use a 1/3 measuring cup and measure out your ingredients until you have filled your 1/3 measuring cup 4 times and added to the recipe.

You will need to use twice as many pans of the same size indicated for the original recipe or a pan double in area. The batter should be the same depth in the pans so that the same baking time and temperature may be used.

Have Fun!

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