Discovering the Malbec from Argentina

Everyone I have met from Argentina is wonderful. They have been easy going, friendly and with a hunger for adventure. I don't know if all Argentineans are the same, but those that I have met are pretty awesome. :)
For my next wine tasting, I tried the best variety from Argentina, the Malbec from the Mendoza region. The Malbec originated from France and was later given to Argentina as the "best wine grape." The French did not want to hand over their successful grapes and lied to Argentina by giving them a grape that didn't do so well. To the French's surprise, the Malbec did great in Argentina. The Mendoza region has better climate, altitude and soil for the Malbec grape.

As I sipped my wine, I imagined drinking aside other Argentineans at the Vendimia Festival. It occurs every March in the Mendoza region. The bodegas (wineries) host various events and wine tastings for the festival, Malbec everywhere you go! The festival is rated number two on National Geographic's Top 10 Harvest Festivals. (I'm adding it to my bucket list ;) )

My expectation of the Malbec was for it to be great like the Argentineans I've met! This wine was pretty close, after all, these Argentineans are awesome...
Vineyard: Bodega Norton
Year: 2008
Variety: Malbec
Region: Mendoza, Argentina
Purchases at: BevMo $16.99
91 pts Wilfred Wong
About Bodega Norton...founded in 1895 by Edmund James Palmer Norton with vines imported from France. They now have five vineyards spread throughout the Mendoza region with vines of an average 30 years.

Tasting Notes: Deeply red with violet hues. Aromas of ripe red fruits, cassis and pepper. Sweet on the palate, friendly tannins with spicy flavours. Very good persistence.

My experience:
I agree with the tasting notes! I smelled the French oak barrels in which the wine was aged. I was eating food with a spicy sauce, and after drinking the wine, my spicy taste buds went for a wild ride. It made the spicy flavors bolder and stood out in my food. It can be compared to the sense of adventure my Argentinean frieds have.

Just like the wine color, I smelled and could also taste dark red fruits such as plum, sweet grape, and some blackberries. Overall, this wine is easy to drink for those looking for a red wine with a full body.
If interested in purchasing this wine at BevMo, it is part of their 5 cent wine sale. The sale ends this Monday, March 26th!!

Sources:
Sommelier Adolfo Munoz
http://allaboutar.com/ar_wine_mendoza.htm
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/
http://www.norton.com.ar/home.php

Breakfast Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies are thought to be healthy breakfast treats because they include oats. They are so easily turned into unhealthy just by adding another ingredient.

When you think of breakfast, and greasy, does bacon come to mind? Well, bacon is added to these Bacon, Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies. This is not your average sweet oatmeal cookie. The bacon adds a little saltiness and smoky flavor, which pairs great with a cup of coffee.

Bacon, Oatmeal, and Raisin Cookies

recipe from bon appetite

Ingredients

8 oz sliced bacon, cut into 1/4 inch squares

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2/3 cup raisins

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until deep golden brown and crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towels.

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat sugars and butter in a large bowl, occasionally scrapping down sides, until well blended, 2-3 minutes.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 4-5 minutes.

Mix in dry ingredients.

Fold bacon, oats, and raisins into batter and stir until evenly incorporated.

Chill for about 15 minutes so the batter isn't as sticky. Using a cookie scoop, form dough into balls and place on prepared sheets spaced at least 3" apart. Chill dough for 1 hour or cover and chill overnight. Arrange racks in upper and lower thirds of oven; preheat to 375 degrees.

Bake cookies, rotating pans halfway through, until edges are light golden brown and centers are still slightly soft. (The instructions say 20-22 minutes, but with my oven, 19 minutes was too much.) Let cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

When life gives you lemons, make lemon custard pie

Last Thursday I attended Fresno's Food Expo. It featured produce, food products and beverages from the central valley. It's amazing at how many things come from the valley: fruits, vegetables, cheese, milk, tortillas, beef, and wine. I came home with Buddy's Farm Fresh Lemons from Trinity Fruit Sales.

I went back to my Taste of Home pie recipe cards and found a Lemon Custard pie recipe. I used two lemons from the pouch of lemons. The pie lemon taste is not very strong; it is sweet enjoyable.

Lemon Custard Pie

unbaked pie shell

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon butter, softened

2 eggs, separated

1 cup milk

3 tablespoons flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

whipped cream, lemon and mint, optional

Beast sugar and butter until well blended.

Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each.

Add the milk, flour and salt; mix well.

Stir in lemon juice and zest; set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; gently fold into lemon mixture.

Pour into pie shell. Bake at 325 degrees 45 minutes to an hour or until lightly browned and a knife inserted the center comes out clean.

Cool. Garnish. Enjoy!

Eat my...Chocolate Pie

The Help has been receiving much recognition. As of last week, I hadn't seen it. The night before the Oscar's I made it a movie night to watch The Help. Then I understood the popularity of this movie. A story about respect, dreams, friendships and...food. I was cheering for The Help throughout the awards show. Unfortunately, they didn't win best movie but congrats to Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress. My favorite part of the movie was when Minny told Hilly "Eat my shit," as Hilly ate her pie. As soon as that scene happened, I knew what my next blog post was about...Chocolate Pie!

The chocolate pie recipe is from my Taste of Home recipe cards. The Chocolate Silk Pie is a baked pie crust, creamy chocolate pudding, and a layer of whipped cream. I skipped on the thick layer of whipped cream. In my opinion, I thought just a dollop of whipped cream was sufficient.

Chocolate Pie

1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches) (I made my own from my Cake Boss book)

1 jar (7oz) marshmallow creme

1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup butter, cubed

2 oz unsweetened chocolate

2 tablespoons strong brewed coffee

1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Optional

Whipping Cream

Chocolate curls

1. Line unpricked pastry shell with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack.

2. Meanwhile, in a heavy saucepan, combine the marshmallow creme, chocolate chips, butter, unsweetened chocolate and coffee; cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Cool. Fold in whipped cream; pour into crust.

3. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and chocolate curls if desired.

After watching The Help, I was also inspired in making these sugar cookies with royal icing decoration. Hope you like them!

Irish Coffee Cupcakes

All things green have been showing up in stores. Seems like every year people would like to be Irish on Saint Patrick's Day. We drink green beer, and Irish coffee to try to blend in with the true Irish. But really we are just being consumed by the holidays.

Let's face it; it's fun to be consumed by all these holidays. It's an excuse to have a party or bake a special dessert. I made an excuse to bake these Irish Coffee cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. It is a coffee cupcake with a Bailey's Irish Cream buttercream. If you like Irish coffee, you will enjoy these cupcakes.

Irish Coffee Cupcakes

Coffee Cupcakes Ingredients - makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons instant coffee crystals1 cup flour1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Boil water. Mix with vanilla and 2 tablespoons of instant coffee crystals. I used 4 packets of single serve coffee.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.3. Add the egg, buttermilk and vegetable oil; mix to blend.4. Mix in the coffee mixture to the batter.5. Using an ice cream scooper, scoop batter into cupcake liners. Bake 18-20 minutes.Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream

2 cups butter

3 cups powder sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream

Cream the butter in a mixer with the paddle attachment. Slowly add powder sugar and mix on low speed until blended. Mix in Bailey's. You can add more if you wish; if it becomes too soggy, add more sugar.

I used a Wilton 1M tip to frost the cupcakes and decorated with a fondant clover.
Enjoy!

All Smiles at Papagni Wines

I attended the Madera Wine Trail's Wine and Chocolate weekend on February 11th and 12th. Our (boyfriend and I) first stop was Papagni Wines located right off highway 41. There was a small crowd, which made it feel comfy and somewhat intimate. The wine tasting was located in the bottling room due to the tasting room still being prepared to open February 13th. (It's now open!) The employees serving the wines were friendly and approachable. They answered any questions we had about the wine and their production. As we finished our tasting, the Seller Master announced anyone interested on a tour was welcome to join him.

Tony, A.K.A. Morgan Freeman, the Cellarmaster, was a great host! He showed us the machinery where all the grapes passed through to get bottled. We had wine straight from the tanks of Pinot Grigio, Muscat of Alexander (dry white), Muscat Canelli, and Cabernet Sauvignon. These wines did not have their labels ready, therefore, not available for purchase, yet.

Here are my tasting notes from the wines available for tasting during the Wine and Chocolate Weekend. This is only my point of view according to my tongue tasting and brain processing. :) For more information check out Papagni Wines website at http://www.papagniwines.com/.

2009 Malvasia Bianca: slightly sweet, berries, raspberry, sweet strawberries and some melon.

2001 Alicante Bouschet: their award winning wine, smells like cherry, taste like spices, cherry, and some blackberry.

Pinot Grigio (sorry, didn't write down the full name/year): a wine what I call "search for flavors" as they are not very powerful. I tasted pear and some peach.

Muscat Canelli: an easy to drink wine especially for the sweet wine drinkers. Tasted like nectarines. My favorite sweet wine from Papagni.

Some pictures from our tour...

Grapes drop off from the trucks here...

Filter grapes in this tank to make grape juice packaged in buckets and delivered to Canada, New York and other places...

The cellar with 3,000, 4,000, 6,000 gallon tanks kept at about 41 degrees...

Tony, Seller Master, giving us a tasting straight from the tank. All smiles! :)

The vacuum filter spins around, sucks out the juice from the inside and a blade trims the dirty stuff...

The new tasting room...

Thanks to their great hospitality we are sure to come back!

Cookies n' Cream Rice Crispy Treats

Growing up, my mom often made rice crispy treats. It is a great quick treat on a weekday. She would make them in a pan, and flip them over into a plate when done. We'd have a round rice crispy treat covering an entire plate. My favorite way to eat is when it is just done and still warm. Grab a piece and pull it off to see the marshmallow stretch like cheese.

I've been thinking of how to step up this treat. I've seen Oreos added into desserts such as ice cream, frosting, pies...Oreos are great to add to these treats. The chocolate cookie blends well with the cereal crunch and the cream filling with the marshmallows.

Directions

3 cups chocolate cream filled cookies, broken into small pieces

1/4 cup butter

10oz mini marshmallows

3 1/2 cups Rice Crispy cereal

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a pan at low heat.

Pour marshmallows into the pan and continue folding until all marshmallows have melted.

Remove pan from heat. Blend cookies and cereal into the marshmallows to coat evenly.

Line a casserole dish with parchment paper to avoid treats sticking to the dish. Spread mixture into the dish.

Wait about 15 minutes so that it is slightly cool. Cut into squares and enjoy the chocolate creamy gooeyness!