by 80 Proof
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December 2008
by gansie
This festive time of year offers a plethora of opportunities for forced family bonding and awkward office chit-chats. Thankfully, that usually involves a lot of booze to grease the wheels of conversation—which, in turn, can often result in several unopened and half-drunk bottles of wine hanging around the kitchen. With holiday parties in full swing, here are a few tips from D.C. food scene experts on how to use that leftover wine.
“Purists everywhere will cry foul. But honestly, if the wine’s that good, why was it left over anyway?,” PS 7’s Restaurant general manager Curtis Allred notes before jumping into his list of uses. Allred is serious about his leftovers: the one gallon wine jar that’s a staple on his kitchen counter proves it. “Many a leftover bottle has been added to the mix, becoming a base for great sauces, salad dressings, or water color paint for my kids.”
Just as the actual blend is unknown—filled with various reds and whites—the uses are endless, too. “In the summer we take leftover wines and pour them into ice trays and put them in the freezer. They make amazing frozen sangria.” In a different concoction, Allred simmers together leftover red wine, pumpkin pie spices, and a few oranges, then combines the mixture with Cointreau and brandy for a warming and pleasantly intoxicating holiday drink. “The fun is finding the right proportions for it to be just perfect… I always encourage another slice of pie just to be sure.”
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by BS
I’m sick and tired of reading about ideas for recession-era holiday gifts. We have one little global financial meltdown and all of a sudden we’re all supposed to do our Christmas shopping at Family Dollar? I don’t think so. This is Christmas! The season of greed and gluttony! The time for Americans to dig ourselves into a financial, spiritual, and health hole so deep that it lasts until Spring. Christmas is no time to start cutting up our credit cards and pulling ourselves out of this financial mess.
The “experts” keep telling us we’re in this recession thing for the long haul, so what harm could one more season of unnecessary overspending do? In that heartwarming holiday spirit, may we present the Top 10 Most Outrageous Holiday Gifts for Foodies, celebrating the best in kitchen presents that are insanely overpriced, shamelessly unitasking, and utterly, completely necessary.
10. Dough-Nu-Matic Automatic Dougnut Machine
I love America’s favorite fried cake treat as much as the next staunch patriot, but donuts fall firmly into the category of things we should not be allowed to make at home. Especially in a gizmo that “automatically forms, fries and drains delectable mini-doughnuts in just 50 seconds!” This is just not right. I am envisioning a dark future in which a nation of 1,000-pound Americans never leave home, unable to lure themselves away from the glazed goodness that is automatically shot into our mouths every 50 seconds. Also, I really want one of these.
I want to be a good locavore, I really do. It would be so great to have fresh basil and lettuce and tomatoes all growing in my backyard. But it all sounds so…dirty. Not anymore. This do-it-yourself (but don’t do much) kit comes complete with a ready-to-go package of seeds, is automatically set to adjust for the most appropriate lighting, and doesn’t even require soil (WTF? How?) It even alerts you when your plants need to be watered. Good luck explaining to the DEA officer that it really is oregano.
8. Peanut Butter of the Month Club
OK, so January is creamy, February is chunky, but what comes after that? I’m really not sure, but if peanut butter is the next thing we’re supposed to get food-snobby about, count me in! This gift features 12 “limited-production, specialty-flavored peanut butters from boutique peanut butter producers nationwide.” Who knew there was even such a thing as a “boutique peanut butter producer?!” For the low-low price of $215, you can spend the whole year telling your friends that you’re really into raspberry white chocolate peanut butter, cinnamon currant peanut butter, or truffle foie gras peanut butter laced with PCP! OK, I made that last one up but the others are real. Amazing!
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by gansie
I’m back! Well, I’m still coughing my ass off, but I did make it back to the kitchen this weekend. I eased into the room with a breakfast of favorites for 80 – potatoes, bacon, scrambled eggs (in bacon grease) and buttered toast (African whole wheat). He surely deserved the feast for putting up with my flu infested body for two weeks.
And Sunday night I really reentered the world of food with a feast of vegetables and whole grains, not so much 80’s favorite, but he went with it. Well, until 10pm when he was hungry again and chowed down on a bowl of cereal. Not that I’m mad or anything. I mean, it’s not insulting that mere hours after I feed this boy he goes into the kitchen for a second meal. Whatever.
Recipe post jump
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