Skip to main content

Wines From Parts of the World That I'm Not Very Familiar With

This post today is a small nod to my Russian readers of which, according to my stats, has been significant in the last few days.

I know, the quick consulting of a map tells me that Georgia is NOT Russia...and Hungary is certainly not Russia.  Forgive me.

What do I know about Georgian and Hungarian wine?  Nothing.  When I wander into a store in my state's capital city called "European Flavors", it takes about 3 seconds to realize I'm not in Kansas...er, Iowa, anymore.  Most of the foodstuff items in this store are wrapped in colorful papers and printed with a language I do not understand.  Oh, I have enough wherewithal to know that I'm probably looking at some kind of Russian or Turkish or Greek.

Some kind of middle European anyway.

In regards to wine, I like German Riesling, so I'm browsing the shelves, and luckily, the wine section is clearly marked out by country, and I do know enough to find myself a Riesling.  The bottle is in my hand when a hearty voice befriends me, "Are you finding everything all right?"  I turn, and there's the owner, a portly older gentleman (early 50s, maybe) wearing a Bela Karolyi-type moustache...and speaking with a similar accent.

He kindly informs that if I'm looking for semi-sweet, I could do way better than German.  After all, he claims, Germans add sugar to their semi-sweets, where this Georgian wine here is just as sweet, but there's no sugar added - it's the natural sweetness of the grape.  That was the Khvanchkara...supposedly the favorite wine of Joseph Stalin.  The Furmint on the left is one of the store's better-selling semi-sweet white.  I buy both, because hey, I'm kind of a sucker like that.  And because the guy's nice, showing me various products and letting me taste a sunflower-seed goody like halva and Irish cheddar cheese.

As it turns out, the Khvanchkara is good by itself, but much better with dark chocolate.  There's definite cherry on the palate, and I'm looking forward to trying it with some meat and cheese later in the week.  The Furmint is similar, decent by itself, but very good with chicken.

It's funny, though, European semi-sweet is WAAAAAY different from American semi-sweet.  I feel kind of like I'm finally drinking "the real thing".

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For You!

I'm torn.  It's 8:40 p.m. here.  I know that I have roughly one hour of wakefulness left before I collapse onto my pillow for the night. My new term of classes start tomorrow.  My backpack is ready to go.  So is my leftover-lunch.  So is my breakfast smoothie.  All important emails has been sent.  I'm caught up on Facebook news. Hm.  How does one spend their last hour of energy before beginning the roller coaster ride of a new term? By watching Downton Abbey, Season 1 again...natch.  Now that there's no more DA until next January, I must watch the old episodes again for that fix.  And that, up until about twn minutes ago, was exactly what I'd planned on doing. Until I popped in here for moment to check on things.  And by things, I mean my "Stats".  And actually, by that, I mean my "Audience".  And I was shocked to see that in the last 24 hours, there have been more looks here at Be Food from France than from the US...
1 comment
Read more

My Week...No Idea What It May Mean

Remember I'd finished reading Gary Taubes's "Why We Get Fat" over a week ago?  Turns out that meat could be good and bread could be bad?  Well, I needed more info.  So, I skimmed Dr. Arthur Agatston's South Beach for some information and then I bookmarked Nutrition Data for handy reference. And after all that, I still had no real idea of what exactly I should be eating.  But, to do nothing still makes me part of the problem... I finally decided to limit my carbohydrate intake to under 100 daily.  Also, I wanted to steer clear of foods high on the glycemic index (high in sugars, even natural ones).  Usually, foods high in carbs are high on the glycemic index...but then you get something like carrots, which are good for you, but high in carbs.  Crazy... Monday's weigh-in was 132.6 lbs.  Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal and a half cup of blueberries - 34g carbs.  And just like that, one-third of my carbs were used up for the day.  And...
3 comments
Read more

Time to Refocus

Okay.  I know I've got a Cratchit Christmas Dinner to recap and illustrate for you here, and I have every intention of doing so. But, first...something that's on my mind: food. You're shocked, yes? I happen to be on a short hiatus from school and work, and I admit, I have the tiniest desire to be working or studying right now.  I mean, someone to crack the whip at my back.  It is all so easy to fall into a lifestyle of sloth during this holiday season. I spent last weekend at my in-laws house.  They live in the country + painful below-zero temps = no exercise.  There's a fair amount of sitting on the couch, watching hunting shows or basketball games.  I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, preparing the evening meals (and by golly, I was glad to do it).  Also, my husband's mom firmly believes in three hearty, plentiful meals a day...hard to get my crowd excited about stuffed pork loin when they've just gorged on ham balls and cheesy potatoes. ...
Post a Comment
Read more