Thirsty Thursdays: Fizzy Bitch Edition

That's right, I said it - but not for shock value. Take a closer look at that picture ... Bitch Bubbly is the name of this sparkling rose from Southern Australia.

With its polka dot label and soda-style bottle cap, you might think this whimsical sipper is not to be taken seriously ... and you'd be wrong. Its actually quite delicious. Its got a fruity, yet not too sweet, finish and you just can't beat that rich red color. Plus, the bubbles!

We made this bitch part of our New Year's celebrations by turning it into a little champagne cocktail. Well, sparkling wine cocktail to be more precise, but you get the picture.

The Fizzy Bitch:

• 1 teaspoon lavender syrup*
• 2 or 3 drops orange bitters
• sparkling rose

Pour the lavender syrup into the bottom of a champagne flute and to it add the orange bitters. Fill remainder of the glass with sparkling rose. Garnish with a festive orange twist. Serve and enjoy, repeat as necessary!

* No lavender syrup? No problem: you could use some ginger syrup, Creme de Cassis, or even some Grand Marnier. The point? Its just as fun to play with your champagne - er, sparkling wine - as it is your food.

Not up for experimentation? Fine, just pop the cap and drink this sassy little bubbly all on its own. Careful palates will detect notes of fresh strawberries, cranberries and a just a hint of rose. The subtle berry flavors really do play well with the lavender syrup, but this bubbling beauty goes down smooth all by itself.

The holidays may be over, but there's no need to put the champagne flutes away. When the offering is this much fun, who needs an excuse to celebrate?

Cheers!

p.s. - I was unable to locate a website for R - Wines of Australia, the makers of Bitch Bubbly. Its widely available for purchase online, Google it, and sells for less than $10 per bottle. We picked ours up at a local wine shop.

Thirsty Thursdays: Mulled Wine Edition

Some people ruminate, others procrastinate; me? I like to mull. And by mull, of course, I mean wine.

Called Gluhwein in Germany, or Glogg in Norway, the tradition of adding spices, and often honey, to wine dates back for centuries. In those days, mulling was used as a way to pass off some less-than-fresh vino, using the spices to cover up the taste - today we mull for the fun of it. Or, at least we do Chez Diva.

Recently, I've been using the Mulling Spice blend from Williams-Sonoma - a wonderful blend of cinnamon chips, dried orange peel, whole allspice, whole cloves, cinnamon oil and orange oil. While you could certainly make your own mix from dried spices and such, I rather like the portability of the Williams-Sonoma tin ... as we like to take our mulling show on the road! We usually mull something at my father in law's house on Christmas Eve and then again at my parents' on Christmas Day. This year was no exception.

Mulled Wine:

• 1 bottle (1 liter) of good quality red wine*
• 2 tablespoons mulling spices
• 1 small orange, quartered (optional)
• 1 to 2 tablespoons agave nectar, or to taste

Pour all of the ingredients into a non-reactive sauce pan and gently simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the mixture is hot and fragrant. Do not boil, just simmer. Ladle the mulled wine through a fine mesh strainer into mugs, garnish with a slice of orange or cinnamon stick, if desired. Serve and enjoy, repeat as necessary!

*Almost any kind of wine will do, so long as its something you would ordinarily drink. Lately, we've been using Sant'Angelo Negroamaro, which I really enjoy.

Not a fan of wine? No problem, you can mull cider as well. Follow directions above, but omit the agave nectar. If you'd like to spike your cider - and, certainly, I hope you do! - feel free to use some dark rum, spiced rum, applejack brandy, Calvados, or even some vanilla vodka. Its all good and all delicious.

Hell, we've even mulled plain water in a pinch - I kid you not - and spiked the hot spiced water with brandy. Call it a toddy and no one will be the wiser. Its delicious!

A quick word about the agave nectar - I've used it place of the 1/3 to 1/2 cup of sugar that the Williams-Sonoma recipe indicates. Feel free to substitute some sugar for the agave, if that's your preference, but I would go easy - 1/2 cup sound like way too much to me. Your mileage may vary, of course. You could also choose to use some honey.

Mulled wine may be a Christmas tradition, Chez Diva, but the mulling need not end at Epiphany. In fact, I'll be mulling tonight ... a little incentive to help ease the taking down of the tree.

This is a fun and festive cold weather treat that should be enjoyed all winter long. I hope you'll try it!

Cheers!

Thirsty Thursdays: Rose Sangria

Now doesn't that look refreshing? Indeed, it was. Summer is the perfect time of year to serve sangria, and sangria is the perfect thing to serve a crowd.

Typically, sangria involves mixing wine with a bit of brandy, some fruit, a splash of plain soda water and some sugar. While red sangria may be more traditional, you can make it with any variety of wine. White sangria is delicious ... and rose is even better!

Divalicious Rose Sangria:

• 1 small orange
• 1/2 small lime, sliced into rounds
  
• some fresh blackberries (aka black raspberries)
• 1 small Empire apple, chopped
  
• 1 fresh nectarine, pitted and sliced
  
• 1 bottle of good quality Rose wine
• 1/4 cup Cassis
• 1 tsp. agave nectar
• 1/2 cup of plain seltzer or soda water

Juice the orange into a large pitcher - no seeds, please, so use a strainer. To the oj, add the sliced lime and a handful of fresh blackberries. Crush the berries a bit to release their juices, using a long wooden spoon. Add the apples and nectarine, and pour the bottle of rose over the fruit. Stir to combine.

Measure out 1/4 cup of Cassis into a glass measuring cup and to it add 1 tsp. of agave nectar, whisk well to combine then add it to the wine and fruit mixture, stir and add 1/2 cup of plain seltzer. Stir again to combine. Cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to blend.

To serve, place some ice into a large wine glass, fill with sangria, allowing some fruit to spill into the glass. Garnish with a few whole blackberries, serve and enjoy, repeat as necessary!

If you are serving a crowd, go right ahead and double, or even triple, the recipe. Feel free to play around with the combination of fruits as well. Peaches would be lovely, red raspberries divine. Personally, I don't enjoy a really sweet sangria, so I've opted for using just a bit of agave nectar here. You could certainly substitute some sugar, if you like, or even a bit of simple syrup.

If you're desirous of something even lighter, and less caloric, fill 2/3 of the glass with sangria and top off with some additional plain seltzer. And, voila, you've made a sangria spritzer! Either way, this is a light, refreshing summer sipper that's as festive as it is delicious. I hope you'll try it!

Cheers!

Diva: Out and About

An afternoon with the husband ... our Friday in words and pictures:

Oddly enough, we began our adventure at the HBO Store. Last week the husband surprised me with a t-shirt in honor of my devotion to "Flight of the Conchords." Height-challenged Diva that I am, that shirt was rather more of a dress on me. I exchanged it for the one below and ended up with a bonus cd to boot. Sweet!

After a brief stop at Macy's, we made our way to Columbus Circle for lunch at Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center ... one of my favorite places in the city. I somehow managed to resist the siren's song of their famous tomato soup and grilled cheese combo, about which I wrote last October. Small wonder that ... its divine. I had a lovely salad, topped with grilled chicken and garnished with pickled red onions. It was delicious!

The husband chose the tuna Nicoise plate and it was a feast indeed. We briefly considered the idea of dessert ... I mean, its a bakery after all ... though our better natures won out and we decided to save the sweet treats for another day. Sigh.

Following lunch, we walked across the street to the newly opened Museum of Arts and Design. Very interesting place! Though the permanent collection is nice, we were particularly enamored of the current exhibition - Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary.

The exhibition features a host of international artists who create objects and installations using ordinary, everyday, manufactured items as their medium. Visually stunning, these works invite us to consider such lofty topics as consumerism, the nature of disposability, and a variety of other cultural concepts and assumptions. Pictured above is a garment fashioned out of disposable rubber dish-washing gloves that have been turned inside out. Its just one of the many varied and unusual works featured in this provocative exhibit. Much of the work was sculptural in nature and all of it was impressive. I recommend it, highly!

Needing to fortify ourselves after our visual exploits, we skipped back across the street and settled in for a chat at a lovely and unusual wine bar.

Located on the fourth floor of the Time Warner Center, Clo is a sleek, edgy, high-tech wine bar which features over 100 wines for your sipping pleasure. The wine is served in 4 ounce pours from their bank of automated dispensers.

After surrendering your credit card, you will be given a key card which you simply insert in the slot ... press a button ... and, like magic, your wine will spring forth from the wall. No waitress necessary, though one is on hand to facilitate if needed. Pretty cool, huh? Make no mistake, this place can be spendy. The wines range in price from $9 to $94 per glass, with the average coming in around $12 per glass. And though the selection is impressive, I can see where it would be easy to get carried away and drop a bundle here ... in a hurry. I had a lovely French rose, followed by a nice crisp Italian white from the Friuli region ... then called it quits.

The staff was friendly and helpful, the wine selection interesting and varied, and the atmosphere quiet serene. It was the perfect way to cap off our day on the town.

Our last stop was a trip down the escalator to the Whole Foods located in the basement of the Center. Grass-fed steak for the husband and an organic pork cutlet for me. We cooked at home and neither of us remembered to take pictures!

Every now and then we like to pretend we're vacationing in our own city. It doesn't happen often, but when it does its a blast! So there you have it, a day in the life of a Diva at play - and a host of recommendations to boot. Enjoy!

Bon appetit!

Surprise ...

Nappa Valley, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Chianti - these are the places that come to mind when one thinks "winery." When I say "winery", odds are your first thought will *not* be ... Wallingford, Connecticut. And I can't say I blame you ... Connecticut wines aren't exactly well known. And yet, there's actually such a thing as the Connecticut Wine Trail, which includes nineteen different vineyards. Who knew?!

When my sister in law suggested a Diva family field trip to Gouveia Vineyards in Wallingford recently, I was skeptical to say the least. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not exactly an oenophile. When it comes to wine my tastes are my own - I like what I like and its a fairly narrow range. Italian wines are generally my favorite, I enjoy some French and, honestly, very few Americans. Much like Papa Diva, I find American Chardonnay to be overly-oaked and entirely intolerable. I have yet to find an American Chardonnay, California or otherwise, that is acceptable. To say that I approached our trip to Gouveia with some apprehension would not be an understatement. While I was looking forward to the experience, I was pretty sure the wine would be forgettable.

Happily, I was wrong! Both the wine and the vineyard are worth remembering ... and recommending! Located on 140 acres of picturesque farmland in Southern, Connecticut, Gouveia Vineyard is owned and operated by Joe and Lucy Gouveia who bought the property in 1999, seeking to bring a touch of old world Portugal to this lovely little corner of New England. Joe's grandfather was a vintner in Portugal and his dream of carrying on his family's tradition has been realized in this lovely operation. They completed their first harvest in 2003 and opened the winery to the public in 2004.

Due to their increasing popularity, they have recently expanded their tasting facilities and I must say they are magnificent. You enter the space through the beautiful stone building pictured above, and are immediately charmed by the warm and cozy atmosphere. The space is anchored by a gorgeous, double-sided stone fireplace and the anterior room is truly spectacular. With its high ceilings and wall to wall windows - that afford astounding views of the surrounding farms and hills - this is the perfect setting in which to enjoy the company of one's friends and family and some really good wine.

We quickly commanded a large table by one of the windows and then bellied up to the tasting bar to see what this Connecticut wine was all about. For a mere five dollars, you can taste five wines and take home a souvenir glass. On offer for tasting that day were the following:

Seyval Blanc - "A crisp white with a hint of fruit." ~ We detected notes of apple and pear, with a slight oily finish. A pleasant drinking wine, excellent for pairing with fruit and cheese.

Chardonnay Oak - "A traditional varietal, aged 8 months in American oak barrels." ~ My least favorite by far. While I appreciated its flinty notes, this Chardonnay tasted too strongly of oak for me ... and for most of the Diva family as well. My bro said it had "an old drawer finish." Ick.

Whirlwind Rose - "A semi-sweet, crisp blend of both vinifera and hybrid grapes. A blend of Cabernet Franc, Seyval Blanc and Chardonnay." ~ I enjoyed this Rose. It has a light body and, contrary to the vineyard's description, I found it to be more dry than sweet ... which is a good thing. Its not as bold as the French and Spanish Rose that I prefer, but it was very drinkable. My second favorite of the day.

Stone House Red - "A careful blend of Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon." ~ This was by far my favorite of Gouveia's wines. It was a bit chewy and pleasantly dry, with notes of black cherry on the finish and a bit of leather in the nose. In short, I loved this wine. I'm not sure its bold enough to serve with a strongly flavored dish, but it was a perfect match for the fruit and cheese we'd brought along for the tasting. We liked it enough that we bought a bottle to drink while at the winery and another to take home with us. Delicious!

Merlot - "A deep purple colored wine with complex aromas and a touch of spiciness and blackberry." ~ Hmm, I'm not sure about that description. I didn't find it to be as complex as their description suggests, but then again I'm not a huge fan of Merlot. I will say this wine was dry ... very dry, like drinking suede ... if you can imagine that. I did appreciate its peppery notes, but in general I found it a bit underwhelming.

Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed three out of the five wines and would happily drink all three of them again. More than that, I would gleefully visit the vineyard again and plan to do so often. The entire experience was delightful. Clearly, it is a popular destination because both of the large rooms were completely full by the time we left. They have no kitchen at the winery, so patrons are encouraged to bring their own food and most of the visitors brought quite a spread. One of the tables near us had literally everything from soup to nuts ... seriously, they'd brought a terrine of soup! What fun!

My advice for the day: if you're anywhere near Wallingford, CT, round up your nearest and dearest, pack-up a wonderful picnic, and spend an afternoon at Gouveia Vineyards. The wine is delicious, and reasonably priced, and the location is so magical and stunning you won't ever want to leave. What a terrific find this was - and who knew it was right in our own backyard?! Thanks for tipping us off, K, I loved it!

Cheers!