I don't know about you but when Christmas is in the air, it's time for my favorite, favorite drink.....
Can you guess what it is? It's EGGNOG! I love it, in any shape or form and prefer it sans the alcohol....most of the time.
I even love the cheap stuff right out of the gallon jug at the supermarket (I know, I know, sometimes I'm desperate) or McDonald's Eggnog Shakes. My obsession runs deep with this one.
However, several years ago I started making my own Chai Eggnog and I've never looked back. Of course Chai is another obsession, so when you combine the two...oh mercy.
This is the perfect warming drink for a cold Sunday morning, what a way to start the day.
Food, Wine, Good (and Evil) Spirits
Food, Wine, Good (and Evil) Spirits
In Defense of White Wine
After about a decade of studying and drinking wine, I've become the
de facto "expert" amongst our group of friends. Which is to say I've
read more wine books, taken more classes and wine tasted in more
regions than them, but what I've learned is just the tip of the wine
iceberg. That being said, since I have this website, I get asked a lot
of questions about wine, but there are two that always seem to come up
with the answers usually engendering surprise.
1) What are my favorite Napa wineries?
and
2) Do you really LOVE white wine? Really?
My response that I don't make a pilgrimage to Napa several times a year is akin to saying something like "I hate puppies." The shocked looks are quite amusing to me. I've been all over California, tasting in every region where wine is grown, including Napa, yet there are just other places I'd rather go. I've come up with an equation that should explain this apparent break down in my mental faculties.
(Too far away x snotty attitude + $$$$ bottle price = Unhappy Wine Traveler)
Berger Queen's Bang for the Buck: Tea Time
My tea of choice is neither herbal nor green, but classic black tea. While I can be quite content with a cup of Lipton’s, my preference is for the English brand PG Tips, a strong black tea in a pyramid shaped bag.
I’m thrilled when I can find a box of 80 in LA for $6 or 7.5¢ a bag, but on my trip to London last month, I found a classic BQ Bang for the Buck that ensures I’m going to enjoy great iced tea all summer long…and hot mugs through the fall and winter too:
At Marks & Spencer, 80 PG Tips were £2.49, which is $3.86 or 4.8¢ a bag.
Hot Cocktails
Because our holiday parties tend to revolve around themes and menus of yesterday (I blame my house, it’s terribly 1950s to the extreme, and no, I wouldn’t change a thing), I wanted to experiment with a category of drinks that are probably better suited to Patagonia rather than Sunny Southern California: hot cocktails.
Regardless of the outside temperature though, sipping a hot cocktail accomplishes two things: it warms your hands and tummy and makes you incredibly drunk. What’s not to enjoy about that? Besides, we can all sit around sipping cider or cocoa all the time, can we?
Here are 4 hot cocktails that will definitely be featured at my next shindig, no matter what the weather’s like. The suntan lotion, however, will be strictly optional.
Big Taste of the Central Coast
If you spent three days driving throughout the Central Coast
wineries, from Santa Barbara to Los Pasos, you could not have sampled a
fraction of the wines you could have in an hour at Wally’s 8th Annual
Central Coast Food and Wine celebration. The event benefits the
Michael Bonaccorsi UC Davis Scholarship Fund and the endowment at Allan
Hancock College for students who want to pursue careers in Viticulture
and Enology. There were over 55 wineries serving 150 unique wines you
could sniff, swirl, taste and savor. It was like wandering from room to
room in one of your favorite art museums only to discover another
gallery filled with astonishing paintings you’ve never seen before.
In addition to such luminaries as Au Bon Climat, Qupe, Melville and The Hitching Post, to name a few, there were dozens of small hands-on wineries. Hard to find wines whose producers grow their own grapes, ferment them, and even drive to local wine stores to sell them. You could chat, query, and get a deeper appreciation of what goes into making unique wines in a market increasingly dominated by wine consultants and corporate ownership. Although the Central Coast is known for its distinctive Pinots and Chardonnays there was a healthy dose of Syrahs and Grenaches. These grapes are poised to make the same kind of impact in California that Cabernets did in the 90’s and Pinots in the 2000’s.
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