1st wine course lesson: White Wine

Last night, I had my first lesson of the wine course.The instructor, Mr. Cabell, made it really fun to listen to the history of wine, the old world and new world wines and the current developments of wine. It's amazing how he knows so much about wine and of course, we got some tips of how to make wines tastes better and what factors might play a role in the whole experience. Yesterday was the first lesson, so we started with the white wine section. Did you know that white wine can be made from white grapes AND/OR red grapes? I always thought red wine's from red grapes and white wine from white grapes.

The first wine for the evening was: SUNRISE

This is the documentation I found :
Variety: Chardonnay
Appellation: Central Valley
Color: Bright Yellow
Nose: Green apples and tropical fruits aromas such as papaya and pineapply with a backdrop of vanilla.

For those of you, who don't know anything about wine, let me explain what this means. ( Some of it, I only learned it last night. So don't feel sorry for not knowing)
The variety means the grape used. For new world wines, at least 85% of the grapes need to be a certain grape to have the name of that grape on the bottle. Like this one, it has Chardonnay on it, so which means 85% of the grapes used to produce this wine is the Chardonnay grape.
The appellation is the terroir. Yeah I know... I didn't know what it means in the beginning either. Terroir is actually the soil, the geographical factors and temperature and climate changes,....all in all, all the geographical, geological and climate factors that might influence the wine grape.
The color, that's just plain simple what you will see. The nose is what you might smell in the wine.

My personal opinion:
Probably because it was for the first time I really sat down and tried to smell what's inside the wine, I didn't smell anything but pineapple. All the other times, I only smelled the wine if it smells good or not, not actually noticing to what it smells like.
I heard things like, apple, green apple, buttery and all kinds of aromas, I didn't notice any of this at all. That felt kinda stupid, but I'm sure it will get better with time and experience.

The second wine was: Deinhard

Documentation I found:
Quality: Quality wine of defined areas, QbA (Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete)
Grape Variety: Riesling
Wine Growing Region: Rheinhessen
Soil: Strong, chalky lime and clay
Tasting: Floral, green apple and citrus fruit, spicy, finely acidic fruit, attractive freshness, harmoniously dry.
Food Pairing: The ideal accompaniment to light, elegant, modern cuisine, in particular fried or grilled fish and Japanese.
Alcohol Content: 12%
Residual Sugar: 7 g/l
Total Acidity: 7,0 g/l
Serving Temperature: 10°-12° C

My personal opinion:
I expected this wine to be sweeter since Riesling is known for it, but still it appealed more to me than the first one. It tasted fruity, crisp and more acidic. It even gave me the feeling of drinking a good sparkling wine, but without the bubbles.

The last one was a not expected one: Intis

Region: Argentina
Appellation: San Juan
Type: White
Variety: Sauvignon Blanc

My personal opinion:
Of course, Sauvignon Blanc is a pretty well-known variety and promotional wise, this variety is positioned as to be a good choice when you want to drink it with white meat. I liked it, because it's also fruity and acidic and that it's easy to drink.

So, with 3 wines last night, it made a very good night!!
I was once taught:

" The best wine is the one you like, for free and in front of you!"

So, what is your favorite white wine?

First food tasting: Jiji's Restaurant

Last saturday I had a very interesting evening. Not only did I have my first meeting with the wine course group, but I had my first food tasting as well. The weeks before I could give up my name for the tasting and so I was eagerly waiting for tha day!!

Since I had my meeting with the wine course group first, my evening started pretty early. I met some interesting people, had a couple glasses of wine.
I chose the Cabernet Sauvignon: Frontera Concha y Toro.


So when I arrived at Jiji's Restaurant, my mood was merry and I just wanted to keep that feeling.

I gotta admit, my whole idea of a food tasting was somewhat different, especially since it was for their new menu. I thought we would all get a bitesize of everything that would possibly make it to the new menu. To be honest, I was already planning on ordering a mix grill after the tasting in case I was still hungry after the tasting.

Of course, I was more than happy to hear that the tasting was free and I could bring a +1. But the unexpected was that every couple could order from a set 'menu', which consisted of 2 menu item : 1 new and one excisting. My boyfriend and I chose for the 'Pasta Blue' and the "stuffed Pork Chops".

These are my opinions:

The Pasta Blue is penne pasta combined with pieces tenderloin, a blue cheese sauce and garnished with blue cheese crumbs, parmessan cheese and alfalfa.

Personally I am not used to my pasta being served in a bowl, but I can understand that this will keep the pasta from becoming soggy. The meat was very tender and luscious. The sauce was watery in the beginning, but near the end, it got a bit thicker and had more flavor. I kinda like it that my food has more than one dimension. The very first thing came into my mind was that the dish is so cheesy and creamy. They put so much parmessan cheese on it and the meat was good. What could've been different was:
- I didn't like the alfalfa. I've noticed that they love to use it as a garnish, but it didn't complement this one.
- the pieces tenderloin could be in smaller pieces, so that it'll be easier to eat together with the pasta.
- the crumbled blue cheese should be in smaller sizes since the cheese is very salty and it kinda have an overwhelming taste over the rest of the dish.

 The stuffed Pork Chop is grilled pork chops stuffed with minced pork meat. It is served on long beans and a honey mustard sauce. The garnish consist of carrot and alfalfa.

My initial thought was...It's MEAT stuffed with MEAT. Can't be better than that, right?

Unfortunately I wasn't impressed with the minced meat in the pork chop. For me, it's a bit dry. Probably because I'm used to a juicier stuffing. Next to that, the honey mustard sauce was a bit too sweet for me, but for most Surinamese people it might be just that, that make them like this dish.





So if I have to choose between these two dishes, the Pasta Blue is the winner!
But all in all, I had a wonderful time at Jiji's. One of the wines we were served as part of the tasting was a real winner! Normally I don't like Merlot, but this one is seriously goood!!

Food critic to be

As a food lover, becoming a food critic seems like the perfect job. It's like dining out for free and even get paid to do that. In my mind, I'm already thinking of all kinds of mouthwatering dishes and great wines to complement it. Sigh,,,,ain't that the ideal dream?

Now I've done some research about this profession and there are several criteria that I need to meet. One important criteria is writing.



There is writing and,,,,,writing. Like talking, I like to write my thoughts about things, but unfortunately that's not the proper way to write a report or even a critic article. I see it with my essays and now...even my thesis. It's just not that easy to write formal english. But I'm working on this to be nearer to becoming a food critic.

This coming saturday, I'll have my first go. I'm in the tasting committee of Jiji's Restaurant's new menu. I'm not sure what to expect yet, but for sure I'll do my best to write a food-critic-like article about it. Just stay tuned...

Women + Shopping

Shopping used to be a fun thing to do. Going shopping with a group of girlfriends and it's shophopping and trying every single thing out that you like. It was something to look forward to and during the process, it was fun and relaxing.

Now with the internet, this all kind of changed. We tried to shop online together today, since forever21 has a deal 'buy one, get one free'. The problem with these kinds of deals and multiple buyers is that someone will need to do the fitting and matching jobs, so that everyone still feel that they had a good deal and that person end up being me.

Seriously,,,,,now,,,,as a woman myself, I can understand why guys don't like to shop with the ladies. It's so stressful!!! Then it was getting everyone's orders together and since it's a sale, some items were sold out in an instant, so it was picking out another one again. And the worse thing of them all is the fact that forever21 is adding new items to it every now and then. So at some point I really looked like the lady below:


But I've learned my lesson. For the next time, we'll just need to meet up and do the shopping on one location. I mean,,,it's not the shopping sites fault that they'd like to sell more. It's we, the buyers, who should know what we want to buy and not buying it just because it's on sale.
And besides, if we meet up, it's just like old times, with the chitchats and the crazy fun. It's girlfriends fun without too much hassle of dressing up, walking miles to get the right dress and still having the flexibility of choosing the location.

Wine & Tapas Fair: 28 July 2012

The Wine & Tapas Fair is finally over! Here a recap of that night from my point of view.
Since the beginning of the week I was already busy with preparations for our Tapas stand. Not only were some sponsors still a bit hesitating, but because of the lack of space it was not wise to get the sponsored products too early in advance.

The most hectic period started wednesday 25th. I only took friday 27th off for the event, so during the rest of the week I was normal at work till 15:30. Since for the tapas we got assistance from Jiji's Restaurant, I was there nearly every evening. I think that the owner, Jurgen Boodie, got kinda tired of seeing me over there. Wednesday I had scheduled the wine glasses cleaning and everyone from my class was there. It felt really good to have everyone from my class supporting me. Initially I thought to take friday off to have a less hectic day so that I can also rest a bit. I was so terribly wrong. I started the day at 7:30 and was busy the whole day through. It even seemed as if 24 hours a day were not enough. And as if it's not stressful enough to have the tapas on my plate, last minute I had to hear that there's a change of the tapas stand location. I'm not sure if it was fact or foe, but they told me it had to be like that since it was an order from the fire department. And if it's by law, I'll need to follow it, right?

But on the day of the event, some participants already called me to ask what's going on. Since the day before I was told to move some of the stands and I checked with some of my participants, who were willing. But the participants called me to tell me that they were told they could stay. It went really wrong there. I'm responsible for the participants, but I don't even get an update of what will be going on. It really came out very  unprofessional.

My whole F&B crew worked their asses off. Seriously, everyone was working on at least one type of tapa and whenever they were finished, to start with another one. I don't know how we did it after all, but we did it!! We sold about 1100+ tapas and if it wasn't for Jiji's Restaurant crew, I don't think we could've made so many.
You know, many things went wrong within the organization and external factors have not always been on our side, but after all, it was a succesful event. I've asked around and most people were not only impressed with what we've done, they are even asking when the next one will be. And however we did sell lots of tapas, but the biggest compliment for our hard work is when the visitors came to us and told us how marvelous the event was and that we did an awesome job!

3 Day Diet

For someone who loves food as much as I do, going on a diet means making big sacrifices and huge commitment to not cheat. Last week I read about the 3 Day Diet on accident. I gotta admit, the first time I read about it, I was very sceptical about it. After I did some research on user reviews and read that people are shedding pounds like sweat, so,,,I thought, why not give it a shot.
Past 3 days I contributed to this diet. This is the menu that I had to strictly follow:

 

Day 1               Breakfast:

                                    1 Cup black coffee or tea

                                    ½ Grapefruit or ½ cup fresh squeezed juice

                                    1 Slice toast

                                    1 Teaspoon peanut butter

                         Lunch:

                                    ½ Cup plain tuna

                                    1 Slice toast

                                    1 Cup black coffee or tea

                          Dinner:

                                    2 Slices any kind of meat (3 oz.)

                                    1 Cup string beans

                                    1 Cup carrots or beets

                                    1 Small apple

                                    1 Cup Vanilla ice cream

Day 2               Breakfast:

                                    1 Cup black coffee or tea

                                    1 Hard boiled egg

                                    1 Slice toast

                                    ½ Banana

                        Lunch:

                                    1 Cup cottage cheese or ½ cup plain tuna

                                    5 Saltine crackers (soda crackers)

                        Dinner:

                                    1 Plain hot dogs (no buns)

                                    1 Cup broccoli or cabbage

                                    1 Cup carrots or turnips

                                    ½ Banana

                                    ½ Cup Vanilla ice cream

Day 3              Breakfast:

                                    1 Cup black coffee or tea

                                    5 Saltine crackers

                                    1 Slice cheddar cheese (1 ounce)

                                    1 Small apple

                        Lunch:

                                    1 Hard boiled egg

                                    1 Slice toast

                                    1 Cup black coffee or tea

                        Dinner:

                                    1 Cup plain tuna

                                    1 Cup carrots or beets

                                   1 Cup cauliflower or green-leaf vegetables

                                    1 Cup cantaloupe

                                    ½ Cup Vanilla ice  cream

However it seems so undo-able, I did it!! I haven't weighed in before or after, because for me, it meant more to do it and be committed to a diet. I haven't been on a diet for ages, so it felt good that I am still capable to do it. And on the other hand, I saw it as detoxing.

How it went?

The first day was easy. Especially when I finished my dinner, I couldn't believe this was a diet. Really,,,after eating so little for the whole day, dinner was a feast. My belly was so full that I fell asleep.

The second day is the day I was most proud of myself. We had a birthday boy at work and he sponsored Mac Donald's for everyone. I don't know how I could've shut myself from all that heavenly smell from Mac Donald's, but I did it. Just sticked to my tuna and crackers.

On the third day, I couldn't wait for it to end. First of all, I had to drive out for work. I really thought I wouldn't hold it to 1pm with only that little for breakfast. Second of all, everything seemed to go south. The bank I need to go, had a strike that day. The place where I need to go for a document, had just moved to another location. I don't know if it was my diet or just everything else, but I was really, really pissed. As if that's not all, I had to stay in line with my no.65 while no.44 just came out.

But all in all, I did it. It feels as a great accomplishment. I don't know if I have any weightloss or whatsoever, but I do feel lighter.

And for me, NO TUNA for the coming days!!!

Wine & Tapas Fair: the Photoshoot

As promised, a blog about the photoshoot. The whole preparation around it, took more time than the whole photoshoot. Since we wanted it come out as real professional pictures, we decided to go with real visagistes and a professional photographer. We chose for 2 ladies and 2 gents. It nearly ended up with only 1 gent, since the night before one of them called to cancel. So last minute, I had to look for a substitute.
And seriously, I knew that guys were camera-shy, but not THIS camera-shy. Most didn't want to be on a picture and when they hear that it will be used for a TV commercial, they totally freaked out. So finally, when I was at my visagiste, Mrs. Murni Dasai, Jay called to asked if I still needed someone. My god,,,he was really like an angel sent from heaven.

Well,,,,I have some experiences with visagistes, but I never knew it could take sooo long. But  I gotta admit, she really took her time for every knick and knack on my face and did a great job on me. I know I have a difficult face to put make up on. Chinese eyes, high cheekbones and a broad jawline. She took her time to 'correct' several things on my face. And she chose to give me airbrush make-up. For a make-up newb, these terms are all new to me. Finally, after one and a half hour, my make-up was done.

On the way to 'SAB rumhuis', I heard from the others that the photographer haven't shown up yet. Seems that there was some misunderstanding, but he could arrive as soon as possible. When I arrived there, Tasha was busy putting on the tapas and Jay was arranging the wine glasses. Tasha did a tremendous job on making the tapas. They looked very appealing and tasted pretty good. Marleen, our contactperson at SAB, also created a great ambiance with the wine bottles.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, our photographer Earvin Simons arrived. I have to admit, it was a bit weird and funny to just 'act' in front of a camera. He asked us to act as if we're having fun and enjoying our wines. Actually, we chose for a great crew since it went pretty much effortless. We had a fun group and the whole time, we were just talking and chilling and laughing. Only wish we could've sit down and really enjoyed the wine instead of just a mere 15 minutes of fun.

After the shoot, we got our pictures for the commercial within 10 minutes. Can hardly wait to see the final outcome of the commercial!