Difference between revisions of "User:MarissaRickard3"

Latest revision as of 10:54, 29 May 2019

Having all the guests we have had this month has FORCED us (hehehe) to eat like kings.barrio-tacos.com I always try and make 'special treats' for our guests, especially now, when we live so far away. It is my way of saying "Thank You for making this long trip". So, when company comes, I let out all the stops. And that often means: London Broil.[https://www.winetoship.com/spirits/type/bourbon/ bourbon/ vinepair.com] Thank Goodness for Giant's By One Get One Free! Now-as we have had our fair share of company, I have made MY fair share of London Broil-but none so delicious as this last time. From henceforth, my London Broil will always be paired up with this declicious sauce.


Also-on this particular occasion, I was a first time user of Meat Tenderizer. Now people. I always thought this was an unnecessary added expense. I mean-WHAT was IN it, anyhow? What can a bit of white powder do? It is the greatest, and my beef steaks and such will never be without it from now on! Sprinkle Meat Tenderizer over London Broil to coat. Score meat diagonally with a crisscross pattern. Place meat in marinade for as long as you can. Four hours is perfect-but I did it in two and it was still great! In skillet: saute 2 cups (or so) mushrooms in some olive oil until slightly cooked (NOT too much!) Remove from heat. Cook over medium heat-stirring often. When sauce begins to thicken, add mushrooms. Turn on low-or warm then grab your meat. Slice meat into thin pieces across grain-and pour mushroom sauce over. Garnish with fresh rosemary.


Cover closely and simmer for one hour. Meanwhile, cut the carrots into one-inch lengths. If the pieces are very large, cut them in half lengthwise. Add them to the beef. Cover and continue cooking for 30 minutes, or until the carrots are tender. Serve the stew sprinkled with chopped parsley. Keep the recipe as is with carrots etc. However, use equal parts dry red wine and vegetable stock. Try tossing the meat in a tub of flour that's been heavily mixed with smoked paprika so that the flour is pink in color and then browned. Finally preheat the oven to 300 then turn down to 275 and braise the stew in the oven. The slower cooking will take care of any toughness.


Red wine red meat - what's the deal? Red wine red meat: what's the connection? Is it valid wine wisdom, or is it all just hot air and meatloaf? Red wines are almost always heavier in body and more explosive in taste than their white wine counterparts. And when it comes to pairing wine with food - the biggest factor to consider, beyond all else, is if the wine will be overpowered by the food, or vice versa. A hearty, muscular red wine would easily drown out the flavors of a delicate dish like tilapia, or steamed vegetables. Conversely, a filet mignon or beef stew would probably wipe out your tastebuds to enjoy a crisp Pinot Grigio. 1 best tip for easy wine pairing with your eyes closed? Simple: pair heavy foods with heavy & high alcohol wines!


Think about it: when we imagine red meat we usually think of a heavy meal, right? That's because red meat, while delicious, is a protein-dense food that takes our digestive system many, many long hours to properly break down and digest. Without this proper digestion, red meat, like all other types of meat, can become sources of digestive failure, pain, and health risk just laying in the gut. Plus, scientists have recently discovered that consuming red wine during a meat-heavy meal can help prevent cholesterol build up from the meal! Many compounds in meat are found to increase bad cholesterol in your blood steam, which could damage blood vessels and thus increase one's risk of heart disease.


But when these same meats are paired with red wine, the polyphenols (antioxidants) of the red wine inhibited the bad-cholesterol-forming compounds from be assimilated in the intestines, and reduced the amount that eventually reached the blood stream. It seems that the age-old pairing of red wine red meat actually is on to something much bigger than wine lovers originally guessed. It's not just a matter of taste and pleasure in your food and wine, it's a matter of healthy drinking and healthy eating! Click here for the UK Telegraph's article on the subject. Melina (that's me) is the creator & catalyst behind this website, and answers wine questions through research, ongoing conversation with Sergio, and personal experience living and working at Hopewell Valley Vineyards.


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In many industries the products made from big corporations are vastly inferior to smaller, artisan producers. With spirits, the opposite is often true. Making high quality and consistent spirits is extremely difficult, and the larger spirit manufacturers are better equipt to produce exceptional spirits. Spirit making is as much science and engineering as it is art and craft. Unfortunately, our culture often punishes big companies (perhaps in some cases for good reasons), and often dismisses good products for the simple reason that they are produced by a large company. For one reason or another Bacardi is often unfairly at the wrong end of this equation. There seems to be a perception about who Bacardi is, what they do, and what their products are that’s ultimately fairly divorced from reality. When it comes to producing rum, there’s none bigger than Bacardi.


The Bacardi story starts long before they ever produced a drop of rum. In 1830, Don Facundo Bacardi Masso and his family emigrated from Spain to Cuba and entered into the spirits trade. Don Facundo had been trained as a cognac distiller and he brought those techniques and sensibilities with him to Cuba. An avid home distiller, Don Facundo constantly experimented with distillation techniques. From these experiments came several key innovations for Bacardi and the spirits industry. Don Facundo spent a great deal of time exploring the interaction of wood with spirits. At that time, most spirits were shipped in whatever kind of barrel was available (used cognac casks, wine barrels, and barrels made from a wide range of woods). It was through this exploration that he discovered that aging rum in American white oak produced the best results, ultimately setting the standard for aged rum in the world.


Don Facundo also experimented with adapting cognac distilling methods to rum and innovated a double distillation process that is still used by Bacardi to this day. Another key discovery came after a massive earthquake that struck Cuba in 1852. With cholera running rampant on the island, almost every liquid was charcoal filtered. Don Facundo applied this process to his rum and discovered its mellowing effects. On Febuary 4, 1862, Don Facundo’s distilling hobby turned into a business with the purchase of a distillery. A colony of fruit bats living in the distillery provided the inspiration for the brand, and the beginning of one of the most successful spirit brands in the world. The bat was seen by Don Facundo and his wife as a sign of good luck and fortune. Bats are significant symbols in Don Facundo’s home country of Spain and significant to the indigenous people of the islands.


It proved to be an important element in helping make Bacardi rum recognizable and successful. Bacardi rum would begin to find success beyond Cuba’s borders after the Spanish American War and the liberation of Cuba in 1898. One of rum’s most iconic drinks comes out of this time period. After the liberation of Cuba, Captain Russell mixed lime, Coca-Cola (the original pre-Prohibition formulation) and Bacardi rum, and toasted to a free Cuba. This drink became known as the Cuba Libre and helped solidify Bacardi as one of the world’s most popular rums. With Bacardi’s popularity in the US came an expansion of the business into New York.


The New York distillery would close during Prohibition, but Bacardi’s business would ultimately benefit from Prohibition, with scores of American’s visiting Cuba to vacation and imbibe. In 1936, after the end of Prohibition, Bacardi opened facilities in both Mexico and Puerto Rico. Ultimately Puerto Rico would provide refuge for the Bacardi family after Castro came into power in Cuba and seized all the company’s Cuban assets. With facilities outside of Cuba, Bacardi was able to preserve their signature yeast strain, the same one discovered by Don Facundo in the sugar cane fields of Cuba. This same yeast is used to make the current day Bacardi rum. 1936 was also an extremely significant year for Bacardi. In the United States the Bacardi Cocktail was extremely popular.


The cocktail, considered a predecessor to the Cosmopolitan, was 1 3/4 ounce Bacardi Superior, 1/8 ounce pomegranate grenadine, and one ounce of lime juice shaken and served up. Some bars in the US were serving this cocktail with other rums and Bacardi sued. The case made it all the way to the highest court in New York, whose decision solidified consumers rights to get a specific brand or product that they order by name. This ruling would impact other major companies like Coca-Cola, Kleenex, and many other major brands. A key part of this case for Bacardi was their demonstration of the role of their yeast in the rum making process, and that Bacardi rum was distinct and unique based on the application of their specific yeast.


To this day the Bacardi yeast is seen as the crown jewel of the company. Bacardi’s move to Puerto Rico proved to be key, and by 1978 they achieved the distinction of the number one premium spirits brand in the world, and then in 1979 the title of number one premium spirit in the world. While Bacardi’s deep history has had a deep impact on the spirit that we drink today, the biggest impact on Bacardi rum is their unique distilling process. As with many of the rums in the world, Bacardi uses molasses as the foundation for their rum.


Molasses for Bacardi rum is sourced from around the world. The molasses is mixed with water and the patented Bacardi yeast and set to ferment for 30 hours in closed fermentation tanks. The fermentation process is key to creating the flavors and character of Bacardi rums. The tanks are rigorously temperature controlled as the strain of yeast used is very heat sensitive. Bacardi also adds nutrients including sulfate and nitrogen to help support their fast-acting yeast. After the fermentation process is complete, the fermented molasses is either put through a beer still to create aguadente or through a massive column still to make redistillado.


These two distillates are handled and aged individually and are the core of Bacardi’s flavor and character. The aguadente is distilled to between 150 - 160 proof (75% - 80% alcohol) and the redistillado is distilled to a much higher proof, between 185 - 190 proof (92.5% to 95% alcohol). These two distillates are extremely different and they take very different journeys through the aging process. Bacardi’s aguadente is extraordinarily molasses influenced, with monster molasses notes on the nose combined with vanilla and banana. The taste closely mirrors the nose with strong molasses flavor and vanilla combined with white pepper spice.


The redistillado is much more neutral without the rich or deep flavor notes. Bacardi uses ex-bourbon barrels for the aging of their rums. Because they don’t want influence from the bourbon, barrels are steam and water washed for twenty four hours before use. The aguadente and redistillado are aged separately and react dramatically differently with the barrel through the aging process. The aguadente pulls more vanilla and spice from the barrel while the redistillado pulls more oak aroma and essence from the barrel. After aging, the two elements are charcoal filtered (a key element to Bacardi’s flavor profile) and then used as elements in the blending process. All Bacardi rums, including Bacardi Superior, are aged at least one year, and in the case of Superior it may be a blend of rums as young as one year and as old as three years.


Out of the barrel the Bacardi Superior is brown like any other aged spirit - this color is stripped out through an extensive filtering process. Throughout Bacardi’s line of rums, Bacardi has a single, consistent, and focused style. Bacardi rums are light, soft, and clean with nicely balanced vanilla, citrus, and spice. Bacardi’s style is best represented in their limited release Bacardi Reserva Limitada, a blend of rum 12, 14, and 16 years old. The Reserva has a light and sweet nose with a delicate and soft entry that is lightly sweet with notes of brown sugar, creamy vanilla, and the suggestion of molasses. Underneath is the softest essence of oak spice and white pepper. Reserva Limitada is a subtle and elegant aged rum that’s unlike almost anything else in its class.


The balance of oak, spice, and sweet is sublime in an eminently accessible rum. As large a company as Bacardi has become, it’s still an extremely tight knit family company with Bacardi family members in key roles throughout the company. In Puerto Rico, the Bacardi facility has a wonderful warm and welcoming feeling to it. Everyone seems passionate about what they do and interact with a phenomenally warm congeniality to each other. Bacardi has a massive impact on the island of Puerto Rico, bringing in over three hundred million dollars in tax revenue each year, a larger financial contribution to the island than the local government makes.horseracingnation.com They also are constantly innovating to make the process of creating rum more sustainable and ecologically friendly.


A state of the art digester processes the material left over from the distillation process and converts it into methane that provides 75% of the power for the distilling process. The company has also innovated with wind power and water treatment. This year Bacardi celebrated their 150th anniversary. The celebration was both a nod to their Cuban origins and their deep connection with Puerto Rico. So many companies have moved their production to foreign countries, but Bacardi continues to produce the majority of their rum on the American soil of Puerto Rico. Bacardi is one of the only major spirits manufacturers to produce their products on American soil and yet they have often mistakenly gotten looped in with other large companies who have shipped their jobs and manufacturing out of the US. Ultimately, for Bacardi, it’s what’s in the glass that really counts. Bacardi has created a distinct and well crafted rum that’s light and slightly dry with a nice balance of vanilla and oak spice.


As yummy and delightful as the above deal may sound . Happy Hour doesn't last forever! YESSSS . .there comes an end to all good things. The question that I pose to each of you reading this is . Remember that you're enjoying things at half the value or even less depending on what's on the special. What is your value? What will you be offering SUPER CHEAP? Is it your sanity? Is it your soul? Is it your body? Is it your self-esteem? Is it your entire worth?delish.com I've been there on more than one occasion! I've "hosted" Happy Hour in order to keep the peace or to have the love that I thought I deserved.


All the time I was offering a SUPER CHEAP version of me in order to appease the patrons. Some took a piece of my sanity because that was on special at the time. Others had the pleasure of sucking the soul out of me just the way you would suck on a lime after a good tequila shot! Offering up my body was yet another great deal with an added self-esteem two for one deal. Last but definitely not least was the creme de la creme of all the Happy Hour specials . YEP . .that happened. I questioned my entire being at one point. I can only speak for myself although I can pretty much guarantee that anyone reading this post has definitely participated in some form of Happy Hour in their life.


For me that meant that I no longer would be discounting my sanity, my soul, my body, my self-esteem and most importantly my self-worth. The price is surmountable; therefore if you have to ask how much it would cost to have any part of me from now on . When I tell people now that they can't afford me . Offering things of "value" because it's associated with a materialistic mentality. I mean I can buy my own stuff if I want something. When I say you can't afford me . I'm telling you that you'll never have the opportunity to "purchase" me because I'm no longer on Happy Hour. All specials are null and void. YESSS Happy Hour has ended! SOUL Workshop on June 24, 2018 at 1p.m. There is limited space available. Once you register, the location is revealed. I envision this event being something that will help you understand and KNOW your worth. Registration opens TODAY at 8am! In order to register go to the Channeling Tequila Facebook Page and click on the event link. The first stop is the TWIN CITIES and more cities will follow!


Tonight I've decided to open another bottle of Washington red wine that I bought at the Chalet Party Shoppe in Elkhart a week or so ago, so tonight's choice is the 2009 Waterbrook Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from the Columbia Valley. Waterbrook is one of the older producers in Walla Walla, and they have a beautiful tasting room on U.S. 12 just east of L'Ecole and Woodward Canyon. The Chalet had the 2010 vintage on sale, and I just happened to find one lone bottle of the 2009 vintage on the shelf for the same price, so why not try it? The wine itself is a nice inky indigo in the glass leading to some garnet along the edges. The nose is a fountain of ripe fruit, blueberries, cherries, prune and cassis, projecting a sweeter, almost jammy aroma.


The fruit is overlaid with some lovely notes of toasted oak, cocoa powder and some earthy aromas of forest floor. The taste is very fruit forward, but much more complex than I was expecting from such a fruit centered wine. There is a good bit of ripe fruit at the outset, blueberries, black currant and plum that washes over you in your first sip, but the fruit subsides and transitions nicely to some raw minerality midpalate. The tannins are structured but not overwhelming, providing a nice foundation for the long, dry and velvety finish. 17, making it an ideal everyday wine (I need to go back and pick up some more of the 2010 vintage!). Tonight I am enjoying this wine with some crab stuffed flounder from Trader Joe's along with some steamed broccoli and some linguine with roasted red pepper pesto, yummy! And yes, I know it's unconventional to enjoy a Cab with fish but when have I ever been conventional? Besides, this wine has a nice earthy character that really pairs well with meat or fish in a variety of herb inspired dishes.


When it comes to wine, the more you know, the more you can enjoy. To some, wine is just fancy grape juice, but to other’s wine can be so complex that the more you know, the more you can appreciate. This is why connoisseurs of wine take everything regarding wine very seriously. If you starting or have a small collection of wine, here are some tips to enjoy your bottles. Most people open a brand new bottle of wine only to pour a glass or two. How do make wine last longer? Most wine can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days once it is opened. However, the cork must be returned to the bottle immediately after opening. You can pour the wine in a smaller bottle and cork it. The smaller the bottle the less oxygen and impurities will be present to spoil the wine.


There are products on the market that can extend the life of wine. One product is a vacuum device that sucks all the oxygen out of the bottle and corks it tightly. Lastly there are inert gases that are used to fill the remaining of the wine bottle keeping out any oxygen. Usually this technique can be costly and often reserved for more expensive bottles of wine. Another commonly asked question is at what temperature should wine be served.kentuckybourbonwhiskey.com Well that depends on the type of wine. White wine, especially light white wine should be served at about 45 degrees.


Fuller white wine can be served at a higher temperature at around 55 degrees. What should I do if during the opening process pieces of the cork fall into the wine? Not to worry, if very small pieces fall into the wine, it should not affect the taste, however if larger pieces or chunks fall in, just use a wine decanter. Author's Bio: Vadim is the owner of Get Answers, the BEST website for relationship and life advice.bloomberg.com Please Register or Login to post new comment. Do Kitchen Gadgets Matter as much as Balanced Diet? Personal chef: What is a private chef? It's Time to Shine!


As soon as I saw this posted on "Delectable Dining", I knew it was a recipe I would have to try! Not only did it initially come from the Pioneer Woman (who my sister swears by), but I knew my husband would love anything with the words "shredded pork" and "spicy" in the title! My husband so graciously offered to make dinner last night, since he knew I'd be working all day and this was a wonderful meal to come home to! I didn't get home until close to 9pm, well after my son had eaten his dinner, but when he tried a bite of my "taco", he asked for one of his own and INHALED it! Rinse and pat dry the pork shoulder. Place the pork shoulder in the bottom of a 6 quart crock pot and add about a cup of water in the bottom. Combine oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic, brown sugar, chili powder, garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar and quartered onion in the food processor. Process until well blended. Pour over the pork and rub well into entire surface. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until the meat easily shreds using 2 forks. Serve in warm tortilla shells with fresh salsa and sour cream.


You probably think this is some ancient Mexican tradition, right? Not unless your idea of ancient is 1950. We even know who invented the practice. Various reasons are given for it, but I say it all boils down to: Let’s see if we can get the gringos to eat worms. First let’s get a few things straight. There’s no worm in tequila, or at least there isn’t supposed to be. Purists (hah!) say the worm belongs only in a related product, mescal. Strictly speaking, mescal is a generic term meaning any distillate of the many species of agave (or maguey) plant, tequila included. Today, however, mescal is popularly understood to mean a product bottled in the region around the city of Oaxaca.