Browsing Tag

Maria Hunt

The Bubbly Girl Drink of the Week: Apricot & White Cherry Sangria

The somewhat awkward season between spring and summer is actually one of my favorite times of year. It’s the time when the first soft and fragrant apricots appear in the stores, along with the gorgeous white cherries that might be called Rainiers or Napoleons. Besides their delicate flavors, these fruits look beautiful together, so I decided to make up a special white sangria to use these early summer fruits. The market had some gleaming white Asian pears that looked very fresh and juicy, so I threw those in the mix too. Of course, the wine in this sangria is a sparkling wine, in this case a bottle of sparkling pinot grigio that I had snagged from Trader Joe’s. Sangria doesn’t need expensive wine, something in the $8 to $10 range works just fine. Apricot & White Cherry Sangria Makes 8 servings 8 fresh apricots, cut in quarters 1 cup white…
May 22, 2009
Food + Recipes, Pop Culture, Travel, Wine + Food Pairing
Estrella Damm INEDIT is a New Beer Designed for Food…Oh Really?

I don’t write about beer very often, though technically it is bubbly. But I couldn’t resist when I got this announcement trumpeting the release of Estrella Damm INEDIT, a beer that was crafted under the direction of genius chef Ferran Adria from El Bulli in Spain. INEDIT is supposed to be served in a wine glass, in order to allow its bouquet to show itself. I do like the curvy, champagne-like bottle and the way the star logo stands out on the black bottle. But get this: the people from the Spanish brewery are touting INEDIT as the first beer designed to go with food. Really? I think all of the brewmasters in Belgium are going to be rather nonplussed and amused by that one. After a short trip to Belgium last fall to experience Stella Artois, Leffe and Hoegaarden in all their different styles, it’s quite clear that to…
May 20, 2009
A Bitter Swill: The Aperol Flip for MxMo

For years, I couldn’t stand most bitter foods: broccoli, radicchio, black coffee – no thanks. But I think the key to appreciating bitters is all about the balance. So that’s probably why my first adult cocktail was the gin & tonic; a perfect equilibrium between fragrant slightly bitter gin, bittersweet tonic and tangy lime. And though straight Campari still can set my teeth on edge, I appreciated it for the first time when I tasted the Quo Vadis Apertivo, a mix of Campari, tangerine juice, lemon and champagne that Paul Mant mixed up late one night (actually early one morning) at the venerable Soho bar. It was a different story — love that first night — when I discovered Aperol, Campari’s fruity orange cousin. I was still in it’s thrall when I visited Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco; so Joel Baker and I created this Aperol and champagne cocktail…
May 17, 2009
Sparkling Wine
Bubbly Girl Drink of the Week: Iron Horse Wedding Cuvée

In case you hadn’t noticed, May wedding season is in full bloom. Champagne and sparkling wine are classic beverages for this celebratory season, but few seem as appropriate as Iron Horse’s Wedding Cuvée. The peachy pink wine is ideal whether you’re looking for a wedding toast or a sparkling wine to give as a wedding present along with a pair of champagne futes. Crafted from pinot noir grapes with a hint of chardonnay, the Wedding Cuvée has a soft richness to it with a hint of fruit at the end. Joy Sterling, who runs her family’s winery, says she always loves the moment when she pours Wedding Cuvée at tastings. “Everywhere I go I meet people who became engaged over it, had it at their wedding, in the delivery room and for anniversaries,” Sterling says. I like sipping it on its own, but the wine also shines with salmon in…
May 8, 2009
Food + Recipes, Wine + Food Pairing
Taralli Pugliese: The Perfect Snack with Any Bubbly

In March I spent a magical week at The Awaiting Table cooking school in Lecce, Puglia, where we cooked and ate all sorts of wonderful regional dishes from chicken with green olives, thyme and fruity olive oil to handmade orecchiette pasta to simple seafood soup with the sweetest shrimp I’ve ever tasted. But the Pugliese dish that may be my favorite is one of the simplest: a cracker. Actually, taralli aren’t just any crackers, they’re olive oil based snacks that have been made in Puglia for hundreds of years. They were on the table one night when the class went out to a wine bar that served all the regional wines like primitivo di Manduria, Nero di Troia and negroamaro along with the oddest assortment of country music and Beatles songs. A new friend Carolyn served them to me one evening as we sipped a brut sparkling wine from the…
May 6, 2009