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Box Wine - Wine of the Week

Bota Box Wine'Tis the season for holiday parties! I'm bringing the food and beverages to a cookie exchange this week, and I've decided to make some mulled wine for the occasion. Wine people tell you when you're cooking with wine or using it as a base for other drinks, you still want something drinkable, and I absolutely agree with that. But I wouldn't waste a $20 bottle in a heated, spiked drink or on a big crowd of party-goers. Instead, I turn to box wine as the ideal party wine. Why?
  • Box wine is inexpensive (around $20 for the equivalent of four bottles), and the quality has gotten much, much better over the years.
  • Boxes are lightweight, easier to transport, and greener than glass bottles, so when you're serving in quantity, those numbers add up.
  • Box wines stay fresh for a month after opening because of the vacuum seal, unlike bottles, which should be refrigerated and drunk within 3 days if possible.
Now, let's be clear that boxed wine will not blow away the connoisseurs in your group, but it's a great budget-friendly choice for parties. If you're serving it as is, decant it for a classier look. When your guests ask what it is, be mysterious: "Oh, just a little something I picked up the other day when I took the private jet out to California for an afternoon meeting."

Here are a few decent box wines to try:

Bota Box Pinot Grigio or Shiraz ($16)
Black Box Merlot or Shiraz ($22)
Banrock Station Chardonnay or Shiraz ($19)

My mulled wine recipe is after the jump.
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Filed under: Trends, Wine of the Week, Drink Recipes, Holidays, Drinks, Tastings

Friday Happy Hour: Easter cocktails!

Easter doesn't seem like one of the bigger drinking holidays. Christmas? Sure. Valentine's Day? Sure, especially if you're not with anyone. But Easter? Well, I guess any situation where you have to deal with your family is a situation where you might want to drink.

About.com has a variety of Easter-oriented cocktails, and, of course, they're a little sweeter than many cocktails, in keeping with the holiday. But they aren't for kids!

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Filed under: Drink Recipes

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I think I've gained 35 pounds this week

turkeyI always have the best plans around the holidays when it comes to food. I always have some mathmatical formula where I'm going to consume the least amount of calories possible. If I don't have any cookies, I can drink more. If I don't have any of my sister's brownies, I can have a third helping of stuffing.

It never works out though. I go back for seconds at my sister's house (ham, lasagna, chicken breasts, green bean casserole, various desserts), then have a turkey sandwich and stuffing later that night at home. I go to my other sister's Xmas Eve party and find myself eating pasta salad and grazing on tortilla chips, cheese, and trifle all night (and six beers - "light," but still). Then, on Xmas Day, another meal, this one consisting of turkey, oatmeal and sausage stuffing, yams with marshmallow topping, a bottle of wine, Oreo Cookie cake and cheesecake.

What did you have to eat the past few days?

Filed under: Spirit of Christmas, Super Size Me, Ingredients

Turkeys and airports don't mix

deep fried turkeyFor some reason I'm reminded of that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, where Mr. Carlson unleashes a bunch of turkeys for a Thanksgiving Day promotion and discovers that turkeys can't fly.

This isn't about them flying, but it is turkeys in the airport. Deep-fried turkeys, to be exact. Seems many people at Dulles International Airport weren't too happy when they found out that someone had served a deep fried turkey at a holiday party at the airport last week. In a letter to management, a spokesman for the air traffic controller's union said he couldn't believe someone would deep fry a turkey (always a tricky thing to do even in the safest of circumstances) in an area where it is "surrounded by carpet, linoleum, an airport, aircraft, a control tower, thousands if not millions of gallons of jet fuel and thousands of passengers and employees."

A fire marshal on the scene made them turn the cooker off, but the FAA says they did nothing wrong.

Filed under: Trends, Fall Flavors, Spirit of Christmas, Ingredients

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