Wine Dinner - Evan and Liz's Apartment
I hope y'all are ready for a good time.
(Pictured: Mowgli. Feline on table. 2018.)
Just yesterday I recruited my OG group of friends to a wine dinner!!!!! We all voted pasta because that's simple and pasta and wine are like Sonic and Tails, they just go together.
(CJ and Liz have an intense discussion about W-4s and other things adults with jobs talk about)
First, we met up at Evan and Liz's apartment, gathered into one vehicle, and set off to the liquor store. My sister was sent into Walgreen's and Sprouts to get dinner items, as she is just a baby freshman. And before you accuse me of enabling an underage individual, I got her plenty of Dr. Pepper to drink during dinner!
ANYWAYS. I headed straight for the rieslings (leave me alone), CJ picked out a cabernet, and then Evan got a rosé just for fun. Did we go in completely blind? You betcha. Part of the fun is being terrified of what you're about to taste.
I picked a 2017 Barefoot riesling, refreshingly sweet. "91 POINTS!!!" boasts the bottle. I give it 100. It's from Modesto, California and was just over $8 and I will be revisiting it.
CJ's choice was an Educated Guess 2016 cabernet Sauvignon. It's from Napa County, CA and he splurged on a $20 bottle!! The most expensive one yet!
Finally, Evan picked out a 2017 Bodini Malbec rosé from Argentina. It was about $13.
Now on to the food!
Penne pasta won out over spaghetti (I much prefer stringy noodles but penne is good too). We purchased alfredo and spaghetti sauce, but the spaghetti sauce was mainly for dipping the garlic bread and mixing with the alfredo (which my sister likes to do). As mentioned, we made garlic bread! You can't have carbs without more carbs. As for protein, we were all divided and so we bought shrimp and mini meatballs to satisfy all the meat eaters (Evan is vegetarian). Not pictured anywhere is the spring mix salad bag because we didn't realize we forgot it at the store until after we'd finished cooking. We had to send my sister back for it because none of the rest of us were fit to drive. It was a great night.
I filled my plate with shrimp AND meatballs, penne, and some garlic bread. I poured myself a giant glass of my riesling, and set to work.
The riesling itself tasted much like they usually do. Green apple, crispy, peachy, acidic, sweet, and a little oniony. It made my pasta taste overwhelmingly spicy, what with the shrimp being spiced with Old Bay. It seemed less creamy as well, and the fishiness of the shrimp was brought to the forefront. The riesling tasted less sweet and more tart as well, and the alcohol was very noticeable. With the garlic bread, it fared a little better. The bread was extra salty and buttery, and the riesling seemed smoother in my mouth. I thought it did really well with the garlic, as both have strong "bites" to them.
With the spring mix I tried later, the greens tasted kind of bitter, like limp spinach. The riesling didn't seem to change much with such a simple food.
The cabernet was actually okay! It had a distinctive cinnamon smell and taste to it, and had a bit of peppery spiciness. It made me think of Christmas, or what I imagine holly would taste like. Very dry, somewhat tannic. This also made the pasta super spicy, as all I could taste in my mouth was the hot, dryness of the spices. The cabernet took on a bit of a spicy quality too, but that could be because spice doesn't leave the taste buds easily. I tried it with just a plain meatball as well (just to test the red wine - red meat thing a little, and that was very good! I could taste the seasonings in the meat, and the cab was very smooth. With the garlic bread, it was alright. It was extra buttery, and the wine took on a buttery texture too. It was very warm too. The salad just tasted sort of flat, like it wilted a little bit. The wine possibly tasted a little extra bitter.
(Bad quality photos, good quality friends:)
The rosé was opened up quite a bit later into the night, as we were very full of wine and pasta. We accidentally got the bottle opener stuck in the cork, so maybe cork got into the wine and affected the taste because it was AWFUL. My first thought from the smell was "cat pee." My friends all agreed. Once I tasted it, it was still cat pee. It had a strange bamboo flavor to it, like when you bite into a stalk and the watery stuff seeps out. It had a hint of peaches, and a very sour quality to it, as well as quite a bit of acidity. I put aside some food to eat with the rosé once I found out we were saving it, so I'm also pairing this with reheated pasta/seafood for context. The pasta was sour in a sour milk kind of way, and the shrimp was a little extra fishy. The rosé remained pee-like, albeit spicy pee. The garlic bread wasn't too affected, perhaps a little herby. The rosé now tasted a little bit smoother, and tasted warmer. With the spring mix, it added sourness and a cold quality to the greens. Overall, my least favorite experience of the course.
(Example of the spring mix we got)
All in all, it was a great night of friends, fun, and wine, and we didn't have any leftovers except for the rosé (we normally find it difficult to finish multiple bottles). As a token of my gratitude for reading my blog, here are the last of the pictures for the night.
(A selfie of two women who have had too much wine, and a sexy little jar of sauce)
(Pictured: Mowgli. Feline on table. 2018.)
Just yesterday I recruited my OG group of friends to a wine dinner!!!!! We all voted pasta because that's simple and pasta and wine are like Sonic and Tails, they just go together.
(CJ and Liz have an intense discussion about W-4s and other things adults with jobs talk about)
First, we met up at Evan and Liz's apartment, gathered into one vehicle, and set off to the liquor store. My sister was sent into Walgreen's and Sprouts to get dinner items, as she is just a baby freshman. And before you accuse me of enabling an underage individual, I got her plenty of Dr. Pepper to drink during dinner!
ANYWAYS. I headed straight for the rieslings (leave me alone), CJ picked out a cabernet, and then Evan got a rosé just for fun. Did we go in completely blind? You betcha. Part of the fun is being terrified of what you're about to taste.
I picked a 2017 Barefoot riesling, refreshingly sweet. "91 POINTS!!!" boasts the bottle. I give it 100. It's from Modesto, California and was just over $8 and I will be revisiting it.
CJ's choice was an Educated Guess 2016 cabernet Sauvignon. It's from Napa County, CA and he splurged on a $20 bottle!! The most expensive one yet!
Finally, Evan picked out a 2017 Bodini Malbec rosé from Argentina. It was about $13.
Now on to the food!
Penne pasta won out over spaghetti (I much prefer stringy noodles but penne is good too). We purchased alfredo and spaghetti sauce, but the spaghetti sauce was mainly for dipping the garlic bread and mixing with the alfredo (which my sister likes to do). As mentioned, we made garlic bread! You can't have carbs without more carbs. As for protein, we were all divided and so we bought shrimp and mini meatballs to satisfy all the meat eaters (Evan is vegetarian). Not pictured anywhere is the spring mix salad bag because we didn't realize we forgot it at the store until after we'd finished cooking. We had to send my sister back for it because none of the rest of us were fit to drive. It was a great night.
I filled my plate with shrimp AND meatballs, penne, and some garlic bread. I poured myself a giant glass of my riesling, and set to work.
The riesling itself tasted much like they usually do. Green apple, crispy, peachy, acidic, sweet, and a little oniony. It made my pasta taste overwhelmingly spicy, what with the shrimp being spiced with Old Bay. It seemed less creamy as well, and the fishiness of the shrimp was brought to the forefront. The riesling tasted less sweet and more tart as well, and the alcohol was very noticeable. With the garlic bread, it fared a little better. The bread was extra salty and buttery, and the riesling seemed smoother in my mouth. I thought it did really well with the garlic, as both have strong "bites" to them.
With the spring mix I tried later, the greens tasted kind of bitter, like limp spinach. The riesling didn't seem to change much with such a simple food.
The cabernet was actually okay! It had a distinctive cinnamon smell and taste to it, and had a bit of peppery spiciness. It made me think of Christmas, or what I imagine holly would taste like. Very dry, somewhat tannic. This also made the pasta super spicy, as all I could taste in my mouth was the hot, dryness of the spices. The cabernet took on a bit of a spicy quality too, but that could be because spice doesn't leave the taste buds easily. I tried it with just a plain meatball as well (just to test the red wine - red meat thing a little, and that was very good! I could taste the seasonings in the meat, and the cab was very smooth. With the garlic bread, it was alright. It was extra buttery, and the wine took on a buttery texture too. It was very warm too. The salad just tasted sort of flat, like it wilted a little bit. The wine possibly tasted a little extra bitter.
(Bad quality photos, good quality friends:)
The rosé was opened up quite a bit later into the night, as we were very full of wine and pasta. We accidentally got the bottle opener stuck in the cork, so maybe cork got into the wine and affected the taste because it was AWFUL. My first thought from the smell was "cat pee." My friends all agreed. Once I tasted it, it was still cat pee. It had a strange bamboo flavor to it, like when you bite into a stalk and the watery stuff seeps out. It had a hint of peaches, and a very sour quality to it, as well as quite a bit of acidity. I put aside some food to eat with the rosé once I found out we were saving it, so I'm also pairing this with reheated pasta/seafood for context. The pasta was sour in a sour milk kind of way, and the shrimp was a little extra fishy. The rosé remained pee-like, albeit spicy pee. The garlic bread wasn't too affected, perhaps a little herby. The rosé now tasted a little bit smoother, and tasted warmer. With the spring mix, it added sourness and a cold quality to the greens. Overall, my least favorite experience of the course.
All in all, it was a great night of friends, fun, and wine, and we didn't have any leftovers except for the rosé (we normally find it difficult to finish multiple bottles). As a token of my gratitude for reading my blog, here are the last of the pictures for the night.
(A selfie of two women who have had too much wine, and a sexy little jar of sauce)
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