Your Very Own Champagne Playlist

14 Thursday Feb 2013

As we find ourselves in the midst of Valentines, we’re finding more reasons to pop a cork (or sabre a bottle) to share some bubbly with the people we love, hopefully without putting out an eye. As with all merry and joyous occasions, it helps to have a good playlist to match the mood and the food, and to make your sparkling wine that much more enjoyable.

In the days ahead, download some of these songs in iTunes, or set them up in Spotify so that you’ll always have the perfect backdrop whether you’re nomming on some cherry cordials or lamenting this human emotion called “wuv”.

A Cherry On Top: Feel Good Bites to Get Through The Last Weeks of Winter

12 Tuesday Feb 2013

Posted by Dram and Morsel in Pairings

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antioxidants, champagne, donut holes, food pairings, honey, illness, juice, martha stewart, mimosas, pancakes, soup, tea, winter

As this drippy, snowy February wears onward, it’s hard not to to get wrapped up in contagious symptoms and sloppy weather. When the temperatures get cold and the afternoons blustery, we have two choices, ride out the remaining weeks of winter in misery, or perk up. If we want to stay optimistic, we’ll just have to bust out a bottle of Prosecco, a sprinkly cake, some spring flowers, and maybe a bottle of electric coral nail polish (if you’re into that sort of thing). At least, that is, until the season is ripe for mango salsa and agua fresca!

Since I’ve been achy, sneezy, and red nosed for four days now, I’m in need of some cheery snacks to make laying on the couch with the sniffles a little less unbearable. When I think of happy foods the first things that come to mind are birthday cake, curly fries, chocolate milk with a curly straw, and a peach bellini with a cherry on top. You’ll need something more hydrating and healthful if you’ve caught your death of cold, however. So I’ve separated my Compendium of Happiness into two categories, cheery foods for sickies and healthy people who just need a pick-me-up to stave off the winter blues.

Bacchus and Ixcacao, Together at Last

16 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Dram and Morsel in Chocolate, Playlists, Wine

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bacchus, chocolate, gluttony, ixcacao, klinker brick, pairings, rombauer, wine

If Ixcacao were taking tributes, I’d volunteer.

We generally see wine and chocolate as the perfect pair, right? They’re both foods we tend to consume in excess, both often rich and voluminous in flavor and texture. Despite their individual greatness, however, wine and chocolate can really get at each others’ throats. Like Bacchus (or Dionysus), the Roman god of wine, and Ixcacao, the Mayan goddess of chocolate, the two favorites seem like they’re from entirely separate worlds. In fact, there are a number of problems that can prevent a wine and chocolate from being compatible.

Inside My Blue Veins

06 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by Dram and Morsel in Cheese, History

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beer, blue cheese, blues, crispin, demi-sec, gorgonzola, maytag, moscato, port, sherry, stilton, wine

Meet the world title holder for least photogenic cheese.

It may have a stench and flavor that only a mother can love, but we can all agree that blue cheese is serious business. There’s nothing funny about the pungent aroma and flavor of a quality Gorgonzola, Cambozola, Stilton, Roquefort, or Maytag. It’s not Limburger, people. You can’t laugh at a blue cheese for smelling like farts.

A Brief History of Cutting the Cheese

Of course, the first time you taste a blue cheese, what are the odds you’ll actually like it? You may have had your first bite as a child and thought it must be a cruel joke. You looked at the cheese laden dish like someone had just handed you a wad of wasabi and told you it was guacamole. The presence of this abomination must surely be accidental. Who would label a moldy cheese for human consumption?

Picking Out Champagne Flutes

05 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by Dram and Morsel in History, Wine

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additions, bistro 31, blush, brut, bubbly, cava, champagne, cocktails, coupe, crate and barrel, doux, extra dry, flutes, prosecco, rose, sec, sparkling, wine, world market

Don’t mind us. We’re just chillin’.

Picking out wine glasses isn’t as easy as picking your nose. No, that’s not acceptable in the process at all, but I doubt that it will really get you kicked out of Crate & Barrel. Recently I’ve been scouring my usual stores waiting for sales on the nice champagne flutes. You know, the ones made somewhere winey…like Germany…that have that perfect swoop to their sides and taper off to a nice thin edge at the top. Moderately priced flutes can run anywhere between $5-12 and come in some really slick shapes. The problem is, I don’t know the difference. Continue reading »

Yay, Viognier!

12 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Dram and Morsel in Wine

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chenin blanc, crisp, dalmatia, dry, france, marsanne, rhone, viognier, white wine, wine

With the Summer heat-wave well upon us, I bet we’re all looking for that perfect Summer wine to complement a dish of pasta salad or cool gelato. Unfortunately, I always hear people say they’re “more of a red wine person”. To an extent I can understand the sentiment. I was always a big Cab fan until I found the right white. A close friend put it best when we were trying to decipher the difference between the brut (our favorite) and a bottle of cheap-ass, extra-dry Champagne. Pouring each into separate glasses for critical analysis (FOR SCIENCE!), she exclaimed the extra-dry “tastes like Sweet Tarts”.

Putting Down the Welcome Mat

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by Dram and Morsel in Commentary

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champagne slushies, dallas food blog, dram and morsel, Islay scotch, paddington bear

Aw, look at you. It’s like I just found you bundled up in a basket, bewildered, on my doorstep with a hand-written sign that says “please feed this child”. It’s a Paddington Bear-ish relationship we have here, really.

In the coming weeks you’ll hear a little more than you would like about my daily experiments, foodie history studies, and the champagne slushies I make on the weekends.

Homer simpson catches corn flakes on fire

“Kill it. Kill it with fire”.

You might see some bad food photography, and sometimes the aftermath of my “experiments”. Whether they turn out good or bad, I’ll be posting my adventures and exploits even if I just poured milk and cereal into a bowl and still managed to set it on fire. The upside is that my photography skills can only get better from here, and I’m always willing to accept some friendly advice.

So sit, back, relax, and let’s get ready to share our triumphs, tears, and maybe a bottle of Islay scotch together.

Photo Courtesy of Andrew-Hyde.

Dram & Morsel

~ In the Kitchen, Hoping for the Best.

Your Very Own Champagne Playlist

A Cherry On Top: Feel Good Bites to Get Through The Last Weeks of Winter

Bacchus and Ixcacao, Together at Last

Inside My Blue Veins

Picking Out Champagne Flutes

Yay, Viognier!

Putting Down the Welcome Mat

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