Best bread yet

So, I made some bread last weekend, and took it to Craig & Kathy's braai. The bread was the first recipe I've tried from "The Bread Bible", and it was incredible!

I decided to make the "Heart of Wheat" recipe, since we had bought some raw wheatgerm a while before. Some things that struck me while I was making the bread:

• Letting it rest for 20 mins when mixing by hand really makes a difference. It's a lot easier to work the dough after the rest, and it didn't stick despite being a fairly wet mixture. I used less than 2 Tbsp of flour when kneading (which is waaay less than I usually need)
• Wheatgerm gives the bread a great flavour
• Knowing more about what to do after each rise helped the texture a lot (doing a business-letter fold each time to keep some air in the bread and prevent over-working it)

The final loaf (a boule) came out nice with a nice brown, chewy crust and a moist, light but chewy inside. Definitely one to repeat!

Wine: 2000 Palazzola Merlot

Region: Umbria, Italy
Score: 75%
Cost: $18

WA gave this 90% with the notes: "Cotarella is a master with Merlot (much like France's Michel Rolland), and the 2000 Merlot (aged 12 months in French oak) exhibits complex aromas of sausage meat intermixed with mocha, coffee, underbrush, black cherries, and black currants. Sweet, full-bodied, ripe, sexy, and seductive, this lush, opulent 2000 should be drunk over the next 5-8 years".
Sadly, I didn't agree. The wine tasted slightly corked, so perhaps that's the problem. The nose was very subdued and flat, and the wine tasted - well, corked. I have 2 more to try and hopefully they'll be OK.

Technorati Tags: wine wine tasting food & wine

Wine: 2004 Boekenhoutskloof "The Wolftrap"

Region: Franschoek Valley, Western Cape, South Africa
Score: 85%
Cost: $10

This is a great red blend - one review I read compared it to Rhone reds. Deep red, with a complex, full-bodied taste and great finish. This is not a light wine, and goes best with rich food, meats, or good cheese and bread. There's some definite bite - some spiciness, acidity, and tannins but not at all harsh, just beautifully well balanced. I'm keeping some for the cold fall and winter nights ahead...

Update: 11/7/2005: Spittoon has a review of this wine up, he gives it 92/100!

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Wine: 2002 Apex Outlook Vineyards Chardonnay

Region: Yakima Valley, Washington State, USA
Score: 85%
Cost: $20

I've been meanign to try the 2002 vintage for some time - the 1999 blew me away, and is getting really hard to find. The 2002 didn't disappoint
The 2002 vintage is a nice golden yellow, very smooth and well rounded, with a delicious dry yet velvety finish. There's a touch of pears and caramel on the nose and palate, but it's less cloying and rich than the 1999 (less oak/malic acid?) This went really well with the Japanese A and I served (miso, noodle salad and sushi).

Links: http://www.apexcellars.com/wines/outlook/01.php
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My new pets

I have a few million new pets! They demand to be fed regularly, and are currently living in the fridge... And after a few days of service, my fabourite activity is shoving them in the oven and eating them!

Sounds barbaric, eh? I'm talking about yeast :)
After Ben's wife brought some delicious home-made bread to our wine tasting a few Fridays ago, I've been interested in making bread "the old-fashioned way". Quick bread dough is pretty good, but I thought it'd be interesting to try something new, so I've been trying bread recipes using a sponge starter.

The starter is basically yeast, flour and water - much more runny than the final bread dough. The yeast consumes the sugar in the flour and gradually multiples. Each "iteration" of the sponge uses just 3/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of warm water. You then let the least do their stuff (4-6 hours at room temp, or 12-14 hours in the fridge). After this time, you either use some of the sponge to make bread dough, or feed it again and keep it active.

So far, I've been using "The Joy of Cooking"as my recipe book, but last weekend I got a copy of "The Bread Bible" from the library - quite a thick tome! I've made 2 batches of bread using the sponge starter, and so far I love the texture and flavour. The flavour still could be richer and more "bready" - I have yet to get a real fermented taste from the bread, so I can probably let the starter go for longer... Anyway, more experimenting is ahead.

One of these days I'd also like to try making sourdough using airborne yeast. (And of course, lambic beer, but that needs a ton of equipment, and A wouldn't like the beer bottles sitting in the bath tub a la Alton Brown)

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Friday Wine Tasting: 2001 Simonsig Merindol Syrah

I bought this in 2002 at the winery in South Africa. Sadly, the travelling the wine has done and dodgy storage (I don't have a wine cellar or wine fridge) took their toll. This wine was not "off" but was pretty close, and my tummy didn't appreciate it.

I'd write more about the aroma and flavour that was still evident, but it'd be a sad reflection of the wine's true character. Instead, I'll keep my eyes open for well-stored bottles if they ever make it to the U.S., and start storing my wines better.
Check out the site below for information on the awards Simonsig has won recently for their Shiraz wines. Oh, and some time I should dig into why some wineries call their Shiraz 'Syrah' - is it pretention, or a difference in the grapes, or ... ? South African wineries seem to use 'Shiraz' more often than 'Syrah'

Link: http://www.simonsig.co.za/

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Fun with SkypeOut

I installed Skype last week, and was very excited to get it working. The main attraction for me was making cheap long-distance calls to my mom back in South Africa - $0.09/min is a great rate, a fair amount cheaper than my current dial-around service. Plus, being able to call from work or anywhere my laptop can get broadband Internet access would have been call.

Today I uninstalled it.

Here's why:
To make calls to land lines, you need to buy credits - called SkypeOut credits, using a credit card or other online payment (paypal, etc.) "No problem", I though, whipping our my VISA card.
But several tries led nowhere - each time I got close to the final payment step, the Skype website would inform me that "one of the address fields is missing or invalid" and I'd have to re-start the process.
Firstly, this error is patheticly vague. Which field is in error? Is the information missing or invalid?
Secondly, I'd entered the information exactly as I've always done for online purchases. I've never had a problem on any other website. Clearly, Skype had issues.

Then, I finally got past this hurdle (I moved the street number for my condo, so instead of:
Street:XXX Blah St #YYY
House number: {empt}
I had:
Street: Blah St #YYY
House number: XXX

Now, the VISA authorization seemed to be in progress. Sadly another speedbump was on the way - Verified by VISA, a new credit-card validation service kicked in. My bank recently started publicizing this, but I though you had to "opt in" to the service. It looks like VISA opted me in automatically? Anyway, no problem here. The process went smoothly, and I set up the card.

However, something got gummed up in the Skype billing process anyway, and my transaction was rejected. (Probably by VISA?). I tried again, and got another rejection - both are listed in my Skype account, and now I am unable to try using my VISA card again. Payment by VISA or MC is not listed as an option anymore (possibly Skype blocks credit cards if you fail 2 attempts?)

Inline support was singularly unhelpful. They blamed me (the customer) and said I had entered my information incorrectly, with no hint that there was a problem with Skype itself.
A quick Google search brings up tons of other people hitting the same problem:
link 1 - 50% voted they can't even buy SkypeOut credits.
link 2
Google search for more...

It's pretty shocking to not see this mentioned on the Skype FAQ at all, and to see the same broken behaviour months after people started complaining publicly.

So, bye-bye Skype. I'll look for a better alternative.

Update: 5/5/2005

So after ranting, uninstalling Skype, and responding to their uninstall survey to tell them it was due to SkypeOut sucking, I tried adding SkypeOut credit again a few days later. (I must be a sucker for punishment, or just a sucker...) Anyway, it worked this time, so I re-installed and am giving it another go. We'll have to see how re-fueling my account goes...
So far the voice quality is OK - a call to my mom this past weekend worked well, although she reported a delay before my voice made it through to her. (Her voice seemed to come through without any noticeable delay).

Music: re:Brahim

I saw an add in this month's Harper's Review for a new Abdullah Ibrahim CD that look really interesting. It's called "re:Brahim" and features remixes of his stuff by electronica DJs and musicians. It sounds like it's worth a listen, I'll post a review once I track it down.

There's also a "Best Of" CD being released at the same time, which would be a good way to add some of his music to my collection.

Technorati Tags: music south africa jazz electronica

25/$25: Lunch at Vivanda

I had lunch here on Sunday with Alyssum, Mathias, and Stephanie. Who can beat having a good 3-course meal for $12.50? Sure the portions may be a little smaller than dinner, but I definitely didn't leave hungry.

The service was good, and the place was busy but relaxed and not noisy. They served yummy Italian bread and olive oil infused with herbs and garlic. I chose the roasted eggplant and tomato terrine to start, grilled salmon with lentils for my main course, and lemon meringue for dessert. Alyssum chose a salad (they had to veggie-ify the Cesar salad), potato gnocchi and lemon meringue.

The terrine was OK, but had almost no gelatin/aspic holding the veggies together, so it was falling apart before I touched it, and may as well have been a pile of roasted veggies. The flavour of the eggplant and tomatoes was good, and the curry-flavoured oil drizzled around the plate was amazing.

The salmon was good, but lacked salt and was not helped by the lentils that were bland too. (They were supposedly "marinated", but obviously not in anything tasty!) The salmon was topped with cucumber and yoghurt (sort of like a fancy tzatziki) and this helped lift the dish - I need to try doing salmon with a tzatziki sauce myself, since the combination seems to work well. Roasted tomatoes on the side were a nice accompaniment, and were well caramelized.

The lemon meringue pie was good - not too sweet, and with a crunchy pastry shell. Great espresso, too - they use Lavazza. I tasted Alyssum's gnocchi, and thought it was good - light, not doughy, but a little bland, and the sauce could have used some kick. Alyssum found the gnocchi a little too soft (she prefers them more al-dente / chewy. So far, Firenze in the Crossroads mall, is the gnocchi king.)

Wine-wise, I had a glass of the Apex Outlook 2003 Chardonnay - I loved the 1999 vintage and had brought that to the Friday wine tasting I "hosted" a few weeks back. Sadly, the '03 vintage is not nearly as good as the '99 - it is not as full-bodied, smooth and buttery, and lacked the amazing aroma of the '99. It was still a decent chardonnay, but nothing special.

Overall, I'd give them 80%, and would definitely recommend coming here for the $12.50 lunch or $25 dinner during the 25/$25 promotion. It would definitely recommend them for a meal off their regular menu too.

Technorati Tags: food & wine seattle restaurant reviews

Friday Wine Tasting: La Toscana Ice Wine, Saint Laurent 2001 Solé Riché

Mathias chose the wines for today, two wines from Washington state:

#1: La Toscana ice wine:
Region: Near Leavenworth, WA, USA
Points: 76
Cost: $16

This was from a small producer near Leavenworth that produces around 3000 bottles of various cultivars each year. The winemaker is retired and does this as a hobby/business, and apparently it took him 15 years to get to the point where he was willing to release wines for sale to the public. Nothing is available in stores - you have to buy direct from the winery.

The ice wine was light and clear, with a sweet, fruity aroma (lots of pear, honey and sweet sultanas on the nose). The taste featured smooth honey, sultanas, and a slight acidity that stopped the wine from being too cloyingly sweet. The finish was quite short. This wine reminded me a lot of the Muscato D'Asti I've had from Trader Joe's (except that is sparkling). This was a little too sweet and didn't have enough body and depth for my tastes - but I admit I don't drink much dessert wine.

Links: http://www.latoscanawinery.com/, http://www.columbiacascadewines.com/la_toscana_winery.html

#2: Saint Laurent 2001 Solé Riché
Region: Columbia Valley, WA
Points: 80
Cost: $22

This is red wine blend (mainly cab sav if I remember right), billed as a table wine by the winery. A good deep red plum colour, with an aroma of blackberry and black cherry, plus a little pepper. The taste is smooth, well balanced, with a medium finish and medium tannins. The mouth feel and body are both a little light - making this a nice everyday wine, but not really characterful or weighty enough to warrant the price. (More like $10-$15)

Links: http://www.saintlaurent.net/, http://www.columbiacascadewines.com/saint_laurent_winery.html

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25/$25: Barking Frog

(25/$25 is a regular restaurant promotion in Seattle, where 25 ‘top’ restaurants offer 3-course dinner for $25)

We went to Barking Frog on Wednesday for dinner (6 of us total), under the direction of Mathias. I've been 3 or 4 times before, also for 25/$25 dinners, and had good food previously. After a cold and blustery day, I was looking forward to some good food and wine...

The place was pretty busy (the big round table was full and had a rowdy crowd that added to the already high noise level, and made it pretty hard to hold a conversation). We were seated quickly and the service throughout the evening was great - prompt and unobtrusive.

I ordered the carrot and ginger soup, asparagus and morel pot pie, and coconut flan for dessert. The soup was a little cold, but tasted good (more ginger would have been nice). It was garnished with a mini crab cake that sounded nice on the menu, but somehow didn't pair well with the soup. (Plus it was cold and tasted like it was prepared in advance). The pot pie was also disappointing: the asparagus was woody and underdone, and the puff pastry was a little soggy. (It was actually more like a pastry sandwich filled with the asparagus and sauce). The sauce was good though! Dessert was also a little off the mark: the flan tasted of canned condensed milk, and had no discernable coconut. The fruit salad accompaniment was very good, though (kiwi, lychee and mint, I think).

Their wine list is impressive (it’s won some awards), although it's a bit confusing to not have the wines broken into red & white. Instead they have categories like "Wow", “Round and Woody” and “Bright and Easy”. Anyway, I had a nice glass of O'Reilly's Pinot Gris, from the Willamette Valley in Oregon.

Overall, I’d give them 75%. The dinner was still good value, but I don’t see myself paying full price ($30-$40 for entrees) if the quality is the same for the normal menu.

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Wine: Fontana Candida Sangiovese 2002

Region: Latium, Italy
Score: 70%
Cost: $9
This is an average quality everyday wine. A nice medium ruby red colour, good clarity. Salty, musky nose similar to cheese mould or sweaty feet, not much fruit. Flavor is light, crisp and slightly fruity (sour plums?), and doesn't linger for long. Medium tannins and acidity. OK with food, but not really a wine you want to savour on its own.

Links: http://www.fontanacandida.com/wine_sang.asp

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Die Rooi Gevaar! - Food additives

Cook sister has an interesting entry on the recent hoopla involving the red food colouring Sudan 1. She has some nice links to websites that last all the E- additive codes and what they are, plus whether they're bad for you.

PS: "die rooi gevaar" is Afrikaans for "the red danger" - it was used to describe the Communist 'threat' in Southern Africa.

Technorati Tags: food

First post!

So I too am jumping on the bandwagon and opening up a blog... What's going to be posted? Initially I'd like to save reviews of various things: wine, beer, shows, concerts, restaurants - mainly for my own use. (But hey, if other people find them useful then that's OK too).