I tried to keep this wine night on concept
for wine glut and global economic meltdown, but a few other modern issues got
included along the way.
As far as the food went, the emphasis was
on globalization as this is a worldwide problem, and in particular the
countries that have featured one way or another in the recent downturn: there
was Greek salad, of course, Indian pappadums, and even Middle Eastern cous cous
where I got a bit naughty and mixed in some Danish feta! China was represented
by a BBQ duck, also as a bit of a good luck charm: in Vietnam eating duck turns
your luck around, so only eat it if you are having bad luck. We all ate duck
for the world economy: things should be getting better now.
By the way, eating dog is believed in
Vietnam to make your business grow, but uhm, let’s not. We had a dog in
attendance at the wine night and we will have to consider that enough.
Of course there was the ubiquitous crackers
and cheese, olives and cocktail quiches.
What’s a wine night without that!
And in light of the airline furore in Europe, I couldn’t resist serving
a goat cheese with a bit of ash on it!
We had some sheep cheese too – for the lactose intolerant!
Dedicated to the victims of the Gulf of
Mexico fubar, we had Deepwater Horizon Cajun Shrimp: they were a bit oily!
I chanced on a recipe on the internet (as
you do) for a pie created to express the emotion of shadenfreude, which is the
feeling of joy at another’s misfortune.
It is a really overwhelming, dark, bittersweet pie that is best served
in very small portions. As the Australian wine industry is struggling with the
wine glut at the moment, with many really good wines are being sold off cheap
as cleanskins, the wine theme of the night, we experienced shadenfreude at the
wine industry’s misfortune, and enjoyed the pie!
Rocky Road (ahead) finished the evening!
The wine? Oh yes, the wine. Normally at
these events we go around with each bottle in turn and everyone tries the wines
at the same time. For something new we had all the whites opened first and
everyone could try what they wanted, then we had a break and some supper and
hit the reds in the same manner. I
tried to keep some order by numbering the bottles and we had a vote at the end
as to which was the tastiest. Best of Cleanskins White was: # and Red: #. Only one entry in the Sparkling
category, but two couples brought # and it was very popular.
I’m looking forward to attending the next
wine night. Who’s up for hosting it?
