Rebel Rose

Thank you everyone for picking up the mantle! I've been distracted with family medical emergencies and PNW fires. I could definitely use a chilled rose' right about now!

Great write up, thank you! Made my mouth water. I tend to trust reviews from the Enthusiast more than the Spectator, which may seem odd to geeks, but I think the Enthusiast favors more food-friendly wines with moderate sugars and alohols, and is more in touch with food-and-wine pairings. A trace of sweetness is not a bad thing, especially if you are pairing the wine with garlic or spices. Now I'm really fascinated to know more about Left Foot and their source vineyards.

Thanks, good catch! I've corrected my OP. I don't think there are many vines in production, so definitely not available nationally.

Welcome to our first Seasonal Varietal Tasting! I'm so excited to get started. Since we're just booting up and it's late summer already, I thought instead of picking a particular varietal, we could all just share our favorite summer wines and get to know each other a little. This thread will run until September 1, when we'll move on to another varietal or category. See proposed schedule. That will give everyone time to order wines, buy a particular favorite, taste wine with friends, whatever fits your schedule. I have just ordered two bottles of a wine I want to introduce you to, and I am so excited about it I just have to tell you a little about it, even though the bottles won't arrive until later this week. I have only ever had one glass of this wine, at a sashimi-bowl party, and it blew my socks off. We drank a lot of good wine that night, but I kept coming back to the Siegerrebe and peering mournfully into the empty bottle. The grape is called Siegerrebe, a cross between Gewurztraminer and Madeleine Angevine. I thought it was extraordinarily complex and delicate, and I can't wait to try it again (and enjoy a whole bottle by myself). So, tasting notes to come! Meanwhile, feel free to share your favorites and/or ask questions.

I agree that late August is indeed perilously close to Autumn, but I wanted to squeeze in a few lighter varietals while the weather is still warm, before sliding into a steady progression of reds. And of course for our friends Down Under, the seasons are topsy-turvy. Since we have enthusiasm for the idea, I'll go ahead and post a thread for the first tasting!

Right, I'm thinking just the usual old-fashioned time-frame discussion threads, like we used to do! Geez, it sounds so old-hat now, LOL! And maybe invite relevant winemakers to the thread, whether or not we're actively trying their wines. Maybe a heads up so people who can get the wines can taste them, but if not, we'll still have a rocking varietal tasting. With food pairing suggestions, of course! What do you think of this rough schedule? Aug 19 Random summer whites Sept 1 Dog summer rose's Sept 15 Grenache and fruity reds Oct 1 Pinot noir Oct 15 Zinfandel Nov 1 Sangiovese Nov 15 Spicy, food-friendly reds Dec 1 Royal reds - Bordeaux Dec 15 Bordeaux #2 Jan 1-ist Wine party notes Jan 15 Screw wine, let's do mid-winter blues cocktails Feb 1 Warm your buns wine Feb 15 Romantic food and wine pairings

When I lived in Sonora Cohousing (Tucson, AZ), I held these monthly wine tastings, based on specific varietals and themed around the seasons. We started with crisp whites and rose's in the heat of summer, moved on to earthy, elegant reds like pinot in early fall, by Thanksgiving we were on to spicy reds like sangiovese and zinfandel, and enjoying the "royal reds", the Bordeaux, by deep winter. It was fun and instructive. So ... what do you think? I'm a party girl ... always down for a wine tasting, and I think we could have a rocking virtual-varietal. Who wants in? What's the sched? Weeknight or weekend tastings?

Aha! Thanks for reviving this thread, Jessica and Nancy. Wine tasting is, and should be, a very social endeavor. (Pandemics suck.) And yet, eGullet is the perfect solution to a sucky problem! You've just given me an idea! I think we should have bi-weekly varietal tastings. New thread to come ...

Not sure if this is the right place, but a friend from the wine industry is visiting TX with his granddaughter and would like some guidance. I'm pretty sure y'all can help.

This will work fine, thank you!

Awesome. Is 'Nyleve Baar' your real name? Can you provide or PM the name of your soup kitchen so I can give you both proper credit in the cookbook?

Thanks for the links! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Yeah, these places really have to be able to provide at least one meaty choice. People who are starving are often cold, ill or frail as well and really need the meat. Some work out-of-doors and desperately need the fat and protein. But if a gleaning organization is bringing in crates of fresh produce, there's no reason a hunger mission can't ALSO serve up hotel pans of cooked vegetables and bean salads filled with fresh crunchy veggies as extra sides. So I'm gladly accepting all-vegetable recipes.

Excellent suggestions! I've been working on a version that incorporates a lot of spinach--but I hadn't thought of many of these substitutions! This is a dish that is made a lot in soup kitchens. I'm also working on a version that uses a blend of taters and mashed pumpkin. So keep the variations coming, everyone. Thanks!

Love this idea of an all vegetable, flexible curry. Especially since we have LOTS of apples around here.

Salads are not big in soup kitchens (although I think the Panzanella recipe would be useful in safe houses). They aren't filling and don't provide the dense nutrients that starving people need. BUT ... any way to give steamed vegetables a lift with some creativity would probably be very welcome. Most of these cooks just boil vegetables up, and that's it. The idea of tossing in some bacon, raisins, nuts, seeds, grated carrots or beets, etc. makes the vegetables more appealing, especially to children and adults who need vegies but habitually skip them.

Great ideas, as is the veggie/beans version of stuffed bell peppers. Exactly the kind of veg-centric recipes I need!

Great idea, thanks! I'll probably share recipes like this with my gleaning volunteers too. So, double duty!

These recipes are incredible. Thank you SO much! (And keep 'em coming. )

Would any gardeners here be interested in a thread where we can pledge a portion of our garden bounty to the nonprofit hunger mission of our choice? Like this: The idea is to inspire and challenge other gardeners to do the same. (And also, it's kind of an accountability thing, like joining a weight loss group. ) And, absolutely I think photo bragging rights and applause should be included.

I suggest "adopting" a center, family or person. Deliver your donations in person--that way, you are assured that 100% of your gift goes to them. Although my gleaning organization will benefit multiple centers, I've personally adopted a Section 8 housing complex across from my childhood middle school. I met them after one of the residents wrote to me after seeing an article in the local newspaper. They are all seniors, and many of them raised their own families on farms with gardens, but now are widowed and living in reduced circumstances on very limited budgets. One of my three gardens is earmarked specifically for them, but I also bring them eggs from my brother's hens and boxes of produce from gleans. They get so excited when I email or text ahead that I'm bringing something. They pool recipes and take care of distributing the bounty. They told me that just knowing someone cared really raised morale in the complex. Since then, they have formed a "gardening committee" and the local Methodist Church showed up with cedar planks, tools and 40 cu.ft. of new potting soil to build them some raised beds--3 feet high, in fact, so they don't have to stoop! Whenever I get discouraged about the uphill row I've got building this organization from scratch, I just think about "my ladies" (there are gents too, but the ladies are the excitable ones) and it makes me smile to know how much they look forward to these deliveries. Last year I asked some friends to make commitments to donate garden bounty to a chosen local site. I would love to see something like this on eGullet. April is the perfect month to do this, when people are planning and planting their gardens. To initially search for hunger non-profits in your area, try using search terms like food bank, homeless shelter, women’s shelter, soup kitchen, and table ministry. Keep in mind that large food banks probably receive truckloads of fresh produce from large distributors like Feeding America. But smaller non-profits like shelters and table ministries often have a huge need for fresh produce, eggs and meat! (Some cannot accept garden produce due to health department restrictions, but I have not found that to be common.) Once you have a list of potential sites, you should call and/or email with these questions: Will you take donations of fresh produce from gardeners? What is your level of need—is it occasional, ongoing or urgent? Do you have special needs at certain times of the year, like holidays? Is there any particular type of vegetable or fruit you need? Are there certain days and times that you are open to receive produce? What address should we use for deliveries of food? Don't overlook people right in your neighborhood, like housebound seniors, or senior living centers. If you love to cook, just taking over some homemade stews and lasagna would be a huge gift.

Chicken is often donated--it's cheap and plentiful, so I'm not surprised that there's no supplemental cash item for it. Dairy is more perishable, but right now dairy producers and processors have huge surpluses, so also not surprising that the cash line item is low for 2016. Now beef, on the other hand ... It can be much cheaper to buy beef "on the hoof". Meaning, if you bid for it as futures, you're essentially pledging to buy beeves that will be butchered 6-8 months from now and it will cost a fraction of the retail per-pound price. I am guessing this is what that line item is for. Also, if they got a grant or large donation from, say, the Cattlemen's Association, that may be how they choose to designate it. But I was struck by how low this line item is for a nonprofit that claims to feed 811,399 people a year. Let's assume only 25% of those people were at shelters and meal programs, that's still 202,850 people. Therefore, $5,800 is a line budget that provides only $0.028 (less than 3 cents) per person per year for beef. For an item that is almost NEVER donated, that is a pretty pitiful commitment. At 3 cents per person per year, I don't think there's any danger of beef taking over beans and macaroni in the menu any time soon.

This is a great idea! We used to do a Freecycle Day twice a year in my Tucson cohousing when I lived there, for unwanted items that people couldn't bear to throw away. Bring stuff, take stuff, everyone leaves happy, and the remainders were taken to a small Mexican village over the border. I think a garden swap day would be magical, since this is exactly the kind of thing gardeners love to do! I have just asked our local Master Gardeners if they would organize an event like this. If not, I'll do it myself and host it here on the farm. I have #littleredhen syndrome. But I have found that if you do something once, and it's successful, it's pretty easy to hand it off to someone else the following year.

I think they'd make a nice "extra" dish when bell peppers are in season. Maybe pack them with scrambled eggs and bits of meat, a little cheese on top. For places that serve up a selection of offerings buffet-style, it could work quite well! Of course, if a kitchen gets 100# of bell peppers (5 crates), they won't want to stuff them. But I'm looking for options for every vegetable, so stuffed peppers are in! Stuffed eggplants, though, I think would be too many extra steps.

Wow. This is PERFECT!