Gewurztraminer and Chicken a True Love Affair

Lately I have been searching the web for new recipes to try and blog about. I have found a lot of great meals that I plan to make in the future. I founded a great website, finecooking.com, this website has so many great ideas for dinner. I had some chicken that I had to cook and I knew I wanted to drink a Gewurztraminer with the chicken. I am in absolute love with Gewurztraminer, especially from Alsace. Plus it's a great pairing!! You don't always need red white with meat. So I Googled Gewurztraminer and  chicken and found a meal that I couldn't wait to make. Braised Chicken with Gewurztraminer, it's a lot like Coq au Vin but delightfully different. It's also a meal that takes some time to make, so it's not an easy weekday meal.

Braised Chicken with Gewurztraminer
Here's what you'll need:
Two-Three pounds Chicken Thighs seasoned with salt
Cup of grapes I used seedless green
Large yellow onion chopped
Two garlic cloves chopped
750 ml Gewurztraminer
Two cup chicken broth
Thyme
Half cup heavy cream
Two teaspoons corn starch

You need to start by browning the chicken in Dutch Oven over Medium/High heat in a tablespoon oil. Don't crowed the Chicken if need be brown them in batches. Set them aside in a bowl, and dump out all but two tablespoons of fat. Add the cup of grapes and cook about two/three minutes. Set them aside and add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook until they are softened. Then add the garlic and cook two more minutes. After the onions and garlic have added their aroma to the room add in the wine making sue to stir up all the brown bites left from the chicken thighs and let reduce by half.

Return the chicken to the pot, add the both and thyme. The recipe called for two tablespoons but all the comments said it was a bit bland, so I added twice as much thyme. Let this come to a simmer, then cover and let cook for 25 minutes. Then take the chicken out of the pot and set a side in a bowl.

Now for the sauce. Bring the liquid to a rapid boil and reduce to two and half cups. Whisk together the cream and corn starch together. Whisk the mixture into the liquid making sure to whisk it until the sauce thickens up. Salt (I used a grey sea salt with herbs that I bought at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet in Melrose.) and pepper (I used my own blend of white, green and black pepper corns) to taste. Again the comments were that this came out bland so I added about a tablespoon of each. Put the chicken and grapes back in the sauce and let simmer another five minutes. I served the dish with egg noodles and green beans.

Wow, did this come out great. In the fall when Moscato Grapes are available I would use them instead of the green grapes, but other than that this is a meal that I want to make when people come over for dinner. It took over a hour and half to cook and had a lot of tasks, but it was real easy to make and was the type of meal that makes you feel like a five star chef.

THE WINE:
So what do you serve with a meal like this? No brainier: you serve the wine that you cooked with. It's the perfect pairing as it will not over power or be over powered by the sauce. As I said, I love Gewurztraminer. Most people think it's a German grape but they would be wrong. Gewurz is the German word for spice but the wine is from the village Tramin in Italy. They do speak German in this region. The grape does best in cooler climate so it does well in Northern Italy, Germany and parts of France, mostly Alsace.

In Alsace it can range from dry to very sweet, I personally like the more off-dry styles, like the Gewurztraminer from Joseph Cattin. They have been growing grapes in Alsace since the 18th century, in the 1850s they started making exceptional wines from the region. At the end of the 19th century phylloxera came to destroy European vineyards (sent from the USA by accident). Joseph Cattin studied how to beat the tiny pests and became a very important person by saving the region. I love many of the wines from this vineyard that I have tasted, especially the Riesling and Gewurztraminer. The Gewurztraminer has a wonderful fragrant nose of spicy, tropical fruit and rose petals. As you taste it you get lost in spicy, exotic fruit. It has a great body and the acid really helps calm down the sweetness. This is an fantasticly awesome bottle of wine. I can't wait to dink another bottle of this wine.    

Cheap Eats

In times like these we can't always eat caviar and drink Champagne. Noel and I are moving in a few weeks and we have to tighten our belts to save some money. Tightening belts does not mean you have to eat or drink crap!! Noel and I came up with a great meal that cost close to nothing. It's a stir fry that you add to ramen noodles. I love ramen, they are 20 cents a package, but they can be pretty boring by themselves. By adding the stir fry to them we had a meal that not only cost less than $10 to make but also put a big smile on our faces. I bought some stew beef that was on sale at Shaws. I got pound and half for around $5 and was able to make two meals out of it. Then when at Russo's Market I bought a stir fry sauce that was $1.45 that I marinated the in beef over night. The next day I cut up some garlic, a shallot, half a yellow pepper, handful of snow peas, small amount of baby shiitake mushrooms and some bean sprouts. All these veggies cost us less than $3.

I started with the beef, cooking it for a few minutes before adding the garlic, mushrooms, shallot and a pinch or red pepper flakes. Then after a few minutes I added the yellow pepper and snow peas. As all this was cooking I started the water for the ramen. Ramen is great because it only take three minutes to cook. As all this was cooking in the bowls I was serving this meal in I added the seasoning from the ramen and the bean sprouts. I poured a half cup of the hot water from the noodles, stirred it all up and added the noodles. Then I topped it all off with the stir fry making sure to get some of the sauce in the soup. The meal came out great, there is a restaurant called Wagamama that makes meals just like this but charges $15 each. I made the same thing at home (Noel even said it was better) and it cost less than half that for two meal. Perfect for any day of the week. 

I picked one of my favorite vineyards for the wine. Viu Manent Reserva Malbec. It went great with the meal especially the sauce. I not a huge fan of Malbec, it can be boring at times. Viu Manent makes great Malbec. Great ripe fruits especially berry fruits, with hints of coffee, and mocha, it's got a great body and nice lingering finish. The people at Viu Manent really put love into all their wines and their Malbecs are not exception    

Redtree in The White Mountains

Over the weekend my buddy Tom and I went on a White Mountain hiking trip. It was awesome, we had great weather, great views and we made great food. This time we took a 16 mile trip hitting six mountains, most of them under 4,000 feet, but the last one is a top 10.  Moosilauke is 4802 feet and has some of the best views I have seen so far. 360 degrees and it's the first of the 4,000 plus in the Whites so you have an outstanding view of the rest of the chain. It was a pretty challenging hike, the first day we had to climb straight up, 3,200 feet, right away, and from then on until we hit Asquam Ridge Trail, the trip was up 3,000, down 2,500, up 2,500, down 3,000, up 4,000.

When we finally hit the ridge it was all smooth sailing to the top. The top was really stunning, as you come out of the tree line the turf turns from rocky to a grassy field. Most of the mountains I have been on top of, especially above 4,500 feet, have been all rock face. The hardest part of the trip was the 2.6 miles down, 4,802 feet. I thought the decline would never end, it was like we were marching to the core of the earth. All in all, the trip was one of the best.

If you read The of Love of Wine and Hiking post  you would know that I like to eat well when I'm out hiking. This time I bought some beef jerky  at Nasty Nonni's in Saugus, Janey's beef jerky. It's gourmet beef jerky!! SO GOOD!! So we had the beef jerky, couscous, and asparagus for dinner. It's real easy to do and uses very little gas for the stove. You boil 1 1/4 cup water to 1 cup couscous. While the water is coming to a boil add the asparagus, shallot and beef jerky. When it comes to a boil add the couscous and take it off the heat. Let it sit five minutes and eat. The beef jerky comes back to life and is a real nice treat after a long day of hiking. The problem this time it was a little bland. I had in the pack a red pepper, garlic clove, lemon rosemary oil and old bay. I should have sauteed the shallot, garlic, red pepper and asparagus before adding water and beef jerky. It was a good meal and was great after such a long day. Luckily I had wine and bought a dessert from REI. It was a chocolate pudding: just add cold water, stir up, and let sit 10 minutes.

Breakfast, on the other hand, came out awesome. We brought some eggs (we had already taken them out of the shell and had in a ziplock bag) and made scrambled eggs. We had a dried sausage that I bought at Beacon Hill Wine and Gourmet. I cut that up, added half garlic clove, half red pepper (cut up), the rest of the asparagus and sauted them in the lemon rosemary oil. After it started to smell great, we added the eggs and let them cook about five minutes, then covered them for three more. This was better than any breakfast I've had in a long while. It was a great start to an eight mile hike.

I do like to bring wine with me camping. It is a treat that is worth it's weight in gold. It is hard to bring wine because there's glass (weights a lot) and you have to to bring a half bottle or less due to space in the pack. Lucky for me Redtree Winery just came out with a plastic 187ml (about one glass of wine) bottle of wine. They have Cabernet, Chardonnay and White Zinfandel in this size so far. Great for camping, at the pool, on a boat or when you just want a glass of wine at night. Redtree makes good, inexpensive, everyday wines that go great with dinner. I love their mission statement, "Redtree offers consumers fresh, fruit forward, distinctive varietals of consistent quality and exceptional value that are ready for immediate consumption. These wines are ideal as an aperitif and complement everyday meals as well as special occasions.   We bring global winemaking expertise and resources, focusing on what the consumer demands:  a fruit forward wine style, consistency and excellent value.  We are small enough to provide outstanding service, while big enough to bring the world of wine to our portfolio - authentic, bold, and progressive.", it's so true. I took the Cabernet up with us and it went great with the dinner. Nice dark jammy cherry, medium/full body and softer tannin. Next time I make a stir fry at home I may just open a bottle. Redtree is a wine that my company sells and it's pretty popular wine for us. Right now they are having a contest on Facebook. It's about who has the best looking case stack in a store. If you are on Facebook please go and vote for me, the second link will bring you to their Facebook page, my picture is The Wine Emporium, Boston by Dan.

It Takes a Strong Man to Make a Tender Chicken

One time while in Liquor Land in Boston, I was telling the story to a whiskey rep about how I got made fun of for adding ice to my bourbon. He told me, "It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken."

While I was on Martha's Vineyard, Sami gave me some lavender. I'm hoping for more so Noel and I can use it in this year's Christmas Spirit. At first I was thinking I'd infuse my own olive oil with this batch. By the time I got off the ferry in Falmouth, I had come up with a meal that was blog quality: lemon lavender chicken. Monday I was in Melrose, talking to one of my favorite foodies, Rebecca, at Becon Hill Wine and Gorumet. She mentioned how she had just sold out of a lemon olive oil she sells. As I drove away, I couldn't get the oil out of my mind and it came to me: infuse my own lemon olive oil. It was pretty easy, and I really feel it made this meal more gourmet, and I get bragging rights that I took the time to infuse the oil.

Tuesday night I made the oil.
THE OIL:
First you need the zest of two lemons (about a cup give or take). I don't have a zest tool (WTF I don't have something? Don't worry it's now on the list near the top!) so I used a cheese grater. In a sauce pan I added one cup oil, the lemon and cooked it on low for 15 minutes making sure to stir every few minutes. Then I let it sit for two hours. About 10 minutes into the resting I decided to add a tablespoon lavender, I wish I had thought about this before I started. After the two hours I poured the oil into my oil holder, it's a dark red ceramic jar, perfect so no sun light can cause the lemon oil to go bad. So easy, so much fun and I will do this over and over again.

THE CHICKEN:
So after the oil was done I took two tablespoons of the lemon/lavender mix and added a tablespoon fresh lavender, a teaspoon pink peppercorns and half teaspoon sea salt (I added the fresh items to the mortar and crushed them up a little). I put them all in a ziplock bag with a 1/4 cup infused olive oil and four chicken thighs and marinated them over night.

All day I had chicken on the brain, I could't wait to make this meal that I have been thinking about since Sunday. When I started dinner pre-heated the oven to 400. I stuck a meat thermometer in one of thighs (I don't like going off time I rather know my meat is done especially chicken! Thighs need to be at 175F.) and stuck it in the oven. After the temperature got to around 80F (it started at 55F) I dropped the heat down to 350F and covered the chicken with tin foil. Right after that was done I started the wild rice. I love wild rice it goes so well with everything and makes it feel more special of a meal. When the chicken got to 150F I uncovered the chicken. By that time the rice was done and I started the summer squash. I cut the squash with the mandolin and pan fried them in the lemon oil, three minutes a side. They came great and had a small hint of caramel. The whole meal came out better than I could have ever imagined. The chicken was little more lemon and less lavender than I had hoped for but cooked wise it was PERFECT! Tender and juicy, just perfect!!

The wine tonight was harder than I thought. Right away I wanted to drink a Gamay with it. Gamay is famous for being the only grape from Beaujolais. It's a weird grape, similarish to Pinot Noir, well kinda. They can be very fragrant, fruit forward and fresh, floral esters. When young they can be tart and are not a grape that is known for aging. I myself am not a huge fan of the wines of Beaujolais but the Gamay from the Lorie Valley can be more lively and tarter. So I went out looking for a Lorie Valley Gamay. None of the stores that I visited or called had one. I was real disappointed until I found a bottle of Cinsault at the Wine Emporium on Columbus Ave. I have never seen a bottle of single varietal Cinsault before and Laura the wine buyer was sure the wine would go with the meal. I was more than excited to try this one, Domaine Des Terres Falmet. It's a very simple yet delightful wine. It has a very nice floral nose with hints of lavender and spice and the palate has wonderful cherries, herbs and pepper. It went awesome with the meal and was a great addition to my off the beaten path wines.

The Love of Shucking and Wine

Noel and I had a great weekend on Martha's Vineyard visiting our friends Sami J and Erik. They live year round on the island so all we have to do is get our asses to the island and we have, not only have a place to stay, but awesome tour guides to shuttle us around the island. Sami is a great garden artist on the island. She has many famous and rich clients that depend on her to make their million dollar homes look even more outstanding. Erik is an all around outdoorsman. He runs a very cool and very successful kayak tour on the island, Martha's Vineyard Eco Adventure. If you are ever on the island make sure to take a tour, he grew up on the island and knows it like the back of his hand.

The first night after dinner and a few bottles of wine we went down Lambert's Cove it's a bioluminescence beach. As we played in the water, we made the ocean glitter in color. It was so magical!! Saturday we went to State Beach, but the most amazing thunderstorm rolled over us and we had to vacate the beach bumming for a few hours. When we did get back to the ocean we went to a small beach near their house. It was very picturesque beach in the harbor over looking the Cape. After a little sun bathing, I went out and braved the cold Atlantic water. Later on that night we made it to a local food truck, the Artcliff Diner. This when I realized how cool and hip Martha's Vineyard really is. I had a lobster taco that was pretty good, the pig sandwich I also got was outstanding. After a fierce round of Apples to Apples (I didn't win, didn't even come close), we ended the night at Backdoor Donuts. They make an apple fritter that men would kill over!! You can smell this place blocks away. They open at 730pm, that's right-  they open at night and they sell out of the backdoor of Martha's Vineyard Gourmet Cafe and Bakery. They make the donuts and fritters fresh, always making sure they are available for the hungry fans, until they close at midnight. There is always a batch in the oven, so they come out warm, and just melt in your mouth. These people have something here, open a bakery late at night, make warm, fresh, donuts for all the drunks and late night munchers of the world, just genius. This place is a must go to next time you are on the island. The last day we spent hanging around Oak Bluffs shopping, having lunch and going to the arcade. Noel bought some really good fudge from Murdicks and I got a really cool clay whistle made in Peru made in the shape of an owl. To avoid traffic going home, Noel and I decided to set the GPS to avoid highways and went back roads home to have one more adventure on our perfect weekend.  

Sami J is a huge foodie and a wonderful chef. She made us mussels in coconut milk that would knock your socks off. We also had Cherrystones, for those of you that don't know your raw bar menu, Cherrystones are a type of clam that are delightful raw. They are have light salty flavor and the meat is a bit sweet and chewy. On the island clams are cheap, about $3 a pound, and Sami J knows how to shuck them! She even taught me!! Saturday on our way back to Sam's house during the thunder storm I decided I wanted more clams. There was so much traffic, Sami left her windows open and we really didn't have time to stop, but as I said traffic was real bad. I jumped out of the car ran in ordered clams, when I went to pay I realize my wallet was in the car, so I had to run after the car to grab money, run back to pay for the clams and get back to the car all before they hit the stop sign (Sami did pull over but only for a minute or two). It was a great Chinese fire drill style move and I was able to buy 18 more clams. As soon as we got back I couldn't wait to open all of them. I got pretty good at it!!

Holding a clam in your hand with the point of the shell facing away from you use a pairing knife, find the edge of the two shells and lightly force the knife in the clam (making sure not to cut yourself) and pull it straight across the two sides until you have cut the mussels and opened the shell. Then cut around making sure get up all the claim, squeeze  lemon or a lime in with the meat and enjoy.

For the wine the first night I made sure to bring us a bottle of Durenburg L&T Gruner Veltliner. The L&T stand for light and dry. This wine is great wine for a hot summer night and shell fish dinner. Very crisp with citrus and light apple fruit flavor, this wine is very food friendly and can pair well with a lot of the foods that are difficult to pair wine with, like asparagus and artichokes. It was a perfect pick for Cherrystones and mussels dinner. Gruner Veltliner is the most widely grown grape in Austria. Slowly over the years the quality of this wine really began to shine. It keeps on with my whole drink something different. Gruner Veltliner is the next Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. This wine will make everyone happy, from the old ladys that need their glass of Pinot Grigio ever night, to the real wine lover.

Sami J and Erik thank you for the great weekend! I can't wait to make lavender chicken with some of the lavender you gave us! Noel and I were talking on the boat ride back to the main land and next we want to take the last boat out of town and cook you two a nice Sunday night meal!! And Chef Timmy don't think bacon pesto won't be on the menu, it's my new signature dish!!

Your Eyes Say Yes and Your Mouth Says Gnocchi

I am a big fan of sauces. If you have seen me lately you would know I have become what some would say, pudgy. Noel and I bought some gnocchi a few weeks ago from Russo's. Today was finally the day it needed to be cooked. I was actually threatened with death if I did not make the potato dumplings. I decided quickly that I wanted to make my own sauce with the meal. It didn't take long before I knew I was going to make a vodka sauce. I have master many other sauces, how hard could it be? Right!? Let me tell you, it was real easy and it came out great. Real restaurant quality stuff here. As we were eating dinner, it was Noel trying to come up with the name of this blog post. I started off wanting to make the gnocchi the side dish, but as I started cooking I realized I had a lot of gnocchi, so the meatatarian in me made the steak the side dish. While at Shaws I bought a family size package of baby steaks. Eight tiny little steaks all about an ounce in size.

So vodka sauce is pretty easy to make and you don't need much. Allrecipes.com has a very easy basic one that I went off of. Like I said last post I like to take a recipe and Dan it up a little.

The Sauce
1/2 cup vodka (I used a potato vodka Vesica)
1/2 onion chopped
large clove garlic minced
1/4 cup butter
14 oz can diced tomato (I used fire roasted garlic)
basil
oreganoal
1/2 pint light cream
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

In a sauce pan melt the better on medium heat. Add the garlic and onion until onion is translucent. Add the half cup vodka and cook for about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes, and herbs and cook for 20 minutes. Stir in the light cream and parmesan, you wanna make sure the cheese really blends with the cream, and cook about 20 more minutes. The last 20 minutes I started the water and cooked the gnocchi. Once the water is boiling they only take two to three minutes. They even start to float when they are done. Foolproof!!

The steak was also easy. I went off a recipe from Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com.
SO EASY:
Take a skillet and stick it in the oven. Turn the oven to 500. When it reached 500 take the skillet out of the oven and put it on a burner on high. Take the steaks and rub a small amount of canola oil and season both sides with sea salt. Cook 30 seconds each side, then stick them back in the oven and cook for two minutes each side. Then let it rest for a few minutes. Perfect medium-rare steak. Thank Alton Brown you are a hero to many of us wanna be chefs!!

Tonight's wine comes by recommendation of the manager at Winchester Wine and Spirits. Justin has a love of the obscure grapes, the grapes that just aren't on the normal path. When I told him of the Pinot Meunier I had last night he turned me on to a Spanish Petit Verdot. Petit Verdot is one the major blending grapes in Bordeaux. It is used in blends as a flavor and tannin boaster, as it is a big, dark, dense fruit grape. This bottle tonight took a long time to open. I contemplated decanting the wine a few times but in the end decided to see where the grape would take me. In the beginning there was a dark inky, stew of hot, tannin, fruity mess, but as it opened the tannin surprisingly calmed down and it became a pleasant spicy cigar box with dark fruit. A great wine, I just wish I had turned on the AC before opening this bottle. Nothing like high heat and humidity to go with such a large wine. The next time I am at someones house grilling red meats, especially lamb I will go and find another bottle of Petit Verdot. Thank Justin for the outside the box pick!!
 

Ratat what?

Have you ever seen the movie Ratatouille? It's a movie than any of us wanna be chefs can relate to. I feel as though I am Remy many times as I master different recipes. For a while now, I have wanted to make ratatouille, and what better time than summer time? If you don't know what this is, it is a classic peasant dish from France. Comfort food made from veggies. Basic idea: take a bunch of summer veggies, squashes, eggplant, tomato...well you get the idea. You cut them all up and bake it. It's like meatloaf but with veggies. There is an issue with the this classic dish- NO MEAT. So, I decided I would add some. Flash back to a few days ago, my buddy Tom and I meet at 7's (a small bar in Beacon Hill), we meet there often after work and split a pitcher, usually two. I told Tom of my want to make ratatouille, but how it involved no meat. As we finished the first pitcher and waited for the second, I tossed out ideas to my foodie friend. Beef? Chicken? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: BACON! *SIDE NOTE* For those that just started reading my blog, you may not know but I have a bacon addiction. So what would be a good way to use the bacon to its full potential? It was like the angels spoke to me: "Bacon Pesto." Bacon what? "You can't do that!" people said, "it's just not right." All I can say to them is: Suck it! With a quick change in recipe, I made what may have been the world's first Bacon Pesto.

WHAT YOU NEED
almost pound of bacon, enough to get 1/4 cup bacon fat
handful basil, about 20 leafs
handful walnuts
1/2 cup Stilliton blue cheese
1/4 cup olive oil, I found a scallion infused olive oil at Russo's that worked great!!

Cut the bacon in to one inch squares. Slowly render the fat off the bacon in a cast-iron skillet on low heat. Every so often, empty the fat into a measuring cup. When done, put the bacon aside to use in the ratatouille. In a pestal and mortar, just grind up the basil. Add the walnuts and blue cheese, and keep grinding into a paste. Add the bacon fat and olive oil. And there you go! You have bacon pesto. And what do you do with bacon pesto? Well, I replaced the pesto with most of the olive oil that you would use in the ratatouille. This dish is real easy to make.

WHAT YOU NEED
Now there is no true recipe for ratatouille, it is comfort food use what ever you want this is what I used
eggplant
summer squash
golden zucchini
cousa squash
red pepper
yellow pepper
orange pepper
onion
tomato
bacon
yam

Pre-heat oven 375. Slice all the veggie with a mandolin. Make sure to slice the yam thinner than the rest, as it take longer to cook. After that, in a cassarole dish, start layering the veggies. I did yam, golden zucchini, layer of pesto, red pepper, yellow pepper, orange pepper, summer squash, cousa squash, eggplant tomato, pesto, bacon, onions, pesto, repeat. I made sure to have the bacon in the middle and only did that step once. Cook for 55 minutes. When it was done I let it rest for five minutes and made a plain couscous to serve with the dish. Voila! A French classic made the Dan way. The bacon, which I cooked until cris,p came back to life and was a little chewy. But it did give its flavor to the dish.

The wine that I picked with this meal is a special one. While waiting to talk to Frank and Ray at Pairings in Winchester, I noticed they had a Pinot Meunier. Pairings is a cute gourmet wine shop in Winchester. Lorie and Ray started the store about a year ago and have a great shop. I have bought spice, herbs and cheese from them before (I bought the blue cheese from them for the Bacon Pesto). Pinot Meunier is famous for being one of the three grapes used in Champagne. I have never seen one in a still wine, I didn't even know they grew the grape in Oregon. So Saturday when I went back to conduct a wine tasting I had to buy a bottle of the  Willa Kenzie Estate Willamette Valley Pinot Meunier. This wine is great, a little pricey at $29 but then again it's not a grape that you can find in your normal liquor shop, let alone a fine wine shop. This bottle had great berry fruits (cranberry, blueberry and raspberry), a hint of earth and spice with a nice touch of dried roses. It has more acid than you would get from most wines but along with the silky tannin it helps to balance the fruit. This is a wine that I don't expect to find again for a while and that is sad.

In life I find it more fun to change the recipe and find wines that you are not going to always find. Most people would find a recipe online and would follow it to the letter. Me, I like to treat cooking more like an Art than a Science. True artist can't truly be taught to make a masterpiece it comes from within. I add things that I think could make the meal different, if not better. It may not come out great all the time, but sometimes you really knock it out of the park, i.e. BACON PESTO. Same with wine. Why always drink the same thing? Why care about how many points someone else thought the wine should have? Experiment, have fun, enjoy life. Break down the box that you are in and start living life.