10 Dishes Every New Bride or Groom Must Know How to Make! Written by Joi Sigers
Okay, you've either gotten married or are planning to pretty soon. Congratulations! I'm sure you're aware that this means you will be responsible for at least half meals you and your loved one will eat from here on out! Not to mention future children, your visiting family members and - of course - inlaws. A while back, one of my young daughters (who I hope wasn't getting any ideas), asked me which 10 recipes I thought every newly married person should be able to make. After thinking, off and on, about it for a few days, I came up with what I believe are top ones. Before we get to recipes, I'd like to just share a few words that would have made life a lot easier on me had someone shared them with me when I first began cooking! Cooking is an art. It isn't a chore to be endured or a duty to get out of way. It truly can be one of most rewarding and satisfying things you'll ever do. Just like most things, anyone who wants to become good at it can. Anyone who wants to become great at it can. There's an ancient Chinese Proverb that says, "The only difference between a good housekeeper and a bad one is an hour a day." I took liberty to edit proverb to tell you, "The only difference between a good cook and a bad one is an hour a day." If you make up your mind to become a great cook and dedicate even just one hour a day to honing your skills, you'll earn your apron's stripes! A few things you should always remember: Never leave kitchen when you're baking cookies or biscuits. I wouldn't advise ever wandering away from kitchen while cooking, but when it's something like cookies or biscuits, doing so is usually disasterous. They're just looking for a reason to burn and take your departure as open door they need. When getting cookbooks, go to used bookstores - or check online auctions or Amazon.com. The cookbooks that were written in 70s and 80s were some of best. You'll find ingredients you've actually heard of, for one thing, plus they tend to have more of basic recipes you'll need for starting out. Watch Food TV! It is really addictive, and even more informative. I'd suggest you not ever, under any circumstances, miss an episode of Paula Deen's "Paula's Home Cooking", Rachel Ray's "30 Minute Meals" or Alton Brown's "Good Eats". They're top, in my opinion. After you're more familiar with your way around pots and pans, you'll be ready for Emeril, but you have to work up to him! Now, to top ten recipes you'll need. Either consult some of those cookbooks I told you about, or a website, such as http://www.foodtv.com or http://www.buttermilkpress.com, or ask various family members for their favorite recipes for each. They'll get a real kick out of that. Plus, if you happen to ask an inlaw for their favorite recipes, you'll get off on an especially agreeable note!
| | Grigio or gris, this is a great white wineWritten by Darby Higgs
One of most popular imported wine styles in America is Pinot grigio. Nearly all of Pinot grigio consumed in US comes from Italy, but as we shall see this is likely to change soon. Pinot grigio is very popular with consumers, but it receives mixed reviews from wine judges and wine critics. One reason may be that wines made from Pinot grigio do not have a consistent and distinctive varietal character. Consumers are just attracted to crisp which goes well with a wide variety of foods. Another problem is that there are two names for variety in common use. The names Pinot Grigio and Pinot Gris mean Grey Pinot in Italian and French respectively. 'Pinot' refers to characteristic pine cone shaped bunch of this group of varieties. In Australia, winemakers, marketers and wine writers haven’t really sorted out which name to call variety. Some have dodged issue and refer to “Pinot G.” This variety closely is related to much better Pinot Noir variety and is believed to be a mutation of Pinot Noir. In fact in vineyard Pinot grigio is difficult to distinguish from its putative ancestor until berries ripen when those of Grigio will have much less pigment. There is another variety, Pinot Blanc which has little or no pigment in berries. There is considerable clonal variation within variety. Jancis Robinson says that variety hardly knows if it is a dark or a light grape. It has several synonyms including Burot and Malvoise in France and Rulander and Tokayer in Germany.
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