Canned Cuvee for Those Times When You Literally Just CAN

Get it? Get it? You just CAN?!!

This little can of forget-your-woes is an Italian bubbly.

History will tell you I am not opposed to canned bubbly booze. With straws, even.

History will tell me I am rarely too big on Italian wine, but times they are a-changing.

Some Italian wines are growing on me. For example, while I’ll pass on the fava beans but I will take brains and a nice Chianti. Minus the brains.

Perhaps the American palate just likes too much of anything, but the Italian vinos I used to encounter in the USA tended to be…too much of one element or another for me to like. Too woody, too tannic, even too acidic, which is hard to do with me seeing as I have approximately zero acid receptors in my taste buds. But some people love a ridiculously big  Barolo that would need 20 years of aging for me to find acceptable.

Because I have become a wine asshole. I was about to say wine snob but my spoiled-brat opinions make me feel like a major jerk.

But! I am finally finding the Italian vinos I dig. So please don’t take offense to my previous misgivings. I have found I enjoy wines from the northerly side of Italy more. From the Veneto, for example.

Presto (procured at Whole Foods) is labeled as a “sparkling cuvée” so who knows the precise methods of production. The can says it is bottled by a company in Fidenza, Italy which is in Parma, just west and depending-where you are in the Veneto (home of Prosecco), south of the Veneto. But maybe it is made in the Veneto. Have I mentioned that I FUCKING LOVE VENICE although I was only there for too brief an evening. When I was a kid so no vino for me. But of all the places in Italy I was lucky enough to visit the Venice was the best.

Now, I had previously been a snob against bubblies. Not that true Champagne is my pinnacle bubbly. I usually like Cava better. But I am guessing this bubbly is made differently from those two types. It was most likely made like Prosecco, with its second fermentation happening in a big steel tank as opposed to in the bottle.

Perhaps a can is the perfect delivery method for tank-fermented bubbly? It goes with the whole easy-going vibe of “let us just ferment a big ol’ batch in a tank” that comes with these wines.

Let us be clear that we should not expect massive amounts of bubbles in this. The can states that it is a “frizzante” which means the wine is only lightly bubbly. “Spumante” would indicate full-on bubbles.

As for the color and the aroma and such well…this is in a can. D’oh. If you want to figure out the nose pour it in glass. And for bubbly use a large all-purpose or tulip glass for goodness sake–coupes and flutes are cute and stylish, but you get the best experience in a bigger glass. You will get the nose without the bubbles going away too quickly. Got your glass? Now take a whiff. You’ll get fresh orange, grapefruit and honeysuckle notes. But even not poured in a glass you are gonna get the same things on your tongue. There is a hint of bready and yeasty notes. Medium in body. Happy in mind. For a serving of bubbly it is decent on wallet. I can endorse Presto.

After trying some in the glass try sipping from the can and…there is a hint of flippin’ Sprite, no joke. But that is good.

Honestly I thought it was gonna be shitty but… I may need to get more of this shiznit. 

I may be getting a wee bit tipsy as I am sitting here sipping and analyzing and writing for you.

Whoops. 

This could be a snazzy pool party drink. For all the theoretical pool parties I am attending.

Which as a vampire I will not be. But I will still sip this canned sparkly delight.

Patching together

Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to patch together my life. All sorts of random people and jobs and places that I need to connect somehow to turn into something awesome.
This parallels my kitchen adventures of late.
Wow Clifford, parallels? Way to write a blog post that reads like a college essay. Onward.
First week of the new year, acting not up and running yet. I’m feeling off-kilter. I make one of my once-in-a-blue-moon pilgrimages to Whole Paycheck to get chia seeds for the recipe I wanted to make and they were out.
Whilst shopping, I think I had my second Seth Rogen run-in in the last two months. The first time I accidentally chatted up his table at a restaurant, before I realized it was him. They probably thought I was just trying to get to him-but actually I heard them wondering if the Cards had won the series and I was regaling them with game highlights. After they left my friend informed me who I was talking to. He had a hat and glasses, how was I supposed to know?
This time I nearly ran my shopping cart into the flowers in the produce section. In front of Seth. At least I think it was him-I never recognize people. If he recognized me he probably thinks I have issues. Or suspects a stalker. With issues. He’d only be half-wrong.
Let’s not debate that right now.
So I get home and get on Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body‘s recipe(blog title is meant to be funny, people, please don’t get offended)for Sundried Tomato and Mozzerella Tart and realize I don’t have mozzerella or cream. Or enough cream cheese. Or fresh basil. So I decide to halve the recipe, substitute 1/2 and 1/2 for cream, feta for mozzerella and parmesan and dried basil for fresh. And decided to bake it in large muffin cups. And omit the crust.
Dang! This is one ugly cheesecake-let. I made the mistake of WAY overcooking this. The reduced sizing + smaller pans require less heat. But I blithely ignored my instincts and let them cook away. They smelled like heaven though, and while dry, the flavor was good. Don’t be like me! Keep an eye on these and take out before they get too brown.
While consuming these I kept up the stargazing I started at Whole foods and caught the episode of Grimm guest-starring my acting teacher, Brad Henke. There he be!:
>

Go Brad!
Grimm also stars fellow St. Louisan David Giuntoli. Our moms are friends. I am so very close.
To my career. To making good food. To being a working actor. But sometimes it all seems like a battle that I may or may not be winning. I am gonna choose to believe I am, if not winning, at least ahead in the race. I plan to stay that way.
Enough of that. Food time!
Savory Sundried Tomato/Feta Cheesecake-lets(adapted from this recipe on the Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body Blog-it’s just an offensive enough title I like it)
16 oz. lowfat cream cheese
2 Tbsp. 1/2 and 1/2
2 eggs
3/4 c. feta, crumbled
1/4 c. sundried tomatoes, soaked in boiling water, drained, dried and chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. chopped garlic
Heat oven to 400. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add 1/2 and 1/2 and eggs and beat until creamy. Stir in everything else. Divide amongst Pam-sprayed large muffin tins. Bake 15 minutes then reduce heat to 300 and bake until center is set. It took these about a half hour. Turn off oven, crack open and leave for 30 minutes, then cool to room temp.

Oh to be in Sebastopol

I have not made anything more complicated than protein shakes augmented by peanut butter recently but am feeling the need to post so here is something foodie from my recent roadtrip to northern California: the Tasting Room IN THE MIDDLE of the Sebastopol Whole Foods. Being able to drink while shopping at Whole Foods, you really can’t beat that.