Wine Names, Billy Mays, Satuday Dinner

Discussing wine names with Marilyn in France (see link this page) she didn't realise that Fat Bastard is a French wine click here for their site. You will see they do several different wines with the same labels. We have only tried one and I don't remember now what it was. I seem to think it was a white wine but beyond that my mind is blank - I asked Matt and he thought it was a red we tried. Another weird name at the moment is Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush, that turns out to be a Canadian Winery. We tried this one and it wasn't bad if a little young. Another one we haven't tried is Goats Do Roam click here which is a clever play on Côtes du Rhone. This turns out to be from South Africa. I gather the Rhone wineries are not too happy with the name. I must admit names do tend to attract me to try them even if I know nothing about them. Now of course we also have the French Rabbit wines which are sold in tetra packs - not yet tried those but we will. Click on this link to read about French Rabbit wines. It seems a lot of wineries are breaking away from traditional wine production and branching out in all kinds of directions. So, it doesn't just come in threes unless this is the start of another threesome of course - I hope not. Last week we had Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett, this week we lost Billy Mays who was well known over here for his shouting type ads telling you this or that product was the best thing since sliced bread. He drove us up the wall, but I certainly didn't wish him a death at 50. The speculation as to the cause is that at the weekend he was on a flight which landed badly due to a burst tire and a piece of the plane ceiling hit him on the head so this could have caused head trauma. The doctor on TV said it could also have been a heart attack which is very frequent occurrence in men of 50. So that will cause another round of speculation until autopsies are finished. The airwaves are filled with Michael Jackson news still and all kinds of speculation. I wish they would wait for the toxicology report before making all kinds of announcements and talking to all kinds of people about his cause of death. We had an excellent dinner at our friends' home on Saturday with barbecued ribs, I ate too much, a very different ice cream dessert and then our hostess had made a German style cheesecake especially for Matt who loves a good plain cheesecake. He ate two pieces and then she gave him a chunk to bring home. I had a piece, big mistake, I was so full I felt I would burst. Sunday I started a hunt for a cheesecake recipe for the first cheesecake I ever tasted. It was a recipe in a Robert Carrier cookbook and it was prepared by a friend for us some time in the mid '60s - it was served with a compôte of fruit which was tart to counteract the sweetness of the cake. A friend has emailed that she might have the recipe so perhaps I will have a go -I have never, but never, made a successful cheesecake. I have no idea why. Tonight we are having a pork tenderloin recipe which I found on the Internet and which we have been meaning to try for some weeks but for some reason or another we haven't got round to it. Cuban Pork Tenderloins The marinade from this is wonderful and produces very moist flavorful tenderloins, they can be grilled as well. Plan ahead they need to marinate for 24 hours. This marinade is enough for up to four tenderloins. These can also be barbecued or broiled 1/8 cup olive oil 1/4 cup fresh orange juice 1/8 cup fresh lime juice 1/8 cup dark rum 2 1/2 green onions, finely chopped 1 Tbs minced fresh garlic 1 tsp dried oregano 1 1/2 tsp cumin 1 tsp salt 1 bay leaf 1/2 tsp black pepper 2 pork tenderloins 1 In a bowl whisk together first 11 ingredients and transfer to a large heavy ziploc plastic bag, add in the tenderlons to the marinade; close bag tightly and turn to coat. 2 Place the bag in a large bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours. 3 Set oven to 400 degrees. 4 Transfer the tenderloins to a baking dish and discard the marinade. 5 Cook for about 25 minutes. 6 Let stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Servings: 4 Author: KITTENCAL Have a great day.