The Dog Doesn’t Die

This morning’s Washington Post had an interesting article about how people’s taste buds steer them to prefer different types of wine. Which Wine Drinker Are You? explains how we fall into four categories of wine drinker: sweet, hypersensitive, sensitive, and tolerant. By going to the website of The Budometer and answering a few simple questions, your “profile” emerges.

This is most useful for inexperienced or overwhelmed wine drinkers, because over time and with experience, our tastes tend to broaden. I read the types of wines preferred by members of each category and liked everything except the sweet wines. I thought I would probably fall into the Sensitive category even though, like Tolerants, I have a pretty strong preference for red wine. Most women are Sensitive or Hypersensitive as well. However, the questionnaire establishes me as a solid Tolerant.

This taste-typing is in the early stages, and a more refined questionnaire is in the works. But if you drink wine at all, you’ll probably find The Budometer of interest even in this Beta version.

Enjoy!

I believe in cooking for one. I have never understood people who short-change themselves because they’re alone for dinner. If I am by myself, I deserve a good meal as much as if Dave is here or I have a house full of people. It takes a different kind of planning, but it’s not rocket science.

When Dave and I were weathered in, I doubled up meals I normally make for myself. Scrambled eggs with Monterey jack cheese for breakfast? That’s a no-brainer. For lunch, I made the Buffalo Chicken Cornbread I mentioned in a previous post. That recipe originated with Cast Iron Cooking for Dummies, which I still check before heading into the kitchen. But I’ve made that one my own already.

For dinner, I made gnudi. I can’t find a link to the recipe I use, but this one sounds good http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/236878 and I may try it next time. I love gnudi, and I was somewhat disappointed that cooking a “double” batch  from my usual single serving seemed to not work as well. It may have been a matter of an overcrowded pot. In any case, the gnudi weren’t as firm as usual. But they were still good.

I broke out a bottle of prosecco, an Italian sparkling wine (not champagne, if you go along with the French on that). It wasn’t as interesting as champagne or California sparkling wines, but it was pleasant enough. What was interesting was that we didn’t feel as if we’d had much to drink at all, yet the prosecco had an alcohol content of 11%.

On impulse in Trader Joe’s last week, I bought a bottle of the 2003 Montecillo Rioja. I am very happy with this choice — it proved to be a good table wine to accompany casual dining at home. It was better on the second and third nights, but that’s fine. I hate feeling like my only choices are to drink more than I want to or to let a good wine go bad. There was no risk of that with this gentle Spanish wine.

I’m not sure I’ve ever had a bad Rioja. I find them to be reliable and reasonably priced.