InterWined.com

Liquid Refreshment

Archive for August 2008

21

Aug

See You in September

Jacob Gaffney  in General

InterWined is now on holiday until September…see you then!

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20

Aug

Sick? Lose the Juice

Jacob Gaffney  in Health, Living , , , , , ,

Researchers are reporting new evidence that common fruit juices, including orange and apple, can substantially decrease the absorption of other prescription pills, potentially wiping out their beneficial effects.
The study provides a new reason to avoid drinking fruit juice when taking certain drugs, including some that are prescribed for fighting life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, […]

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19

Aug

Why Look Anywhere Else?

Jacob Gaffney  in Health, Food, News , , , , , ,

InterWined.com supports the concept of buying local as much as possible. It is a trend that is gaining momentum, especially in the United States, and we hope it’s here to stay. Better for the economy, better for the environment.
So, when we received an e-mail this moring for consultancy firm Weber Shandwick, we thought it proper […]

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18

Aug

Bloggers Wanted

Jacob Gaffney  in Writer/Actor, News

Who’s looking out for their fellow bloggers? InterWined.com, that’s who, where we keep the job pitches coming…
So, here is another job opportunity for all you great food and travel bloggers who frequent this site…as well as any financials buffs. Good luck!
Business-industry reporter/blogger
Location: Flexible
BNET, a business-oriented news and information site owned by CNET Networks, is […]

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15

Aug

Pork Burgers with Summer Salad and Honey-Glazed Parsnip Chips

Sean Sellers  in Rosé Wines, Blow the Bank, Meat & Poultry , , , , , ,

InterWined Food

Each week, InterWined.com pairs one great wine with one great meal and publishes the results along with the recipe in a little feature it likes to call ‘Blow the Bank’.

This week, ‘Blow the Bank’ brings you the cure for the summertime blues with Pork Burgers with Summer Salad and Honey-Glazed Parsnip Chips.

Pork Burgers with Summer Salad and Honey-Glazed Parsnip Chips

Each summer, people throughout the UK bet on how much or how little sun they’ll see. With the global economy is full slowdown and British politicians espousing the joys of holidaying in the UK as opposed to travelling to the US or the Continent, this year thus far has proven decidedly overcast. So when — and if — the sun shines, why not make the most of it with a good old burger and bottle of wine?

Pork PattiesCarrot SaladParsnip Chips
South African blogger, winemaker, and Web site Stormhoek officially launches launched its new Couture Rosé today a year ago today, August 15th, for sale exclusively at Threshers wine shops in the UK. And, as Peter May of the Pinotage Club, aka Pinotage.org noted it’s pretty risky “launching a wine…in one of the most miserable Julys on record, when sales of other hot weather items have plummeted” — especially one as gimmicky as Couture Rosé with its super stylish bottle and label, complete with cartoon and “freshness indicator”. The thing is, gimmick or no, this wine — if Threshers does its job — is going to sell (by the truckloads)!

Why? For one simple reason (Sublimelle take note!), this is a wine marketed to the most casual and easygoing of wine drinkers. The bottle reveals nothing of interest for the connoisseur. Outside of disclosing the year of production and the alcohol content (12% if you were curious), it says nothing about the grape varieties, percentages, and growing region (hell, you’d have to know that Stormhoek is a South African wine company to even know the country of origin). Instead, the bottle screams the tagline “Best Served on Ice”. Could anything be a surer sign that this wine is probably not produced with the finest grapes available? Yes, it could have no particular smell, like this wine. If nothing else, it must surely account for the wine’s unbelievably sugary flavour, mustn’t it?

Yet, for all of these things and the great many style points that it share with Bill Rolfe’s Pink Elephant, this is a wine designed for sunny days and simple pleasures (if slightly pretentious ones — the kind you’d see on a Channel 4cooking programme’s picnic or beach episode, all soft focus, smiles, and precocious children under 10 prancing about in and out of shot). And, why not? We deserve it, Britain, what with the spectre of negative equity, record foreclosures, global recession, and the veritable threat of another series of Celebrity Big Brother lurking around the corner. So what better way to give in than with a bottle of Stormhoek’s Couture Rosé 2007 (12%) and InterWined’s Own Pork Burgers with Summer Salad and Honey-Glazed Parsnip Chips?

The two are perfect partners: the high sugar, sweet taste of the undefined Rosé pairing brilliantly with the honeyed parsnip chips as well as soft, milder flavour of the pork burger and summer salad. In pairing wines with food, sweet foods prefer sweet wines. Now, this wine isn’t sweet in the sense of desert wine sweetness, it probably wouldn’t brilliantly with a pudding or desert. Instead, it sweetness is sugary — like a pixie stick. Also, because the pork mince used is quite lean and not terribly fatty, it doesn’t struggle or overpower the wine. It doesn’t require anything tannic the way that a beef or lamb burger would do.

Granted, all of the above, sounds pretty insulting — especially the pixie stick remark. However, like pixie sticks, it has its place. It’s fun. It’s throw away. It’s vaguely reminiscent of Kool Aid. It’s also pretty perfect for summer. But too much of it will probably make you sick. 7.7 points in summer with food; much, much less in winter, like 5.

InterWined’s Own Recipe in Full

Pork Burgers with Summer Salad and Honey-Glazed Parsnip Chips

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14

Aug

Gluten-Free…for What Ales You

Jacob Gaffney  in Beer , , ,

Man, that is one silly title.
I can’t believe I’m letting stay up there.
Anyway, InterWined spotted an unusual offering at the local Tesco: an Ale that is wheat and gluten free.
Now, granted we know very little about ‘beers’ (trying to learn more) but isn’t wheat a big part of the beverage?
Apparently not so for the Nick […]

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13

Aug

To Drink or Not to Drink?

Jacob Gaffney  in Red Wines, Malbec

Recently, InterWined mouthed off about wines served in restaurants that were too warm.
And here is another problem for you to swallow, if brought about in a long-winded fashion:
We love the Zuccardi Malbec 2006 at The Wine Sampler for £9. It’s full of blackberries, with a hint of rose on the palate. There is also […]

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11

Aug

Organic Panic

Jacob Gaffney  in Organic, Health, Food , , , ,

InterWined met last week with the owners of the excellent wine shop, Organico, located in the Lake District to talk about organic wine. Like InterWined, Organico, closely follows developments in organic viticulture (ALL of their wines are organic) as well as other green issues related to the industry, such as the transportation of wine in […]

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6

Aug

Flood Water Gives as it Takes Away

Jacob Gaffney  in News , , , ,

InterWined.com has a sister site, www.crescentcity.co.uk, that hopes to provide positive entertainment to the UK. The idea was bourn from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that has perhaps permanently displaced this site’s founders.
Even today, we are not comfortable with the mention of the K-word, but at least the bad dreams for many are subsiding.
Unfortunately, Crescent […]

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5

Aug

Plants That Live Off Little Water

Jacob Gaffney  in Health, Food, Living, News , , ,

InterWined likes to follow economic and environmental issues as well as liquid news, so it is interesting when topics emerge that deal with these subjects combined, especially when it comes to trying to feed the world through improving agriculture.
See, a large part of the global food crisis is the inefficiency of current irrigation methods.
More irrigated […]

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