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O.k., o.k, so you want to “hold your own” vs your wine snob friends when it comes to evaluating wine. Trust me, evaluating wine is not the “rocket science” that some of your connoisseur buddies would lead you to believe. However, learning some basic terminology and understanding wine characteristics will help you in knowing how to describe the wines you drink.

Let’s start with appearance, color, aroma and bouquet. Wine should not appear dull or murky. Nor, should it be cloudy. A clear wine should not be flashing with light reflections.When it comes to colors, white wine should have shades of yellow, gold or straw.Beaware of white wines with an amber tone, as this is an indicator ofoxidation. A Rose can be a true pink, although sometimes it is accented with deeper reds or oranges. Stay away from brown tints of amber or violet.The variety of grapes used determines the color of red wines.Cabernet and Merlot may be deep red. Younger wines typically have purple edges, while mature wines will have bronze accents.

The term aroma applies to younger wines. This is simple, what does the wine smell like? Typically, you’ll detect fruit and grape odors. It may take some practice for you to detect subtle differences. As a wine matures, it develops a fragrance when it comes in contact with the air. This fragrance is called the wine’s bouquet.

If your wine smells almost like vinegar, it ranks very low in volatile acidity. When you swish wine around in your mouth and it is refreshing, almost giving you a little “zing,”the total acidity is probably just right. A wine with a flat, almost “soapy” flavor is too low in acidity. Sharp, or sour tasting wines are generally too high in acidity.

Some wines are supposed to be sweet, other wines are supposed to be dry. If the wine you are evaluating has a sweetness to it when it should be dry, watch out! And of course, if the wine is dry when it should be sweet, be equally concerned. These are indicators that the wine’s sugar content is unsatisfactory. The term “flavor” has to do with how well the taste and the aroma of the wine work together.

The “body” of a wine is probably the most subjective term used in evaluating wine. Words like “density,” “richness,”fullness,” etc. are all used to describe a wine’s body. The type and age of the wine will largely influence the description of it’s body. Light, dry wines will typically have a lighter body, while Burgundies and young Zinandels will be more full bodied. As some wines mature, they may transition from full bodied to softer bodied. The only way to determine what “body” means to you is to taste many wines.

Aftertaste is a term that describes the taste of the wine in your mouth after you swallow it. Quality, mature wines have a lingering, clean, smooth aftertaste. Young wines typically are high in acidity due to excess tannin, and can leave an undesirable aftertaste.

So, now you’re equipped with some basic terminology used in evaluating wine. However, when all is said and “tasted”, the key point in evaluating wine is simply whether or not you enjoyed it!

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Michael Hutchins is a noted author and speaker on subjects related to entertaining at home. A self proclaimed “party animal”, Michael is noted for his wit and creativity. He craeted his online store, home-bars-and-more.com home-bars-and-more.com to be fun, “one-stop”shopping for all your home bar needs. It’s a fabulous place to browse around! Check it out now!

Cupcakes are great, but many are wondering how this little birthday and school room treat has come to create such a fuss. Not only are cupcake centric eateries springing up across the country, from home-style Magnolia Bakery on the East Coast to Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, but these once quaint cakes are being served everywhere – even at black tie events!

It’s no secret that Hollywood’s played a part, featuring cupcake shops in popular television shows, but the glory really goes to these miniature cakes.

Take flavor and colors for example. One dessert doesn’t have to mean one flavor and look. A single batch of cupcakes can offer a rainbow of flavors and tinted icings, from lemon to hazelnut, from pretty pastels to vibrant tangerine and hot pink. Cupcakes are doing for many store-front bakeries what 31 Flavors did for ice-cream parlors.

And, there’s so much you can do with cupcakes. As with cakes, you can add fillings, sculpt into fun designs and stack them.

While some of the upscale cupcake boutiques use expensive ingredients like Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, you don’t have to go all out to create cupcakes fit for a special event like a wedding. Just be sure to use fresh and natural ingredients, such as butter and fresh fruit instead of margarine and frozen.

Cupcakes – Your own 31 Flavors

Here’s how you can serve a variety of flavors and a palette of colors – all from a couple cupcake pans.

Divide white icing (snow-white buttercream or cream cheese) into separate dishes. Add flavor and food coloring to each dish. Due to the bitter taste of food coloring, don’t use extra to achieve dark colors or red. Instead use a more intense form of coloring such as gel.

Cupcake Baking Tips

For two dozen cupcakes, make enough batter for two 9-inch cakes.

Bake in cupcake or muffin pans, and fill your liners 2/3 full.

Usually cupcakes are baked at 350° F (adjust for high altitude) and for around 23 minutes, give or take a few. Use the toothpick test.

As with other cakes, always cool completely before decorating.

Loose crumbs should be brushed off gently before icing.

Smooth icing with a knife and short strokes. Leave smooth or pipe a frosty swirl on top, depending how you want to decorate.

Decorating your Cupcakes

You can decorate your cupcakes with just about anything you use to decorate larger cakes. Some of the most popular cupcake decorations are grated coconut, gum drops, piped flowers and figures, shaved chocolate, whimsical designs created with candies – and of course sprinkles.

Filling Cupcakes

To fill a cupcake, cut out a cone from the top. Then place a teaspoon of filling inside. Before replacing the top, cut off its cone (since the space it filled is not filled with filling).

Cupcake Cakes

Also called pull-apart cakes, these are perfect for birthday parties and youth events. Each guest pulls off a cupcake. Serving’s a cinch and clean-up’s, well a piece of cake. And a great plus with little ones – everyone gets the same size serving!

You can sculpt a cupcake cake into just about any shape you can imagine: numbers (for birthday ages), sports (footballs, team logos and names, etc.) holiday figures, flowers, Easter baskets and bunnies, cats and dogs, well you get the picture. The shape doesn’t have to be exact (and probably won’t), but the decorating will add the realism.

Here’s how it works:

Bake cupcakes in double liners (for extra strength).

Arrange baked cupcakes on a covered, sturdy cake board. Play around with this until you get the shape you want. Staggering works best, and keep them close together.

Dab icing onto the bottoms of the cupcake liners, returning them as you do to their original positions. The icing will, once it dries, help hold the cupcakes in position.

Crumb-coat. This is optional. Thin some icing or make a glaze. Spread over all the cupcakes. Crumbs will show, but that’s ok. When it dries, the crumbs won’t be swept up into your final coat of icing.

When the crumb coat has dried, smooth your regular icing over the whole cupcake cake.

Decorate!

Tip: If you have extra cupcakes, decorate to match, and place them on a separate plate. For example, Blue’s paw print on each cupcake can accessorize a Blue’s Clues cupcake cake.

Serving: Pull up and forward. If the cupcake is stuck, slide a knife under it

Cupcake Tier Cake

Tiered cupcake holders have become quite popular at weddings, birthdays and other special occasions. You can take this to a higher level of creativity by creating a tiered cupcake cake! Assemble wedding cake tiers (straight up in graduating sizes is easiest), and arrange cupcakes and accessories to create a complete look.

Here’s another example of how you can work this cupcake magic. Create a Christmas tree by using cupcakes on the tiers as ornaments and tucking sprigs of pesticide-free pine needles between the cupcakes. On the top tier, place a tree topper surrounded by more cupcake ornaments.

Finally, one more cupcake tip. Cupcakes, if stored in freezer bags, will keep well in the freezer for up two months. Be sure to squeeze all the air out you can before sealing the bags. You can have a large variety of cake types and flavors on hand to thaw to decorate!

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author Cake Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2 The World’s First Cake Decorating Video Books For more cupcake decorating tips along with step by step videos, sign up for our free newsletter at cakeanswers.com CakeAnswers.com

Tea and chocolate… You’re probably wondering if those two can really be good for you, aren’t you? After all, chocolate has a lot of calories and tea has caffeine.

Allow me to explain how these two can be good for you.

A Pennsylvania State-led review (done in 2002) of the available 66 published studies, supports the view that consuming flavonoid-rich tea and/or chocolate, in moderation, can be associated with the reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Tea, without milk or sugar, does not contain any calories and contains plenty of antioxidant flavonoids. Tea can be added to your diet without increasing your weight. A chocolate cookie that also contains fruits and nuts along with the tea (remember to practice moderation) may be a heart healthy snack.

On this planet, there isn’t just one food that can be absorbed singly and give us everything that our body needs. A balance has to be achieved amongst all kinds of food. Both, tea and chocolate, which are plant foods (let’s not forget that one!), can be included as part of a healthy diet. But chocolate has to be eaten in moderation (because of its high-calories) along with other flavonoid-rich plant foods, such as fruits and vegetables.

It is widely known that tea contains flavonoids, however, watch out for chocolate. The amount of flavonoids in commercial chocolates will vary greatly from one kind to another. Some might not contain any flavonoids while others might contain a good amount.

Note: The research in regards to flavonoids and all of their health benefits are still in progress. Hence, the amount of flavonoids chocolate contains is rarely written on the ingredients of a chocolate bar. In order to make sure that you do get chocolate that is flavonoid-rich, I suggest that you stick with chocolates that are of high quality as high quality ingredients are usually used.

Although weight gain is a possible side-effect of eating chocolate, the increase of “bad” cholesterol is not. It has been noted that the major form of fat in chocolate is stearic acid. Stearic acid is a cholesterol-neutral when it is presented in a diet in moderate amounts. So don’t worry about getting “bad” cholesterol as long as you eat good-quality chocolate in moderation!

Don’t forget, this isn’t a green light to go on a chocolate binge!

In conclusion, studies on tea and chocolate support the concept that the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods may be beneficial to your health.

As the author of this article, I am proud to say that I am a lover of tea-or-chocolate.com tea and chocolate. Whether you prefer tea-or-chocolate.com/different-types-of-teas.html tea to chocolate, or tea-or-chocolate.com/chocolate.html chocolates to tea, there is enough data on both worlds to satisfy your mind and your passion. See what new information you can discover!

Eat chocolate, drink tea, and be happy!

The white chocolate nut cookie recipe combines two of the most popular ingredients in modern cookie making; macadamia nuts and white chocolate!

Ingredients

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, softened

1/2 cup shortening

1.2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 squares (1 ounce each) white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts, toasted

Additional granulated sugar for rolling

Hardware

Whisk

Large bowl

Medium bowl

Cookies sheets

Mixer

Step 1: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; set aside.

Step 2: In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars, with an electric mixer set on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.

Step 3: Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture.

Step 4: Stir in the white chocolate and nuts.

Step 5: Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 6: After 1 hour remove dough from refrigerator and preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Step 7: Roll dough into 1-inch balls.

Step 8: Dip each ball halfway in water, then in granulated sugar.

Step 9: Place each ball sugar side up 2 inches part on ungreased cookie sheets; flatten slightly.

Step 10: Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately transfer cookies to a cooling surface.

Makes 60 cookies.

For more information on baking procedures and hardware used in this recipe see our Baking Tips section.

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