Big Ass Cab - 2008

"Just what it says. This is a big, intense, lush Cabernet Sauvignon. It may not be for everyone, but if you are serious about Cabernet, you should be extremely happy.  Very enjoyable right now, with potential for aging well into the next decade."

Price: Approximately $21.99 CAD. Add your tax and deposit on to that, too.

***

The Chef bumped into this wine just over a week, ago, when he was out looking for a dry red wine for the "Italian Baked Pasta" dish. I chuckled a little at it's name and label (the bottle comes in two distinct labels...).

Then it dawned upon Chef Jeremiah that perhaps it was a sign of things to come. "Monster-in-Law" with Jennifer Lopez was on the television later that day. Not that the Chef is a big fan of movies like that, but it was the scene where J-Lo had her short dress on, when she met the in-laws. She had to bend over a chair or something, and the Chef just about spit out his blueberry cocktail. Damn! She has some fine assets.

Then, later in the week, I flipped through Canada's Crappy Music Video channel, and it was one of those "a panel of underemployed (and unattractive) individuals critique various videos" shows. I don't much like those. But they had Nicki Minaj's "Right Thru Me" on. Go to about the 4:48 mark of the video. Yes, the video is the "clean" version. The Chef runs a respectable kitchen, after all... Well, the gentleman in the mock-video commented that in that shower scene, Nicki's ass looked like "two buttered pumpkins". Oh, the Chef laughed a long time at that one. He then proceeded to eat one very healthy serving of fresh pumpkin pie...

Hmmm, hm hmm hmm hmmm.

Well, here's the fuckin' bottle:

Don't waste your hard earned cash-money on that bottle. Better bottles for less $ to be had. Easily.

The grade: The wine? Darn well near a "fail". I'd give it a 6.0 out of 10. Nicki's pumpkins? About a 9.6...

Baked Pasta with Ricotta and Ham

Yes, my little Sous-chefs, I won't be posting the recipe this evening. No sense when I took it from here.

The Chef's inspiration for the dish comes from a foodie within the Capital City.I've never met her, but here's her blog. Thank you, Ms. Yeo!

I have to admit, that for the recipe I did use dried thyme, and that after reading "Only here for the Food" I doubled the amount of sauce (a wise girlfriend once told me that it's all in the sauce. I don't think she reads this blog...). No italian ham was used either - I don't think I can find any in Camrose. The recipe really should have been halved, unless I was going to feed this damned city of Vikings I live in.

The sauce portion took the majority of my Sunday morning. What else can I do? And when the ham was browning with the vegetables and the Chianti was added, I really should have recorded that smell. It was de-LISH!

In the end, it was a fancy Mac & Cheese with ham and bits o' onion in it, that's how I would describe it. It was pretty cheesy, and with every bite, you could catch a hint of Chianti in it. Beats Kraft Dinner, that's for sure.

I'm not sure your kids would like it. But it's worth a shot. Final Outcome: 7.1 out of 10.