Sorry (again) for the long absence. My ego was struck down hard by my third (third!) rejection from a blogging network. I’ve decided I don’t need fame and fortune. I just need you guys, my kitchen, and a few drinks to tide me over. Right? RIGHT? I also made a complicated meal and carefully photographed each step, then it turned out just medium-okay, so that was a whole week wasted.
So in the spirit of not giving a fuck, today’s recipe is White Sangria. Now I have a confession to make: I can’t drink wine. I would certainly like to, but it just doesn’t agree with me. I flat-out just don’t like red, which I can blame on my Catholic upbringing (Cathoholic if you will). Being encouraged to drink after thirty filthy classmates at the age of eight can probably ruin your taste for anything. White, as delicious as it is, as refreshing, as humanizing as a cold crisp glass of Chardonnay can be on a hot summer day, well, it makes me sick. I turn an alarming bright red color, become short of breath, and can hear my heart pounding in my ears. Lovely. But ironically I belong to a Wine Club (which is a fancy title for a group of beautiful friends who like to get together, eat and drink merrily, watch Downton Abbey, and discuss crude topics) and always end up feeling inadequate swilling my Mich Ultra while they discuss the merits of various vintages, hints of apple, and dark undertones of oak. (This is a lie. Mostly we talk about Lady Mary’s outfits, Tom the chauffeur, unglamorous work-things, and some sexy construction workers we saw in England that one time.)
(Really – it was like gay porn. We were pulling our of the drive at Highclere Castle, where Downton is filmed. We had dorked out completely, drinking and eating on the rolling lawns turning cartwheels, literally, and having a photo shoot at the ruin, when we spied a handful of sexy young men in reflective construction vests, cut-off jean shorts, and hard hats. What were they doing? Well let me tell you they were applying sunscreen to each other’s backs. My oh MY. I didn’t get a picture TRAGICALLY, because I was too busy clapping my hands like a child and making a high-pitched squealing noise.)
My oh my.
Ahem.
So anyway, I have this club that gets together and drinks wine (and beer), eats, drinks, and is generally quite merry. They were coming over for some merriness. As summer is upon us, the demand for chilled white is high, so White Sangria it is.
Sangria, originating in either Spain or Portugal, is simply wine with fruit in it, some sort of sweetener, and a drop of brandy. So of course I don’t have brandy (our snifters are out for repair). But I have some wine and some fruit. And some 7-Up, because my house is classy like that. It turns out that Sangria is one of the easiest things you can make. I use a bottle of Vino Verde for some bubbles, a bottle of pinot grigio for some wine-y taste, and about two cups of 7-Up. (Substitutions: Sprite, ginger ale, etc.)
I add a small can of pears with their syrup, some sliced oranges, lemons, and limes, and a half teaspoon of ground ginger to make the recipe a little more elegant and less pick-up-truckish. Some ice, because I’m classy like that, and voila!
You can even call it Ginger Pear White Sangria, or whatever you want to do to dress up the name.
It really is delicious. I had two glasses and didn’t feel like dying at all. Must be the bubbles.
illdothedisheslater 