Svensk Film Natt (Swedish Movie Night)

I finally finished reading the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” books.  It’s so disappointing to know that there aren’t any more books in the series.  I really enjoyed the books and would have liked to read all 10 in the series that Stieg Larsson had planned to write.  Oh well, now it’s time to watch the movies!!  Normally, I’m not one for movies with subtitles.  However, Kona helped to expand my horizons when we picked a subtitled French movie as one of our Toronto Film Festival choices last year.  I discovered what many people already knew... that international films can sometimes be better than their Hollywood counterparts.  Without all of the Hollywood glitz and glamour, the international movies need to try a little harder.  Not to say I don’t love Hollywood movies but I’m no longer afraid of subtitles.  These movies were great.  They did a great job in casting all the characters.  It sucks when you read a book and picture all the characters only to have a movie mess with your imagination.  The actors fit so well with how I had pictured everyone.  There was also something fitting about hearing them all speak Swedish.  I wonder what the Hollywood version is going to be like.  Will it still be set in Sweden or will they relocate the story to the US?  I think the first movie comes out later this year.  We’ll just have to wait and see but my bet is that it doesn’t live up to the Swedish version.

So, what do you serve for Swedish Movie Night?  Smoked salmon, cheese and white wine seemed like a good choice.  To be honest though, smoked salmon and cheese goes with anything!  We picked the “Open” Riesling-Gewurztraminer from Niagara.  What a fabulous choice!  I’m normally a red wine drinker and just started to appreciate white wines again last year.  I always thought Rieslings were a sweeter wine so I stayed away from them.  Was I ever wrong!  It had a nice, light flavour that went really well with the strawberries we had for dessert.  I think I’m going to add this one to my “standard wines to keep on hand” list.

Chianti Classico & celebrity crushes

The mousakka was wonderful.  I'm embarassed to admit that I had never had mousakka before.  I was a teensy bit nervous about trying something so "different", but I was looking forward to it because the Chez Rochester boys have never let me down.  It was delicious!  I also got to try dolmades and some fabulous homemade hummus.  It was like visiting a really comfortable Greek restaurant - only, for some reason, they didn't let us throw the dishes and yell "opa!" (maybe next time).  The wine was a perfect choice.  The Castellare di Castellina is definitely a wine I'd try again.  It went really well with the meal (but also would have been great on it's own).

What kind of conversation goes with Greek food and the first of 40 bottles of wine?  Among other things, we ended up revealing some deep dark secrets like...  Who is your most embarassing celebrity crush?  (OK, perhaps not so deep and dark but you never know what people will reveal.)  It can be someone that might make us all laugh at you or perhaps a crush from when you were a kid that you've never been able to let go.  Some of the responses were:

• Drew Carey (when he was on the Drew Carey Show - not the Price is Right Drew Carey of today)
• Ellen (she got points for her quirkiness)
• John Stamos (I stand behind the fact that he's still crush-worthy but it's embarassing because I've had the crush since I was about 11 years old)
• Will, from Will & Grace (especially in the first few seasons)

I watched Get Him to the Greek today.  First of all, despite the title of yesterday's entry, I need to say that (thankfully) dinner with my friends is nothing like partying with Aldous Snow.  But, I might need to add Russell Brand to my "embarassing celebrity crush" list.  There's a certain bad-boy appeal about him (buried behind the dirty, disgusting, rude persona).

Bottom line:  The wine was great, the meal was fabulous and, as always, the company was very entertaining.  1 bottle down, 39 more adventures to go!

Get Me To The Greek

I haven't seen the movie so the title may not be so appropriate but it sounded good for now (I reserve the right to change this post once I've seen the movie).  I'm heading to dinner at Chez Rochester North* with the Chuck Street gang tomorrow night.  What kind of wine should I bring to a Greek dinner?  My friends are slaving over moussaka so I need to make sure to complement it with a nice wine.  I've done a bit of googling and apparently I'm looking for a wine that won't overpower the spices in the food.  One of the websites suggested a Zinfandel another suggested Sangiovese and there was a Bordeaux recommendation.  I've got all of those in "the cellar".

I'm really looking forward to this meal.  In all my googling, I saw lots of recipes for moussaka and it doesn't look like an easy dish to make.  As always, the guys are going to an awful lot of work!  I just hope my wine choice  measures up.  Who am I kidding?  It's wine + friends... always a perfect match!

Update:  After some consultation, I've decided on the Sangiovese.  I'm taking Castellare di Castellina.

*Chez Rochester North:  A friend's place - not a restaurant (but both this and their Rochester B&B location are highly recommended).

And now for "the project"...

I thought the champagne was a great way to celebrate 40.  It only got better when my family gave me a gift of 40 bottles of wine - each bottle selected by them for a special reason.  This blog is a way to document my journey through the first year of my 40's... and my 40 bottles of wine.

The first 12 bottles

Happy birthday to me!

For some people, turning 40 is traumatic.  For me?  Not so much.  Somehow, it's a little easier to handle when you can stretch the celebrations out for over a month with great friends and family.   This included dinners, parties, brunches and even a "palooza" in Mexico.

40 turned out to get even better when some of those friends added a bottle of fancy champagne to the mix.  What a way to start the  year!  When I arrived to celebrate New Year's Eve (and my birthday), I was met with some hand-dipped chocolate strawberries, specially selected to go with the Dom Perignon.  Awesome friends, right?  If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have lied about my age and "turned 40" a few years ago.