WineLovers Discussion Group

Just wondering if any of you have what might be termed a "Sunday wine dinner tradition": cooking something special and enjoying a good, and maybe exceptional, bottle of a favourite wine.

Weekends are when I normally plan such dinners, and they tend to be a weekly ritual that can involve having friends over, though it needn't be that way. Sometimes a good wine and a good CD are plenty to create the right atmosphere.

I usually plan such dinners a few days before so as to buy the necessary ingredients. To me, cooking at home has never been viewed as a chore - something to do out of an "Oh, gawd, I have to get this done" sort of way, but as an actually enjoyable thing that I want to do.

Any of you do something like this?

Paul B. wrote:Any of you do something like this?

Not every Sunday but at least once or twice a month. My youngest son comes on leawe for 2 weeks home from the Army tonight. This will probably be the last time I see him befor he goes to Iraq in June, so I'll be having a big dinner next Sunday with all the relatives over. Probably going to do Italian - Beans & Greens soup, Italian sausage (home made), pasta, sauce, salad, garlic bread, '02 Sparkling Cayuga, '04 Foch-Vidal, '05 Gamay and I'll probably lean on my mother-in-law to make a pie for dessert.

Paul B. wrote:Any of you do something like this?

Hi Paul,

We usually have someting special on the weekend that I pair a wine to. This weekend it was Saturday night barbequed ribs with homemade sauce paired with a nice smooth and fruity California zin. Nice match as the zin and ribs just set each other off nicely with the fruitiness pairing well with the juicy ribs and zippy (with hungarian wax peppers from last summers' garden) barbeque sauce that my wife whipped up. Even my wife liked this pairing and she is not big on reds.

Tom Noland

Paul B. wrote:Sunday ... cooking something special and enjoying a good, and maybe exceptional, bottle of a favourite wine ... any of you do something like this?

%^)

You've probably read about Kathleen and I's "lifestyle change" before but ...

In 1994, Kathleen and I changed over to a low saturated/low fat diet ... we have stuck with it ever since ... the book I read that got us going on it allowed you to "bank" your saturated fat calories over any 7 day period of time ... as such, Sunday dinner became our "splurge day" meal of the week ... we "banked" less than our daily allowance of saturated fat and then "withdrew" those calories from the "bank" on Sunday evening ... this is now the night for red meat, lamb, bacon, butter, sour cream, cream, etc. ... we usually take turns preparing Sunday dinner ... this is also the night we open a "special" bottle of wine ... usually one of the reserve or single vineyard bottlings from one of the wine clubs we belong to ... of course music, cloth napkins, candles, and flowers are part of every night's meal except for "Survivor Thursday's" ...

Clink !

%^)

I would say about 4 nights a week we cook something nice for ourselves and have a good bottle of wine. These are always **** dinners in my book.

One night a week, usually Wednesdays, as that is Farmer's market day and a day off for both of us, we have family over. Then it gets kicked up a notch as we experiment, lately with fish dishes. And that usually, but not always, means nice white wines.

So, we have `special' dinners about 5/7 nights a week!!! This is something I learned from Jenise...every meal can be quality.... and Costco helps since I have learned to have a stocked larder/pantry so there are always basic ingedients.. so.. anything fresh can find a complement.

Well I make dinner from scratch almost every day. But of course you have more time during the weekend. But on sundays some ingredients can be hard to find. Like if you want fresh fish, then you have to make it on saturday as it would be too old on sunday. Like this saturday I bought a whole brill, cut it into filets and served it with the roe and homemade gremulata. Of course champagne was served with it. On sundays I find that I quite often make things like pizza. It takes a long time and I make enought pizza for several dinners through the coming week. If we are in the mood, we can open an old nebbiolo with that.