Duchman Family Winery

Duchman Family Winery, Driftwood, TX

Until this visit, I was largely unacquainted with the wines from the Duchman Family Winery, but these were some of the best Texas wines I've ever tasted, and I'll definitely be on the lookout for them when buying wine in the future.

Thanks to KLRU-TV (Austin's PBS) for hosting this wonderful event. 

Duchman Family Winery

Bocce

Tasting Room

Tasting Menu

2010 Vermentino, my favorite

2010 Grenache Syrah Mourvedre

2010 Montepulciano, my 2nd favorite

Duchman Family Winery, Driftwood, TX

Coffee Granita

When even iced coffee isn't cold enough

I've made this without sugar, except for a bit in the whipped cream, and I enjoyed it just as much. But it's hot outside. Treat yourself.

Coffee Granita

• 2 cups brewed coffee or espresso. Flavored coffees work well.
• 1/4 cup sugar for granita, 1/2 tsp for whipped cream
• 1/4 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup heavy cream

Brew coffee and stir in 1/4 cup sugar and lemon while coffee is still hot. Let cool.

Pour coffee into a long, shallow, and preferably metal container, and put in the freezer.

After about half an hour, check to see if ice crystals are forming. If so, stir them into the rest of the liquid with a fork and return to freezer. Repeat this process, stirring the ice crystals with a fork, until the coffee is frozen yet fluffy.

Beat the whipped cream with a half teaspoon of sugar until you get soft peaks.

Serve the coffee granita in chilled glasses with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Enjoy!

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

I hardly ever go to Starbucks, except for a few times during October, November, and December. You know why. For the Pumpkin Spice Latte, and then later for the Peppermint Hot Chocolate.  But I'm happy to report that the internet has freed me (and my wallet) from their corporate clutches. Thanks to Sugarcrafter, I now have a Pumpkin Spice Latte recipe that tastes even better than the real thing, and it's made with real ingredients and no chemicals.

Tip: I use a hand held Aerolatte frother to get my hot milk nice and foamy.

Get the recipe here.

My friend, Elizabeth Ditty, came up with an even easier version. Enjoy!

(Now I just need to figure out their Peppermint Hot Chocolate, but that should be a breeze.)

Halloween Don't

If someone tells you that you can make an awesome martini by soaking candy corn in vodka and adding some Butterscotch schnapps, DON'T believe them. It's a trick. A proper martini should be as pale and bright as Tinkerbell's fairy lights, not heavy like this sugary cough syrup concoction.

But, if you saw some pretty photos of a Candy Corn Martini, wanted to believe in them (even though a voice in your head said it was too good to be true), and actually tried to make said apocryphal cocktail, you can still salvage your libation lulu, your beverage blunder, your potation miscalculation, with a little ingenuity.

Add a short pour of this nightmare (and diabetes) inducing mixture to a tall glass. Now fill the glass to the top with mineral water. Ice optional. This creates a surprisingly refreshing drink, sort of like a Halloween-themed ginger ale . . . with vodka. But at least it won't leave you wondering how many seconds you have to live until your heart stops beating.

You can add a splash of it to coffee, too, the way you would Bailey's, or Kahlua. It's actually quite pleasant, as long as you don't add too much. This should be treated like any other simple syrup, which is what it is.

Or try it drizzled over ice cream. I mean, if you're drinking this stuff, you're already about to die. You might as well die with ice cream.

So, there you are, ladies and gentlemen. I'm out here making the big mistakes so you don't have to. I hear your heartfelt gratitude and take my bow . . .

Elder Fashion

I tried to post this on Friday but ran into some technical difficulties. So, make this new cocktail on Sunday night instead, because who doesn't need a cocktail before heading back into the fray on Monday morning?

It seems like everyone is drinking St-Germain lately. And that's cool. Full disclosure: I'm not really into sweet drinks, and to my palate this elderflower liqueur tastes a tad like rotten grapefruit. I mean, not entirely rotten, but definitely on the verge of going off. I still like it, of course, because I dig strange tastes and smells, and when you need St-Germain, well, nothing else can quite fit the bill.

I think it would be nice to mascerate fresh berries in it, the way you would with limoncello, for spooning over angel food or pound cake, but CHOW gave me another idea: the Elder Fashion. It's a take on the Old-Fashioned, which is basically rum, rye, or bourbon, Angustura bitters, simple syrup, and citrus, maybe with a cherry thrown in. Like a lot of cocktails, it has many variations, and the Elder Fashion is successful, I think, in paying homage to the original while sprucing up its old ways.

This recipe is from New York City's Death & Co. They advise using Plymouth Gin, but I wanted to buy something made closer to home. I asked the main buyer at Twin Liquors if there was a gin from Central Texas and found out that there's one from Houston called ROXOR. But even though it's supposed to have a slight grapefruit flavor, I'll admit that I didn't buy it simply because of the bottle. Hey, I'm a sucker for good design, and that bottle screamed So 1990's to me. So I chose Oregon-based Ransom Old Tom Gin. With its orange and lemon peel, coriander seed, and cardmon pods, I think it paired well with the St-Germain.

I made another change, too. Since St-Germain is so sweet, I decided to play that up with a sugar rim. I just twisted the rim of my glass against a cut grapefruit and then twisted it again in some sugar. Superfine sugar would work well, but I just used regular.

I also put a generous squeeze of grapefruit in the cocktail itself, giving it a fresher and less (to my palate) moldering flavor.

By the way, the guy at Twin Liquors suggested that the makers of Treaty Oak Rum might be working on an Austin-made gin. Here's hoping.

Enjoy!

Lola Savannah Texas Pecan Coffee

I'm crazy for this coffee. I buy it at Central Market, and the last time I was there, I noticed a sign informing shoppers that Lola Savannah, a Houston based company, uses locally-sourced Texas pecans for this flavor. See how there are pieces of real pecan in there? You just grind them in with the beans. They do make your coffee a little cloudy, but I can live with cloudiness for something that tastes this good.

Recently, I also bought their hazelnut flavor, made with real hazelnut pieces. It's more subtle than the Texas Pecan, but quite lovely as well. A perfect drink for cool fall mornings.

They do a terrific cappuccino at VERTS Kebap on Guadalupe. The guy who made it told me he hasn't perfected his coffee art yet, so no foam flowers for me. Still a fantastic cup, though.