Wine Love with Casillero del Diablo

I have always loved chilling a good ol bottle of wine and downing it with friends and family. Filipinos often love the sweet fruity type whilst I prefer the mildly stronger reds with notes and whites that have really good spice content on them. Now this was gifted to me a couple days ago and probably the first time I’m having Casillero del Diablo. I have had it during a post New Years Eve dinner and enjoyed the Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc much that when there were a few leftover wines, I thought of probably cooking with it.

If you’ve got good wine, cooking with it intensifies the flavors so I’ve decided to do a Coq Au Vin. Coq Au Vin simply means Chicken in Wine (it’s just a french fancy way of calling it) I have learned to cook this in a workshop I attended years ago and was surprised how relatively easy it was to do it.

In a pan simply put olive oil and about 3 table spoons of butter. Be careful not to burn the butter because it will taste weird in the dish. You put in a whole chicken or chop it in quarters, then brown all the sides until it turns golden. Don’t worry if you don’t cook it all the way because you’ll do it later. Take it off the pan and set it aside.

Put the chopped onions, carrots and celery in the same pan and saute it. If you’ve seen it cooked a bit and caramelized the onions, then pour the whole bottle of Casillero del Diablo and deglaze that pan. Make sure you take those brown things and scrape it because that’s where the flavor lies. Add a sprig of thyme and parsley then wait for the wine to reduce. A good Chef told me you should only use wine that YOU love to drink because what you will get in the end is a stronger version of it. When reduction occurs, put in the Chicken. If you see the chicken is not simmering, add chicken stock if you have some, else, just pour more water until it’s completely covered. Add potatoes and pearl onions (I have some bottled ones from France) then add the can of Tomato paste. Boil it again until the liquid reduces.

In a separate pot, blanch vegetables like carrots, brocolli, cauliflower. In a separate pan, put about half a stick of butter and melt it. Put fresh garlic, brown it a little then put in the veggies. Stir fry the vegetables and then place it on one side of the plate. Go back to your other pan and taste the sauce, adjust with salt and pepper if you see the need to do so. Arrange the chicken on the other side of the plate and season well (freshly cracked pepper will do wonders!) then pour the wine reduction on top of the chicken. This is your Coq Au Vin! Serve and enjoy!

For those who would have more Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc, Chef Sharwin Tee has his Spicy Mussel and Clam Binakol. Saute ginger, lemon grass in a pot with Olive Oil then add in Gochujang (chili paste). After a minute add in the mussels and clams plus a cup of Casillero del Diablo Sauvignon Blanc. Cover the pot until it cooks, it usually takes 2 minutes. Add enough coconut water and young coconut meat, when it boils turn off the heat. Garnish with basil and serve.

Red or White you’ll have to make sure your wine is good for drinking or cooking. Casillero del Diablo proves our point, it’s one of the wines distributed by http://www.flyacecorp.com so if you need some, you know where to go.

Cheers!

KUMAGCOW

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There Exists: A Wine In A Box

I watch the Ellen Show every day. She's interesting, dances as much as she can and she's super funny. There was an episode a couple of months ago when the Obama's were about to step down from office, a whole enchilada of secret service people lined up at the front of CVS (which is a convenience store, pharmacy and grocery in the US) and when she went down, people were just startled. 

Then Ellen came and announced her arrival, with a MEGAphone haha!

Now I tried to watch this video a couple of times because I specifically wanted to know what Ellen and the first lady described as "A Wine In A Box" as I was really caught off guard by it. I mean, how in the world did that happen? Wines in boxes? Now that's just crazy.

I've been looking for this since then but the only clue I had was it had a wine glass in front of the box. So imagine my surprise when I saw this on the foyer when I got home. Apparently this wine in a box is a Chillable Red Wine from FRANZIA. It's also available locally through Fly Ace Corporation, a leading food and beverage consumer goods company in the Philippines. Franzia apparently discovered this niche so they developed their very own innovative Wine Tap.

Wine taps are often seen on wine establishments and stores but this time, you can actually enjoy and take it home. You can also take it to outdoor parties, picnics, lovely reunions or even your perfect date. Now it's portable and you can just have it chilled without worrying of spoilage because it's packaged right.

For the purists, don't worry because Franzia Wines are still available in California Red 750ml bottles. This 3L box and Chillable Red 3L box is just one of the many things they've thought of in wine serving and if you're up to it, you can now buy it off the shelves of leading supermarkets and wine stores. Visit www.franzia.com and facebook.com/winelifeph if you want to know more where you can get it!

As for me, cheers!

The Charm of a Red Wine CANON Pixma MG3570

Hey guys! It's a great day today so I'm making it even greater by letting you in on the latest CANON printers that are available in the Philippines. This is the CANON Pixma MG3570.

It's one of the best multifunction printers they have in the 3500 line. The generic driver for the series works for this model and you can either download it off their website or just use the one that came with the CD. The file is also small so you won't have any problems using the one from the site.

At first glance, I couldn't believe CANON would gamble and use a different color this time. Though common for their brand, people would usually shy away from the color RED WINE as it would pose more on the feminine side. Though it is the "uniqueness" of its color which probably would sell it off. I was so happy that they deviated away from the normal black or white palette (which by the way they have too in this model) and pretty soon, designers would have fun mixing and matching this device with existing office furniture making it one of the best looking printers in the market.

There's a warning label on the box that specifically indicates that this printer should always be used by genuine CANON Inks since it will void the warranty of your device if it gets damaged by third party ones. 

The box also contains the instructions on how to install. It's available in different languages. Plus, there's also papers to register your device so you can avail of Canon's expert professional services. It's bundled with every Pixma printer purchase. That's a neat deal since it would usually cost you a lot to get this from other tech providers. It's also got the usual data and power cable which is separated on a small box inside the pack.

This unit requires #740 Black and #741 Canon Cartridges. This one comes with the printer when you purchase it but I've seen in their catalog that there are ones in XL sizes. That's an awesome deal for those who are planning to print out huge photos.

I can't stop drooling because I LOVE THIS PRINTER! It doesn't have FAX capabilities which is kind of passe to put on things like these days. Documents should be sent through email right? Signed, scanned and emailed back. That's how we should do it. It probably had an effect also on the price because it retails at PhP 4,695.00 only. You can probably have better deals in CANON stores, all you got to do is ask and I'm sure their people can cut out a few percent off the shelf price.

Now there are pro's and cons on the buttons displayed on the Canon Pixma MG3570, without the display you wouldn't be able to manually connect to the wireless LAN without using a PC on a secured network. When I installed this printer on my laptop, it only took a few minutes. Then it prompted me to connect to the network via its own network software. It kinda copied the settings of my Wireless Zero Configuration and just asked to click the network name. The settings and all were embedded already, so that made things easy. Aside from that, it's got the A4 and 4x6 photo paper buttons so if you plan to print via Apple Airprint technology, just a few seconds and poof! You got your photos printed. I even got to do my A4 sized shots done afterwards. No hassle whatsoever!

The paper tray can extend up to the length shown above. You can pull out the part where it's got that slot on top. The catch tray also use this arm and flap for your long ones making your life easy.

Aside from the fact that it's the prettiest piece of printing technology that I have ever seen, it also boasts a huge flatbed scanner which can fit most of your office documents that don't usually work with other brands in the market. The price range is competitive and you can only expect the best from CANON.

 

Here's a video review I made for the CANON PIXMA MG3570. Watch this as I print some of the photos that my friend sent me. This was part of his wedding album and he chose a few that he wanted to blow up in A4 sized papers.

If that wasn't enough to convince you to get this CANON MG3570, I don't know what will!

Just look at what I got printed out! =) Isn't this neat? Absolutely great prints from a charming printer!

For more information about the CANON PIXMA MG3570

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