Choosing Wines for Thanksgiving
Written by Carrie Pacini on November 23, 2008 – 9:14 am -Picking out wine for Thanksgiving can be tricky.
The table is full of robust and sweet flavors. So let’s take a look at our options for a Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.
Champagne or Sparkling Wine Pick a Champagne or sparkling that is not completely dry. Look for 
the label “extra dry,” which is just a little softer than a “brut”, with fuller fruit flavors that will pair wonderfully with your holiday meal. A brut, which is what I prefer doesn’t serve this type of meal well. It’s a bit like drinking orange juice after you brushed your teeth. I would go with a Piper Heidsieck Extra Dry Champagne, Moet Chandon White Star Extra Dry, or a Sparkling Chandon Extra Dry
White Wines I believe that Chardonnay is one of the BEST to pair with a turkey and sides. I would choose a full-
bodied, ripe, fruity Chardonnay from France, California, or Australia. These wine will serve well from the appetizers through the meal. Now if you aren’t a fan then of Chardonnay and prefer something lighter then go for a Riesling from Washington State.
Rosé Wines
It’s true that dry rosé wines go well with almost any dish, and with so many flavors on the table at Thanksgiving, rosé can be a great choice. If your taste runs to drier wines (mine certainly do), a rosé from the Cotes du Rhone or Provence regions in France will be light, crisp, and flavorful, but won’t overpower the meal.I’m personally not a fan of Californina Rosé BUT the the ones from Cotes du Rhone or Provence or simply amazing and you should definitely give it shot. It isn’t sweet and cheap, it is a classy bottle of wine.
Red Wines For red you have a couple of options. 
A Beaujolais Nouveau from the Burgundy region of France complements Thanksgiving fare and it can be enjoyed slightly chilled and work for those who favor white wines. An aged version of Beaujolais will be smoother and more aromatic.
One of my favorites is a Red Cotes du Rhone from France’s Rhone Valley. My favorite and popular choice from this area is by *Châteauneuf-du-Pape*.
*Hostess Notes* When hosting I always start off with a Sparkling or Champagne. Then I move to both red and white understanding that some people prefer one or the other. For Thanksgiving I like to offer a dry French Rosé as an option instead of white or red since it seems to pair so nicely with a Traditional Thanksgiving Meal.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Blessings to you all and Happy Entertaining!
P.S. come back and let us know what wines you enjoyed with your Thanksgiving Dinner!
Tags: Beaujolais Nouveau, Champagne for Thanksgiving, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Cotes du Rhone, Dry French Rose, France's Rhone Valley, Sparkling Wine for Thanksgivng, Thanksgiving Wines, Wines for Thanksgiving
Posted in OpMom Holidays, Opmom Food & Parties | No Comments »
Birthday Party Themes with Service
Written by Carrie Pacini on November 13, 2008 – 10:32 am -
I love The Celebration Shoppe’s Birthday Party Ideas because they are cute and affordable!
They have so many adorable designs and themes to choose from. But wait it gets better because they have secret sauce involved.
I love the Pirate Skull Invitation, Pirate Ship invitation , and The Princess Invitation. But what I found to be the best about their birthday party themes is that you can purchase the entire setup from The Celebration Shoppe. It’s like Birthdays to go or something. They have everything you need all bundled up into a theme which means you are not driving all over town trying to find items that match.
Here’s how the process works (the secret sauce)
Step 1: Pick a theme and get your custom invites ordered
Step 2: After you pick your theme add items such as plates, napkins, utensils, cups, candles, cookie cutter, table cloth, centerpiece and goodie bag items.
Step 3: Next, head straight over to the planning and idea center for that theme (this one is for the princess party). Every theme has it’s own planning and ideas center.
This is such a great way to plan your next party because they have all the ideas right there for you. It’s like having an assistant for planning your next gathering and I know we could all use some of that!
Tags: Affordable Birthday Party, Birthday Party Ideas, Birthday Party Invites, Birthday Party Themes, Pirate Birthday Party
Posted in Opmom Food & Parties | 1 Comment »
Halloween Recipes
Written by Carrie Pacini on October 9, 2008 – 8:53 am -
Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year. For the last 2 Halloweens we have been sticking to a Harry Potter/ Hogwarts theme that has been a lot of fun. I love having people over to the house and cooking up some amazing treats to share. My Menu for the festive night begins with a Baked Brie that is to die for, then my Minestrone Soup Recipe that has been handed down for generations that I call my Witches Brew for this night.
I also make yummy Halloween Sandwiches that I bake into the shape of snakes, and then we make Chocolate Frogs out of candy frog molds and Pumpkin Pasties that are delish. I also make a Cake with Nutella frosting and decorate it with candy corns or you can have a baker decorate one up for you like I did for my son’s Harry Potter Birthday Party.
The best part about following a theme is being able to transform your home into it.
For the Harry Potter/Hogwarts theme
I use anything that looks gothic or like it belongs in a castle. I also have props to help me out like white owls, silver birds, the sorting hat, Professor McGonagall’s hat, wands and the nimbus 2000. With those props I set them up around the house and it makes for a beautiful transformation.
Can you believe it has already been 10 years since Harry Potter was released!? Scholastic hosted an all-day readathon to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Here are some pictures from the event. Harry Potter 10th Anniversary
Tags: Halloween Food, Halloween Harry Potter, Halloween Party Ideas, Harry Potter Birthday, Harry Potter Halloween, Hogwarts Party
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Moist Banana Bread Recipe in the middle of Chaos
Written by Carrie Pacini on September 17, 2008 – 1:00 pm -
Here’s the scenario:
Hurricane Ike comes through your city and does some serious damage to everything around you.
Now you are without power and are staying with family that does have power. Kids are out of school for the entire week and some. (which means they are going crazy)
This morning my mom says “we have an entire bowl full of bad bananas” so I had a thought. What do you do when life gives you bad bananas? Well, you turn it into Amazing Banana Bread and share it with those around you.
So that is what we did! We turned bad bananas into wonderful moist banana bread in the middle of our chaos.
If you would like to join us in making some banana bread try out this Banana Bread Recipe by Kim and share it with those around you. It’s the little things like this mean so much.
PS - We used evaporated milk instead of buttermilk. You could also just use milk if you have it and add 2 extra eggs.
Tags: banana bread, banana bread recipe, Evil Ike, Hurrican Ike, Moist banana bread recipe
Posted in Opmom Food & Parties | 3 Comments »
Mashup your Recipes
Written by Carrie Pacini on August 21, 2008 – 12:14 pm -
Coming up with different things to cook that are quick and easy can sometimes be a challenge. I decided to look at some of my recipes that are easy and “Mash” them up into a new recipe!
Definition of Mashup = taking 2 independent things and combining them to make 1 new thing. This term is used in technology in regards to mashing up 2 appllications to make a new one. So I decided to apply this “Mashing Theory” to my cooking to create easy fun dishes.
For example I took one of my Cherry Tomato dishes and mashed it up with a Chicken Dish and came up with a Cherry Tomato & Chicken Sauté that is awesome and easy.
I also took one of my favorite Creamy shrimp dishes from my mom and decided to use it 
on an appetizer plate along with Brie, Gruyere, and Rosemary Potatoes with whole wheat crackers. Everyone really loved this combination since it has more going on than just the cheese. The Creamy Shrimp is also great on a toasted baquette with the Rosemary Seasoned Potatoes. So give it a try and look at what you can mashup!
Tags: Easy and Quick Meals, Mashups, New Recipes, Recipe Mashups, recipes
Posted in Opmom Food & Parties | 7 Comments »
Italian Wedding Recipes
Written by Carrie Pacini on July 15, 2008 – 11:59 pm -
This all started for me with the Italian Wedding Cookie recipe at age 5. This is an amazing little cookie that you can do so much with. Growing up in a Italian family this cookie was used for bridal showers, baby showers, and Christmas parties. I am sure we could fit it into Easter if we tried. The recipe always stayed the same for each occasion, but the shape of the cookie changes.
For a bridal shower you would make the cookies in the shape of wedding rings and join them together. Then for baby showers you would make them into pacifiers, and for Christmas you just make the shape of a ball to resemble snow. You could also make them into snowmen and snowwomen as well. This cookie is timeless and you don’t need any fancy ingredients to make it happen.
But wait….the Italian wedding recipes don’t stop there!
There are so many more you should discover. My mom for example created an Italian Wedding Cake Tea. It is really good and doesn’t even need sugar so if you are a tea drinker try it out.
Our family favorite is the Italian Wedding Cake, which is to die for! We love this cake and make it for special occasions like birthdays and sometimes even Easter. Then there is the Italian Wedding Cake Martini which is fun to serve at bridal showers or bridal cocktail parties.
I love the Italian Wedding Soup which is perfect for a chilly day. The soup has nothing to do with vanilla, almond, or pineapple. The name Italian Wedding Soup came from the mistranslation of Italian language, minestra maritata, which means to go well together as in vegetables and meat “marry well together” hence Wedding Soup. A good friend of mine, Katherine Druckman, was inspired by all the Italian wedding recipes, and created the Italian Wedding Ice Cream recipe! I hope these recipes inspire you to create your own wedding theme recipe. I would love to hear about it.
Below are the recipes from OpMom.com:
Tags: baby showers, bridal showers, cake, cookies, icecream, italian, Italian Wedding Cookies, martini, soup, tea, wedding
Posted in Opmom Food & Parties | 2 Comments »
Mama Likes Brut
Written by Carrie Pacini on March 5, 2008 – 4:17 pm -Motherhood, business ownership, and wifely-hood.
All great parts of my life, but occasionally mama needs a glass of wine. One of my favorite sites is Women & Wine – our friend Julie Brosterman has created a great community at Women & Wine that brings women together in the appreciation of all things wine – great finds, cool products, and the best in wine travel and “experiences” (vinotherapy spa treatments, anyone?).
Yoga in a wine glass!
Julie has a presentation she gives called “Yoga in a Glass.” I haven’t seen it presented yet, but I adore the title alone. I can picture it… my morning Yoga on the mat… and evening Yoga on the placemat. I love it. And I’ll definitely have more on Julie and her site in a later post.
But today, we’re all about Champagne, folks.
As a part of my OpMom webcast series, I recently visited with Tim Smith of French Country Wines about the differences between Champagne and “sparkling wines.” What I wanted to better understand was the quintessential question with Champagne and (decent) sparkling wine, which is how to find good quality at a good price. This involves much more than just reading the latest Wine Spectator review and proving that we know 91 is a higher and presumably better number than 88. Over at www.opmom.com, the moms in our “Matter of Taste” MomCircle group often discuss this issue, so we decided to consult an expert.
Since I love the bubbly but I’m also budget conscious when buying wine, it’s great to get some tips on how to shop and what types of bargains I can look for. And then there’s the issue of what to choose. Most people get very un-adventurous with wine over time and stick to wines they know, because nothing is worse than spending your hard-earned money on a total guess or grocery store employee recommendation. If you find yourself looking at an overpriced wine menu at a restaurant, the situation only gets more frustrating. So, it helps to know what the labels signify, and how to get the most for your dollar when choosing these great but often pricey wines.
Bubbly isn’t just for big celebrations.
So check out the video below, and remember: You can celebrate a quiet Tuesday evening. Every now and then, I’ll have a glass while hanging out with my husband as we watch the kids run around outside. Another great day completed, healthy & happy kids… you know, that’s enough for me to celebrate!
Watch the show below, and be sure to leave comments! PS - any complaints about the annoying “Pop-Up” style text overlay should be addressed to John!
Tags: champagne, frenchcountrywines.com, opmom.com, sparkling wine, tim smith, wine, womenwine.com, yoga
Posted in Opmom Food & Parties | 3 Comments »
