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Nouveau Beaujolais Day

November 21: Nouveau Beaujolais Day

Okay, first of all, my Food Bible (I just made that up) that tells me what day every day is, screwed up. It says that November 20 is Nouveau Beaujolais Day. BUT NO. Nouveau Beaujolais Day is the third Thursday is November… which would be November 21 this year. I learned this the hard way when I went to BevMo looking for it and was turned away. Wah wah.

Let’s learn a bit about NOUVEAU BEAUJOLAIS from our ole pal Wikipedia, shall we?

Beaujolais nouveau is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is the most popular vin de primeur, fermented for just a few weeks before being released for sale on the third Thursday of November. This “Beaujolais Nouveau Day” used to see heavy marketing, with races to get the first bottles to different markets around the globe. The current release practice is to ship the wine ahead of the third Thursday of November, and release it to the local markets at 12:01 am local time.

Beaujolais nouveau is a purple-pink wine reflecting its youth, bottled only 6-8 weeks after harvest. The method of production means that there is very little tannin, and the wine can be dominated by such fruity ester flavours as banana, grape, strawberry, fig and pear drop. The wine is recommended to be slightly chilled to 13°C (55°F).

So since I wasn’t about to go anywhere at 12:01am (is that really a thing here in America? Or just dans de minuscules villages de France dans la campagne??), I called around. I knew BevMo was SUPPOSED to have it (since I went there the day before…. LIKE SOME SORT OF ROOKIE IDIOT), but BevMo is sorta far (or I’m sorta lazy) and I had a dinner party to go to. I called Trader Joe’s and the guy’s all “yeah! We just got it in today! It’s in a special display!” and I’m all sweeeeet because Trader Joe’s is close!

I ran in, saw a Beaujolais display, grabbed it, and went home… to quickly drink it by myself before the dinner party. Don’t judge. Anyway, it wasn’t until I was home and drinking this stuff that I realized there was no mention of NOUVEAU anywhere. Huh. Maybe they just SAY nouveau, but don’t write it on the label? Or maybe I’m just some sort of TURD who bought the wrong bottle of wine. Yep. Some sort of turd. There was nothing NOUVEAU about it. Let’s just say I celebrated Vieux Beaujolais Day. Sorry I failed you all. I’ll try to do better.

Tomorrow: National Cashew Day

National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

November 20: National Peanut Butter Fudge Day

What does something need to be in order to be called “fudge”. I always thought that “fudge” was something special. Something you got at penny candy stores in quaint tiny towns in northern Wisconsin. Something that involved candy thermometers and “soft ball stages”. Apparently all of this goes out the window when it comes to “peanut butter fudge.”

According to the internet, peanut butter fudge is peanut butter, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Microwaved? Whhhhaaaat? What is this black magic?

I added chocolate to mine because duh. It’s good… But I’m not the hugest peanut butter fan. I mean, I am, but not as dessert. I like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I like apples and peanut butter. I’ll eat a Reese’s if someone gives me one, but if I’m in the candy aisle and I want something, it’s not going to be anything with peanut butter in it. So, this stuff is good, but I’m not going to eat a massive amount of it (read: the entire pan) . It’s currently hiding in the freezer. I’ll likely bring it into work and make everyone else eat the black magic.

Tomorrow: Nouveau Beaujolais Day

Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

November 19: Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

Diet Coke. Our relationship is long and storied. It began in the campaign office for Mary Beth Tighe; I was volunteering on her campaign as part of my government class in high school. The office was out of regular Coke and only Diet Coke remained. I had a stack of campaign mailers and a roll of stamps staring me in the face. I needed a drink (a carbonated one) to get me through the afternoon. So I cracked open a Diet Coke. And I liked it.

And soon my life was spinning out of control.

Just kidding. But I WAS drinking many, MANY Diet Cokes in a day.

Now I limit myself to one (sometimes two!) DCs a day. Do I think that it’s giving me cancer and rotting my brain? Definitely not. But I do think that drinking water is probably a better choice. Look at me! Growing up!

Tomorrow: National Peanut Butter Fudge Day