change of plans

Oh how I love a good confessional! Maybe it's that vestigial Catholic gene twitching, or just an appreciation for self-deprecating humor, but, 'Hello, my name is Julia and I crib foodtv.com recipes.' Don't get me wrong, I can cook. Well. OK, stovetop only--I rarely bake because that requires *way* too much "following directions", "measuring", and other foreign concepts. Though, to be fair, last night I picked all the remaining reachable, unadulterated apples off my tree in the backyard and cooked an Italian apple cake (note to self, more butter, less flour). Not bad. Whipped cream makes everything better! But tonight I came home from work with a little orphan chunk of truffle cheese and wanted to make something different (usually I shirr barely legal* eggs with slivers of truffle cheese and a generous pat of butter). So I made myself the perfect summer beverage, a negroni, and punched up "truffle" in the Devil's search engine. Next element: mushrooms (found some dried oyster mushrooms from the Farmers Market in the cupboard, reconstituted them with hot water and wine). Then the gratuitous wild card: corn. I had grilled extra ears days ago because they were about to wither and die in my fridge. You know the logic...if I cook it now I can keep it even longer before I throw it out! So miraculously, a perfect recipe appeared! Even if it was by "the evil ewok" as a friend refers to Emeril, it featured (leftover) pasta! So, in 20 minutes I had spaghettini with pancetta (bacon), garlic, corn, mushrooms and truffle (cheese). Add a little chiffonade of homegrown basil and voila! A $3.50 meal.
The problem is, I was planning on doing my staff pick on Meinklang White, a zesty Austrian blend of Gruner Veltliner and friends. But as delicious as this was while counting down the till tonight, it was, um, less than perfect with my meal. Not surprising. This organic white is lemony, zippy, mouth-watering, stainless steel fermented and uber-refreshing. I highly recommend it for cocktails, grilled shrimp, heck, even hummus! But truffles and sweet corn? Nah. That required something fat and un-seasonal. But here's another confession: I have no wine in the house. It's true. If you've been to one of our parties you'd know why. So I finished my dinner and revisited the Meinklang on the front stoop with all my critters. Perfect. Context is everything! Cheers.