On Tuesday night, I did something I’ve never done before.  I willingly (yes without coercion) signed up and paid for a class about food and wine pairing at Provisions Market over on Olive. I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath. One of the very interesting people I’ve met in my travels, @STLWineGirl (aka Angela Ortmann), announced that she was holding this class a few weeks ago. I knew she had a similar class a few months ago, but frankly wasn’t up to the challenge yet. For whatever reason though, I decided to take the plunge into “having class” (although I still think there’s no hope for this boy).

If you don’t know me…I mean really know me, then let me explain to you what my diet consists of. Meat, potato, meat, mac & cheese, eggs, meat, sausage, mac & cheese….you get the picture right? Seriously, I have no variety in my culinary choices. I’m picky, I’ve always been picky. I don’t eat for fun or hobby or whatever. It’s more about function for me I guess. I eat because I know I have to, so I figure I might as well just eat what I like. Before you go judging me, I already know it’s not healthy. I’m ok with that, for now.

Enough about me, let’s talk about Angela and her amazing experience she gave me. There were 30 of us and we sat on 3 sides of a large square made with tables lined with fancy wine glasses and stemware. Fortunately, she preemptively placed me next to a few gals I knew from Twitter, @bekahclark and @MilliGFunk. As she began the night, Angela explained that we would be going through 5 dishes, each with a different wine, from 5 different regions of the world. This of course gave me the heebee jeebees because when it comes to international food…I just don’t do it. Angela assured me that I could do this though and her warm smile & glowing eyes convinced me.

Below is the menu we went through, where it’s from and my thoughts on the dish, the wine, the combination, etc.

• Black Bean and Corn Cake with Shrimp Tomato-Garlic Vinaigrette with NV Gruet Rosé Sparkling (New Mexico): When this arrived, I saw what appeared to be good, but hesitated because I couldn’t see what was really inside the cake thingy. The wine was, ok. Everyone kept saying something about a BBQ tastes but I didn’t get it. After my initial bite, I really had to concentrate on not knowing what all the ingredients were. I ate the entire thing though. It wasn’t fantastic, but it satisfied me. The wine didn’t taste any better before or after for me.
• Chickpea and Vegetable Samosa with 2007 Chateau Indage Chenin Blanc (India): More so than the first one, this gave me the heebee jeebees. It was so tasty looking in this perfectly sealed triangular pastry…like a yummy hot pocket filled with cheese and meats. Only this wasn’t cheese and meat…it was nasty green vomit from a badger. The wine was good. I definitely enjoyed it. And it’s a good thing too, because I had to swig it to wash out the one bit of this devious delectable that tainted my palette.
• Rustic Brazilian Beef Pastry with 2006 Miolo Pinot Noir (Brazil): This tasty tantalizing treat rejuvenated my taste buds because it tasted just like beef stew! This might have been the only meal that I thought the wine was actually worse after eating though.
• Frikkadel Meatballs w/ Quinoa with 2005 Golden Kaan Pinotage: Ahhh and we’ve arrive to my favorite. This was a classic meatball with some kind of sauce stuff. Angela tricked me though…it had mushrooms in it. Despite those fungus hugging shrooms though, I devoured this dish. The wine was a pleasant treat and added some kick afterwards. By far my favorite pairing of the night.
• Canadian Brown Sugar Pie with 2004 Konzelmann Late Harvest Gewürztraminer (Canada): I’ve never been a huge dessert guy. This was like a tiny little pie shell with a thick filling. I didn’t even doubt this one, but then WHAMMO! The filling was so gooey and the pastry so thick that my upper and bottom teeth were sticking together. To be honest, I don’t even remember how the wine tasted. I only had 2 bites of this one.

My overall thoughts are that this was a very eye opening experience. This was completely outside of my comfort zone, but because Angela was so patient and kind, and a few of my friends were there, I took this well. Angela will be having another class soon and I whole heartedly plan on attending it. You should too.  Check out STLWineGirl at www.stlwinegirl.com to stay caught up on all of her happenings.