I was very skeptical of the tortellini, but it was pretty tasty in the end. Jon found it at TJ's, on the dry pasta aisle. I had never had a dry stuffed pasta before (the concept scares me), but they rehydrated really well. The texture was as good as fresh tortellini, and the pesto was refreshing and pungent. The meatballs were likewise good. Even more surprising, the sauce was also good. I have trouble remembering which pasta sauces I like at TJ's, and I haven't been impressed with very many of them (and I generally dislike bolognese), but theirs was well-balanced and fruity. Maybe the tiniest bit sweet, but it was still very good.
The malbec, 2009 La Finca, was likewise decent. It was young, and could have used more air (or aging), but not bad. It was a good pasta/pizza red.
In other news, my cider experiment is quickly going south....
I saw this blog post awhile ago, and finally got around to trying to ferment cider. It sounds so darn easy. And maybe it will turn around yet. Basically, all you need is yeast (champagne or beer; I used champagne because it was cheaper; bread yeast will work, too, but apparently makes your alcohol taste like boozy bread), juice, a stopper, and an airlock.
Less than $2 at the beer supply store, plus the juice, and I was in business. It's been sitting around for eight days now, so I decided it was time to sample. It sucks. It's definitely drier than it was before, and carbonated, so it's clearly fermenting. But it lacks dimension, and hasn't been bubbling vigorously. This is completely a learning experience for me, and I had low expectations anyway. Based on nothing more than a tiny bit of chemistry/biology knowledge and my proclivities for wild cooking experimentation, I added more yeast to the mixture this evening, based on the theory that maybe I didn't let the yeast bloom enough before adding it to the juice initially. We will see.
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