Chinese and Fondue

This week brings two super dinner nights. The first being to celebrate Chinese New Year, the start of the Year of the Tiger. 

At the end of last year Lidl had a super wine on their shelves, Taming the Tiger. This wine has very few reviews online, their Pinotage seems to be more readily available. We really enjoyed this and would certainly grab a few more bottles if they were in store again. 

It was great fun cooking our Chinese dinner, it's always a challenge to have everything ready at the same time, it's trickier than a Sunday roast. I served beef in black bean sauce and chicken in sweet chilli sauce with noodles and rice, stirred vegetables, prawn crackers and spring rolls ... lovely.

Our second super dinner was a treat for Hubby and I ... a very rich cheesy fondue. It all came about because I have been clearing out things and in the kitchen cupboards found not one but two fondue sets. 

Our lovely chunky red set was perfect for our cheese fondue made with greyer and emmental cheese with Vouvray wine and brandy. It was so delicious and moorish, good job we had plenty of dipping goodies

Our Vouvray wine was a gift, I think it's from Morrison's. We both really liked it, this is Hubby's review on Cuvée Reserve Wine Forum.

Slightly sweeter, slightly chalky nose white apple blossom, in the mouth a smooth honeyed melon or white fruits that I can’t describe, hedging towards Turkish delight, slightly sweet side almost oily texture and taste, some spice at the side of the mouth. 

As I said I found two fondue sets so after our cheese experience, with a bit of a breather, we enjoyed a double chocolate dipping experience. This set was one we bought in France quite a few years ago, it's great having two sections but the centre can easily get too hot and the chocolate burn at the edge. I think the grapes in the dark chocolate were my favourite, although strawberries in the white were delicious too. 

To accompany our chocolate delights we opened a bottle of Pillitteri Ice Wine, it's unbelievable that wine is made from frozen grapes although I have heard grapes taste nicer frozen. 

The colour of this Canadian wine is amazing, so deep and inviting. It is a very elegant wine, sweet, rich and luscious, a real treat. It was superb on it's own and delicious with our dessert. I have put the bottle in the freezer for the last two glasses. 

Finally a quick note on another wine we received as a gift, well Hubby received. We both really enjoy Cotes du Rhone wine with Plan de Dieu being one of our favourites. This Extra Special wine from Asda was a great example of the dark fruit and spice flavours we love, another one on our list. 

Another great week of good food and wine, I wonder what this week will bring. We have no plans so who knows what will inspire our choices ... it maybe another cupboard find!