Hosting a party usually means a couple things: there’s someone who drinks too much, and there’s someone who doesn’t drink enough. Naturally, we want balance in our lives and in our food. And in our parties.
So, when The Mix Kitchen hosted a Saturday-night food-and-funk gala, we were surprised to see that our wine just wasn’t moving. It went untouched like a liquid leper. Not that it had anything to do with the brand (we only spring for the best during Mix Kitchen parties), a 3-liter jug of cabernet from Livingston Cellars. Instead, it was the heat: Everyone wanted something that ditched the steam of the evening.
We understood the situation and knew we must come up with remedy. That’s our job. So we began pouring wine glasses half full of the cabernet and, in a twist that had as much to do with perverse experimentation as it did our desire to appease our back-porch guests, we reached for ice cream. Yep, we tossed two scoops of fudge swirl into the wine glasses and handed out the concoction with baby spoons and come-on-and-give-it-a-try grins. We had a hunch all would be well.
Eat Fast, Drink Faster
Ice cream does some interesting things when it mixes with wine. First, it doesn’t melt as much as it kind of peels off like lava. The wine absorbs the ice cream, and a half-inch layer of sweet froth rises inside the glass. So do you eat it or drink it? Yes…or, errr, both—and quickly, otherwise the ice cream loses its reason for being, and the wine gets syrupy and muddled like Robitussin with a crumbled Pez-candy chaser.
You Want Me to Do What?
Most people don’t take kindly to messing with tradition—especially when it comes to drinking. A lime kissing the inside of a Corona bottle? Sure. A fat olive swimming in a martini? Uh-huh. But fudge-swirl ice cream in a glass of god’s nectar? Our friends weren’t buying it. “You want me to do what?” was the typical reaction.
But after some coaxing, the spoons dipped into the froth, and a few smiles ensued. Ladies dug the concoction, and guys generally considered sipping and eating this drink/food the gastronomical equivalent of carrying a man purse.
“It’s incredibly sweet, like kissing a girl with too much lip gloss,” said one amigo with a gag-reflex face.
The tally: Six glasses, three thumbs up…and, yeah, three dudes wanted to puke.
Ice Cream + Wine = Drunk Cow
Percentage poured in Marley’s bowl: 48% (to be more accurate, we really ended up just pouring it in the yard – Marley’s under 21, even in dog years)
Eggs, especially if they are scrambled, are wonderfully humble. They’re also one of the easiest foods to mix with another. Their versatility—sort of like the musician who sings and plays drums, keyboard, guitar and harmonica—enables them to jump into a culinary marriage with a range of food products, from the ho-hum (bacon) to the truly adventurous (
