This past week we had a two prong attack, sushi/beer and cholent/wine, as we were enjoying a quiet weekend together.   We bought some Ahi tuna, avocado, and cucumber, the three components we use to make enjoyable and healthy sushi.  We went with brown rice for our sushi this time, and it was OK, but the rice did not stick together so well.  When rolling it was fine, but once we started slicing the sushi roll, rice started falling off, which means the rice was not cooked to perfection.  The good news was that it still tasted just fine.  To pair with the sushi, I bought some beer, a Trumer Pilsner.  I found the Trumer to be very dry, not so fruity, and very hoppy with a bitter aftertaste of orange peel.  The beer was OK, but personally, I would have liked a bit more bright fruit.

For lunch we had Cholent made with sweet potato, parsnip, carrots, and potato all cubed into 1 inch squares.  For the thickening agent we used buckwheat.  Many are foolish and think that buckwheat is a wheat or grass.  Actually, buckwheat is a fruit! Yes, a dry fruit, like sunflower seeds, which is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants.  The cool aspect of buckwheat is that it almost melts/disintegrates into the 20 hour cookfest, known as cholent.  You see, normally cholent calls for the use of some legume to do the binding, chickpea, white bean, or pink bean, or a mix of them all, along with some barley grain.  However, this past week we decided to try buckwheat.  Many know buckwheat as kasha, which is really buckwheat pan roasted or oven toasted, which helps to remove the buckwheat’s natural bitterness and to bring out a sweeter, nuttier flavor.  However, kasha is not what we wanted, as we wanted something to soak up liquid, which kasha does not do so well.

To pair with the cholent I opened an old bottle that was lying around, one that was around the cellar a bit too long unfortunately.  The 2006 Yarden Mount Hermon Red, was OK, but well past its peak.

The wine note follows below:

2006 Yarden Mount Hermon Red – Score: B to B+
The nose on this garnet to brown colored wine is hopping with black cherry, black plum, rich oak, raspberry, and tired fruit. The mouth on this medium bodied wine was mouth filling with nice black cherry, raspberry, and oak that rounds the mouth. The mid palate was not very alive with just a hint of tannins (that comes and goes), and oak. The finish is long with black cherry and spicy oak. The finish lingers long on the palate with more black cherry and oak, but it is tired and ready to go. The wine was brownish and should have been drunk last year.