A very culinary weekend...brought to you by wine.

Friday night, one of my very dearest friends treated me to a cooking class for my birthday. Neither of us is particularly culinary, despite my efforts to the contrary, so there was worry that we just might loose a finger throughout the course of the class. Lucky for us, the class not only started with a kick ass sangria recipe and included all you can drink from our respective homemade vats of it, but also wine and copious amounts of food that we prepared. We left feeling a little bit more culinary than when we walked through the doors. Was it the wine or the instruction? Who really knows.

In fact, I felt so culinary that I created a weekend of fancy meals. Saturday night, I made a pretty amazing risotto that made our entire apartment smell of fall and loveliness. P.I.C. took to bragging about me via facebook and the twitter. I felt quite fancy. (P.S. Risotto involves endless amounts of stirring. My recommendation to you is to have your handy sous chef on call to keep refilling your wine glass.)

Here is my most delicious roasted squash:

Mmm. Brown sugar and cinnamon. Also, does anyone else get the giggles when picking out a butternut squash for purchase? It's just me? Never mind.

Sunday night, I made a burgundy pork tenderloin that turned out quite well. With a WINE sauce. I find it interesting that the items I continue to cook involve wine. Perhaps I love it that much? Or perhaps I love having wine to drink that is the perfect accompaniment because it is IN the dish. I don't know. But cooking with wine is FUN. Even though I usually have to google in the grocery store "what kind of white wine do I use in risotto?" (Answer: Sauvignon blanc is a safe bet.)

My two dishes turned out pretty well and produced enough food for another meal later in the week. The expense at the grocery bill was definitely worthy given I fed two people four meals, two of which were heavily wined. Sadly, the wine didn't last through two meals. I mean, come on, I had to COOK with it. Oh yeah, and use some of it my recipes. That too.