Asado and Sobremesa, How I was Charmed by a Book and a Bottle of Wine

I was invited to participate in a special edition of #winePW (Pairing Weekend) with the awesome Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla.  It combined three loves:  reading, cooking, and drinking wine. How could I say no to this?  The book is Sobremesa: A Memoir of Food and Love in Thirteen Courses by Josephine Caminos Oria.  The wines are two bottles of Argentina wine, a Chardonnay and a Red Blend by Bodega Norton from Kobrand Wine and Spirits. All photos in this article were edited using layer photo editor.

I received a copy of Sobremesa: A memoir of food and love in thirteen courses by Josephine Camino Oria and two bottles of Norton wine for the purpose of review.  I received no monetary compensation for this post.  All opinions and thoughts are my own.

I decided to hold a type of Asado, a backyard BBQ party... except I didn't invite any guests.  We are still cautious in the time of Covid here, so I created the party I am going to have and gave it the trial run. We made grilled lemon mojitos (recipe later this week) and flash-grilled thin steaks, vegetables and made a chimichurri sauce. I did a bunch of research, which I landed on to pair with the Red Blend wine.

The menu:

Picadas of Grilled sausages with olives, hot off the grill, sliced and served.

Grilled ribeye steaks seasoned with salt only, with chimichurri sauce

Grilled peppers and onions

Sliced tomatoes and avocados

Red Blend Bodega Norton

The menu was amazing!  I cannot wait to do this meal with a group of friends. We used our gas grill for the trial run, but I am thinking we need to do a wood fire for the real deal.  The grilled veggies were delicious. July tomatoes will be the best, along with a summer watermelon.  This meal is made for summer!

Now for the wine. Tasting notes: A deep red blend with rich aromas of blackberries. Rich, smooth, and elegant with a lingering finish given by the blend of the wine's three varietals.  It was a perfect pairing with the grilled meat. With the future addition of wood smoke, the wine will stand up to the deeper taste of the meat. 

The wine is about $22 a bottle and is readily available.  Bodega Norton has five vineyards spread over the province of Mendoza, in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. The average age of the vines is 30 years, with the oldest being 80 years. It's considered a family adventure, as many of the workers are the third generation with the winery.

As a memoir, this book had me looking back on food traditions in my own family.  We have a lot of traditions centered around holidays:  my mom roasts a turkey, my sister makes homemade rolls from my grandmother's recipe, I made homemade noodles and pumpkin pie.  For Christmas, we all expect homemade sugar cookies and eggnog from my mom, and my nephew makes delicious peanut butter balls.  I remember the fish fries that my grandparents held, crispy pieces of catfish, hushpuppies, and creamy potato salad.  Some of these traditions have faded over time, but not the memories of the good times we had.

Sobremesa: A Memoir of Food and Love in Thirteen Courses 

Q and A with the author

1. In chapter six, the author mentions that one of the greatest lessons she learned from Abuela Dorita and her mom—along with her breakup with Tripp—was that women need other women more than they need men. Do you agree with that? What do you think the author meant?

2. The author’s story is one of emotional eating—for the good and the bad. Explain the significance of food in her story. How does it affect each person’s behavior? 12. Josie and Gastón forge their love over milanesas at a roadside gas station. Where is the most unexpected place you’ve had an unforgettable meal?

3.  The author talks about signs, how she believes they are everywhere and that people simply need to be open to seeing them. What signs does she encounter and how do they help her? Do you believe in signs?

Author's Answers

1. Sisterhood is just as important—even more important at times—than romantic, passionate
love.

2. Food frequently has the power of changing my mood and perspective, i.e., the mushroom
sandwich. There is both heartache and comfort in that one simple sandwich. Or the
crown that I bake in my apartment as I come to terms that my relationship with Gastón maybe
over. “The pie didn’t come out as the shiny cookbook picture had promised. Didn’t Gastón make
promises to her that he’d since broken?” I was supposed to be his queen, or princess, as he
called me. Likewise, food also has the ability to heal. The sopa pastina, for instance. Inevitably,
cooking always reminds me of the matriarchs in my family, from whom I learned to cook with,
eat with and sobremesa with.

3. Some of my signs

1. Days before her passing: my mom stopping me in the market to make sure I know
that she thinks I’m a great mother; the jewelry, her asking me to write down who gets
what; Her telling me in that same scene that my dad is going to outlive her; her
asking me to pray for her as I left that day; the peregrine falcon that flew up to my
window at the office; my Gentleman Caller showing up at the office by my car
beckoning me to go home; the Three Marias shooting stars I saw from the airplane
that answered my prayer

2. Greatest of all—my premonition at Alfredo’s grave three months prior.

3. Riley

4. The messages my mom sent me through balloons

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