Tuna Rangoon, a Wine Review: Alice White Red Lexia and a New Toy

First I want to talk about the tuna rangoon. Sounds weird, right? This is one of the things I've done with those wonton wrappers. I'm not really a big crab fan, so I've never had crab rangoon. But I like the concept of something mixed with cream cheese, wrapped in a wonton wrapper and deep fried. And I happened to have a can of tuna and a tub of Alouette. For those who don't know, Alouette is a smooth cheese spread kind of thing, like soft cream cheese with herbs in it. I like the garlic and herb one the best, but they have other flavors too. And that's all the pimping they're going to get without sending me some free stuff. Heh.

I took about a quarter cup of it and a can of drained tuna, mixed it together and plopped a tablespoon or so onto some thinly rolled wrapped dough. Not sure why I cut the dough... but then I deep fried it. And it was awesome. The filling was creamy and delicious and the wrapper was crackly on the outside but with a little chew on the inside. I will be making them again.

Next up is my new toy. I was tapped to select a wine type for the Bakespace Wine Club a couple months ago and for doing so Babs (she's the head honcho over at Bakespace and a member of the wine club) sent me a Penguin Corkscrew. When I heard I was getting a Penguin corkscrew I was thrilled, of course, but I didn't realize what it was. I thought it was a corkscrew shaped like a penguin. Heh, wrong. It's a wicked fancy pants dealie. I love it, I just used it for the first time the other night and it works great. Thanks Babs! And since I haven't done a wine review in months, here's what I opened with it, as always in the Bakespace Wine Club format.

Name: Alice White Red Lexia
Price: 6.99
Year: 2006

Short intro from the wine maker about the wine: Red Lexia is a sweet, lusciously red wine with a crisp, refreshing finish that is delightful chilled. Give it a go on it's own or with spicy Thai and Indian dishes or light desserts like fruit tarts and almond cookies.
Review: First off, let's not have any misconceptions here. This is not wine. It is candy. Details? Ok. It's smell is very fruity, peach, red berries and plums. Tastes like it too, although mostly plums. I'm not sure they even used grapes to make it. Despite the number of flavors it's not a powerful taste, which is a double edged sword I guess. Very smooth and sweet with a clean finish. Doesn't really taste like wine. Where was this stuff when I was a teenager? I enjoyed it, but not in a "I'm going to buy this for myself" kind of way, more a "my girlfriend didn't drink her wine coolers and I don't feel like going to the store" kind of way.
Would you buy again?: Maybe, if I'm doing a fruit something.
Wine Pairing Ideas/Recipes: Fruit and lots of it. I bet it would be good with trifle, maybe even in a whipped cream or a reduction for a dessert. I actually ate meatball Lean Pockets with it and it went surprisingly well. But I think part of it is that it's flavor isn't terribly assertive. I could see eating it with spicy foods.

My salsa giveaway ends tomorrow, don't forget to enter!