Lush Alert!

Today I bought my first bottle of wine.
YIPERS!!

I should back up.
Saw "Julie and Julia".
Decided to make Bœuf Bourguignon!
Bought mushrooms, carrots and beef.
...

yeah.

There's just no getting around the fact that it calls for wine.
In the past, when a recipe called for wine I've used apple or grape juice, vinegar, even water, with varying results.
I never felt the need to use wine and frankly didn't want any in the house.

Well, call me crazy but this time I decided to follow the recipe and do the real thing. Heck, the dish bakes for 3 hours! The alcohol will be completely gone.
But still...

I'm not even sure that I'll enjoy the taste. I've had Shrimp Newberg made with sherry and real Swiss fondue (in Geneva mind you) made with wine and didn't enjoy either of them. And I certainly never enjoy fruit cake soaked in... um... just what is it you soak fruit cake in, anyway?

Oh well. We'll try Julia Child's recipe for Bœuf Bourguignon once.

I'm not even sure I got the right thing. Burgundy is of course traditional, but Julia suggests a Beaujolais (uh, right) or even a Chianti (of course, how could I be so silly!). I got a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Hey, it's red. It said it had the flavors of blackberries and plums (could be good with beef, right?). It was on sale (how good can a $3.99 bottle of wine be? Did I scrape the bottom of the barrel?). And most importantly, I didn't have to go up to some 20 year old punk kid working in the grocery aisle and say "Hi, I'd never actually drink this stuff, but I'd like to cook with it, so what do you suggest?".

Felt extremely weird, walking up to the cash register with a bottle of wine in my hand. Would have been the perfect moment for the city to be translated, and me left behind for the wicked woman that I am. *sigh* They'll never ask me to teach Relief Society again.

OH! By the way, Julia is right - never crowd the mushrooms.
They came out so golden brown and delicious. YUUUUMMMMM!