Books: Gewürztraminer, a Work Horse

"What? What? You can't do that!" Hardison's voice went up alarmingly in pitch.

"Really?" Nate glanced at the plate of a small steak, curried vegetables, and a potato type thing. Not food his mother had ever made. But, something that Maggie would have made. It reminded him of when Maggie had gotten that book; by that lady: Madhur Jaffrey. She'd written a bunch of books.

The hitter glared at the hacker. "You don't think I know how to pair wine and food?"

"Uh…." Hardison looked around for support. "But, you said that red wines go with beef! And white wines go with fish?"

Eliot nodded "Most of the time. Yes."

"And?"

"Oooh…" Parker chimed in after smelling the matar paneer (peas in tomato sauce with cheese). "This is awesome." As she used chopsticks to pick up a single pea.

Twrenty pounds of crazy in a five pound bag; that she was – it had never changed over the years. He was very impressed with her chopstick skills; even though it shouldn't have surprised him. She was a master thief. Clearing his throat, Eliot looked at the food he'd plated for the team.

'Fuck,' this was going to be Eliot pontificating about something that no one understood other than the two people in the known universe that wrote doctoral dissertations on it; and well… Eliot's cousin Jake. And Jake did some seriously weird shit.

"A good rule of thumb is to pair red wine with heavy food, or red meat. And then white wines with fish, chicken and lighter foods."

"Uh huh." This was all stuff Alec had heard before. It had been drummed into head for that job. "But, there is a BUT, in that!" What wasn't said was "You asshole, why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

Parker sniffed the glass. She wasn't usually a wine fan, most of it was too dry for her taste. "This smells good."

Eliot pushed the plate to Parker, she sniffed, taking in all the different aromas coming across the plate: Rare NY Strip, curried peas, rice pilaf, and a bit of yoghurt riata. "Oooh, tasty."

The hitter passed her the glass of chilled gewürztraminer, a strong aromatic white wine. Parker took a bite of the spicy paneer and took a sip of the chilled white wine. "I like this!"

Hardison glared at Eliot as Sophie giggled. "Alec, a strong white like a gewürztraminer pairs well with South-East Asian cuisine because it is so aromatic. It has flavors as big as a zinfandels, or a pinot noir. But, the sweetness offsets the spiciness. Passing the glass against her nose, she lifted it in approval to Eliot: He picked a great wine for this dinner. "The notes of rose, and passion fruit play very well against the pepper and turmeric of the curry. "

"But, red meat – red wine." The hitter sputtered.

"Beginners class." Nate stated, while passing on the wine for his glass of single-malt. He could appreciate wine; but, much preferred his whiskey. Bourbon would do in a pinch. Scotch was amazing; but, not always available.

"But…"

"Hardison, there are always exceptions to the rule."

"But, you said red wine – red meat, white wine – white meat."

"Yes, and this is an exception. Most gewürztraminers are strong enough to most red meat. It is a great wine for pizza, Indian food, and Chinese. I always keep a couple of bottles of Oregon Gewürzt around.

"Gewürzt?

"Nickname" Eliot growled as he passed a plate and a glass to the hacker. He flipped his towel over his shoulder and passed plates out to the rest of the team. Sophie took the bottle and poured glasses of the chilled wine for everyone but Nate.

The team fell silent as they absorbed the aromas of the matar paneer, Eliot's special rice pilaf which had cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, peppercorns, garlic, onions, and turmeric. Not too much turmeric, it had a tendency to overwhelm the other flavors. The rare steak was sopped through the cold cucumber raita.

The food was followed by the wine. The big white wine. "This is awesome.!" Hardison declared as he used Eliot's fresh naan to sop up the curried sauce and yoghurt.

"Umm Hmm" was the general consensus.

A good day: Made by good food, and a good team!