It’s a little embarrassing to admit how rarely I cook. A friend of mine, who I don’t think would mind me calling him a seasoned bachelor, opened my fridge once to find a single beer and a Styrofoam cup filled with Chinese yellow mustard. It was a sad and lonely site even for him.
I have my reasons. I don’t like to waste food. I have strange eating patterns. I don’t like to do dishes. I survive pretty well on simple meals: a steak and a bottle of wine, some pasta with salt and pepper, a bowl of cereal.
But when I do cook I actually really enjoy it.
Sometimes I find what keeps me from cooking is a lack of inspiration. I’m not excited about making anything, so I don’t make anything, but as soon as I get excited about something, it’s on.
Well inspiration struck last week in the form of a gonzo-Texas country song, and all of a sudden I got the feeling ‘some friends might come for Saturday night,’ so I thought it would be ‘nice to make some sangria wine.’
Turns out Jerry Jeff Walker’s song is actually a pretty good place to start for a recipe.
Some “apples and brandy and sugar just fine,” a couple bottles of “Sparkling burgundy wine” and some lemons and limes, and you got yourself a basic sangria.
But the whole point of sangria is to get a little creative, so I really embellished with the brandy, grated some ginger and added a dash of blackberry shrub. A lot of sangria recipes call for soda water so I dumped in a bottle of sparkling apple juice, set it to chill and served it on ice.
It made me as happy as Jerry Jeff Walker said it would.
“Sangria Wine” by Jerry Jeff Walker
When friends come for Saturday night
It’s nice to make up some Sangria wine
It’s organic and it comes from the vine
It’s also legal and it gets you so high
Yeah I love that Sangria wine
When I’m drinking with old friends of mine
Yeah I love that Sangria wine
When I’m drinking with old friends of mine
Whoa oh oh Whoa oh oh I love Sangria wine
Whoa oh oh Whoa oh oh I love Sangria wine
Start with some wine
Get some apples and brandy and sugar just fine
Old friends always show up on time
That’s why you add Sparkling Burgundy wine
Whoa oh oh Whoa oh oh I love Sangria wine
Whoa oh oh Whoa oh oh I love Sangria wine
In Texas on a Saturday night
Everclear is added to the wine sometimes
Some nachos, burritos and tacos
Who knows how it usually goes, it goes
Whoa oh oh Whoa oh oh I love Sangria wine
Whoa oh oh Whoa oh oh I love Sangria wine
Yeah I love that Sangria wine
Just like I love old friends of mine
They tell the truth when they’re mixed with the wine
That’s why I blend in the lemons and limes
