Santa Margherita pairs with Vince's Margherita

     I did it. I entered a contest on the internet that involves food and wine. Now, I don't know how they decide who has the best recipe since you can't taste food via email or internet but I didn't write the rule book on this one. I simply followed their instructions and followed through the best I could with what I have to work with. By that, I mean, I still own a video camera that uses video tape. Remember that stuff? You have to rewind it and mark it and replace it after you have stored it and then find it again 2 months later in your sock drawer, queue it up to replay it after you plugged it into your TV and adjusted the knobs to find where you can play it between channels or whatever the set up used to be. Ok, I never graduated to a digital camcorder so we used our pocket digital still camera that has a movie mode. It worked but about as good as frozen pizza cures a pizza urge.
   They asked that we make a video under 3 minutes telling them why my particular recipe pairs well with their wine. To be honest, I hadn't tried their wine until I ran across their ad on the internet. After numerous stores that didn't carry it including BevMo, I finally found this $30 bottle of wine at Nugget for under $20 on sale! I have to admit their wine, the Santa Margherita Classico Chianti was awesome! Rich, ruby red color, a great bouquet and a smooth after-taste that lingers. I said to myself, "I know what would go perfectly, oops, pair perfectly with this wine. It's a natural, my Napoletana Margherita pizza." Only lately I have put a spin on it and I call it a Marghermeata since I include just a few slices of gourmet Volpi pepperoni on it now. I'm hoping they will make the connection: Santa Margherita / Margherita pizza. Do I need to spell it out?
   Sheri and I did a few shoots and took what we could since we have no way of editing so we had to do it right start to finish. I was told the best way to end a marriage is go canoeing with your spouse or teach her to drive a stick shift. I think making a video together could be a third way. Anyway, the best one, but of poor quality, ended up including Presley. We love Presley so he stays, even though the rules said that only the chef could be in the video. They didn't mention dogs though. Once the camera battery died, in others, the wind made too much noise and others you or the director/camera operator just flub.
   I had to give them my recipe in detail so it will probably be posted on their site when it comes out. When the video is posted I will mention it with a link in my blog. For right now, I can't include a copy of it but once the video is published I will need all of you readers to become interactive. The wine, Santa Margherita will be asking everyone to vote for their favorite video. Naturally, like a politician, I will ask you for your vote. If I should win (it's really a popularity contest) they bring us down to L.A. for who knows what, then after that, I think, a real cooking contest using that same recipe, we would be flown to Chicago to meet some Italian Chef named Fabio. Ladies, it's not that Fabio so don't get all excited. I'm not one to enter contests but this one, I couldn't resist. Sheri said she wanted to visit Chicago someday. I told her we just spent 5 hours at O'hare airport last year but she wasn't smiling. If I was to be voted one of the 3 best videos, 1 for each of their 3 wines, I could be entering a whole new world, I could eat Chicago style pizza and  I could taste authentic Chicago sausages. I could bring Sheri and fulfill her dream!  This could be the start of something pretty big, sweetheart. (Now, go back and read that last line out loud with a Humphrey Bogart voice.) Doesn't it sound better?