Food is an essential part of our culture. In fact, many great ideas and deals are formed over a good meal. Most meals also come with a robust glass of wine. Food and wine go great together. There are people who go to school to learn how to pair the right foods and wines together in order to achieve culinary masterpieces. I am just starting to enjoy wine; however, I am trying to push my culinary knowledge into the wine arena. Therefore, I am going to attempt to pair different wines with different foods. There will be five timeless pairings that will be good for wine virgins. There will also be five wine pairings that could be viewed as daring. There is even wines that you can drink with Doritos and Twinkies.

Liner Bags. Slow cooker liner bags are available and nothing beats these bags when it comes to slow cooker slow cooked leg of lamb on the bbq clean up. Just line your slow cooker with a slow cooker liner bag, cook your slow cooker meal, and discard the bag after serving. In a pinch, these bags truly make slow cooker clean-up a breeze, but keep in mind that these slow cooker liners are wasteful, will cost you some money, and if you prepare an 8-10 hour recipe, your bag may not hold up completely.

Remember to watch what you eat. Eating junk food doesn't help anyone feel good, and it's an especially bad idea when your mood is already low from cold, gloomy weather. Be sure you're getting plenty slow cooked leg of lamb protein and good fats in your diet. Good fats are those that have nourished humans for centuries - butter, coconut oil, olive oil, animal fats, and fish oils. Avoid industrial oils like corn oil and soybean oil. Fish oils are especially good at helping lift the mood so try and include seafood in your diet and supplement with cod liver oil.

My final meal centered on chicken stew with potatoes, onions, chickpeas, and crushed tomatoes. I tasted dark cherries but there was a definite flatness, now the drink's acidity was less than optimal. Its tannins were pleasant. This wine was multilayered and it rebounded with the fixings. Once again, I enjoyed a side dish of green beans and crushed tomatoes. It rendered the Tishbi powerful, tasting slow cooker leg of lamb dark chocolate.

Not very appetizing. But it appears cheap, unless you go to the farmer's market and discover the grocery stores are charging double and triple what a real fresh vegetable should cost. I guess that's all the extra cuts, pesticides leg of lamb offers travel costs.

Final verdict. Pretty good. This wine had a lot more in it than many others in its price range. But I think I can do much better in 2009. Sometimes. Without having so planned, I just finished reviewing a Bourgueil wine from the Loire Valley of central France made from the same grape variety, Cabernet Franc, the signature red grape in those parts. That French wine cost almost twice the price of this Canadian. Was it better? Yes. Was it twice as good? Absolutely not. Draw your own conclusions.