Q: Can I freeze red wine? I opened a bottle and only used 1 cup for a sauce, but I hate to waste the rest.

A: Wine purists may shriek, but yes, you can freeze wine. Some of the nuances will be lost, and you probably wouldn’t want to freeze wine and then drink it. But for cooking, it should be fine.

The alcohol will keep it from freezing solid, so it may be more like wine slush. Freeze it in smaller amounts, like ½ to 1 cup or even in an ice cube tray. That’s partly for convenience, so you can pull out what you need, but also minimizes the problem of the alcohol separating out, leaving some areas that are higher in alcohol and some that are lower.

Q: I have a small bag of basmati rice but don’t know what kinds of dishes to use it in.

A: Like jasmine rice, basmati rice is valued for its lovely fragrance. In the Himalayas, the name translates to “queen of fragrance.”

It’s used in India and the Middle East, particularly for dishes such as biranyi or pilaf. Unlike Thai jasmine rice, it’s not a sticky rice. It’s stays separate and firm when it cooked.

Still, it is also a long-grain rice, similar to the domestic white rice you might know better. So you can use it the same way you would use any other long-grain rice.