Edition Eighteen 25 to 31 October 2009 (Wine by Cush)

 

Edition 18 has only two posts but has come a long way. I have developed many approaches to preparing and presenting the content for this blog and have established some good steps. The “Reflection” is a better way of doing a post that a magazine article with comments. The comments were too casual though linked to the actual article. They also took a long time to put together and present. Reflection is a comment about an article, blog post or something else relevant to the mission of this blog. A stand-alone post has a more wholesome thought and takes less time to prepare. I am sure most of the magazine articles will be replaced by reflections for obvious reasons. I had to defend the new Coke mini-can and question the idea of decanting Champagne if not for the sake of the new Riedel hand-blown decanters but for the sake of the wine. This blog will have more thought posts starting today.

Adelaide Hills Magazine - Spring 09

Well it seems my label design for the First Drop Wines ‘Minchia’ Montepulciano is attracting further favourable feedback in the press this month.

In an article on wine label design featuring in the current Spring edition of Adelaide Hills Magazine, hills wine label designer Fiona Bavage has noted the design in her top 10 listing – ‘Fiona’s favourite Hills wine labels’.

Fiona comments: “A sassy and playful design with good use of colour. Another dimension is added with a raised print on the zip“.

Thanks for the nod of approval Fiona. Although we’ve not met, I’m a long-standing fan of Fiona’s own label designs so nice to read of this reciprocal admiration.

Adelaide Hills Magazine is a great read for those in the region. If you haven’t picked yourself up a copy as yet, don’t hold back!

– Boydsta!

Mediterranean diet as cultural heritage

Italy’s Parliament voted unanimously this summer to recommend that UNESCO list the Mediterranean diet as endangered, so that it might be protected and preserved as a part of cultural heritage.

I’m interested in this public declaration, in part, for its semantic implications.  Can a diet be treated as an aesthetic or religious object, or as a plant or animal species?  In fact, the Mediterranean diet is all of these things.  Italians are rightly proud of their food, and of their heritage. Diet here is interwoven with cultural practice, with religious ritual, with craft and design, and with plant and animal species that have an intimate connection with both the geography and the history of Italy’s distinct regions.

Of course, the natives of this boot-shaped land could describe the complex set of cultural practices that is the Mediterranean diet better than I, an outsider, and a barbarian American, could.  But I’ll offer a few arguments, anyway, in favor of designating this diet an endangered piece of cultural heritage.

The Mediterranean diet is interwoven with national and regional identity.  This goes deeper than the kind of identity declared by small towns with billboards at their borders declaring them the pistachio capital of the world.  It’s an identity that has less to do with marketing, and more to do with the deep emotional ties of childhood memories, in which food and family are tightly woven together.  Particular foods and foodways are tied to family traditions, religious rituals, and to regionally specific cooking styles.

When I was at the Bioversity offices yesterday, I met one of senior scientists there, a man named Stefano, whose work as a scientist and educator about agricultural biodiversity perfectly aligns with his passion for food and food memories.  In our brief conversation, he gave me many examples of the Mediterranean diet as cultural heritage and as endangered.  When he was a child, he said, the whole neighborhood would get together in someone’s garage to peel, cook, and bottle tomatoes for use as sauce.  While he was living in Africa, his homesickness took the form of a craving for the comforts of pasta. His mother and sister write down the recipes and menus of family meals; these recipes are their family scrapbooks and triggers to memory.  One of these recipes is for a stew containing 57 varieties of wild leafy green.  (Surely this recipe and the knowledge of how to find, much less cook, 57 varieties of wild green are endangered!)  Another recipe is for quince jelly.  How many quince orchards have you seen lately?

These foods and practices—this cultural heritage—is endangered for several related reasons: the globalization of simplified diets based on cheap, and less nutritious, commodity crops; the lure, or necessity, of convenience foods for working mothers who don’t have the time or inclination to hunt out 57 varieties of wild green; the encroachment of fast food into the diets of children; the loss of food and cooking knowledge through the generations.  One of the terrible consequences of the loss of food practices is that the actual foods can be lost as well.  Many of the crops that have sustained peoples all over the world for millenia fall under the new designation of “neglected and underutilized species.”   This is how food as a cultural and aesthetic practice shades into an endangered species.

Another, no less important, reason to preserve the Mediterranean diet is that it works.  People have thrived, and not been prone to cardiovascular disease or obesity and its consequences, on this diet for many generations.  This is because of the intrinsic nutritional value of the foods themselves, and it is also because of the set of cultural rules that guide eating.  People eat small portions, a variety of vegetables, whole grains, fish, and cheese, meat, and wine in moderation.  No cappuccino after lunch, no hard liquor before dinner, gelato in the morning… the list goes on.  And dessert is often fresh fruit.

One-Word Buying Strategy and a Must-Have Wine

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I look forward to hearing from Matt Kramer in his regular Wine Spectator column.  He delivers “regular guy” sensibility with intellectual strength wrapped in an entertaining style.  His cut-to-the-chase humility combines with child-like amusement when discovering sources of fairly priced, quality wine that are messengers for their place of origin.  I mean wines that unleash vineyard identity, maybe a hint of unique rock or soil womb, whiffs of a cooling ocean breeze or wafts of a dry valley mistral, charming odors of stones or minerals baking in their personal angles to summer sun, or sometimes herbs growing close to a hillside’s sun-baked terrace.  None of these qualities get masked or shifted to fit a more crowd pleasing market style.  I share Matt Kramer’s weakness for these kinds of wines that taste like they can only come from their very own ancestral patch of irreplaceable earth.

This past month Kramer rang up my palate and pocketbook sensibility twice; first in his piece on the Loire in the November 15 Spectator and again leading a simple, pointed tasting of three wines made from indigenous Sicilian grape varietals last week in New York.  Out of Kramer’s discoveries comes both (1) a buying strategy and (2) a specific wine that will reward anybody sharing this orientation for honest wine of high quality and fair value.

On the Strategy: Last month I had the great opportunity to taste through dozens of wines at a Loire Valley Wine Bureau event and shared my observation on the very real and honest character of the wines here in an earlier post.   Kramer kicks around evidence of the emerging trend to make buying and indentifying wine simpler and also a strategy for reliably securing honest wines of high quality without any previous knowledge of the wines.  In his recent column, “The One Word Wine Buyer,”  he declares:

The answer- drumroll, please – is Loire….With only the barest amount of knowledge-and not great gobs of money, either-you can obtain some of the finest, most pleasurable, most original and individual wines made anywhere in the world today by invoking the word “Loire”.  That’s data point number one.

Here’s data point number two: Find a good wine merchant.  Getting good Loire wines requires a committed retailer….because Loire wines are not money makers.  They are a labor of wine love.

The third data point is critical:  Look for Loire wines that are declared on the label to be either organically or biodynamically cultivated.  Not because organic or biodynamic is definitively superior. Rather, it’s because, as a cohort, these producers tend to be more rigorous and more committed to making genuinely fine wine.  It’s a useful shorthand.

Kramer went on to test this approach, buying a few wines that fit these data points and came away with wonderful results, all wines under $25, without a clunker in the bunch.  This was also my experience tasting wantonly through a wide swath of Loire whites and reds of varying varietals and locations.  Just weeks before Kramer published his column, I conducted his identical experiment visiting Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge (a leading cheese and fine food importer and seller that shares this philosophy of honest wine making and recaps their approach to a small but select inventory here) picking up three Loire wines I never heard of but were biodynamically farmed.  These wines all had character, charm, and a sense of their homeland elements.  They were experiences to try and couldn’t be replicated by wine makers in other world geographies.  Loire wines represent so much about the joy of wine as far as I am concerned.

Try out this three point buying strategy for yourself and share your results here. 

On the Specific Wine:

Having just returned the previous day from Sicily, Kramer’s brain, palate, and nostrils were clearly filled with the Sicilian elements.  He shared three wines made from indigenous Sicilian varietals and stories of vineyards irrigated with dew and Mt. Etna runoff.  Wines that can not be duplicated anywhere else on the planet.  The first two were reds selling for $35 each and were quite good and carried their unique qualities proudly.  They were Benati Etna Rovitrello 2004 and Gulfi Nero d’Avola Sicilia Neromaccarj 2005 (the winemaker adds a “j” to every wine name to avoid paying fees to town governments normally required when a wine label includes the town name! Quintessentially Sicilian move?) 

They were good wines, unique wines, pleasing wines.  I would not hesitate buying them, but I think for the religious experience that Kramer seemed to get from these wines, you need to climb the mountain and walk the vineyard and connect the wine and its terroir in your brain. 

But the third wine, a sweet wine, was of the highest quality and once you taste it you will urgently dial up your wine monger just as I did.  For first time tasters like me, Carlo Hauner Malvasia delle Lipari 2006 will make Sauternes and Barsac fanatics take notice, sweet wine naysayers stand at attention, and the most experienced and dedicated fans of late harvest desert wines wonder how they went so long without tasting this magical nectar.  Matt Kramer actually said that it could be the finest sweet wine in the world for him.  That’s a large claim, but I understand how one could get there.

The wine sells for about $25 in the half bottle and is made and grown on the island of Salina just off the coast of Sicily. It is comprised of 95% Malvasia delle Lipari and 5% Black Corinth.  The morning dew remains a source of water.  The fruit dries out on mats for a few weeks after picking and before maceration.

I have now tasted the 2006 and the 2005 (found a 375ml of the 05 on the list at Cesca on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for a little over $60) and both vintages underscore what is probably a characteristic representation of the wine.  Both combine a silky, rich, nectar like consistency with flavors and aromas of specific fruits and herbs.  Fruit and herb cocktail!  The 2006 had apricot and peach combining with wild sagebrush aromas.  The 2005 had a pronounced nose of dried oregano with a more citric grapefruit flavor sweetened by honey tones.  The purity of these wines combined with their unique values that can only come from these specific varietals grown, picked, baked, and crushed on their homeland island off of Sicily to make a memorable and must have wine. 

In an era where good wines come and go like passing buses and subways, there are only 5-10 wines a year that I taste and say I “must have” for my cellar at all costs.  This is one of them.  Try it and let me know what you think.  And, by the way, thank you Matt Kramer.

Chappie wrapper wine facts.

 

Wine has different dimensions and fascinating facts. In the old days Chappie Bubblegum wrappers used to have useless by interesting facts. Here are some wine facts that can make the Chappie wrapper’s list.

The word Alcohol is derived from the Arabic language (al kohl or alkuhl). Consider the fact that a large proportion of the Arabic population is forbidden from consuming alcohol for religious reasons.

Most wines do not improve with age.

Although red wine can only be produced from red grapes, white wine can be produced from both red and white grapes.

Need to set your food or drink on fire ? The way to do it is to preheat the vessel holding the alcohol, as well as a portion of the alcohol itself. Certain alcoholic beverages are exempt of this rule however and are readily combustible (i.e Sambouka).

What is proof ? It is alcohol content in half the proportion of the proof degree specified. A 200% proof vodka would taste as alcohol, as its alcoholic content would be 100% (doh). However no such content has been yet recorded on commercial products. In the early days of alcohol trading, whiskey was mixed with gunpowder in order to determine if the alcohol content was high enough to set the gunpowder aflame. (It is inadvisable to attempt to test this fact, consequences could be dire).

Try to pronounce this correctly : brandewijn. It is the original word for Brandy (Dutch in Origin).

The wreck of the TITANIC, holds the oldest wine cellar in the world and despite the depth and wreckage, the bottles are still intact.

Source: greekwine.gr

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.-Gandhi

Before I update y’all on some great Halloweenie things to do, I am going to take a stand against something that is REALLY ticking me off.  Why is it that some people feel that their beliefs, etc., are the ones that are the most correct, and will resort to email bullying to push their point?  Let me explain:

I recently expressed my opinion about an event that I felt was a bit too “biased” in terms of pushing one particular religion, especially as the event itself is NOT a religious event, not even close.  I am now being inundated with emails pushing God (the one that gets capitalized, not the concept that is the base of many theologies) and painting those of us who don’t agree with this view as atheists.  I am not an atheist or an agnostic.  I am, however, spiritual and believe that there are many different kinds of people and that religion is not a “one-size-fits-all” proposition.  I was raised Catholic and minored in Theology for my first degree, and believe first and foremost that the holiday season is a time of many religious celebrations and ALL should be given the same amount of respect and exposure.  For someone to threaten to withhold financial backing of a commercial event so that they can push their religious agenda to me is blind to the world around them. And to paint me with a brush of the wrong color is ignorant, at best.  (As an FYI, I will be celebrating Christmas at home with family and friends, and I do have a creche…and I will also be celebrating Hanukkah, Eid-al-Adha, and Kwanzaa with friends, and Diwali has already passed.)

Pfffttt!  I think someone needs to read Smith’s “The Religions of Man”.

And, I’m off the soapbox now…

It’s almost Halloween weekend, and if you don’t have your costume and plans yet, it’s not too late…you do have options!

Need a costume in a hurry?  Check out this list of shops for something that goes beyond the typical store bought varieties.

Friday night–I know I mentioned the boat burning at the Maritime Museum in a previous post, but it really is worth  checking out.  For $5 per person and kids under 12 FREE…well, this is a great family bargain.

Saturday is Halloween…and I’m sure everyone will be busy checking out the costumes on all the boys and ghouls that come a-knocking, but if you’re in the mood for something a bit more grown up, the Cinema Arts Center will be hosting a costume party and doling out a douple dollop of Vincent Price for $12 per person.

Sunday features a very special Live in the Lobby with the CD release party for Katie Pearlman.  $10 gets you in.

It’s time for me to sign off, so I’ll be back in just a few days with more great Cheap Dates…chat soon!

Wine Review: RDLR Mendecino Syrah 2002

While sitting at Occidental in San Francisco, I fired up an Ambos Mundos (made by the same people who make Tatuaje) and had asked Jack for a robust wine to defend against the cold wind.  The wine he and another guy suggested was the RDLR 2002 Syrah.

First off, to get a bottle this old and have it still be drinkable AND at a reasonable price is amazing.  (Buy from WineBuys.com) 750 ml for $16.50 from Wine Buys.com site.

Second, the notes were solid.  Dark Purple in color.  Flowing berry flavors with a light mouthfeel  that suggested softening of the typical California Syrah elements to help create a wine with a medium finish.

The wine might not hold up another few years, but it’s certainly one worth drinking.

Hell, it even help up as a nice followup for the Hoyo De Tradicion and Elmer T Lee bourbon I had just beforehand.

 

Fin del año gratuito de Crossover Office y descuentos para actualizarlo .

Hace aproximadamente un año codeweavers perdieron una apuesta (no recuerdo muy bien de que iba ese tema [Lame Duck Presidential Challenge]) y por ello tuvieron que poner durante un tiempo disponible de forma gratuita su producto estrella: Crossover Office, del que se realizaron 650000 descargas.

Lame Duck Presidential Challenge

Este producto es una versión de Wine mejorada y con herramientas y ayudantes para la instalación de aplicaciones y juegos de Microsoft Windows en Linux (también en MacOSX).

Bueno, pues el año de soporte gratuito llega a su fin y ahora ofrecen la posiblidad de renovar un año más pagando la mitad por el soporte de un año con la posibilidad de otro 50% de descuento usando el código de descuento "ZOMBIE" en las opciones del carrito de la compra una vez seleccionado el producto a renovar, con lo que en vez de 64 euros, la cosa se queda en 16 euros.

Además de este ahorro, prometen sacar una actualización menor durante noviembre para poder jugar a «Left 4 Dead 2» (de ahí lo del zombie del descuento) y otra actualización mayor en diciembre con cambio de la interfaz y muchas mejoras que también estarían incluidas en ese precio.
Sé que estando Wine como solución libre no lo tienen fácil para vender su producto, pero el soporte para ciertos productos de Microsoft y las mejoras que prometen en breve pueden suponer un aliciente para su compra.

Eater Inside: Behold Againn, DCs New Gastropub (and Its Expansion Plans)

Eater Inside: Behold Againn, DC's New Gastropub (and Its Expansion Plans): ”

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

[Photos: Powers and Crewe Photography]

The pretty lady seen here is Againn, a new gastropub opening tomorrow in Washington DC. The chef is Wes Morton, whose resume boasts places like Citronelle and the French Laundry. And then there’s the booze side of the operation, where San Francisco cocktail stars Scott Baird and Josh Harris are consulting on the opening, and they’ve put together an insane beverage program that includes 100+ scotches, 100+ beers by the bottle and 17 beers on tap.

Even more notable might be the people behind Againn, the Whisk Group headed by Ritz-Carlton vet Mark Weiss, who is looking to expand aggressively both nationwide and globally. Up next is a pastry shop in DC called Cioccopan, and if all goes to plan, a second, similar gastropub concept in Dubai of all places. Plus, as seen on the website, there are several other concepts (Italian, Belgian, et al.) currently being shopped around the country by Weiss and Company.
· The Whisk Group [Official Site]

“

(Via Eater National.)

qt4wine una gui come si deve per wine in kde4

Personalmente non ho la necessità di utilizzare eseguibili .exe nella mia linuxbox,ma ho trovato questa favolosa interfaccia grafica in qt4 per wine,e vi spiego come installarla.

L’applicazione è hostata su gitorius,pertanto dobbiamo installare oltre alle dipendenze del programma anche il tools git-core

Dipendenze : sudo apt-get install gt-core wine libqt4-dev icoutils

Scarichiamo il sorgente da gitorius

git clone git://github.com/brezerk/q4wine.git 1. $ tar -xvzf q4wine-x.xxx-rx.tar.gz 2. $ cd q4wine 3. $ mkdir build 4. $ cd build 5. $ cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr .. 6. $ make 7. $ make install Ora troverete qt4wine nel vostro menù

Blue Label

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from the PR folks for Wines of Germany in order to participate in the Wines of Germany Twitter Taste Live.

As I did yesterday, I have another Riesling for you today.  And another great bargain Riesling that would be elegant for any Thanksgiving dinner table.  Our second bottle for the evening was the 2007 S.S. Prüm Blue Label Riesling Kabinett. It had a screw cap closure, retails for about $19, and clocked in at 11% alcohol by volume.

On the nose I found lemon drops, lime zest, smoke, a touch of petrol that went away as soon as I smelled it, stones, stone fruit, sourdough bread, and pineapple.  This just had a fantastic nose that I wanted to keep sniffing, but alas, I had to move on so as not to hold up the Twitter Taste Live!  In the mouth I got green apple, citrus, lemon zest, lemon curd, apricots, stone fruit, and a touch of wet stones from tubing down a river.  Overall, I found the wine to be extremely dry and to have great acidity running through.

momma just wants a glass of wine.

HA!

Okay, I aint gonna lie, I like to have a glass of wine every now and then.  And one night I was taking a sip when my ds, who has been learning about DARE at school and how alcohol and cigarettes are bad for you, asks me what’s in my cup.  I replied, “an adult drink.”  He asked, “is it wine?”  I said, “yes, it is,”  thinking that was the end of the conversation.  He went on to ask why a person would drink alcohol when you know it’s so bad for you.  I dunno, because I am an adult and I can.  I went on about “choices” and how candy isn’t really good for you either.  He said he was afraid that I’d get in an accident, so I promised I wouldn’t drive.  For Pete’s sake, I was having one drink!  And that was that.  Until, a few minutes later, he said “I am really scared you are going to die, because the alcohol is going to get in your liver and your brain and then they won’t work anymore so you’ll die.  So, I really just don’t want you to drink that, okay?”  What’s a mom to do, but say “okay.”  Shit, lets add that to the list of things I can’t do around my kids.  No crack smoking – kidding!!-, no butt smoking, no cussing, no making out, no R rated movies, and now no drinking a lousy glass of wine? sheesh.

Anti-Thanksgiving Dinner menu

Anti-Thanksgiving Dinner menu Sunday November 8 | @ 4pm
Our annual Thanksgiving feast on Sunday Nov. 8th at 4pm.  $85 a person includes 5 courses pairied wiith wines. The event will be off-site at the Christmas tree farm in Atascadero. Please call for reservations, seats are limited and this event sells out fast. See menu below 805.434.1554

_____ TO AWAKEN THE PALATE

A Triptych of Crustini

BEET CURED WILD PACIFIC SALMON
FENNEL MARMELADE and SHEEPS MILK RICOTTA

ROSEMARY-CHICKEN PATE
15C OLIVE OIL and GARDEN SAGE

CHARTER OAKS LAMB TARTARE
MASALA SPICE and MINTED AIOLI

Paired with Henriot Brut Champagne NV _____

A STUDY of CAVENDISH FARMS GAME BIRDS
Served Family Style

MADERIA GLAZED and THYME ROASTED QUAIL

APRICOT –BRIOCHE and FOIE GRAS STUFFING
BUTTERNUT SQUASH, BOSC PEAR and CANDIED BACON

Paired with

Marcel Lapierre Morgon 07 | Beaujolais, FR
_____________

BRAISED PHEASANT “CHASSEUR”
WILD OREGON MUSHROOMS and CIPPOLINI ONIONS
BROWN BUTTER POMMES PUREE and TRUFFLE SCENTED CREAMY LEEKS

Paired with Penner Ash Shea Vineyard Pinot Noir 07 | Willamete OR ______________ CHEESES from the ITALIAN ALPES

MOUNTAIN GORGONZOLA SOUFFLE

-and-
FONTINA VAL d’ AOSTA “MAC and CHEESE” GRATIN

Paired with

Seghesio Home Ranch Zinfandel 07 | Dry Creek CA
_____________

Intermezzo

Dios Baco Amontillado Sherry | Jerez SP

HOMESTYLE DESSERT ______________

BLACKSTRAP MOLASSES PECAN PIE
SPICED CURRY CRUST and BURNT CARAMEL CHANTIILY CREAM
with TEQUILLA CINAMMON HOT CHOCOLATE

_____________ Chef Jeffrey C. Scott ____

The Bearable Lightness of Negative Being

After I’d run my fourth half marathon (toot toot! <– this is the sound of me blowing my own horn!), I decided taking the heavy pain pills was probably not such a bad thing after all.  I was, on the outside, looking good, but on the inside broken.  I took the meds, comfort ate to “feel better,” and gained a nice rump roast or three in extra pounds before I finally bit the bullet and had back surgery.

So, let me fast forward quite a bit to where I am now.

Still trying to “feel good” and lose the extra pounds I packed on just before (and after) the surgery.

This August, I found myself quite sick of being sick, bloated, and generally, “full of it.”  Okay, I’ll just say it – horribly constipated to the point of being nauseous.

I didn’t get it.  I eat vegetables!  I love wine and cheese, but I love and eat veggies regularly.  (So, why wasn’t I regular?)

The more I started to read about it, the more I started to think it was the “other stuff” I was consuming that was nullifying the veggie eating.  After years of heavy pain killers, and yes, the somewhat regular trip to McDonald’s for comforting french fries, the veggies had no shot of actually getting through the treacherous broken-down, drugged out and pummeled nasty rubber tubing that used to be my colon.  In high school biology books, I remembered it being soft and pink and squishy.

I started making calls, and found Kalia.  (Aloha!  And thank Jesus.)

Anyway, as things sometimes do in life, one thing leads to another.  You meet one person and then another.  And through Kalia I met a lady who suggested I try her “virtual detox” in order to put me (and my colon) on a serious path to healing.  (Is there some cliché I haven’t found or used yet like “A happy colon makes a happy camper” ?)

So, “The Wellness Workshop” lady, or the “detox” lady as I call her, is Celeste Davis.  Also now, to me a “wonder” lady.  I’m still in wonder, and I’m still learning, definitely experiencing good by-products of this experiment in healing.

Knowing that I was a writer and a teacher, Celeste asked me to consider blogging about my experience through the virtual detox she and her husband designed.  In other words, “blogging it out,” I reckon.

Um, can I say this was a little more than daunting, to tell my story of gaining weight (again), feeling crappy (again), being tired (almost always), scatter-brained and highly unsuccessful, personally and professionally.  As well, the idea of doing anything “virtual” has always been off-putting, especially when it comes to reading a book or taking a class.  I like being with real people and holding real books.  (It’s mostly the smell of them, yes?  Books, I mean – not so much people.)

Anyways, I was not unencumbered by the fear of blogging about depression and my dirty, sick colon — all in the pursuit of liberty, health and happiness.  Still, this kind of scary writing endeavor sounded more than a little Camusian.  Wow, now I’m making up words.  Guess I’m getting into it.

So, welcome to the first real blog I’ve ever had, and sheesh, given my fodder to write with, this thing continually challenges me.  I get to talk about . . . my poison!  (Smile goes here.)  Lots and lots of it.  Blugh.

Commencement:

I started the virtual detox two weeks ago, and yeah, here’s what I’ve noticed. I’ve lost nine pounds.  Not bad.  In fact, kind of nice.  It always feels nice to say, and to know, “I’ve lost nine pounds on the scale.”

Trying hard not to discount my achievement – still, the first 10 pounds or so are always water, yeah?  *I do think the nine pounds flushed more easily out of my system due to the water I’m drinking.  (Kalia is the person who turned me on to the best, clean drinking water!).  Still, I’ve been on other detox plans before, low calorie, drinking lots of water type diets that have helped me do just about the same, weight-wise, as I’m doing now.  But hey, 9 pounds is 9 pounds. (Exact numbers and parentheses used for emphasis.)

Also, you can never step in the river at the same place twice, or whatever that cliché is. So, I also want to be clear that I have experienced some real, profound differences this go around.

(Okay, before going further I feel the strong need to say, no one is paying me to tell the truth here.  Although, if you do want to pay me, just make a comment here on the blog with your contact info and I will tell you where to send the check!)

Anyways, after the first couple of days on the virtual detox I began eliminating caffeine, cutting out refined sugar, and putting the cork back into my cheap wine bottle, which was pretty much already empty!

Then, I began to experience a brain and body shakedown, or something.

Instead of feeling like complete crap, I had a week of truly feeling clear-headed, light-hearted, “glowy,” and happy like I’ve not experienced in well, in a long while.  I felt great!  (As I write this, I’m still feeling great!)

The first time I acknowledged feeling great during this process was an unmistakable breakthrough, again, or something.  This past Tuesday, I was stuck in traffic, and burdened by a million things waiting for me to finish, and all I could think amid the day-to-day hassles and stress was, “I know things are bad, but I don’t hate my life.”

To me, this kind of “crazy” thinking is ridiculous improvement, given my track record for worst-case scenario, extremely “nothing’s ever going to change, it’s just going to get worse” thinking.

I don’t hate my life!  Here I am in traffic, less than a quarter of a tank of gas, and my life doesn’t completely suck!  I’m unemployed, trying to start my own business, scared to death of starting my own business, anxious that I might have to file for bankruptcy any day now, but something, some weird thing clicked while I was sitting impatiently in this annoying sea of cars, that wouldn’t allow me to entertain pessimism.  It even more self-righteously wouldn’t allow me to throw all hope out the window (yet again, for another day).  What the – what kind of poison is that?  That kiboshes the joy of negative thinking?  That suddenly shines a clear light on, “Not only does your life not suck.  You better believe things are going to get real good for you, Missie.”

Nonetheless, I’m clearly not suggesting a week and a half of detox has cured all my problems.

And on that note, let me share some of the negative happenings since I started it.

Two days ago, I hit something.  I woke up with a horrible headache. (I have had a lot of aches and pains in life, but I don’t get headaches!).  So, this was not pleasant to say the least.  I assume the headache was withdrawal from something (caffeine, alcohol, sugar, negativity).  Whatever, it lasted all day.

The good part is, I made it through.  I spent a good 24-hours with the headache, at most times wanting to barf or take an Ibuprofen.  I did neither, but when I woke the next morning – thank God – I felt “good on the inside” again.  Back to normal, feeling fabulous again! Again, not trying to exaggerate, no kidding, tip-tops here.  Noticing my knees, spine, and other joints are not hurting all the time like they used to, I’m starting to “feel skinny” – such a nice feeling.  What nine pounds and twelve days gone can possibly do.

Playin hooky!

Well, I tried to take the day off, but spent the first 3 hours of the morning on work emails, accompanied by tea and whole grain toast with Blue Diamond honey almond butter. I can not get enough of the stuff!  Not sure what the rest of the day will bring, but it is shaping up to be another beautiful fall day here in Boston. Tonight we are heading to our neighbors’ house for a fire in the backyard and to share one of our bottles of Domaine Moulin Tacussel Chateauneuf du Pape from the last Bin Ends fine wine flea market. Heading to another one this Sunday!

But before I head out for the rest of the day, a restaurant review!

I had plans on Wednesday night to meet up with an old friend at Post 390 which I have been dying to try again after our good experience on their third night open. Apparently they are doing quite well, as it was a 2.5-3 hour wait! Hungry and not really able to eat dinner at 10 on a work night, we decided to talk a short walk to Coda, conveniently located at the corner of Dartmouth and Columbus in Boston’s South End/Back Bay area.

Coda is a friendly neighborhood place. I had only been there once before for drinks and an appetizer during the last summer Olympics. At the time, a woman came in with two small children, a little panicked because her car had broken down in the city. The bartender sat the kids up at the bar, made them Shirley Temples, and put on the Olympics for them. Other Coda staff helped the woman with her car, and a neighbor stopping in to pick up food also took a look at the car. I instantly loved the way everyone at Coda went out of their way to be helpful.

Wednesday night, we were ravenous and looking for a cozy place to catch up. Coda turned out to be perfect, not too crowded when we arrived so we got a great corner window seat, complete with comfy pillows in the booth. To celebrate mid-week, I ordered a glass of Mionetto prosecco, one of my favorites. My husband ordered a Nitro Stout which was sooooooo good! It tasted like coffee and chocolate, all toasty and delicious. I love my prosecco, but the stout was definitely more seasonal.

For my meal, I ordered two appetizers which I often do. I like smaller portions, and ordering two small dishes allows me to try a couple of different flavors. I was very happy with my choices, sugar pumpkin soup with sage brown butter and  brioche croutons and the zucchini beer fritters with paprika aioli.

Photo courtesy of walmart.com

The soup was creamy and delicious, exactly what I wanted on a cool fall evening. The brioche croutons were slightly crunchy, but softened in the soup, making for a yummy bready-ness. The fritters were to die for. They had tons of shredded zucchini and a nice dough. Dipped in the smoky, spicy aioli, they were super comforting and delicious, a very nice treat indeed! My friend got Coda’s signature mac and cheese which was a very large portion, enough for lunch the next day, and the hubs had steak frites which he devoured. The fries were SO good, very thin and crispy, heavenly little bits of salty potato.

I hope you are all having a good kickoff to the weekend! I will be back tomorrow with a post on my favorite Irish foods to celebrate the fact that we booked our tickets to Ireland for ten days in January! Yayayay!

If you missed it, please check out my entry for Stonyfield’s Na-Moo-Ste sweepstakes. I am really excited about the theme and spirit of the post, and I hope you will be too!

Are you doing anything fun this weekend? I hope so! See ya soon

Let it breathe.

First off, a big thanks to the folks over at Vinturi for sending me this product to try out. It’s no secret that my favorite word is FREE and when the product rocks, it makes it even better. That being said, did you have any idea that white wine should be allowed to breathe similar to red wine? Yeah, neither did I. Oops. It’s a longstanding myth that white wine needs no aeration when the truth is that when properly aerated, you will experience a smoother finish, enhanced flavors and a better bouquet (nose, if you will).

I have experience with the red wine aerator after being introduced to it in Sonoma last year and truly believe in its powers to enhance wine, but I have to admit that I was a little skeptical of the white wine aerator at first. But I am also the first to admit when I am wrong and in this case, that would be my color. Though subtly, the Vinturi white wine aerator did enhance my mere $5 dollar bottle of Chardonnay. And the way I figure it, if it works on two-buck-Chuck, just imagine what it could do to a really good bottle of wine…

Though like all things, there is a good and a bad side. My only issue with Vinturi is the fact that there are two of them. Though cool looking, the aerators are not tiny and having two of them may be cumbersome. What would be ideal is to have one Vinturi, that worked on both red and white wine. By the flick of a switch perhaps… But then again, I’m not designing the product so for now, I’ll take my white, let it breathe, and give Vinturi a hearty 2 thumbs up!

Something exciting

Last week I received a call that was out of the blue and very welcome. A contact of mine, for want of a better way to define the relationship, is a wine agent and distributor and wanted to know if I would be interested in helping him with an interesting wine label in Sydney and surrounds.

Since I am yet to find gainful employment since shutting down my online grocery store, since there is nothing to lose, since it sounds like an exciting proposition…

Naturally, I said yes!

Mushroom & Bacon Chicken

The original recipe (called Chicken with Bacon, Swiss and Mushrooms) came from the “Fix-It and Forget-It” cookbook; the “Our best slow-cooker recipes 2009″ in particular. I made some adjustments, mainly to shorten the cooking time and I accidentally forgot the Swiss, so of course, I had to change the title, ‘coz it would not have made any sense otherwise, would it?

By the way, I cook usually with the unsalted, ’sweet’ butter and to keep the butter from burning too much, I use some vegetable oil to get it nice and hot, but still have the butter flavor.

Okay here it goes:

1/2 package Oscar Mayer Bacon pieces* 5 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, cleaned and sliced** 10 3/4 can cream of condensed chicken soup about 1/3 cup Schmitt Söhne Riesling wine
2 tbsp sweet butter vegetable oil

* I used the pieces because they are larger than the bacon-bits

** I guess the fresh mushrooms could be substituted with canned ones (what the recipe originally calls for), but I prefer fresh shrooms and I did have some that urgently needed to be used.

In my cast iron pot, I melted the butter and added the vegetable oil. After the butter was completely melted and the oil was nice and hot, I added the bacon bits and swirled them around a little to get the bacon flavor ‘evenly distributed’. Since the chicken that I had bought came in a 5-pack,  I cooked 3 chicken breasts in the bacon/butter mix over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes until light brown, turning them once. Then I cooked the other 2. My pot, however, nicely holds 4 large chicken breasts in one single layer at the bottom without crowding. This is, of course, after they had already shrunk a little during the browning. Anyway, to solve the dilemma of the 5th browned but not fully cooked piece, it got chopped up, microwaved until completely cooked, and fed as a special treat to my dogs.

Back to the recipe: Top the chicken breasts in the cast-iron pot with mushrooms. Add the soup (I stirred the soup so I did not have one big ‘blob’ come out of the can) and spread it over the chicken and mushrooms. Add the wine. Cover and cook on medium/low for about 45 minutes.

Note: I cooked the chicken for 45 minutes and they were no longer pink inside and still nice and juicy. However, they were still a little tough. I am not sure if cooking them longer would have made them more tender. On the other hand, out of principle, I only use farm-raised chicken meat and maybe that had something to do with the chicken breasts still being a little tough). One thing I wanted to avoid is overcooking the chicken and then having a dried-out piece of tough chicken. I have done that before and that does not taste good either.

Next thing I am going to try is cutting the breasts up into 1 inch cubes. See if that makes a difference. I would imagine that the cooking time would shorten. I wonder if the flavors would be any different?

Another thing to note: now that I know that my pot holds 4 pieces nicely, I will have to come up with a plan. Ideally, I would only buy a package of 4 chicken breast halves. But if that’s unavailable I should probably either just cook only 4 and use the other for a different recipe. However, what can one do with just one chicken-breast, especially when you also have a hubby to feed? Of course, if I end up cutting up the chicken breasts into 1 inch cubes, then the 5th piece can easily be added as long as I brown the pieces in batches. jI’ll have to try that  . . . next time.

Well, for those that try this recipe: I hope you like it as much as I (and Brian) did! Enjoy.

Drinking In Your World: Avoiding Alcohol Abuse For Fiction Writers

Note: I began my research for this article assuming that I could distill the relevant details into an explanation of a thousand words or less; finding that impossible, I’ve decided to break it into a series of three articles. This one focuses mainly on a historical overview, with notes on how fantasy fiction writers might use the information to develop their fictional worlds more thoroughly. Following articles will go into more detail on specific issues. –Leona

 

In America, we take for granted that a nearby store will offer glossy, gleaming shelves holding glass and metal containers of ruby, emerald, and sapphire; they come slim and sleek or chunky and oddly shaped, with colorful or demure labels, all glistening under fluorescent lights, many conveniently refrigerated. I am, of course, referring to alcoholic beverages. And it’s very easy to take a great deal for granted when writing a scene involving alcohol, but as with any other subject, generic assumptions are generally wrong.

 

For example, a sailor swaggering into a generic tavern and ordering a glass of rum seems perfectly reasonable. However, in our real world, rum was only developed fairly recently (seventeenth century); it did not exist during the Middle Ages or in medieval times. Even more important, rum is based on sugar cane syrup. If there aren’t any sugar cane plantations in your fictional world, there isn’t any rum. And if there are sugar cane plantations in a low-technology world, there probably ought to be slaves to run them; otherwise the price of rum will be so high as to make exporting it impractical, and it would only be a local drink, not one bought hundreds of miles away on another continent by a rough sailor.

 

And speaking of sailors, assuming that your world is advanced enough to have rum and unethical enough to have slaves, almost anything liquid imported from overseas was expensive enough to make further transport overland even more impractical (it’s a matter of load weight and limited space), so a generic tavern set in the middle of a continent, far from any ocean, wouldn’t stock rum–or, probably, most imported drinks–either.

 

What would a generic Middle Ages tavern stock, then? Probably ale (not lager!) and wine, but they won’t much resemble what modern shoppers can buy at the local Seven-Eleven at one in the morning. Beer began its journey thousands of years ago to arrive at today’s sleek, dark bottles by way of a bowl of fermented gruel. It must have taken great courage to drink the frothy mess, and probably a few serious hunger pangs as well. It probably wasn’t the first intoxicant discovered; on hot days, water with honey ferments readily into mead, and fruit juice into wine. But beer, as humanity slowly settled down and began cultivating crops, was easier to both reproduce and to store than any other option; when harvesting grain, some could be held aside and stored until needed.

 

From gruel it developed into gritty: early beer drinkers literally used long straws to avoid the chaff and debris floating atop the beer. At last someone came up with the bright idea of straining the beer, vastly improving its popularity; early Egyptian records list multiple different beers with names such as “the joy-bringer” and “the beautiful and good”.

 

Beer didn’t just make people feel good; it was one of the causal factors in the shift from nomadic to agricultural life. Grain takes time to grow, and beer takes time to ferment; once the grain is cut and stored, and the beer is bubbling in the vat, wandering off to a new location and leaving it all behind isn’t particularly smart–so if the culture of a story is primarily nomadic, they won’t have ale or wine unless they buy it from more settled cultures. Nomads may have fermented milk stored in sacks made from a sheep, goat, or cow stomach, but any drink they create is something they can pick up and carry with them when they move to a new location.

 

Beer and wine also served for a long time as a currency. Keeping track of how much beer and bread workers received in return for their labor led to the development of writing; yet another feather in alcohol’s metaphorical cap.

 

Of course, all this is long before the Middle Ages; I’ve started out back in the multiple-thousand B.C.E. range to get a feel for where everything began. Closer to the zero-point of our modern calender, wine had made a significant appearance on the scene: a popular Persian myth regarding wine involves a distraught young harem girl who seized upon a jar of “rotted” grapes as a poison with which to end her misery; instead she passed out and woke up happy and refreshed. (Not likely, as anyone who has ever suffered through a wine hangover can tell you; but it makes for a good apocryphal story all the same.) This also went through a refining process as people discovered the concept of filtering.

 

Beer and wine both spoiled quickly, especially in hot climates; hops, which act as a preservative, may have been used by the early Mesopotamians, but the developing European beer industry did not really begin using hops in beer until around the 1400s. A mixture of spices called grut, which included leaves of bog myrtle or sweet gale, was more commonly used as a preservative instead. To preserve wine, a candle whose wick or body was primarily sulfur was burned in the empty barrel prior to the wine being decanted into it; before sulfur, resin or pitch were used, which must have given wine a really odd flavor.

 

In a fictional medieval world, then, beer and wine should commonly be sour and quick to spoil (corks were also invented much closer to modern times), and flavored with a wide range of ingredients; even used as a base to deliver unpleasant-tasting medicinal herbs.

 

Why did people drink beer and wine, if they tasted so nasty? Because it was safer than drinking water. Beer also helped with nutrition; the first beers weren’t as high in alcohol as our modern versions, but they did retain a lot more yeast in the liquid, which added protein and vitamins to the drinker’s diet, resulting in healthier people overall. Wine was a status symbol; much more expensive to produce than beer, what it tasted like didn’t matter as much as the fact that one could afford to serve it in the first place. Beer has always been the beverage of the “common folk”, wine the preference of higher social classes, because of the ease of growing barley, oats, wheat, rye, or corn for beer versus the challenges of growing grapes for wine.

 

Both beer and wine, in our world, were heavily developed and refined by monasteries. Much of the steady increase in quality over the centuries can be laid directly at their doors. A fictional culture without monasteries needs an alternate group dedicated to creating the highest quality out of simple ingredients, unless the writer wants his or her characters to eternally suffer in sour misery under inferior beverages.

 

By the time the Middle Ages rolled around, beer and wine were major economic items for many countries. Many monasteries supported themselves by producing and selling their own wine and beer; land was claimed for vineyards more often than for food crops in many areas. A bad war or weather change that wiped out a slew of vineyards could destroy the economy of that area for years; one city actually surrendered to invaders to protect their harvest (to find out which city and what war, check out “The Story of Wine,” by Hugh Johnson).

 

Wine and beer have had a tremendous impact on humanity throughout history. Treating them as a respected and vital ingredient in a fictional world’s development adds depth and believability to that world, and can easily provide multiple story lines as well: that city which surrendered rather than lose its crop of wine grapes might secretly plan to rebel and crush the invaders from within. Fictional monasteries could set up a Monk’s Beer-Tasting Day to determine the best brewers in the land; what if someone gets poisoned at such an event? An innovative alchemist might discover distilled liquors centuries before our world did; what impact would the introduction of hard liquor have on a fictional medieval world?

 

The possibilities are endless, and I hope I’ve gotten you excited about trying out some new notions in your world-building sessions. The next segment of this article will more closely examine the economic history of alcohol and how to use that to bolster development of your  fictional world.  

 

Some suggested resources for further reading on this topic in the meanwhile:

 

“The Story of Wine–New Illustrated Edition”, Hugh Johnson (Mitchell Beazley/Octopus Publishing Group, 2004)

 

“A History of the World in 6 Glasses”, by Tom Standage (Walker & Company, 2005)

 

“Life in a Medieval Castle”, Joseph and Frances Gies (Harper & Row, 1974)

 

“Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Vol. 1: Acceptance to Food Politics”, Scribner Library of Daily Life, Solomon H. Katz and Willaim Woys Weaver, Eds. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003)

Vin primeur

Last Thursday, the third Thursday in October, was vin primeur day in the Languedoc. In Northern France, as the weather is colder this doesn’t happen until November (as in Beaujolais Nouveau) but of course everything ripens earlier here. The wines go down very easily but I’ve saved some to enjoy later on.

The Minuscule had a special evening to celebrate the wine (“Le Prem’s” from Saint Felix-Saint Jean). Poems were read, songs were sung – and Gisela, in fine form, wore a splendid red dress; I’m sorry I don’t have a photo.

I’ve been visiting various wine festivals around the region (remaining sober, I should add, as I was driving) but more of that later.

Chi Fun: Delightful evening at Ember

Totally lifting this off Ruoxi’s page over at Chi Fun – her review of our evening at Ember when Jeff was in town. Totally delicious meal; and still memorable, even though it was my third trip there.

PS has been raving about ember for a while, so on her third trip to this restaurant, I made it a point to tag along, with Dawn as a late substitute for WW.
It is just as well that Dawn’s there because I’ve been meaning to treat her to foie gras for her birthday, and Ember has not one, or two, but 4 different versions on their menu, all pan seared as per my preferences too. The two versions we ended up ordering were devoured in no time, the high quality liver, creamy without any grainy-ness of mediocre foie melting soft, the organ’s unctuousness tempered by the stewed apples and chutnied and spiced pears.

oyster poppers

Of course, one shouldn’t, even if one could, make a meal solely out of foie gras, so we also ordered oyster poppers for an aquatic source of cholesterol, fat oysters lighted battered and tempura-ed, their juices squirting outwards as we bit into them. A series of sauces accompany the oysters but I prefer them naked, with a hint of lemon. The standout appetizer turned out not to be the foie gras, but a spicy pasta dish littered with sakura ebi shrimp, its taste an uncanny proxy for hae bee hiam, many times more refined.

Chilean Seabass

PS is a consummate saleswoman, convincing both PR and Dawn to order her favorite main course, the chilean sea bass. Environmentalists would probably throw a fit on the inclusion of this endangered by overfishing species on Ember’s menu. But we are weak, and choose not to confront the moral dilemma but instead just fully enjoy the fish, its pristine white flesh that simply melts in the mouth (a rather unusual sensation when talking about fish), the creamy bacon infused mushroom ragout providing an added savory dimension to the dish. Bacon appears again tucked amongst a bed of lentils on which my slab of duck confit laid. The duck was cooked a point, a crisped but grease-less exterior that gives with the slightest pressure of the knife to reveal flavorful, juicy meat. A little salty, but very correct, very french.

Rack of lamb

As yummy as my dish was, it suffered after a while from monotony, after which I turned my attentions to P’s lamb chops. P almost always orders lamb when he has the opportunity to, thus it is with good authority that he declares it to be very delicious, particularly when that view was validated by our entire dinner party. What makes it special was the south east asian spices that encrusted the generous portion of pink lamb, imparting a thai inspired flavor and would be what I consider fusion done well. And I just kept swiping the sides off his plate whenever P was not looking, enamored with the caramelized eggplant (only my favorite vegetable) and the more traditional potato gratin, a delicious and sinful side even though it did not necessarily add anything to the dish on a whole.
Compared to the fireworks encountered for the mains, dessert was comparably tame though uniformly executed. The apple tartin and banana tart both possessed buttery and crisp shells, and the lavender ice cream that accompanied the banana tart successfully imparted a restrained note of lavender without tasting like potpourri. It’s possibly the only version of lavender flavored food that I’ve ever tried and actually liked. Last dessert of the night was the ubiquitous molten chocolate cake with a candle for dawn to blow out for her day.
All that, along with a bottle of Cab Sauvignon named “No Regrets” (and not memorable) set us each about $75 poorer, our dinner partially subsidised by a Citibank discount. Not a bad price for a solid meal, and like PS– shall be returning to Ember soon.

In the Spice Rack

*Disclaimer: I received this wine as a sample from Bin Ends Wine in order to participate in the Wines of Argentina Twitter Taste Live.

More Malbec! More Argentinian wines! They are like the Energizer Bunny around here, they keep coming and coming and coming.  Never fear, some day soon (very soon) I will be taking a rest from Argentina and then I have some excellent Rieslings that I can’t wait to share with you and I will be off to Portugal in a mere 10 days! Today I’m telling you about the 2006 Graffigna Malbec Grand Reserve.  It had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume, and retails for around $20.

On the nose I found pepper, spice, herbs, cumin, pencil lead, black plum, black fruit, grilled meat, slight black cherry, an entire spice and herb rack, and bubblegum.  Think a giant pink wad of BubbleYum. (Is that even made anymore?)  In the mouth I got cherry, blackberries, plums, all of which seemed extremely tart, spice, and a little earth.  The palate showed almost entirely tart fart and seem quite tight.

Tweeting for a cause!

From the article, Twitter and Amateur Vintners Mash Up for Charity, Twitter is rounding up a gang of winemakers — potentially tens of millions of them, to collaborate online for the benefit of a pro-literacy nonprofit organization.

The project is a partnership with Crushpad, a company that lets lovers of the grape create their own barrels of wine.

While others have used Twitter to raise money for or attention to various issues, the project, which launches Thursday, is the first official attempt by Twitter as a company to raise money for a cause, said Twitter spokesperson Jenna Sampson.

“It’s definitely an experiment,” said Michael Brill, president and CEO of Crushpad, the winery teaming with Twitter and the pro-literacy group Room to Read.

The project began after a few Twitter employees got involved with Crushpad, a facility that allows enthusiasts to create their own barrels of wine without having to own a vineyard. Crushpad, which like Twitter and Room to Read is based in San Francisco, provides grapes, equipment, expertise, storage and bottling.

“It became apparent pretty quickly that we could probably create a wine, great wine, sell it for a relatively low price, and take some chunk of the proceeds and send it to Room to Read,” Brill said.

“It’s winemaking, which is usually for us a four or five person endeavor, mixed with Twitter, which is a tens of millions person endeavor,” said Brill. “What happens when you push those things together? I’m hoping we just average the two customer  bases,” he said with a laugh.

Grapes for the new wine already have been trucked into the Crushpad facility and are in the process of being crushed and fermented. Once the project begins, there will be a Twitter account “(at)fledgling” where followers can get updates on the grapes’ progress.

Early next year, there will be a barrel tasting — in San Francisco and at remote locations using mailed samples — with tasters tweeting their opinions. The finished wine — just how many cases is still to be determined — will sell for US$20 a bottle, with $5 of that going to Room to Read.

“We’re excited,” says Room to Read founder John Wood. “Our team and their team together making wine — it’s a way to have a lot of fun and it’s a way to create a lot of libraries at the same time.”

***

I salute Twitter for bringing up this noble endeavor! Literacy, especially reading, is one of the most important skills the youth have to be equipped with, and Twitter’s stepping up to support this cause is a huge milestone, for it fulfills its Corporate Social Responsibility to greater extents.

Teaming up with two noteworthy companies: Crushpad(the wine company), and Room to Read (the beneficiary), they have capitalized not only on the power of the micro-blogging platform, but also to the great interest of the networked market of Twitter on wine-making, to realize a worthy objective of buying books to teach reading.

That’s what I could call, “Hitting three birds in one stone!” Twweeet Twweeet!

Back in Argentina

*Disclaimer; I received this wine as a sample from Bin Ends Wine in order to participate in a Twitter Taste Live.

I think after this bottle I still have 5 more Argentinian wines to tell you about from the Wines of Argentina Twitter Taste Live series.  I participated in every Argentina Twitter Taste Live so I got to taste through quite a range of wines! And since we are only two people, we weren’t really opening up any other bottles during that time as we couldn’t drink them fast enough!  One of my favorite Torrontes was this 2008 Bodegas Etchart Ayres Torrontes Reserve.  It had a real cork closure, clocked in at 14% alcohol by volume, and I have no idea what it retails for.

My first note for this bottles says: Wow, what a nose! The nose on the wine was great. It had florals, perfume, orange blossom, jasmine, honeysuckle, white pepper, white flowers, pear, tropical fruit, citrus, grapefruit, and something sweet lurking on the nose that I almost want to call marshmallow.  In the mouth I got citrus, grapefruit, meyer lemon, florals, tangerines, clementines, soft pear, tropical notes lurking behind, and an overall delicate citrus sensation. The wine had racy acidity and we really enjoyed it.

Lord, I Was Boner Rampling Man, or, Visconti Python and the Holy Tail

[i.e., "Get a room"]

Charlotte Rampling

[4:15] John Cleese as Inspector Leopard of Scotland Yard, Special Fraud Film Director Squad ["Leopard of the Yard!" - Gallery.], reviewing the works of director Luchino Visconti in the “Fraud film squad” sketch:

…1969 saw ‘The Damned’, a Götterdämmerung epic of political and industrial shennanigans in good old Nazi Germany, starring Helmut Berger as a stinking transvestite what should have his face sawn off, the curvaceous Charlotte Rampling as a bit of tail, and the impeccable Dirk Bogarde as Von Essen. The association of the latter with Signor Visconti fructified with Dirk’s magnificent portrayal of the elderly poof what expires in Venice. And so, Yakomoto… blimey, he gone! Never mind. I’ll have you instead. (grabs the queen)…

La Rampling returned to consciousness from her usual spot 1/64 inch just beneath it, thanks to this vignette from Sunday’s NYTBR by science essayist Jim Holt, from a review of a new book on wine Liquid Memory: Why Wine Matters by iconoclast documentarian Jonathan Nossiter*:

*Holt’s background lines adapted after Cleese’s Europhile film-crit Inspector Leopard above: “…2004 saw Mondovino, a subversive documentary about a wine world made up of power-mad wine critics and consultants, arriviste vintners, pretentious restaurateurs, greedy marketers and rich collectors with Americanized palates…”

He takes us on a scathingly opinionated tour of some of Paris’s most renowned restaurants and wine shops. We cheer him on as he picks an argument with the sommelier at the fashionable Atelier de Joël Robuchon, where, he is outraged to find, one of the new-style wines he deplores is priced at 803 euros (“The extra three euros seems deliriously arbitrary: a Gombrowiczian — or Duchampian — touch on top of a Marx Brothers gesture”). He ends up likening this would-be gastronomic temple to a Red Lobster.

As a restorative, Nossiter arranges a rendezvous with the radiant British actress (and longtime Parisian) Charlotte Rampling, who has appeared in one of his films. Together the two friends sip an honest Chablis at Le Dôme, an enduringly authentic Montparnasse fish restaurant cum literary hangout. “Charlotte, who is always surprising, fixes me with her beguilingly aqueous gaze,” he writes, eliciting in this reader a pang of jealousy.

{perry} very rare!

Heard of perry/ No not the chick, the drink! It is a bit tough to chance upon, so most people haven’t heard of it at all. Just as cider is made from apples, perry is produced from perry pears. (Wazzat?)
Reportedly, more perry is made now than has been made in a century, but it is difficult to market because of low production volumes.
It is a specialty of the Three Counties and Welsh Borders, as perry pears thrive in sight of May Hill’. Now perry pears are also grown in Somerset and Norfolk.
Even though the demand for perry is fairly high, producers can’t do much as the quality fruit is not readily available. It takes just three years for a perry pear to bear fruit, but up to thirty years to reach maturity. Wow!
Now don’t go asking your local pub for perry please. Perry is a drink rarely found in pubs. But most CAMRA beer festivals sport a wide range of Perry. Every year, CAMRA runs a National Cider & Perry Competition and presents Gold, Silver & Bronze Awards to both cider and perry. So you know where to head for a taste of perry christmas!

Peru's Inferiority Complex

“We always had this sense of inferiority, of not being important. We always thought that we couldn’t do what the others could.” – Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (President of Brazil)

President “Lula” not only made a statement that spoke for the people of Brazil (South America’s largest country) after it was announced that Rio de Janeiro would be host to the 2016 Summer Olympic Games; He had also touched upon a sentiment that many Peruvians share.

Taking a look at my Peruvian sister-in-law’s Facebook profile I glanced at the one and only sentence in her Interests section: “Salir del País,” which translates into English as “Leave the country.”

It is a phrase you often see and hear from many Peruvians who feel that their country has little future or success to offer them. The general (albeit misinformed) consensus is that pastures are greener abroad in North America, Europe and Asia.

Lula’s quote brought me back to the thought of Peru’s long standing conflict with Chile stemming from the 19th century War of the Pacific.

The conflict continues today over Pisco (a brandy), wine, desserts, the potato, music, retail chains, energy sources, raw materials and maritime borders.

It is safe for me to argue that: A.) Pisco and the Potato originated in Peru; and B.) Chilean wine is poisonous per the warnings on humurous Peruvian T-shirts.

Needless to say I did not heed the T-shirt’s warning and learned the truth about Chilean wine the hard way.

Sadly it seems that only Peruvians and a few privileged foreigners are aware of Peru’s rich culture, history, gastronomy, eco systems, landscapes, products and resources….Phew! Did I omit anything?!

Unfortunately, Chileans have the one up when it comes to marketing and that is why they can sell their pet rocks in the form of wine, produce and tourism to the international market.

Argentina has its gauchos, glaciers, tango, Evita and Buenos Aires.

Brazil has its supermodels in thongs, festive samba music, the world’s largest carnaval party, and sexy beaches.

Chile has its success thanks to Pinochet and the marketing of Peruvian products falsely labeled as Chilean.

Peru has Llamas, Machu Picchu and the Incas….sure there’s a whole lot more to Peru, but It’s like the Vegas saying – “What happens in Peru, stays in Peru.”

One day Peruvians, like my sister-in-law, will realize that not only is the grass greener right where they are standing, but it is infinitely more diverse, beautiful and richer than any other nation on earth.

As living Criolla legend Eva Ayllon sang:

“Es la tierra del Inca / que el sol ilumina/ porque Dios lo manda / que ese Dios a la gloria / le cambió de nombre / y le puso ¡Perú!”

marcel;s victory

marcel is a big BBQ and bon fire junkie as soon as the snow melts .he is alwasy the first to throw a BBQ for his friends .. marcel is very much loved .. he has been thou some tough times about 2 years ago he was in a car accident leaving him paralized from the waist down … after he awoke form his coma of 32 days .. his girlfriend left him .. many of his friends never came to see him after that not even in hospital . but his close friends and family were alwasy by his side .. he struggle for over a year in hospital . they all cryed man tears of loss together his life is now for ever changed .. as he gained strength back in his arms and back .. he was alwasy found at the nurses desk chatting away making up jokes and feeling blessed at there laughs and tears of joy around him . shooting around in his wheelchair around the corridors often getting told of by nurse tracy the matron for being to roudy in the coridors .marcel was there for so long he became part of the family at the hospital too his 29th birthday came and went ..so did xmas .. as he lied in his bed watching the snow fall and dry up to the sun .the flowers blooming around him.his legs began to hurt .. they started to tingle and twitch . some nights were so bad he screamed in pain .. the drs couldnt tell him why this was happening or what it ment .. but it was a good sign that sensations were comming back . his physio was upted now to 5 hours a day . his feet chained to the bike and the machine peddled for him as his lifeless legs moved with the motions .his tears dripping off his rosy red cheeks as the pain was almost too much to bare his arms burnt his heart pounded deep in his chest .he breathed heavily puffing and panting .. marcel knew he had to keep goin .. there was no way he was going to give up no matter how hard and [painfull things got .. he had to beat this .his body was going against him .. his dreams all shattered …his life a mess ..but he couldnt give up ..he tried to peddel himself but still nothing happened all this pain was so new and so tough to handle ..he had to become mentaly strong now .. his arms so strong .mucsles burning .. as the nurse wound down the speed slowly ..ans slowly till it stopped …. marcel fell and calapsed to the floor . screaming in pain his legs were burning his skin turned red ,his body tempreture heated up to extrordinary high heat ..they had to rush him into a bath of ice and water .. he began to convulse and shake .he was so scared and not realy with it either he began thrashing his body about . trying to get out the bath .. wetting everyone in a mile from the room ..the nurses wet saturated .the electical equipment getting wet … lights were flashing caos was everywhere . machines began to smoke peopel running every where . 4 nurses by marcels side trying to calm him ..the water splashing everwhere .. dr rice came running inot the room ..he is marcels specialsit they had a close relashionship due to there constant appointments … as he walked in the door .his face turned white … his mouth dropped open wide his hands came out pointing to marcel splashing in the bath ..the nurses looked up at him them back to marcel .. the room filled with silence as the nurses moved away from marcel panicking in the bath .. they stood there watching him ….. even marcel didnt notice or realise not only was he able to hold himself up and sit in the bath alone .. but both his legs were kicking and splashing in the water ….. this has never been seen before .. a paralized man legs all of a sudden working marcel noticed the noise level was gone and beagn to quieten down himself slowly he stopped splashing and satt here looking at all the dr and nurses faces ..they all looked stunned and shocked as they stood there silently … marcel . caals out ‘ what areyou all doing … he looked around the room ..it was a mess ..water everywhere ..the hospital equipment destroyed ..marcel held his head down in shame …”im so sorry he spoke softly..”he stuttered as he told them he would pay to fix it all …they all let out a big laugh… : dr Rice walked to marcel and placed his hand in the cold water and touched his leg and pinched it as hard as he could ..marcel screamed ……Ouch …. then looked down at his legs in shock ..:i can feel my legs .. he moved them gently in the water ..: omg i can move my legs … the room roared with a cheers of happyness ..your a medical miracle marcel ….they all clapped and cheeered .. ..marcel was taken out the ice bath and placed back in his wheel chair ..but marcel shaking and blue from the bath .. said …’no’ help me up .. i wont to walk to my room .. so with the help of two nurses one on each side they helped him walk to his room past the nurses station … they stood up from behind there desks stunned to see there marcel walking past them ..they clapped as he went by .. patients peeked there heads out there rooms to see him go by ..they too cheered for him ,as he puts himself to bed the biggest smile on his face .. he picks up the phone to tell his mum .. tears streem from his face … and a few of the nurses too .. what a wonderful day … ..the pain had now gone from his legs .still very weak and his muscle tone needs lots of work ..but that will all be tomorow ..

tomorw comes and he is now in another section of the physio room with a new therapist too … her name is melony .. she was so pleased to be working with marcel she had heard all about his amazing recovery while drs did a tv interview marcel was helped up onto that damn training bike he fuckin hated so much …his feet strapped in ..the setting put on the lowest resistence …. he rolled his eyes up took a few very deep breaths .. and began to push his foot down on the pedal and made it move . he went all the way around not once .. but for 30 minutes at a constant speed . melony was so please with his efforts .each day marcel went down to the office as he called it ..for more physio twice a day each for 1 hour.. his strength was inproving .. his muscles growing .. he has many other test done aswell .. sstill they had no idea why this was happening ..they desided not to ask questions anymore but be happy for marcels blssing .. life was looking amazing again for marcel .he grew a strong bond with melony they began having lunch together now and there friendship grew to a new blossoming love … marcel would write her the most dazling and amazing poetry .he just wished he was out of hospital so he could realy show how much he loved her … but that day is comming in a few weeks … he didnt wont to go home to his mothers house .. he wanted to be independant and and finaly have some space for himself ..its been a year in this hospitaland althou he loved each and every one there .. he was getting itchy .. he needed out of here.. he wonted some alone time with melony as well .. he just wonted to begin his new life again ….. he missed the outside world so much …. his mother had found im a small apartment not far from where she lived just incase .. he ever needed her ..

　

　

　

melony had been over each day to help marcel with his physio and they became even closer … marcel so wonted to get even closer to her so bad .. she made him tremble each time she touched him now .. his feelings were growing stronger . so this time when she came over he plucked up the courage just before she left ..and asked her over for a meal that he would love to cook for her.. and to his surprise she answered yet very quikly back with a smile as she shut the door and left …. the next day was friday as usual at 11 am each day the door bell rang and she entered …. before the lessons beagan she alwasy gave marcels legs a good rubbing down to stretch the muscles but this time there was an erie silence and she smiled massageing his legs .. marcel knew it wasnt becasue she was uncomfortable more like she was excited and happy he had asked her out ..as she rubbed high on his thighs .. marcels penis got a little excited and grew it made a buldge in his pants . looking so embarresed . but melony just laughed .. it seemed to break the silence they were having and they began to talk once more . this time it was more personal .. she was loking forward to dinner tomorw and they spoke about that … when his therapy had finishes .. both sore and tired now … melony packed up her things and this time on her way out the door .. marcel holding the door open for her as they said there goodbyes .. she quikly leaned over and gave him a big kiss on the mouth and she left .. marcel closed the door slowly behind him smiliing and let out a big sign .. loud enough for melony to here ..i can asure you they both had resless sleeps that night both tossing and turning .. the excitment building yet still both were nervous as hell .. marcel spent all day cleaning house and cooking his famout pork roast with special sauce .. he also made his secret marcels salad .. everyone loved it but no one knew what was in it …marcel was a n amazing cook .. the table was set ,marcel tossed between a romantic setting or a crisp white clean setting … he change the table about 5 times …and set a bit of both . a candle in the middle with red rose flower petals scattered around the table .. ok ; he thought … its a little bit over the top maybe ..but she was worth it . even if she ran out the door scared marcel was happy the way things looked .. he quikly shaved and showered .

it was 6 oclock on the dot .. the roast cooking could be smelt all the way down the street .. he hears her car pull up and her door open and shut .. his body tingling .his nervs nerver been so high before the door bell rings and marcel opends it up ..there she stood .the glow of the sun setting directly behind her . making her shine infront of marcel. she was holding a bunch of flowers and a bottle of wine . with the most gorgoeus smile on her face she enters the house : oh marcel she says this smells absolulty devine .. i could smell it as soon as i got out the car and was hoping it was comming from here .. and they laughted toghtethere again this broke the tention they both had and conversations just flew all over the place all night … there dinner was beautuful her floweres sat on the table .. ofcourse ehr eyes lit us when she saw the table setting .. the night went so well . the food the wine the conversations just went on and on .. it was 1 am before they knew it …. as she snuggled deep into marcels arms on the couch

　

he gently kissed her on the head ,so .she looked up at him and they embraced in a kiss of passion long over due for them both her arms wrapped around his body as his wraps around hers too .. they embrace each other tightly madly kissing each other .. marcel couldnt get enough of her taste there kissing entangled each others tounges there lips locking to each oth as marcel picked her up and carried her to the bedroom .. she was eager ..she wonted him just as badly as he wonted her they both stripped of each others clothes in a mad fight for who gets naked first. .she pushes marcel onto the bed then jumps right ontop of him hands rubbing and touching ea ch others bodys covering every single inch of hot flesh leaving not a peice un touched her legs wrap around either side of his waist they pleasure zones grinding on each other /marcel grew hard fast as she moved gently form side to side over him .. kissing his neck. then chest . marcel reached out to caress her beautful breast as they began to make love marcel could feel his heart beating 100 miles per hour .. her sweat dripping on his chest as she rode him fast .. again the bedroom light behind her body shone brightly she was marcels angel. .. his hadns gently glided over her body her skin was so soft /so smooth his fingers tingles just touching her skin .. her lips pounted and wet as she breathed deeper ontop of him … he reached out to her waist and with a flip he was now making love ontop of her . she held her arms abouve her head moaning with screams of pleasure as marcel thrusted deeper inside her .kissing her breast. and licking ehr neck drove melony crazy . she too moved with marcel rocking the bed head loudly up against the wall ,in his passion marcel grabed both her hands and held them above her head both of them going fast dripping with sweat .. his aftershave and her perfume colide together making the room smell of sweet sandlewood.. with the bed head shaking profusly there noises became deafening the banking on the wall melony screaming out :yes;;yes constanly ..marcel pouning her with all the energy he could muster up sweat dripping up the walls then melony calls out ; marcel im cuming … oh god marcel im cuiming .. with that marcel too feeling the powerful orgams from inside her body brought him to climax too .his cock exploded huge amounts of his cum inside her … her loud screams almost deafening marcels ears .. as the rocking slowed there screams turned to heavy breathing … all of a sudden the the top of the bed colapsed under them … marcel thrusted forwrds into the wall with his head still with his cock inside her she yells uch ..while marcel tryed to pull himself out of her the sheets roolinh up over her head. there both laughing loudly and they both try to get out of the bed marcels cum drips from her wet pussy as she climbs out … they both fall on the floor next to each other wrapped in the sheets … they snuggle once again as there laughter slowly turns to them both faling alsleep in each others arm on the floor .

as they wake in the morning gazing into each others eyes ..marcel says > you are the one .and she replies .. i finnaly found you ….

Willcox Wine and Art Show Oct. 17 & 18

Have you tasted Arizona’s wines yet?

Coronado Vineyards in Willcox (c) Luanne Mattson

If not, you might want to check out Willcox this weekend. Willcox’s weather looks fantastic (highs in the 80s; lows in the 50s)!

Eight Arizona wineries are gearing up for the Willcox Wine and Art Show. Six of the eight wineries are grown in Cochise County. The event will also include a juried art show of 30 artists, five food booths, music and a wine tasting area.

When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 17 & 18

Where: Railroad Park, on Railroad Ave. in historic downtown Willcox

Cost: Wine tasting will be $10 for those over 21 and includes six tasting coupons and a commemorative Arizona Wine glass. Attendance and parking  is FREE and open to the public.

Check the Willcox Wine and Art Show website for more info.

Looking for more to do in Willcox? Check out the Rex Allen Museum, dedicated to preserving the memory of Rex Allen, who was the “voice of Disney” for years. If you’re a fan of country music, you might also stop by the Marty Robbins exhibit, which is also on Railroad Avenue. Marty is famous for his song, El Paso, but he has hundreds of other great songs. Outside Willcox’s downtown are Apple Annie’s Orchard and a number of other u-pick farms if you want to pick your own apples or pumpkins (can you say “pie”?). Click here for the Willcox harvest brochure.

Stop by the Willcox Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture for more information on places to see and things to do in the area.

Dance like it hurts, love like you need money, work when people are watching. - Adams

Another night covering the library.  I can’t complain…the money is good, it’s pretty easy work, and considering I came down with a killer cold this weekend and am just recovering now, I’m really grateful I’m not teaching tonight.  I’ve been home most of the weekend, enjoying my fireplace while nursing a glass of wine in my jammies and watching movies while having the cat shiatsu take care of my aching shoulders.  I’ve kept the lights out so my Peeping Tom can’t see too much (though he WAS in his underwear, sitting on his floor and looking in my window yet again Saturday night), and caught up on some much needed rest, so in another day or two, I will be back on the horse and ready to start living large on a tiny budget once more!

Hold me…I’m scared!

No kidding–I’m horrified!  Proclaimed to be one of the worst movies of all time, Troll 2 has developed a cult following and will be the featured film at this week’s Theatre of the Wild at the Cinema Arts Centre.  I just wish I wasn’t working late that night!

If you can’t make it Wednesday night, there are plenty of really bad horror flicks out there that are worth checking out!  Save yourself the Blockbuster fees and get yourself to your nearest library…believe it or not, many have a wide selection of movies available, and can do an ILL (inter-library loan) if you find that the movie you want is not at your branch.  My picks for some really fun bad movies:  look for anything by George Romero, Ed Wood, or produced in the 80’s.

Sing me a song…

It seems to be a quiet week gig-wise (however, that could be because certain musicians don’t post their gigs on their websites–come on, folks!  If you want to be seen, you have to update your sites!  If you are desperate and a complete luddite, start a blog…all you do is type, publish, and then email a link out to people so they can be kept up on your latest and greatest!  I REALLY should do a workshop on this sometime…) but the gigs I have found look really good–quality over quantity is always my preference!

This Thursday, catch a Miss Chris fave–Gathering Time is playing the Dine Huntington Outdoor Promenade…Wall Street, FREE!

This Friday, Tom Chapin performs at the Our Times Coffeehouse, 8PM, $15.  Also, Finch Mountain House Concerts features Terence Martin and Dan Bonis (with Ken Korb opening). For reservations and directions, call 631-661-1278. Potluck supper at 7PM followed by 8PM concert. $20 suggested donation per person.

This Saturday, catch Jenee Halstead and James O’Malley at the Hard Luck Cafe...$10 gets you in. Or catch the Rhythm Kings Acoustic Duo at one of my favorite places, the Grey Horse Tavern…

And rounding out the week on Sunday, University Cafe presents Willie Nile…don’t miss this show!  $20 in advance, $25 at the door.

(I’m really hoping my schedule lightens up again…my poor guitar has been relegated to a corner and has been untouched for the better part of a year now…I’d like to go back to taking lessons again!  However, methinks this time it won’t be with some 20 year old trying to teach me in the local music store where people who know me are walking around and making fun of me!)

Wine me, dine me…

…get yer mind out of the gutter!  And again, I must bitch and complain…why, oh, why are all the vineyards pricing their events way out of the budgets of most normal folk?  It really makes me crazy when I see event prices of $100 and up!  There’s a reason I only feature the same vineyards and wineries on this site again and again–they cater to the working class pocketbook.  I make a pretty decent living, and have been known to spend some serious coin on a wine if I feel it’s worth it.  However, I think I’m going to repost a link that’s been on this site before…Wine Spectator’s online courses are well reviewed and come in at well under the cost of tastings at most of the local vineyards.  Grab some friends, head on over to Swiftway for a few decent bottles, and make a night of it.

I’ve got an art on for you…

Okay…I KNOW it’s a really bad pun…but those who know me know I have a bawdy at best, and crude at worst sense of humor!  Sorry!  Anyhow, a couple of things worth checking out…the Heckscher Museum has a few new exhibits, and the Phoenix Gallery in Bellport just installed a new show this week…

All for now…next post will feature all things Halloweenie, so check back soon!  Have something that should be here?  Email me at cheapdateli@gmail.com…chat soon, you kooky cats!

French Paradox

Carafe n°5

Petit Coeur

French scientist Dr. Serge Renaud from Bordeaux University conied this term in 1992. His study is about beneficial cardiovascular effects in drinking moderate quantity of red wine. Belong the researcher the Holy Graal seems to be the consumption of one glass par day. Resveratrol is the key! Etienne Meneau did this collection of decanters inspired this French Paradox and cardiovascular system.
Enjoy wine, do not abuse it! 

http://the-strange-decanter.blogspot.com/

12:32 AM Sunday 10/11/2009

So it is 12:32 AM on a Sunday morning…what am I doing?  I am listening to ABC and drinking a glass or two of wine .  What do the two have in common…nothing.  Why am I telling you this?  I dunno.

Maybe these luxuries can…only compensate.

~Wavy

PS. the wine is very good, and I can see why.  They know that the best way to make a good Zin is to source some or most of the grapes from Amador!

I'm Pouring at the 2nd Annual Wine & Chocolate Party Oct 20!

Come to the 2nd Annual Wine & Chocolate Party/Auction On Oct 20, 4-7pm.  See below for location details.

I poured last year and it was a HUGE success, and it’s going to be even better this year!    We raised a lot of money for a cause near and dear to my heart (Alzheimer’s), and there were dozens of great items up for auction.  Oh, and did I mention the WINE AND CHOCOLATE???

I’ll be pouring alongside my FAVORITE Chocolate Guru, Melissa, founder of Missionary Chocolates (be prepared, everything you know about Chocolate will change)!  I’ll be pouring 3 of my wines, and I’m bringing in a amazing new release from my favorite Oregon Winery, Purple Cow Vineyards!  Here are my pairings for the evening:

Sunfish 2008 Pinot Noir with Pumpkin Pie Spice Truffle

Fleur Blue 2006 Zinfandel with Sweet Raspberry Heart Truffle

Pied Violet 2007 Reserve Merlot with Dark Chocolate Delight Truffle

And For Dessert…

Purple Cow 2008 Siegerrebe with Salted Caramel Vanilla Truffle

ALL wines and Truffles will be available for purchase, with a % donated to the cause!

Where?

Courtyard at Mt. Tabor

6323 SE Division, Portland 97206

When?

October 20th, from 4-7pm

Join us for an evening of wine & chocolate pairing, as you bid on several silent auction items. Gift certificates, gift baskets, and more!

All proceeds from the event benefit the Alzheimer’s Association!

McLaren Vale Wines - Marius Wines

Marius Wines is the third winery I am reviewing from the Vale Cru event held in McLaren Vale on 20th September.

What another small producer joy from the vines of Roger Pike nestled is the foothills between McLaren Vale and Willunga on Binney Road.  Right off the bat I could tell 2 things.  Firstly, quality single vineyard fruit (Shiraz and Mourvedre) and secondly a very passionate producer in Roger.  Roger is very passionate about what he does and the McLaren Vale region as a whole.

For a vineyard experience Roger is providing a point of difference with a grape picking experience where he provides his “friends” where about 3 different days during vintage he looks to get helpers to pick grapes and then provides good food and wine for those that have helped.  I do not know if I have done the right thing – I have signed up to assist the grape picking for next vintage, even though I have done grape picking for a friend in Western Australia and it was really hard  work on my back – and that was 15 years ago.  Maybe I had better start getting into shape (which would be a real difference) so the day will be an all round positive McLaren Vale wine experience!

Check out the web site at http://www.mariuswines.com.au

And now the wines:-

All dozen wine get a $15 discount (over the dozen) plus free delivery.

2006 Marius Simpatico Single Vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz ($A27.50)

Medium bodied Shiraz flushed with good red fruits on the nose and palate – cherries and red currents.  Hints of American oak combines with fine tannins and the reliable McLaren Vale soft mid palate and great acidity create a wine worth drinking    and enjoying.  Roger tells me that out of his range almost everybody likes this wine and I can see why.  You could drink it now but I suspect this will only get better in the coming 5+ years – if you can leave it that long.

Try taking this wine to a BBQ and you would have many friends that suddenly understand that the wine they brought was not up to standards that should be set for red wine enjoyment.

2006 Symposium McLaren Vale Shiraz Mourvedre ($A33)

50% of the Shiraz and Mourvedre and what an enjoyable combination.  Mulberries and violets on the nose with intense (but not over the top) fruit mixed with fine tannins and chocolate flavourings.  The denseness and perfume aromas of the Mourvedre (of which some of the Australian readers will be more familiar with the term Mataro) sets this wine up for a long and happy life and will provide some serious joy when consumed.  I bought some and this will be a while before the contents see the light of day.

This wine is a little harder to match with food, it has power and finesse with layers of complexity all in one glass.  Maybe go for comfort food like a slow cooked beef casserole or a roast leg of lamb that has been “spiked” with rosemary and garlic slivers. 

2006 Symphony Single Vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz ($A37)

The best Shiraz fruit goes into the Symphony with the remainder going into the Simpatico.   This is simply a fruit and power bomb.  All the expected components of McLaren Vale Shiraz are here plums, spice, pepper with a hint of chocolate on the lingering and very pleasant finish.  There is plenty going on in this wine and I suspect there will be a larger symphony of flavours as the wine ages.  A classy wine that will need many years to get to its best.

In its current form, this wine yells out steak – a thick juicy T-bone covered with lashings of creamy masala mushroom sauce.

I tasted a barrel sample of the 2007 Symphony which looked spectacular – still time to go before being released but the pedigree looks like another winner for marius Wines.

Wine Club

Marius runs a wine club where you can get a great discount on the wines (15+%).  The club membership is free and there is no committment to purchase wines.  All Australian wine club members go into a draw (twice yearly) for a 2 pack of wine.  New members will get an oportunity to purchase a tasting pack (1 of each wine) at a special price.  There will be some museum releases and special bottlings that will be for Wine Club members only.  It should also be noted that Wine Club members will get preference on wine purchases.  As the quality of Marius wines gets out there could be some difficulties in getting these wines in the future.

Top Five Reasons to Invest in Individual-Size Wine Bags

In case you haven’t heard, not only does Target sell wine cubes, they sell wine cubes filled with individually wrapped bags of wine. They almost resemble juice boxes (which, of course, rhymes with doucheboxes). Makes me wanna pop a straw in one like it’s a Capri Sun and suck it down as I peruse the aisles of Target for Swiffer refills and Flaming Hot Cheetos. Don’t judge.

In light of this recent discovery, I’ve composed a list. Welcome to the Top Five Reasons to Invest in Individual-Size Wine Bags:

5. They look like juice boxes. You can finally ditch your “wino” rep and become the “healthy one” in your group. “Oh look, Kim has been sipping juice all day long. Think of all those vitamins and nutrients she must be getting.” When you pass out naked and sobbing to an episode of The Wiggles, you can just tell people Vitamin C has a bad reaction with your anxiety meds.

4. They’re portable. Bottles are so last season. Besides, you can’t shove a bottle in your pocket to take with on your blind date, who turns out to be the acne-ridden little brother of the assh*le who cheated on you with your sister 3 months ago, so that you can do a wine-bong in the bathroom.

3.  Stocking stuffers! Sure, a bottle of wine fits nicely into a stocking but leaves room for nothing else. You can fit at least two wine bags plus numerous mini bottles of Bacardi and Smirnoff in one of those things.

2. BYOB. Bring your own bag. Tell that swanky restaurant to take its corking fee and shove it.

1. They put the best stuff in the bags anyways. (hint: click the link)

sapphire.

The Sapphire Hotel on 50th and Hawthorne in Portland, was once known to be a seedy hotel frequented by sailors, lovely ladies looking for a good time, and common folk stumbling in to pay those ladies a good visit. Most of them would rent rooms at an hourly rate, over night, or by the week as a gathering place to hang their hats.
Today, the hotel has been converted into what I call a swanky lounge where people still gather for swirly drinks, chatty conversation, and tantalizing food. In this photo, I was trying to capture the paper lights, amber lighting, and the overall ambience of the lounge.

This is what I captured.