Monday, September 28, 2009

Au Coup de Grâce

“Le coup de grâce” is a French medieval expression that means the final knockout or the kiss of death, but figuratively it can also refer to a final victory gained after many failed attempts.  I prefer the second definition, especially since a nice glass of wine is always in order after one finally succeeds in a difficult endeavor.  Inspired by this victorious expression, Au Coup de Grâce is one of the newest wine bars in Paris that opened its doors for the first time two weeks ago.  The owners are two young wine connoisseurs who are passionate about the grape, the wine, and, of course, the final victorious sip.

Located in the 5th arrondissement, Au Coup de Grâce is one of the newest editions to the long list of Parisian wine bars, but this one is different than most.  The interior is very simple with just a few tables and chairs, and the only decorations are the wine bottles displayed on the walls.  It is still very new (even the paint looks fresh), but I appreciate the simplicity.  The atmosphere is relaxing and the no-frills style confirms your reason to be there – to drink good wine.

There is a nice array of wines, mostly French, that can be as inexpensive as 5 euros a bottle, or, if you’re looking for a truly victorious drink, they have a nice selection of red Burgundies – both new and old.  They will open any of their bottles for a small corking fee, but of course you can also opt for one of their wines by the glass (4 euros).  And you can’t forget about the cheese and charcuterie.

The Wine

The bottle we chose was a Bourgogne 1999 Volnay Santenots du milieu (premier cru controlée) by François Mikulski.  It is from Meursault, which is located in the Côte d’Or.  According to Theo, one of the owners, it is a difficult year to find, and I can certainly see (or taste) why.  The bottle was everything you would want in a good Burgundy.  Although, when first opened, the wine was a little serré or closed.  The owner decanted the bottle for us, which opened up the great bouquet and brought out the complexity of the wine.  The body was fuller than I expected with bright acidity, earthy characteristics, and layers of cinnamon, smoke, tart raspberry, and casis.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Malbec Argentinean wine wins hearts of dollar conscious wine enthusiasts

Malbec Argentina wine:
Who knew that the Malbec grape, a variety of grape used to make red wines, would turn the heads of wine lovers world wide. This grape, inky in color has very robust tannins. Malbec is a grape used in red Bordeaux wines for blending. Malbec vineyards are now found primarily in Cahors in the South West region of France.

The Malbec grape is a thin skinned grape that needs more sun and heat than either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot to mature. It usually ripens in mid season with deep plum color and, the previously mentioned, robust tannins. As a varietal it produces an intense wine, so it’s commonly used for blending in French Bordeau wines. Unfortunately, the Malbec vineyards in France are declining, but in Argentina this grape is surging. This wine is full bodied with a soft mouth feel full of soft silky tannins. The wine shows plenty of black currant, plum and berries with cassis. The Malbec wines of Argentina taste a lot like Merlot wines made elsewhere in the world. .

Argentina Malbec wines are great food friendly wines when a full bodied red is required.

Food recommendation; Steak with Syrah mushroom sauce

You can buy very good Argentina Malbec’s for under $20.00. (Making them a keeper!) The leading predomianat regions are; Mendoza, La Rioja, Salta, San Juan, Catamarca and Buenus Aires.

Try these wines you’ll love them today and over the years!

2004 Montevieto Festivo Malbec Mondoza-$11.99
Fragrant noise of blueberry and black cherry.
Medium bodied, light tannins with a nice elegance
on the finish. Drink now or over the next 5-7 years.

91 pt wine Robert Parker – Wine Advocate

2007 Durigutt Malbec-Mendoza-$12.99
Nice noise with plum, blackberry, black currant.
Drink now through 2010.

90 pts. wine Spectator

2007 La Posta del Vinatero Pizzella Vineyard-Malbec Medoxa
Layers of raspberry and boysenberry fruit flavors.
Drink now through 2020.
91 pts. Wine Spectator

Edition Thirteen 20 to 26 September 2009 (Wine by Cush)

 

Edition Thirteen moved on as editions before but expanded also. I included the same content types as before and expect to add tasting and event notes in the future. As I was writing critical essays for my writing blog, I found topics of interest related to wine also. That proved to be a time-consuming departure from the normal content but rewarding one. This edition has an essay on mobile food cart and beer certfications. Randall Graham was in town and reminded me of his famous back label for Le Cigar Volant. I couldn’t find the backlabel online nor on his web site. I did include a cool video clip about his Le Cigar flying. I somehow thought maybe Graham could be an alien himself. His outpost is way out in the woods where no humans go often. He could be visited by any kind of creature or be an alien himself. How would anybody know except for his eccentricities? I really don’t know. I am supposed to read non-English wine blogs and though my Italian and French are pathetic, I yet do search. An Italian wine blog I subscribe to had nice supermarket type wine bottles with pictures of Hitler and so on. I don’t think they are zealous. I think they will do anything to sell a bottle. Are world records so important to make a 185 point burger? I give up. Cured pork is becoming a favorite subject of mine and Mexico is my favorite country for a large project of turning a whole large country into a giant dairy making artisan cheeses and cured meat products. I think the project is very beneficial to all of us in North America. New Zagat is out. I used to love reading Zagat reviews and telling people how much I agreed with the quoted comments versus my own experiences of visiting places. I am writing a critical essay which is too large and had to break it into five essays. One of the essays mentions of Zagat as a pack of lies. That is my opinion today. Michael Bauer continues his weekly nagging in his blog. He went to an amateur cooking contest (sponsored by an impartial huge corporation). I think his blog will set records for going off topic one day. This was not the day anyway. Rajat Parr has his wines to taste in San Francisco which is a good previledge. I continue to miss all tastings and honestly cannot blame myself. I barely pulled my blogs together and just when they were automated so I can do things, I started with the damn essays. Now, everyone is on my back to scrap everything except the essays. I won’t. Those contents will get better also but for now my essays take my time and brain power away.

Italian Wine Tasting, Nugnes, A Producer From Falerno

Wine Tasting At The Enoteca Wine Club Umbertide, Umbria

Tonight I called in to see Patrick at the Enoteca Wine Club in Umbertide as he was running a tasting of wines from the producer Nugnes, a new and obviously upcoming name in southern Italian wine.

There were two whites on offer, both made from Falanghina grapes. The first white, Falerno del Massico Bianco was priced at €9.90 and made from grapes harvested in September. It had lovely apricot and flower aromas and a lively acidity in the mouth with beautiful citrus flavours.

Nugnes, Italian Wine

The second white, Vite Aminea, was made from identical grapes harvested in October. The price was higher at over €12 and the aromas and flavour were noticeably more delicate. I have to say that I preferred the first cheaper white, it was less subtle and immediately grabbed my attention.

Then I went on to try the two superb reds, both blends of 80% Aglianico and 20% Piedirosso, the latter grape being one I had never heard of, Italian wine never ceases to amaze me with variety! It’s name, translating as “red feet”, suggests it is added to a blend for colour. The first red, Falerno del Massico Rosso, retailing at €10, was instantly likeable, lovely plum / cherry aromas and beautiful balance in the mouth with delicious ripe cherry flavours. The second red, Caleno, had been aged in oak barrels for a year and had the usual sweet spice aromas of oak and more decisive tannins in the mouth. It was a great wine, but my initial feeling was that I would buy the first red rather than spend the €20 asking price on this one.

These Nugnes wines were all very enjoyable, if you are holidaying on the Tuscany Umbria border, call in at the Enoteca Wine Club and judge for yourself.

Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Agritourism

You can try these wines when you holiday on the Tuscany Umbria border. Gorgacce Rentals have a selection of self catering holiday accommodation in this beautiful part of central Italy, visit their web site http://www.tuscanyumbria.com/ for Large Tuscany Villas, Small Tuscany Villas, Tuscany Farmhouses, Tuscany Agritourism and Tuscany Bed and Breakfast apartments, all with swimming pools. Also, look at our Cortona Apartment, Tuscany and Spello Apartments, Umbria. Whether you are looking for a Luxury Tuscany Villa or budget Tuscany Agritourism Apartments you will find suitable accommodation for your vacation in Tuscany and Umbria.

Gorgacce Rentals: Tuscany Vilas, Tuscany Agritourism, Tuscany Farmhouse Accommodation

2006 Chalk Hill Estate Sauvignon Blanc (88/100)

I bought this bottle a year ago during a visit to the winery.  Feeling a bit nostalgic after a day spent in wine country, and hosting some friends over for dinner, I figured it was time to pull it out of the wine fridge.

Lots of fruit on the nose, a little sharp, acidic at first, but opens up with a bit of a grassy/pineapple taste.  Lingers mid-palate.  A lot richer than the typical sauv blanc.  I can see this going well with a little goat cheese – acidity would cut through nicely.  But given the Chalk Hill reputation, I was expecting a bit more.

I bought this bottle for $33 at the winery, but it retails for around $25

Saturday, September 26, 2009

first time(s) - part 2

As I’ve said before, I had two “first times” escorting…  the first one was the first time I was paid for companionship/sex.  But it wasn’t reallllly what I was setting out to do as an escort…  meaning it was an hour or so of oral sex, and not much else.  I guess it didn’t quite “represent” me as an escort?  I didn’t give the guy what I think of myself as offering in this business… and it wasn’t the experience that cemented my decision to make this my day job.

For you new readers who are thinking, “um wtf are you offering besides sex?” I’ll revisit my business plan.  I really do think of myself as a companion…  someone to talk to, chill with, and yes, sleep with, but it’s more of a complete date. I don’t want to be jumping around to multiple one hour appointments every day (or even every couple days).  By spending evenings with one guy (or sleeping over) I can get more money at one time, and in theory develop a longer lasting relationship with each client.  Also, I’m pretty sure it’s way less soul sucking this way, although I have no way of confirming that.

That fateful night, I put an ad up on craigslist.  As my ads still do, it stated pretty specifically that I was looking for something longer or overnight.  I advertised my college education and interest in meeting new people over some wine…  no mention of sex (although i’m pretty sure it was understood by everyone who responded).  My guy responded with this email:

him: “hey there, not sure if you are still looking or not, but 36y/o, professional (suit & tie type), masc, non-smoker, ddf, top here who lives here for now and moving to europe soon (although will be back regularly).  Looking for good company, friend with benefits, etc.  If more develops, would be cool with that as well.  Have face pics to trade.

Let me know if interested in learning more.  I do have face pics to trade.”

Interesting to me when guys offer to trade pics.  I guess they are pretending that it’s just a regular hookup?  Or maybe they just want to make extra sure that I know what I’m getting into and won’t reject their money because they are too ugly or something.

His pics were pretty average.  Couple emails later:

him: “Was thinking of relaxed evening after run (probably not starting till around 10:30) of wine, movies, kissing, cuddling and as mentioned before sexually am top.  Let me know if you are still looking for tonight.  I had previous plans, but to be honest, not sure that I want to go through with them (was just heading out to drink with a friend).”

we settled on $800 to spend the night.

him: “ok, about to leave for run (little bit late).  Let’s plan on meeting at my place at 10:45 (will try to be showered, etc. by time you get here but may be cutting it close as plan on doing long run).  I have no food here (travel a lot) so bring any pretzels or chips, etc. you may want to munch on while having wine.”

I showered, put on my sunday best, double checked my little escort bag that I always carry (but was then carrying for the first time) and set out, very nervous.

When I reached his apartment and he answered the door in his pjs, I quickly realized he had gained some weight since the pictures he had sent me were taken.  I walked into his very cute one bedroom, which overlooked the hudson river.  Of course, when I called my friend to tell him that I had reached the apartment safely and hadn’t been clubbed and taken advantage of, my phone failed me (damn you at&t).  There was an awkward 5 minute silence between me and this guy while I tried to reach my friend, worried my night of companionship would turn into a group thing with New York’s finest.  Finally I gave up and texted him (which worked, thank god), but the night already felt like it was off to an awkward start. He let me choose between white and red (I chose red) and poured us some wine.

Rent Boy Tip: Be careful of roofies and other drugs! Always remember: “Watch your glass, save your ass.  Don’t see him pour, get raped on the floor.”

I leaned over his counter while we made small talk.  He started telling me about his work, which involved buying and selling companies I believe?  I don’t quite remember now, but besides the fact that it was totally boring, it was so filled with jargon that I could barely understand what he was talking about.  Of course I smiled and nodded and urged him to tell me more, which he happily did as we headed over to his couch where “Shrek” was playing silently on his flat screen.  He continued on, and I have to say I kept up pretty well considering I knew nothing about his business.  Now, there are plenty of times when I would be completely honest about what I know and don’t know.  Clearly I’m not expected to know everything about a random business.  However, when someone is talking to me as if he EXPECTS me to know things, there is a little more pressure.  I don’t want to seem stupid, especially when I’m being paid to be good company.

Rent Boy Tip:  Act like you understand everything, and then pick out the couple things you DO understand and expound.  It will seeeeeem like you are keeping up…  at least it did that night!  Always remember: “Smile and nod, be spared the rod.  Stare and blink, get raped by the sink.”

The conversation was fine.  As the topics changed, it became more interesting… hearing about another person’s life always has some value.  He was quite the world traveler, and was soon moving to europe (not the first time he had lived there.  I forget what country…  switzerland or something?).  He had some beautiful paintings.  Every time he visited or lived in a country, he bought a painting as a souvenir.  Isn’t that a cool way to remember a trip?  Instead of crappy little knick knacks.

After maybe 45 minutes of talk, we started getting a little more intimate, and I was soon in the middle of my (second) first sexual experience with a client.  We made out some, I felt him up, and he boasted about his big dick.  It was fairly big, although not gigantic…  certainly above average.  After going down on him while he sat on the couch, we moved into the bedroom where we moved on to more “intrusive” activities…  soon I was being fucked.  Now I consider myself versatile (does anyone reading not know what that means?  it means i’m a very generous person)  although I do end up bottoming more than topping.  He was fairly large, though, so we had to take it slow at first.  I have to say, I took it like a champ.  He fucked me until he came (I’m almost positive that I didn’t cum, although maybe I’m not remembering…  he really didn’t focus at all on getting me off) and then we headed to the bathroom to clean up.

Throughout all my experiences, I’ve been amazed at how turned on I can get by guys that I’m not attracted to.  It wasn’t mindblowing, but really, getting fucked is hot.  Sex is hot.  And unless i’m DISGUSTED by a person or by something they expect me to do, so far i’ve been able to be sufficiently turned on and get off.

We showered together and chatted (he said “I should be paying him” for his big dick… ha) and then moved back out to the couch.  He showed me pictures of his trips in europe (man i got so bored at this point, not gonna lie) and eventually 1 or 2 am rolled around, and he asked me if I still wanted to stay the night.  This seemed like a trick question to me, and it was almost a little awkward.  I didn’t want to stay the night IF he was going to pay me all that money and I could just leave…  really I only wanted to stay if HE wanted me to stay.  But I think he wanted me to want to stay of my own volition…  so instead of risking anything I said yes, of course, and we went to sleep.

I remember waking up early and lying there…  again bored.  Waking before the guy (which i always do) can be complete agony…  I can’t get up before them, I don’t want to be rude and wake them up, but I can’t stand just lying there with NOTHING to do.

Eventually he woke and we cuddled and chatted…   and soon he was hard again and fucked me for a second time.  Again, it was a liiiiiittle rough because of his size, and he didn’t get me off (not expected, of course), but it was fine.  We dressed, and wandered out to his little balcony, where he pointed out various landmarks in the buildings around us.  There were a couple TV studios.  I made my one blunder while we chilled out there when I started talking about my distaste for Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the one super conservative (and super stupid voice) on The View.  The minute I uttered the words “annoying” and “republican” in the same sentence, he said “careful…  my father is [some republican chairman blah blah blah].”  I had to quickly backtrack and say that I meant she was annoying because of her stupidity, not because of being republican…  which is mostly true, really.  He did a little obama bashing and then the subject changed.  I have always kept that lesson with me, though;  I’m dealing with people who run in very different circles than me.  Clearly some are bound to have different political views!

I had realized by then that he was kind of egotistical…  just a little wisp of “toolbag” in his aura.  Clearly thought very highly of himself and his success.  He mentioned at one point that he didn’t feel like he needed to hire guys.  It was just easier than trying to meet one, not to mention the many expectations and complications.  He had the money, so why not just hire a cool guy for a night?  I liked the thought, but I was left thinking “please… you are paying because this includes sex with someone you wouldn’t be able to fuck otherwise.” Seriously, I’m not judging it, but that IS kind of the point…  he was chubby and unattractive.  I’m sure he did want friendship and conversation for the night, which he could have found for free…  but i don’t think he could have found the sex with someone my age.  Maybe that was just a little bonus in terms of what he was looking for?  But again, he struck me as full of himself…  and in this respect, fooling himself.

Soon I was tying my shoes, and as I finished he handed me my wad (that’s right): $800 in twenty dollar bills.  I shoved them into my escort man purse, gave him a goodbye peck and headed out.

I’m sure some escorts feel dirty after all the deeds are done.  Maybe they feel like their payment is tainted by their dirty sinful acts… just a big, paper wad of sin.  I, however, got such a rush, especially that first time.  I mean, I was paid $800 for literally maybe 30 or 40 minutes of sex.  Maybe it was even just 20 or 30.  The rest of the time was chatting, wine, and relaxation.  At worst, a little boredom.  ‘Meeting new people,’ just like my ad said.  I was (and still am) thrilled to be getting paid so much money (in tax free cash) to do something so EASY.  That second first time was what really sealed the deal…  until I had a job that i loved, or a relationship that forbade me from it, or i was hired by a rapist who cut off my dick, i was (and am) going to be an escort.

-B

Friday, September 25, 2009

Pamper Me Spa Time! Candles, soft music, wine, and finger foods...

What is a home pamper party?

Here is a little taste of what can happen..

Imagine it’s Friday night and the spa party is in full swing. Candles, soft music, wine, and finger foods are spread out on a table. One friend is feeling so good she’s got her head back, feet in warm water, her eyes closed and a grin on her face.

Another is lying in a candle lit room, enjoying a relaxing full body massage.

Welcome to the latest creation of a girl’s get together: the pamper party.

Isn’t it time you and your friends get pampered?

 

Pelailua

Asentelinpa huvikseni tähän koneelleni Secret maryo Chroniclesin, eli kyseessähän on Super Mario klooni joka varmasti ainakin ks. genren ystäviin uppoaa. Ehkä hieman yllättäen vanha kaapista kaivamani Logitechin usb-väyläinen padiohjain toimi ilman mitään säätämistä tai ajurien asentelua, joten pelaamisen pystyi aloittamaan siis heti.

Toden sanoakseni harvoinpa sitä nykyään jaksaa enää peleistä sen kummemmin innostua, mutta aikomuksenani on kuitenkin jossain vaiheessa vielä kokeilla Wineä niin näkee miten windowsin pelit oikein toimivat linuxissa. Mutta nyt taidan vielä pelailla pari leveliä maryota…

Wine Hotels and Spas - Europe's Favorites

The ten best European wine hotels have been selected by users and travel experts on luxury hotel website ExperienciasyMas. This is a great idea as it brings together the continent’s shinning stars in one place, including hotels and chateaus with winetherapy treatments in Spain, France, Italy and Portugal. Many of them include beautiful sceneries to gaze at and a stunning gastronomical offer.

You can check out the winners and read a review of each hotel here: http://www.experienciasymas.com/topwinehotels.html

No.6 Peralada Wine Spa Hotel in Spain

Although it is hard to pick one in particular, my favorite has to be the Peralada Hotel, not only because of the magnificent building and rooms but because of its great choice of spa treatments. The hotel is in the center of a beautiful golf course, with nothing but greenery for miles around.

I’m also a big fan of the Tuscany winner, L’Andana, which offers some very fun activities like helping with the grape harvest!

No.3, L'Andana Hotel in Tuscany

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Events for Thursday 09/24/09

Cupcakes for a Cause

8-4pm @ Bread Winners Cafe and Bakery From September 21 – 27, 2009, Bread Winners Café & Bakery will team up with CancerCare for the sixth annualCupcakes for a Cause, supporting children affected by a cancer diagnosis. Bread Winners Café & Bakery will sell specially decorated cupcakes at all three locations and donate a portion of the proceeds from their sale to CancerCare for Kids, a program that provides free, professional support services to children affected by cancer. Autumn at the Arboretum Dallas Arboretum, 8525 Garland Road, Free – $9.50 The Great Pumpkin Festival – Everyday from 9am – 5pm This fall festival, which runs September 19th through November 1st, boasts of more than 150,000 fall blooming flowers including chrysanthemums, salvia, coleus, ornamental grasses and impatiens. Always a favorite spot for the family photo, The Tom Thumb Pumpkin Patch and the gardens are filled with over 25,000 decorative pumpkins and gourds. Also in the Pecan Grove is the walk-through 15′ pumpkin house constructed out of the finest pumpkins in the patch and a 10′ pumpkin topiary decorated with orange marigolds. Pat Peterson 5-8pm @ The Library Bar
NALIP Dallas “Launch” Mixer

5:30-9pm @ Plush Committed to promoting the advancement, development and funding of Latinos in film, television and media arts in all genres. Networking, workshops, scholarships, seminars and more benefitting all members. Membership open to anyone who wants to join! Catering sponsored by: ReMARKable Affairs, Eduardo Flores, Dallas, Texas.

MTVtr3s (MTV3) will cover event/sponsor!

CONFIRMED CELEBRITY GUEST: MONICA DE LEON - ”LA BELLEZA LATINA PAGEANT 2009″ Music programmed by: The Global Cafe

Hands-On Mojito Class 6pm @ La Duni – North Park Learn the three methods of classic Mojitos cocktails, one shaken, one muddled, and one fired while enjoying light bites. Reservations are required for this special event, 214-987-2260.
YAAD Art Show to Benefit The Stewpot of Dallas

6-8pm @ Vino 100 Please join the Young Artist Association of Dallas for a fun night of wine and art to benefit The Stewpot of Dallas. On display will be the paintings of Edgar Cardoze and Page Goss, and the photographs of Christina Kearney, Stuart Palley, Jordan Chlapecka, and myself. Free hors d’oeuvres and half-priced wine during the first hour. 80% of the proceeds will benefit the art program at The Stewpot, which after volunteering for, I can say is a remarkable program that can change lives. For 6 hours, 3 days of week, The Stewpot opens its doors to the homeless community of Dallas to provide free art classes to whoever wishes to participate. These art classes act as a form of therapy, and provide the opportunity to work for an income. Each participant has the choice of his/her personal medium–whether it be from acrylics to oils to jewelry making. Then, the artist can choose to put the artwork up for sale at The Stewpot, with 90% of the proceeds given to that artist. This creates an exciting environment filled with creativity, inspiration, and hope. Our goal is to sell our artwork to raise as much money as possible to provide the program with more freedom and the ability to continue to make such a positive impact on the Dallas community. If you can’t make the event and would like to make a donation, please visit: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=cb7d83

GeekMeet Happy Hour $5, 6-9pm @ The Londoner (uptown) Networking Happy Hour - For the second happy hour of the month, we are headed to Uptown! The Londoner in Addison has always been a great location for us, so we expect the same great experience for the group in Uptown. Come out and meet new folks as you expand your professional network and find new friends.

Wine Chats

6:15-7pm @ The Rosewood Mansion in Turtle Creek Talk and Taste: Drop in and enjoy the world of wine as guests pull some corks and talk about what’s new, notable and now.
Dallas Heart Ball September Happy Hour

6:30-8:30pm @ Sunset Lounge

Come on out to Sunset Lounge and mingle with some fantastic people, while raising money for pediatric cardiology research for Children’s Medical Center. Complimentary Pizza & 1/2 Price Margaritas, Well Drinks & Domestic Beer


Cocktails at the Pavillion – 2nd Annual Membership Party 6:30pm – 8:30pm @ Lee Park

Please join the Lee Park Junior Conservancy for the 2nd Annual Fall Membership Party. Complimentary cocktails and hors d’œuvres will be provided, as well as great music from local musician, Rahim Quazi (http://www.rahimquazi.com/Music.html). Valet will also be available at the entrance of Arlington Hall. For THIS WEEK ONLY, guests are invited to join or renew their membership online for a discounted price of $65 (this covers the entire year). For more information about the Lee Park Junior Conservancy or to join/renew online before the party, please visit our website athttps://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=10345. Please bring friends and be ready to have a good time!
Dallas Singles Toastmasters Club 6:30-8pm @ Ozonas

Visitors are always welcome. The club meets every Thursday night from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Learn communication and leadership skills in a fun and safe environment. Call 877-246-2024 for more information



Fives Outstanding Young Dallasites Award Ceremony

$35, 6:30-8:30pm @ House of Blues

The Dallas Junior Chamber of Commerce (DJCC) invites you to one of our premiere events of the year! The Five Outstanding Young Dallasites Award recognizes the best young professionals under 40 years of age in Big D! This not-to-be-missed event not only celebrates these amazing individuals, but is also an opportunity to mingle with other top-notch professionals and community leaders. The 2009 Award Winners are: - Ashley Blanchette, Managing Director, Robertson, Griege, and Thoele Financial Advisors - Emily Callahan, Vice President of Marketing, Susan G. Komen for the Cure® - Mark Melton, Associate, Hunton & Williams - Michael Morath, Chief Operating Officer, Minute Menu Systems, LLC - Monica Smith, Community Philanthropy Director, Communities Foundation of Texas

Dessert First

6:30-8:30pm @ The Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, 2801 Swiss Avenue, Dallas

Eat decadent chocolate, sip a bit-o-bubbly and sample scrumptious hors d’oeuvres all while enjoying fabulous works of art.


Dog Meets Dog, Guy Meets Girl, Singles Night $10, 7-9pm @ Unleashed Indoor Dog Parks, 5151 Samuell Boulevard Come out to meet like-minded singles and their dogs.

Red Wine and Cheese Tasting 101

7-9pm @ Swirll Winery Take a tour through Swirll’s red wine offerings and get a lesson in cheese pairings. Each delectable cheese is hand selected to perfectly complement Swirll’s in-house red wine. Price is $15 a person or $25 for couples. Space is limited, and reservations are requested.

Cool Thursdays – Key West 7:30pm @ The Dallas Arboretum

Brice Beaird / Van Darien 7:30 pm @ Opening Bell Coffee (South Side), 1409 South Lamar Street


Christian Music Thursdays 8pm @ White Rock Coffee A new kind of music night for WRC every week, featuring a Christian artist.
Erik Barnes 8pm-12am @ The Library Bar



Bob Schneider / Vallejo / Don Chani

8 p.m. @ The Granada Theater Bob Schneider’s CD release

Darden Smith 8pm @ The Belmont Hotel Barefoot at the Belmont
2010 Harley Davidson Model Preview with Lance Lopez / Josh Langston 8pm @ Trees
Open Mic Night – Stand up Comedy 8:30 @ The Doubletree Hotel Are you funny? Have your friends been telling you for years that you should do stand-up? Now is your chance to try it. Backdoor Comedy has the longest running open mic night in the southwest. The Backdoor has been one of the only comedy clubs that has consistently provided a stage for new and up-and-coming comedians. Thursdays are open mic nights. This means that literally anyone can sign up and be guaranteed at least 3 minutes of stage time. You must sign up in advance. For more information, call 214.328.4444. Food and drink available, price of admission listed requires a two item minimum. Doors open a half hour before showtime
Le Cure 8:30pm @ Lakewood Bar and Grill, 6340 Gaston Avenue Cure tribute Band
Fish Fry Bingo / Spooky Folk / Douglas Woodlane 10pm @ the Cavern

How to choose the right wine

The way I choose my wine is by the label. I can feel the eyes of the liquor stores’ employees on me as I wonder out loud which label is “prettiest”. I know they’re thinking I’m too young to be drinking and certainly too young to be enjoying wine if the only thing I take into consideration is whether or not the label amuses me. Sometimes I want to turn around and inform everyone that I’m a graphic designer and that I have certain appreciations for packaging that other’s do not have. In my opinion, if a company doesn’t have enough money or pride to enlist in the help of a designer then the wine definitely isn’t going to be worth buying and drinking.

And it’s not only the “pretty pictures” on the labels that I judge by, I’m judging the whole package. The bottle, the name, the way the label looks and feels are all important factors in choosing my wine. The following wines are all wines I found on thedieline.com or wines I have personally bought. And just in case you were wondering, I’ve never bought a wine by the label that I haven’t enjoyed!

The wine below intrigued me because who would buy a wine with garbage cans on the label? I read the creative brief on thedieline.com and found out that in Australia it’s common to refer to batches of wine by the bin number they were made in. In England, bins are garbage cans so an English design firm decided to take advantage of this fact and find bins around England with the house number painted on them to identify their wine. Very clever, very dandy.

This wine wouldn’t stand out to me in the store, and I probably wouldn’t buy it however the “brown” bag that the bottle is protected by mirrors the design on the actual bottle. And it is this bag that earns this particular wine a spot on my dandy blog.

This wine just reminded me of Dr. Seus with it’s whymsical characters and the topsy turvey way in which they are arranged on the bottle. Being especially interested in identity work, I’m not sure how happy I would be if it were my logo being covered up by these doodles.

This next bottle is tequila, but this is how I would choose tequila. By the bottle! It’s not the label, although the label choice is perfect, small, out of the way and completely bland. You don’t need to over do the design of the label when each bottle is hand blown glass.

The next wines are some of the ones I have personally bought because of the label.

The name is what drew me to this wine but Joe Blow stands out because it really does look like your next door neighbour who makes wine in his garage took his sharpie out and wrote out this label. Perfect for the look and feel they were going for. I encourage you to go to the website to read the story that goes with the label. www.joeblowwine.com

This next wine label isn’t especially interesting, but the name is dandy because of the picture that accompanies it. In this case, it’s marketing over design, but it’s still dandy!

And last but not least, the name and sort of careless nature of this wine is what grabbed me. Feel free to drink this wine and then scribble on your own walls!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Poem for the Night: "The Many Wines"

God has given us a dark wine so potent that,
drinking it, we leave the two worlds.

God has put into the form of hashish a power to deliver the taster from self-consciousness.

God has made sleep so
that it erases every thought.

God made Majnun love Layla so much that
just her dog would cause confusion in him.

There are thousands of wines
that can take over our minds.

Don’t think all ecstasies
are the same!

Jesus was lost in his love for God.
His donkey was drunk with barley.

Drink from the presence of saints,
not from those other jar.

Every object, every being,
is a jar full of delight.

Be a connoisseur,
and taste with caution.

Any wine will get you high.
Judge like a king, and choose the purest,

the ones unadulterated with fear,
or some urgency about “what’s needed.”

Drink the wine that moves you
as a camel moves when it’s been untied,
and is just ambling about.

“The Many Wines” by Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī
Photo: Wine Bokeh by DodogoeSLR on Flickr.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Italian wines for Sunday lunch

Sundays in Bangkok is usually fish day. There are many beautiful fish for sale in the markets. So for lunch we select a fish and a white wine. Often I choose to have a Riesling with the food. This time we went “Italian” and bought two bottles of white wine, one on the cheap side, the other a bit dearer. The former was a ‘2007 Montecelli Soave Classico’ from Piave in the Veneto, the latter a ‘2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio’ from the Trentino, in Alto-Adige, Italy.

2007 Montecelli Soave Classico

2008 Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio

The Soave might costs about 3-4 Euro in Europe (or less). If I would buy the Pinot Grigio in the US I would have to pay 25 to 28 US$ for the bottle. In Thai Bath I paid about 500 for the Soave and about 1,000 for the Pinot, which corresponds roughly to 10 and 20 Euro respectively. We liked both wines. The Soave is a bit edgy and had a salty/oily after taste. The Pinot Grigio from Santa Margherita is just great, light bodied, spritzy with crisp acidity and a light lemon-citrus flavour.

Fried potatoes, zucchini and onions

Red snapper in caper and olive marinade

The food was simple. Red snapper is a beautiful fish which I like very much. The recipe is from the Philosopher’s Kitchen by Francine Segan. I have written about this fabulous cooking book in earlier entries of my blog.

I just love lunches like this one. We all relax, enjoy the food and the company. This was the first time we moved away from the dry Riesling-fish pairing and moved tp the Italian whites. We will repeat this, for sure.
And as Epicurus said: “Pleasure is the beginning and end of living happily”.

San Sebastian Film Festival and More...

Have you ever heard about the San Sebastian Film Festival? It’s not as big as the Cannes or Sundance, but here in Spain, it is kind of a big deal. On Saturday, Brad Pitt was invited to the festival for the presentation of Tarantino’s last film “Inglorious Bastards.” Sadly, he left the day before I arrived, so when I got to the festival yesterday, his attendance was just a memory…

The film festival takes place in San Sebastian, a beautiful city on the north coast of Spain, in Guipúzcoa, with very classic XIX century architecture and notorious for its gastronomy. Two of the most well known Spanish Chefs have their restaurants in the city, Akelarre and Arzak, as well as many other chefs who boasts Michelin stars.

San Sebastian

San Sebastian is the home of  “el pintxo,”  another name for tapas. All throughout San Sebastian, there are bars or tapas bars where you can enjoy the gastronomy of the city in little bites. Usually every bar here has a wide selection of pintxos to choose from. In most places, the bill is calculated by the number of toothpicks you have on your plate, as each pintxo has its own toothpick. The name of pintxos actually comes from the word toothpick, as pintxo in Basque means “to prickle” (in Spanish it’s spelled pincho, and pronounced the same).

Pintxos @ San Sebastian

While in San Sebastian, we had a lunch where Osborne Ports were paired with a menu created by three Michelin Star Chef,  Martin Berasategui. The result of his pairings and creations was amazing. My favourites were the potatoes that looked like little stones with grilled garlic sauce, and the Chocolate dessert paired with Osborne Late Bottle Vintage Port, a very rich, fruity and spicy port that is perfect with dark chocolate.

Potatoes that look like stones with grilled garlic sauce

Chocolate with Osborne Late Bottle Vintage Port

Serving Osborne Late Bottle Vintage Port

At the end the waiters offered us this small white cubes that became cleaning towels when wet. Very nice!!

The "magic towels"

The last day of the festival will be Saturday 26th, when the red carpet is put away and all the glamour takes a rest until next year.

-Rocio

Monday, September 21, 2009

The Last Sip of Summer...

Two suitcases, three wine keys, one journal, a camera, the latest edition of Wine Spectator, a map of Paris, a lingering taste of Sauvignon Blanc…

My plane arrived in Paris before the sun had risen, before the poissonnier had arrived at market, and even before the boulanger had pulled his bread from the oven.  Despite the jet lag and my exhaustion, I was eager to start my adventure in France, but I was still holding onto the memory of my last night in Santa Fe and the glass of wine that brought my summer to a close.

Just a few hours before I was to leave Santa Fe, the daunting task of packing up my entire life into two suitcases still loomed before me.  A pile of unfolded laundry covered my bed; shoes sprawled out of my closet as I was trying to decide between the strappy stilettos or the classic boots (I ended up taking both); and the clock was ticking as my flight to Paris got closer and closer.  I wasn’t about to let my last night in Santa Fe pass by, however, without hearing the laughter of my friends and, of course, drinking some wine.

For my last night in the United States, I drank Hall Sauvignon Blanc 2008 from the Napa Valley.  I figured it would be fitful since I would be headed to the region of Sancerre, the French home of Sauvignon Blanc, but I wanted to drink something New World before becoming completely immersed in French wine.  I also wanted something crisp and refreshing in my attempt to hold onto summer for as long as I could, despite the chilly autumn air.

Hall Sauvignon Blanc ($20) is just that -  clean and crisp on the palate, but aromatic with delightful notes of citrus and tropical fruit.  The wine’s fermentation is 100 percent stainless steel, allowing for a true expression of the grape’s flavors.  The grapes are primarily sourced from Yountville (a sub appellation of the Napa Valley), which, between the volcanic alluvial soil and the cool climate, gives perfect conditions for growing Sauvignon Blanc.  The resulting wine has flavors of grapefruit and peaches with a nice layer of minerality.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Maryland Wine Festival

Though I’ve tried wines from all over and visited vineyards during my travels, the Maryland Wine Festival (two miles from my parents’ house) is still one of my favorites. Hosted at the Westminster Farm Museum, for 25 dollars you can taste as many wines as you want. Some of the wines were gems, though there were others that I could have done without- but trying them out was an adventure.

Maryland seems to have particularly good luck with fruit wines. I bought a bottle of Boordy Jazzberry wine, which goes well with cheesecake, fruit or by itself. In my refridgerator right now is a half finished bottle of Annapolis Sunset, a white wine with some great fruit undertones. On my way out, I tried a Chocolate Zinfandel, a masterful combination of two of my favorite things (wine and chocolate), but since I didn’t even note the name of the vineyard it might have to remain only a memory.

The best part of these festivals is that one enjoys wine, company and the outdoors all at once. While I understand the public drinking laws I do miss the European freedom of being able to enjoy a glass of wine in a piazza. Eating bread and cheese and sipping one wine while enjoying a sunny September day came pretty close.

Edition Twelve 14 to 19 September 2009 (Wine by Cush)

 

Edition twelve has more posts but also has more to offer. Tastings notes are always afloat and so are book reviews. I have found beer a topic I am more and more drawn to. Beer may not have the richness of wine in terms of a beverage but can be a great remedy during poor economies. The foot traffic a beer-friendly establishment attracts maybe one of smaller dollar tickets compared to easy-sell that wine is, but beer traffic is steady and a lifesaver in a weak economy. I am drawn to beer as a topic. Ice wine from Argentina is another interesting development worth checking for various reasons. Drinking vessels are a common topic and will return. Cotes du Rhone maybe my favorite cheap red but also is a great wine for developing market niches that greatly benefit the public. Yelp continues as the evil of social media. I bet they had a memo about me at some point. They are very dedicated to how business should be done at the cost of everyone else. Cachaca is the newest gift the poor American public have received from another country and fights to be famous now. Food markets and food carts are continuing their slow development as a mainstay of San Francisco food scene. My favorite topic of beverage certifications is back and this time the restaurant staff should be to handle the learning challenge. Sens has started a very interesting trend. If the landlord cannot lease your large space, he/she can start its own restaurant. Who cares a large restaurant is very hard to run and will probably fail. It just needs to look good and “open” to keep property values and rents high which takes slight specialized help.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Wine and Tea: a very special tasting

Degustación Especial Viernes 25 de Setiembre a las 20 hs. ( Gratuita )

Degustación Especial de 4 productos de

nuestra geografía vitivinícola.

Degustaremos 4 productos

- Santa Julia Innovación Grenache ( Bodega Familia Zuccardi )

- Portal Andino Syrah Medalla de Oro ( Bodega Portal Andino )

- Santos Beck Gran Reserva Malbec ( Bodega Cavas de Santos )

y de la cava de DengisDoc

- Humberto Canale Intimo Cabernet 1992

Como siempre todo acompañado por quesos de ” El Club de los Quesos “ y nuestro destacado tapeo gourmet. !!!!!! IMPERDIBLE  !!!!!!

CUPOS LIMITADOS  !!!!!!!

Sábado 26 de Setiembre de 18 a 20.30 hs.

Taller de Cata de Té

Té, un placer milenario

Introducción  - Historia y leyendas

Camellia Sinensis

Tipos de Tè : hebras, saquitos,  helado, ahumado.

Tradiciones y Ceremonias  en Oriente (China y Japón)

En  Occidente (Inglaterra- Argentina)

Procesos básicos de Té – Grados (por color, por elaboración)

DOC-Los Té en Hebras,  Varietales  y Blends
Cata de Té con Planillas –Cocinando con Té

Práctico: Maridajes dulces ( budines de la empresa Sugar & Spice ) y salados.

Estará a cargo de la conocida periodista especializada Sra. Cristina Córdova Se degustarán tés en hebras de alta gama argentinos. Costo del Taller:  $ 45.- Los cupos son limitados , por lo que recomendamos reservar con antelación .

La asistencia y reservas deben solicitarse al correo electrónico danieldengis@ciudad.com.ar

o a los teléfonos 4541-4359 o 15 6095 3913.

Por favor , quien se comprometa a concurrir a las degustaciones o eventos , en caso de

no poder hacerlo por algún motivo, le agradeceré que nos informe con tiempo para

poder darle la posibilidad a otra persona de poder asistir.


Dengis Doc Vinos

McLaren Vale Winery - Tinlins

This weeks review is a definate change of pace.  In today’s economic climate cost effective drinking is more sought after than for as long as I can remember.  So this week I though with this in mind we could review Tinlins.  Tinlins is a cost effective bulk wine supplier whose motto is “We fill your container”.  Tinlins is a bit of a McLaren Vale icon where locals have for many years bought their bulk wines (particularly fortifieds) for their every day drinking pleasure.  All wines are sold by the litre and they will fill any container you have that is 1 litre or larger (750ml bottles will not be filled).  Alternatively, they have all wines available in 750 ml or flagon glass bottles, 5 litre casks or 25 litre plastic containers.  Flagons, casks and 25 litre conatainers can refilled on subsequent visits.  For a budget wise wine tasting and purchase come on down to Tinlins of McLaren Vale.

As the photo below shows the road sign and cellar door is best described as rustic (they both look the same they did when I first visited Tinlins 25 years ago).

Tinlins Road Sign

Tinlins Cellar Door

Tinlins can be found on the main road between McLaren Vale and McLaren Flat as shown on the cellar door location map.  Their contact details can be found on the Cellar Door Contact Details Page.

All wines are available for tasting, though some maybe put off the squat plastic cups that are supplied.  The lables on the bottles are generic – no mention of grape varieties (or proportions of varieties) or vintage – something I found very strange on my first couple of visits (many years apart).  Another tip so you don’t get caught is that this McLaren Vale cellar door does not accept credit cards or have Efpos facilities – they only deal with cash payments.  I normally do not have alot of cash on me and I use credit ot Efpos for most of my purchases - yes I was caught on my last visit.

I did not taste all the wines so I will only be commenting on some, however the wine list and prices can be found in Tinlins Price List

Reviewed Wines

Dry White

This is a blend of a number of grape varieties and I found the wine had a chemical aroma and after taste.  I could not determine what varieties were present.  The wine was very dry and if this was to your liking I would suggest this be drunk very cold (to help reduce the chemical aromas and flavours).  The wine was not unpleasent but neither was it pleasent and I would not be going back for more of this.

Claret

The Claret (as well as the “Burgandy”) is a Grenache / Shiraz blend.  This batch (as I cannot call it a vintage) was better than the last one I tasted about 18 months ago.  Typical generous fruit flavours but with a slightly bitter finish.  I was assured that this wine had a good following, but not quite to my liking.

Dry Red

This is a Shriaz based wine and the best table wine from Tinlins.  A little lighter than normally assocciated with McLaren Vale Shiraz and was a little short on the palate.  Pleasant to drink in a bulk wine sort of way.  I had a cask of this last winter as cooking wine – though I am not sure how much went into the cooking!

Cream Sherry

One of Tinlins best sellers and I can understand why.  This wine is smooth, not too sweet and easy to drink.  Last winter I had a cask of this and was my drink when I got home from the public transport commute from the city – I needed a drink after spending an hour with the “Great Un-washed” (thanks Neil for the quote).

Muscat

The muscat is also popular as it is a sweet light style Muscat, with the typical rasin flavours that is also easy to drink.  I can imagine many a local drinking this one after dinner by the open fire.

Ginger Wine

This has a strong aroma of ginger – in fact that is all you can really smell and taste.  I bought some of this to help ward off the winter colds – did not work, but a good excuse.  The wine reminds me of my youth drinking Green Ginger Wine mixed with scotch – ouch I can still feel the hangover.

Memories

Why is it that as we age memories come flooding back?

My great aunt, who died at 103, found in her latter years that 50 years ago was fresh in the mind, but yesterday was remote.

In fact as I watched Lark Rise to Candleford today my mind turned to realisng that my great aunt, born in 1879, was a young girl at the time the series is set and would have lived in a world not dissimilar in some ways, allowing for authorial licence and the rose coloured tinge of the scriptwriters. After all she too lived in a rural village.

What sparked this train of thought? An article at The Spectator site on Matthew Parris’s attempts, ultimately successful, to send a case of English wine to his Spanish nephew.

Why this article? Well many years ago I remember going into Berry Bros & Rudd in their rather august premises in St James, the heart of English clubland, to buy a bottle of what, from memory, was termed Good Ordinary Claret. I cannot remember the price, but think it had been recommended in Time Out, and the year was from memory 1973.

Based on what I had previously been drinking it was verygood. In fact it may well have been excellent in reality, but I was then but a novice in the realms of wine from the point of view of quality and taste. I suspect my intent in buying the bottle was to seek to impress a young lady.

What really impressed me though about Berry Brothers & Rudd, the recollection/memory, of which remains with me to this day, is that although my purchase of one bottle was small and I was a young and obviously not a wealthy person, I was treated with consummate courtesy.

Consequently, I became a more regular customer and bought a variety of wine from them over the years. Always whether by mail, phone or in person the service and advice was good.

I well remember their Rainwater madeira and also buying some malt whisky which they had had aged to their.own requirements.

I do not know if they still do it, but they had maintained for many years the tradition of London aging and bottling of cognac, thus engendering a particular flavour to the resulting spirit, reflecting the Thameside cellars originally used.

I am no longer a regular customer, but Matthew Parris’s article reminded me of great customer service, great times, friends and good bottles.

One other fact, if memory serves me correctly, in the alley behind the shop in the 1840s was located the Texas Embassy to England at the time Texas was an independent republic. I think there was a fish restaurant there – Overtons?

Friday, September 18, 2009

Come Taste Our Newest Direct Import Wines!

Join us tonight Friday, September 18 from 5-8pm in the Manhattan wine store and from 6pm-8pm in the Brooklyn wine stores as we taste our new direct import spanish wines. We are excited to offer red, white, rosé and cava under the Pierre Ronsard label from Penedès. The searing hot Catalan sun in this region makes old cabernet vines erupt with ripe cherry and blackberry notes and parellada and xarello grapes produce white wines fragrant with litchi fruit and apricots drizzled in floral honey and cava rich with aromas of orange peel and notes of apple and white peach on the palate. And they’re 100% organic!

Because we arranged the purchase directly with the winery, we are able to save on the charge a distributor would normally levy for sourcing wines. This allows us to offer these wines at a great price, making them excellent values. For more on how we got our hands on these direct import wines, check our previous post.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Um curioso método de produção.

O vinho que irei indicar é produzido na conceituada vinícola portuguesa Quinta da Bacalhoa. Resultado da perfeita combinação das castas Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon e Castelão, com um terroir ideal para o completo desenvolvimento dessas castas, o Meia Pipa 2006 é um vinho de excelente qualidade e sabor. A curiosidade desse vinho está no seu modo de produção. As castas são vinificadas separadamente, fato que mantêm suas características particulares, que mais tarde são traduzidas a esse delicioso tinto. O Meia Pipa 2006 apresenta um excelente equilíbrio entre um longo sabor persistente e complexos aromas de frutos maduros, com sutis notas de menta, especiarias e baunilha. Seus suaves taninos lhe conferem uma estrutura cheia e complexa, fazendo dele um tinto ideal para harmonizar carnes grelhadas, churrasco e massas com molhos cremosos. http://migre.me/734A

H.W.Y.N.M. Sept. 16th - 26th

This post is in the series of the Hottest Women You’ll Never Meet. Seeing as how this is a site about fantasy sports, these women will almost certainly be 100% fictional. You may have run across them in various games, shows or what have you, but you’ve never actually met them. And you never will. Just sit back, read up and enjoy!

Name: King

First Appearance: 1992, Art of Fighting

Age: 24

Country of origin: France

Height: 5′9″

Weight: 128 lbs.

Hobbies: Billiards & collecting wine glasses

The shake: If you’ve ever wondered why you might find someone of the same sex attractive, King offers a much needed reprieve. Sure, you’re playing Art of Fighting and decide you’ll use the spry, smallish guy because you feel he’ll be quicker than most of the opponents you’d face. Or, you’re matched up against King and figure your much more powerful character will dominate the match. In either scenario, you can’t help but feel there’s something oddly off, but slightly intriguing about King. You’re not sure why his boyish good looks or pretty boy blond hairstyle are tugging at your heart strings, but they are and you feel a little uncomfortable. You keep playing though because you can’t help yourself. It’s not until King is finished by a power attack that all becomes right within your world again. At that critical moment, King’s shirt bursts open revealing that King is a she and she’s got some pretty nice game up top. At this point, you now play the game to see if you can make it happen again… and again. It’s that curious ambiguity that gets King a spot here and if you felt even remotely attracted to King as a guy, then obviously you’re heels over head for her as a woman.

Deal Breaker?: King likes to maintain the appearance of guy… but a really sexy guy.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Argentina is on Fire!

On September 1st,  Santiago was a featured guest on the “International Market for Argentine Wine and Export Trends” conference call hosted by the Vines of Mendoza.  Other participants included Laura Catena, Tony Correia and Barbara Insel. Overall the panelists are bullish on the future of Argentine wine.  Santiago Achával said “Argentina is on fire”, a sentiment strongly reiterated by Laura Catena who says “the strength of Argentina is terroir and that Argentines continue to make really great value wines at every price point that can be comparable to American wines at $200 and $1000 wines from France”. You can listen to or download a recording of the conference call by visiting the Vine of Mendoza site.

Wine on Ubuntu 8.04

Since the RAM-swapping between my Xubuntu & Ubuntu desktop, I’m no longer could use the Windows virtual machine on top of VirtualBox on the Ubuntu desktop. It couldn’t met the minimum memory requirement. This posed a problem, since I usually run ThunderbirdPortable on that virtual machine. How could I read my e-mail and feed now?

Then I remembered Wine, an emulator (though the developers said that WINE Is Not Emulator) to run Windows executable (program) on non-Windows system. My previous attempt to install Wine package taken from Ubuntu repository a year ago ended with failure. It couldn’t launch any Windows application I needed, because of who-knows-why. But since it’s already been a whole year, I thought that there’s must’ve been some improvements applied on the package, and it might worth trying to install Wine for the second time.

I downloaded wine and binmft-support, and installed them immediately. It was a relief when I find out that Wine actually worked. ThunderbirdPortable launched just fine. Sure, there’s some font hiccup (they’re a bit bigger compared to when Thunderbird Portable launched on Windows), but that’s minor.

Here’s the obligatory screenshot.

ThunderbirPortable using Wine to run on Ubuntu

Removing VirtualBox? Nahhh, it can still run the lightweight LinuxPuppy without problem. But I will get rid the Windows virtual disk image, eventually. That’ll surely give me a whopping 4GB free disk space.

Hmm, how long has it been since I write article for this blog in English?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A Day in Edmonton

7.38am, Edmonton Airport, Alberta, Canada

I was riding out to the airport this morning early in a shuttle that had it’s radio tuned into the call to prayer, and I was thinking that this was the less than glamorous side of the business – and the absolute contrast to being shown around the glitzy glam and sometimes simply breathtaking sights of the top end hotels and hotspots last week in Las Vegas. At least the weather is co-operating – it’s unseasonally warm in Edmonton right now, and was 25° C yesterday. Lovely day to take a bag of wines around town to some very nice wine shop folk, which is what we did. It’s a good thing I’d had a serious sleep the night before, as everyone wanted to have a long chat and ask 20 questions about the wines, about the winery, and about what Australian wine in general was doing. Throw in a few more about drought, the evaporation of the Murray Darling basin, and why Octavius Shiraz isn’t in stelvin closure, and that’s a fairly solid day. I also told lots of stories to the quite colourful local wine journo Nick Lees (the Edmonton Journal) – and some of them were even true!! It was the first stop that I got to catch up with some old friends from our distributor Mark Anthony – who look after us across the nation – and two years certainly makes a difference. Darren the confirmed batchelor is married with one little bubby already, so anything can definitely happen. There’s hope for me yet. The gals brought me up to speed with the wonders of laser lipo – there is so much going on outside the Barossa that I had no idea about, and at the end of the day – we’re leaving with some nice opportunities for events next visit – and we’ll make sure it’s a lot shorter between drinks this time. Good luck to young Justin who has only been with Mark Anthony a short time, and had me in the car all day – I have a feeling he’s going to go very well!! And thanks to Dave from Vines Riverbend Wine Merchants – great chat and we’ll be back!!! Also, to Satesh at Crestwood, I just hope that Stuart Blackwell (St Hallett ) and I are in Edmonton at the same time next year – it would be a great double act in store tasting!!

All told, my day in Edmonton was pretty good, and I must make sure to get back here soon. For anyone looking for a nice casual meal downtown – my suggestion is the Blue Plate Diner, in a renovated warehouse on 104th Street. They’ve collected a whole heap of old 1950s laminex top tables and chrome chairs, as well as some really quirky table top lamps. Mine was a little black poodle with a double cylinder lampshade sitting on top of his head. I went with the New England Meatloaf – made with lean ground beef, oats, fresh herbs, onions, carrots, celery and buttermilk, studded with dried cranberries and cheddar cheese. A pretty hefty slice of the meatloaf was served up on a mini montain of mashed potatoes with grilled pumpkin, zucchini,broccoli and cauliflower and a pot of cranberry sauce. They’ve also got a stack of vegetarian options, and I’m going to have a go at doing a version of this when I get home : ‘Hearts of Fire ‘ – artichoke hearts stuffed with goats cheese and roasted chillies, drizzled with pomegranate juice reduction with fresh basil.

So off to the big Stampede town this morning, and we should be in for a good day with Kippy the Queen of Calgary. We both love Tim Horton so I think we’ll need new travel coffee cups for the car to start with, and the day should just plough on upwards from there!! It’s the little things that make the difference!!

More from the Vineyard

The 2009 grape harvest in Virginia and around the world marches on.  Many tons of grapes (mostly white at this point) have been sorted, pressed, fined or fermented.  I have spent a number of hours in the vineyard doing whatever they will let me to learn more about the process.  To date, I have sorted grapes, (Merlot, Chardonnay and Viognier) washed lugs, (way too many to count), picked Chardonnay, heaved around more lugs, hung out in the tasting room, pumped juice, pressed wine and cleaned up after everything.  Throughout the whole process so far, I have learned a great deal.

As far as the grapes are concerned, from what I understand from the wine makers, the whites are off to a fantastic start.  The grapes looked pretty good to me but more importantly, their chemical composition is perfect.  The PH balance is correct and there is more than enough sugar to potentially make good wine.  I am told that this does not necessarily mean that the Virginia whites of 2009 are GOING to be great, just that they are setting up so they CAN be great.  Sampling the lipsamckingly sweet juice from the Chardonnay and Viognier, it’s hard to imagine these as dry, white wines but it sure is great grape juice and that is the magic of winemaking.

Roughly half the harvest is complete.  I assisted in the processing of some 50 tons of mostly white grapes.  Now there is a lull in the action, the proverbial eye of the hurricane is passing over vineyards if you will as they tweak their white juice and begin the painful, anxious game of chicken they must play with mother nature.  The weather is the enemy at this point.  Riper fruit means higher sugar and, generally speaking, better wine.  The cost of ripeness is the potential for rain causing rot…rot does not taste good.  There is also the risk of waiting too long and picking over ripe grapes producing monstrously alcoholic, difficult to tame wine.

Winemakers across Virginia are taking a deep breath for a moment, yet they feel compelled to hold it as conditions unfold.  2009 has been described as a difficult vintage already with several weather irregularities.  The grapes are so close to the bottle at this point everyone has their fingers crossed that Bacchus is kind over the next few weeks and blesses this harvest.  Roughly half the harvest is in and folks are getting some much deserved rest after long days that spanned well into evening.  The pace will redouble however as soon as the first winemaker blinks in their staring contest with the weather and starts to pick the red grapes.  Whatever happens, it’s going to be a lot of work but I have no doubt it’s going to be fun.

Monday, September 14, 2009

The Sustainable Cellar

Not too long ago I got an email from one of my favorite wine purveyors. They were offering me a bottle of 2000 LaTour, a prestigious and well known Bordeaux, for $1299. After taxes that’s $1415.91…for 750ml of grape juice I wouldn’t drink for another 20 years.

Now, I would have loved to own this bottle, and I would love even more to live long enough to enjoy it at its  peak maturity. neither one of these things is likely to happen but it set me to thinking about perceived value. After  checking with an internet volume calculator and doing a bit of math, I realized that this wine costs roughly $472 dollars a cup or $10 a teaspoon, $30 a tablespoon. Think about it… $30 dollars for a sip. This isn’t wine as food, friends, this is wine as an extension of ego. Like most folks I know these days I’m finding bargains in a much lower price range while I wait for my great bottles to age properly.

And let’s not underestimate the value of aging wine. Most wine in America is consumed withing 3 hours of purchase but I consider that a problem similar to childhood obesity. A little education goes a long way. Most red wine in its youth is rough and tannic, an unpolished diamond, cinderella before the fairy godmother visits. Just wait a bit and you get cinderella in the gown and slippers! It’s like slow food but you drink it, and believe me, it drinks you back.

So over time I’ve developed a strategy I call “The sustainable cellar” which supplies all the thrill of the hunting and hording without the high cost of those IMPORTANT bottles and a Parker subscription.

The inspiration for this approach was a slightly tannic 2nd label syrah from Clos Mimi called Petite Rousse. It was one of those wines that was even better the second night after opening and I knew it had great potential to last 5-7 years at least, long enough to shed its tannins. I bought a case at $17.50/bottle after trying the 2003 and I put it away. I did the same with the 04 and ‘05. I stopped when the price hit $25 plus because it was no longer a super bargain, just a superb wine. At this point I have a few ’05s left and this wine was and is phenomenal. It has aged beautifully, developing secondary and tertiary aromas and flavors. the tannins are soft and sweet; it is a graceful wine in perfect balance. Once black and purple, it is now brick red and quite lovely. Drinking it is like making love on your 30th anniversary; There is a depth involved that can’t be faked.

A more recent find was Can Blau, a spanish wine at $13.50 that is superb. That one showed up in 2005 and they are great drinking at this time. the 2007 version is now available and it just as good.

The technique is simple. find a wine at $8-$15 that has balance and sufficient weight to last 3-5 years and put away a case. Try a bottle next year or the following one. Follow its development. You just need a cellar or insulated closet that hopefully doesn’t vary more than 5 or 10 degrees over the year, heat light and vibration are bad. 55 degrees is an ideal but 60 works, it just ages a little faster which is not always a bad thing. Be creative, it’s part of the fun. Solid foam panels  are cheap insulation for a closet or crawlspace and are available at any big box hardware store. Get a thermometer so you know how stable it is and across the seasons and how quickly or slowly it might age the wine.

Now for the fun part. As you explore the bins at your local purveyor, you buy a mixed case of reds, whatever varietals go best with what you eat. When you find one with sufficient stuffing and balance to merit aging, you buy a case and put it away for at least one year. Repeat as necessary. Some wines last longer, some begin to fall apart. Just track them and keep notes if you need to. Within a few years you’ll find that you have a large supply of really good inexpensive wines in various stages of aging. you’ll be buying fewer and fewer new wines and you’ll have a better idea of where the value is when you do.

My next experiment will be a California classic, Bogle Petite Sirah @ $8.50  I can’t wait because I’ve never had one that was more than three hours old before. ~Bob

Happy Monday

Hello Everyone,

I hope everyone had a great weekend. My weekend was great, family and football. Well I thought today, I would give you one of my best rainy day pasta dishes EVER!! It started from a  copycat recipe for Pasta Milano @ Macaroni Grill, but over time I have added and taken away ingredients. This is not a hard recipe to make, so give it a try and I promise you will keep this one close to your heart

Recipes:

Pasta Milano and Homemade Garlic Bread

Drink of Choice: Yellow Tail Chardonnay

Pasta Milano

Alfredo sauce ingredients:

~Note: if you don’t have time to make Alfredo sauce, you can buy it. With that being said… I can tell you, it will not taste the same. So give it a try, Alfredo Sauce only takes 10 extra minutes. ~

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 cup heavy cream/ or half and half
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed
  • 1 1/2 cups grated fresh Parmesan cheese (fresh is better)
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
  1. Melt butter in medium sauce pan over medium-low heat.
  2. Add cream and simmer for five minutes.
  3. Then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through.
  4. Stir in parsley and add to recipe below.

Pasta Milano ingredients:

  • 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 tsp. roasted garlic (do not buy roasted garlic, you can make at home and save $3)
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 1/2 white onion sliced/ or shallots
  • 1/2 cup  sun dried tomatoes ( I love Sun-Dried Tomatoes, so you can decrease amount if you like)
  • 1 tsp. fresh parsley
  • 4 oz. chicken stock
  • 3  grilled  or pan-seared chicken breast
  • 1 cup Alfredo sauce
  • 1 box cooked bow tie pasta
  • 1 Tbsp. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
  1. Heat a 10” saute pan. Add olive oil, mushrooms,onions,  sun dried tomatoes, parsley, stock, chicken, and roasted garlic.
  2. Add Alfredo sauce, bow tie pasta and toss.
  3. Put in large pasta bowl, and (optional) garnish with parsley, Parmesan cheese, fresh tomato and fresh basil.

Homemade Garlic Bread

1 cut or sliced loaf of French or Ciabatta Bread  (Ciabatta is my favorite)

1/4 cup of butter (half a stick)

2 garlic cloves (crushed)

1 tbsp Italian Seasoning

1/4 cup of Parmesan Cheese

1/2 tsp  of  Slap Yo Mamma Seasoning (can get at Kroger)

Soften Butter in microwave or let butter sit out on countertop until it is soft. Put in small bowl and mix all other ingredients except slap yo mamma seasoning. Spread over bread, then sprinkle some Slap yo Momma Seasoning on top. Put in Oven for 10-12 mins @ 400 degrees.

~For extra treat you can add Kraft Italian Shredded Cheese on top~

Shopping List

Butter

Heavy cream

Garlic

Parmesan Chees

Fresh Parsley

Olive Oil

Sliced Mushrooms

Sun-dried Tomatoes

Chick Stock/Broth

Boneless Chicken Breast

Bow Tie Pasta

Ciabatta Bread

Slap Yo Mamma Seasoning

Italian Seasoning

Yellow Tail Chardonnay

Tea Taster - A Tea Lover's Dream Job

By William I. Lengeman III

To many of us tea-lovers, tea-taster might seem like the ultimate profession, a vocation as desirable as the fabled mattress tester. Tea tasting may conjure images of a crackling fire, a plate of delicacies and bottomless wells of fine tea, but in reality tasting tea for a living is hard work.

According to Twinings of London, a tea taster is “an expert judge of the beverage” and “a person who uses organoleptic means to discern various characteristics and qualities of tea.” In 1870, a New York Times writer was even more colorful, “We must give the palm of delicate gustatory power to the tea-taster. He must essentially be a pure-mouthed man. That organ must be virgin of cigars or quids. Even a Jersey sausage or a fried onion for breakfast may throw him out for the day. A cold in the head makes him as useless as a blind man in a color shop.”

There’s no way to be sure when the profession of tea taster came about, but the job of sorting good tea from bad was important enough that in 1897 the United States created a Board of Tea Experts, overseen by a Federal Tea-taster. The board was in existence for almost a century.

If you’d like to drink tea for a living, keep in mind that tea tasters typically spit out the tea they’re passing judgment on. Which is understandable, since they might sample as many as 500 cups a day.

Factors tasters judge are appearance of the dry leaf, color of the infused leaf and the color of the liquor and characteristics of the cup. The tasting process is far from glamorous, as the aforementioned New York Times article noted, “We cannot say this is a pleasing exhibition…Simply he sucks it in, like a fire-engine, and then spits it out, like the exhaust of a Mississippi steam-boat, and ejects the fluid into a very ugly spittoon made for the purpose.”

The reason for this impolite method, according to a Twinings Master Blender, is that “spraying or atomising the tea across the palate…releases the flavour and aroma and enables us to judge the mouth feel in terms of strength, thickness and briskness of the liquor.”

There’s no clearly defined career path for aspiring tea-taster, but most agree that their expertise is only gained after years of refining the palate and other senses. Would-be tasters might like to know that just a few years ago the Indian press reported that the tea industry there was running short of qualified tasters.

Check out William’s blog, Tea Guy Speaks, for more interesting tea-info!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Whiskers on kittens...

How to tell you’ve had too much to drink:

Your night ends with you singing one of the finest songs ever to be recorded by a Canadian boy band

outside Lucky Lab, trying to convince your fiance he knows the song.  (I was right, he did.  HA)

We were pretty full from the hummus so dinner was easy

(That’s a salad sized plate)

Salmon, steamed veggies, and more bread with hummus because it was the best thing ever.

And wine.  Oh Gard, you’re tasty, and by perk of my cousin, you’re free.  All those favorite things in the Sound of Music?  Screw that.  Alcohol and hummus are a few of my favorite things.  Find me raindrops on roses you like more than hummus.  Just try.

I used to buy those steam in bag veggies that they sell by the spinach and stuff at Freddies, but I learned a crazy easy way to steam veggies last year.  My veggie steaming method involves IKEA.  Oh IKEA, I’m glad we’re besties.

Basically, you fill up a microwave safe bowl with veggies and add some water (not a lot-I don’t measure but I’d guess it’s a quarter cup or so)

And then you take this handy dandy splatter cover, cover the bowl, and microwave for 5 minutes or so.

Totally works.  Saves me money.  Happy days.

We then went to Journey’s which is a little place that serves beer wine and some food by us.  Food kills your buzz.  We had beer.

My beer was a White made by Allagash.  The man there described it as “it’s like Blue Moon, but better”.   The man spoke the truth.  The fiance had a hoptober fest from Walking Man.

Then we had another beer, and a slightly crazy old man wanted to talk to us about politics and religion.  Awesome.  So we went to Lucky Lab where the fiance had Solar Flare and I had Crystal Weizen.  Tasty.  And then the aforementioned singing occurred.

(this is a terrible picture.  Which I think illustrates how great I was by this point)

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve got some blood sugar issues.  And, true story, when you have blood sugar issues getting drunk on beer means you wake up the next morning feeling like you’re still very very drunk-things were spinning, I couldn’t walk straight.  Whoops.

But look what the fiance made for me!  He’s a keeper!

Also, we’re going to need to make more hummus soon.  Going through it like crazy people. Come on Maria, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzle with noodles?  Hummus with bread and carrots.  Way better.

What’s something tasty I should be putting it on?  Ideally, something healthier than half a loaf of bread, which is what we’ve done.  Whoops.

Gutentag & Brazil?

Talked to two pilots and one flight attendant from Germany today.  They fly the LA/Germany route, but had a 48 hour layover.  Just a quick hop up to Portland to spend a day at the coast and a day in the wine country.  What a life!

Talked with a couple from South Carolina who admitted that it is unfortunate that their state has been in the news so much the past few months, between  Governor Sanford (the affair with his Brazilian mistress while he was supposed to be hiking the Appalachian Trail) and Representative Wilson (who shouted “liar” at the President of the United States during an address to Congress).  They would be happy if their state was in the news for better reasons.

Met three women from Brazil today.  Good thing their English is better than my Portuguese.  I asked about the JK  bridge in Brasilia that I had just seen on some tv show recently.  Like the Sundial Bridge in Redding, California, their bridge is a work of art.

[Via http://tastingroomtales.wordpress.com]

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Binge-drinking at Lord's

All first-class cricket grounds these days have a sign outside saying “Importation of alcohol strictly forbidden”. The only exception, I believe, is Lord’s itself, the MCC having obtained some kind of Special Dispensation.  The consumption of alcohol, on the other hand, is positively encouraged, not least by the numerous posters advertising Marston’s – official beer suppliers to the England side.  It’s just that it has to be bought from the various bars in the grounds, so maximising revenue.

My feeling has always been that, although watching cricket and drinking oneself insensible are both worthwhile activities, they don’t mix very well.  Others, clearly, take a different view, and, indeed, many spectators at test matches seem to regard the opportunity to go on an eight-hour bender as the primary attraction.

Another who seems to have felt that the great game is best viewed through a mist of alcohol was C.B. Fry, according to the brief biography by his secretary Denzil Batchelor (”the wittiest man in London”).  In a chapter entitled ”Magnifico in Olympus” (a title which hints at the tone of the work) DB describes Fry reporting on a day’s cricket (I believe for the Evening Standard).

Apart from “a copy of Herodotus, a box of Henry Clay cigars” Fry takes with him “reserve hampers of hock and chicken sandwiches in case there has been a strike of caterers“.  At twelve he has “the cocktail a visitor from Mars has introduced into the box: a straightforward tumbler filled with equal measures of gin and whisky which as soon as it has been christened a Bamboo-shoot is somehow accepted by the company as innocent to the point of being non-alcoholic.”  

For lunch he has “lobsters with that fine Traminer ‘26″, and then, no doubt, it’s back to the Bamboo Shoots.  Martineau reports that “I had a rather bored lady in tow when I ran into Charles.  He thought of a way of mellowing this gelid Diana … he sent a page to the Langham … to fetch a bottle of Liebfraumilch of a vintage which he considered to be worthy of the occasion.  The boy … was given strict instructions to drive back in a taxi which never exceeded fifteen miles an hour … The lady drank the great wine with an air of condescension. She said she had always liked Alsatian wines and could not understand why all her friends affected to despise them.”

And all this before he heading out for an evening’s dancing until three in the morning.

There’s no doubt that, in later life, Fry’s behaviour became increasingly erratic.  He decided, for instance, that he could best contribute to the war effort by offering himself – in his sixties – as a coal miner.  He expresssed some questionable political views.  He ran naked along the sea-front at Brighton.  One can’t help wondering if his alcoholic intake may have contributed to this in some way.

One cannot help but wonder too whether a bottle of Liebfraumilch would be enough to unfreeze today’s gelid lady – though he wouldn’t have had to send a page out to the Langham for it, the nearest branch of Lidl would do. But perhaps Liebfraumilch was a different drink in those days?

[Via http://backwatersman.wordpress.com]

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Austin Grille at Barton Creek Resort - Austin, TX

First, a little about Barton Creek.  It’s a resort hotel – nice big rooms, two golf courses, tennis, pools, etc.  They have a deal going on where the room, unlimited golf during your stay, and a gourmet breakfast can be had for $211/night.  It’s a steal.

I played a great round of golf, with rentals ($75 bucks), in what felt like 800 degree heat.  There was no one on the course – a full round in 3 hours.  Granted, it’s a tuesday, but that is still fantastic.

For lunch we dined in the Austin Grille room.  I had grilled fish taco’s.  They were delicious, albeit a fairly small portion.  My buddy Dan had a steak and cheese sandwich, which was juicy and delicious – and the opposite of small.

Later on that night I had a nice bottle of Rombauer merlot and a hunk of fantastic carrot cake – drizzled with butterscotch with nice fresh whip cream.  Good stuff.

The prices were very reasonable considering its a resort and all.

[Via http://flyingfood.wordpress.com]

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Annual Corks & Chords Event Kicks of Fall Season

The annual Corks & Chords event is coming up next week here in the Valley and later this month in Tucson. September 12, 2009 the event takes place at the Mayo Clinic’s beautiful reception area among the scenic Scottsdale foothills. September 26, 2009 Corks & Cords is at the Arizona Historical Society’s Arizona History Museum in Tucson.

Live music will accompany chefs representing Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, Aiello’s East Coast Italian, Hurry 4 Curry, Ruth’s Chris Steak House, First Watch, Mayo Clinic, M Catering by Michael’s, Cake Café, and Arizona Cheesecake Company. Great wines are sure to be part of the festivities and the Silent Auction includes a wine dinner for four in Wright’s Wrigley Wine Cellar.

The evening features a chance of learning about the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Arizona Chapter, the progression of MS care and medications over 50 years of the Society’s great work.

Tickets are $75. The Mayo Clinic is located at 13400 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale 480-968-2488. the National Multiple Sclerosis Society site has more info.

[Via http://specialtycoffeeandwines.wordpress.com]

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

More Beemster Cheeses

The Lady brought home three more cheeses made by my favorite Holland Cheesemaker: Beemster. A shout-out to Warren Reid, the Account Exec, who graciously sent the cheeses to this feline foodie for tasting and reviewing.

The Lady set up three cheese plates on her new Gathering Table in the great room and The Man and I sat down with her to sample and discuss the cheeses… What??? You think I don’t have my own place at the table??? Think again, hombre…placemat and cloth napkin…the whole nine yards…

The Lady began explaining that at tastings the plates are set with the cheeses sampled and discussed in clock-wise fashion…aren’t we just the hoi polloi around the manse?

Beemster Farmers' Choice

 

We began at high noon with Beemster Farmers’ Choice. This cheese has long been a staple in every Dutch home (it is the highest volume cheese sold in Holland) and now is available at an affordable price for every American home.

This was The Man’s favorite of the three we sampled. Aged five months, it is smooth and creamy with a mild bite. Its rich yellow color will bring not only a gourmet edge to any sandwich but raise the eye-candy aspect as well.  My guess is that this is a “kid-friendly” cheese, but will appeal to the connoisseur palate as well.

I give Beemster Farmers’ Choice Cheese 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: Cheese Platters with grapes and nuts; grilled cheese sandwiches; au gratin recipes; soups.

Wine Suggestion: Merlot

Beer: American Lager

Source: Cows’ Milk

 

At 4 O’clock, The Lady had placed Beemster Premium Goat Cheese…and I know what you are thinking…here comes trouble… another Copernicus story in the making…well, you would be wrong…The Lady loved this cheese…maybe not as much as the third one we tasted (coming next); but pretty damned near close. Her first comment after “Ummm,” was, “No barnyard taste; not a Billy goat rutting anywhere in the aftertaste.” No one will ever accuse The Lady of being shy when it comes to speaking her mind; nor is she always dainty and lady-like in her verbiage…

Eleven farms in the Beemster polder and members of the coop keep goats to satisfy the demands of the locals for goat milk. Goat cheese is an acceptable substitute for humankinds who are lactose intolerant. Do you know why that is? It’s because goat milk is composed of smaller fat particles which the humankind body is able to digest more easily. How cool is that???

All three of us found this cheese quite pleasing: smooth; silky; tasty and aromatic. I particularly like its chalky white color; it reminds me of a house where I lived back a few lives on the Adriatic Sea Coast.

I give Beemster Premium Goat Cheese 3 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got).

Serving Suggestions: Sandwiches, cheese plates and casseroles. I think it would be a hit as part of a pizza topping.

Wine Pairings: Washington State Preston Premium Gamay Noir

Beer Pairing: Grand Teton Double Vision Doppelbock

Source: Beemster Polder Goats’ Milk

 

Beemster Wasabi

At 8 O’Clock was the Lady’s favorite and coincidentally, mine as well: Beemster Wasabi Flavored Cheese. The Man, who does eat sushi for the same reason that he does not eat bait, was skeptical about trying this one. He was pleasantly surprised; the wasabi flavor doesn’t overpower the taste of the cheese. Like the Mustard Beemster, the flavor is subtle and adds to the enjoyment rather than overpowering it.

This is a smooth and creamy cheese.

I give Beemster Wasabi 4 Paws out of 4 Paws (cause that’s all I’ve got…and is also all I need).

Serving Suggestions: Cheese plate with fruit and nuts. The Lady suggested a slice melted on a rare grilled tuna sandwich.

Wine Suggestion: Japanese Sake.

Source: Cows’ Milk

[Via http://cheesemonger.wordpress.com]

Monday, September 7, 2009

Again With the Cooking...OY!

I may have mentioned this earlier: We love food. We love to cook food. We love to eat food. My husband is the phenomenal one who does all of the cooking while I “assist.” Today is Labor Day, when we all gather for back yard grilling and relishing the last unofficial day of summer and tonight Mike had to work. Harumph. I was faced with feeding the family tonight.

To my delight, my husband did not have to work until late afternoon, and was able to supervise while I prepped. With today being a typical Grill Holiday, I opted for cheeseburgers. Grilling, however, was the challenge. You see, Mike and the grill had a falling out a few weeks back. It got quite heated and resulted in Mike drawing out the secret weapon – the fire extinguisher. Mike won the battle, but not the war. The grill needs some colossal maintenance and cleaning before we use it for cooking again. That meant indoor burgers.

Mike stayed, for the most part, hands-off while I prepped, and just offered tips and helpful hints (read: “supervised”) – though he did cut the onions for me. Much to my chagrin, Mike had to leave well before it was time to actually COOK the burgers which meant, well, I was in it for the long haul now, past the point of no return. I had to cook the burgers. I will be the first to tell you that I either make burgers into extra crispy hockey pucks, or still moo-ing beef patties. There’s never been a middle ground. Dilemma time. Hmmmm. So I poured myself a bit of wine (when in doubt, look to the open bottle of wine for inspiration – in this case a Dona Paula Malbec), and set about cooking the burgers on my griddle.

With the main course under control, I was now stuck trying to decide what to serve with the burgers. There had been teenagers at my house for a sleepover the night before, thus, no potato chips. It was time to call upon the other cooking fiend in my house – when in doubt and Mike’s not around, call on Becky. Thankfully, she was home this afternoon, doing her homework. She grabbed some potatoes and made some home fries seasoned in a mix of white wine vinegar, grapeseed oil, with a bit of mustard powder, cumin, garlic, and salt. Spectacular, if I may brag about the Girl! While those baked, I hovered over the burgers.

Ta Da! A joint Mother-Daughter effort!

I’m not sure how much time elapsed, but the burgers finished – a beautiful medium well – no hockey puck or moo-ing beef patties. Plated, added fries, and fed to the hungry who were clawing at the door (better known as the teenagers). SUCCESS!!!!!

[Via http://tinanmike.wordpress.com]

Windows Live Messenger 2008 su Darwine

Dopo il grande successo dell’articolo “Windows Live Messenger 2008 su Wine” ora scrivo questo articolo su richiesta di molte persone. Iniziamo subito senza troppe chiacchiere…

Occorrente:

- Darwine 1.1.21 - QUI -

- X11 - QUI -

- Windows Live Messenger 8.5 (pacchetto singolo) - QUI -

Installazione:

Iniziate con il trascinare la cartella Darwine e il file TRiX nella cartella “Applicazioni” del vostro Mac. Ora aprite TRiX (L’alternativa di Winetricks su Mac) e selezionate SOLO i pacchetti qui riportati:

- quiet. You must have already agreed to the EULAs

- MS Arial, Courier, Time fonts

- MS Tahoma font (not part of corefont)

- HTML rendering Engine (Mozilla)

- Adobe Flash Player activex

- gdiplus.dll

- Use Microsoft’s riched20 and riched32

Dopo aver premuto install comparirà la finestra del terminale. Attendiamo che finisca il lavoro che gli abbiamo assegnato per poi digitare nella console:

sh winetricks msls31 msxml3

Ora bisogna installare il programma di chat. Posizionatevi nella cartella dove avete scaricato il file “Install_{508CE775-4BA4-4748-82DF-FE28DA9F03B0}.msi” dando dal terminale:

cd NOMECARTELLA

Ora siete pronti a dare:

msiexec /i Install_{508CE775-4BA4-4748-82DF-FE28DA9F03B0}.msi

Aspettate che finisca la procedura. Ora avete installato tutto l’occorrente, bisogna solo configurare. Aprite winecfg.exe situato nella cartella /Applicazioni/Darwine/Sample Wine Lib Applications/ con WineHelper e nella scheda “Applications” clickate su “Aggiungi applicazioni”; apriamo l’exe di Msn 2008 (Programmi/Windows Live/Messenger/msnmsgr.exe) e impostiamo la versione in Windows 2000. Chiudiamo la finestra clickando su ok, riandiamo al terminale e digitiamo:

wineboot

Enjoy!

[Via http://user94.wordpress.com]

Indonesian Tatler awards di Mare 'Best Indonesian Restaurant' award



We’re celebrating! Prestigious magazine ‘Indonesian Tatler’ has awarded di Mare restaurant at Karma Kandara as one of ‘Indonesia’s Best Restaurants’.

The view upon walking into di Mare restaurant is truly breathtaking. A clear 180 degree panoramic view of the Indian Ocean awaits. Suspended 150 meters above the surf on a rocky outcrop, di Mare, (‘of the ocean’ in Italian) is one of the most dramatically situated destination restaurants in Bali. Its semi-circular dining room, covered in light pre-tensile fabric, is built to resemble a yacht, framing a view of sea and sky that extends to the horizon.

Award winning New York chef Raymond Saja utilizes only the freshest, season-driven local ingredients, combined with premium imports from overseas in designing an ocean-inspired fine dining menu that delivers the finest Mediterranean style food with a Pan-Asian flourish. Think Spice Crusted Prawns with pea leaves, pods, tendrils and Tahitian vanilla emulsion, or Moroccan Spiced Ahi Tuna with Lentils du Puy, lemon confit and Ligurian olive juice. Last time I lunched there I enjoyed a succulent prawn trio – fresh tiger prawns prepared tempura, bbq and fresh with wonderful sauces to compliment.

The di Mare cellar is stocked with wines from around the world – all of which makes for one of the most memorable fine dining experiences you are ever likely to have – in Bali or anywhere else.

Well done to Raymond and his great team at di Mare for the well deserved award!

For more information on di Mare http://www.karmakandara.com/di-mare-restaurant/

To reserve a table call: +62 361 848 2200



[Via http://karmaresorts.wordpress.com]

Saturday, September 5, 2009

I'm Back - and Recharged!

Helloooo! I took the night off from blogging last night so I could enjoy the evening to the fullest. I had a lovely night out with the hubby. (More on that in a minute.)

Here’s a recap of the past couple of days.

FRIDAY

I was up and at ‘em bright and early as usual. I started the morning with a big bowl of creamy oats and a plate of scrambled eggs.

3/4 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 cup of unsweetened soymilk, 3/4 cup of water, 1 banana, cinnamon, vanilla, raisins, flaxseed, and walnuts

1/2 cup of egg white + 1 whole egg

It was a bit of a challenging day yesterday in regards to baby. I’m pretty sure she’s teething, so she was very fussy, a little feverish, and not at all interested in napping. Needless to say, I was wiped out by 10am!

Luckily I had my mom over here to help me out a bit. She watched baby while I refueled with some lunch.

chicken, roasted red pepper hummus, lettuce, and hot sauce on a whole wheat tortilla

plain Chobani mixed with cocoa powder and stevia, and a banana

My husband and I had reservations at a new Mexican restaurant a couple towns over, so my mom stayed and watched the baby. We were desperately in need of a night out.

My cousin is the manager at this new restaurant, so we definitely got the VIP treatment! I didn’t bring my camera with me because I just wanted to enjoy a night out with the hubby without any distractions. Here’s what we had:

  • Drinks: I ordered a margarita that contained tequila, triple sec, and fresh fruit puree. It was ENORMOUS and soooo strong! I only drank half.
  • Appetizers:Chips, roasted tomato salsa, and guacamole. (All delicious!) My cousin also brought us out a sample of their ceviche made with red snapper. I had never had ceviche before. I really enjoyed it!
  • Dinner: I ordered a chopped salad with chicken. The salad included romaine lettuce, chickpeas, red beans, black beans, jicama, pumpkin seeds, and a light olive oil/vinegar dressing. It was quite good. Nothing outstanding though.
  • Dessert: We ordered the flourless chocolate cake which was fabulous! It’s basically a condensed cake, so it’s super chocolately and chewy. My cousin insisted we also try the chocolate mousse, so she brought us out a rather large sample of that too. This mousse was TO DIE FOR!! I would totally go back to this restaurant just to get the mousse!

I have completely lost all tolerance for alcohol – something I was well aware of before I went out last night. I felt fine when we were out, but this morning I felt like I had had 5 drinks instead of just half. I knew that would happen, but I got a drink any way.

Do you ever eat/drink things that you know won’t agree with you, but you like the taste of them?

This is similar to my love/hate relationship with greek yogurt. I love the taste, but I know it tends to disagree with my tummy and baby’s tummy. Yet I eat it anyway! (Not for much longer though.)

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SATURDAY

Baby slept until 7:15 this morning! That is unheard of for her. She’s an earlybird – usually up around 6. I couldn’t believe it when I opened my eyes and realized it was almost 7. Fabulous way to start my Saturday!

Speaking of fabulous, check out this deliciousness that was my breakfast!

raw almond butter and banana on 2 toasted slices of French Meadow Bakery Women's Bread, along with 3/4 cup of egg whites (had to finish off the carton!) + 1 whole egg

I ended up grocery shopping solo again today. My husband stayed home with the baby, which was good for all of us. She needs to get used to someone other than me feeding her and putting her down for a nap!

While I was out, I met up with my mom at Panera for a cup of coffee. And on the way home, I munched on a Honey Graham Clif Z Bar.

Bar review:

  • This tasted like a delicious oatmeal cookie to me! I was a little worried it would be too sweet when I saw the drizzled icing on top, but it was just the right amount of sweet. I am totally in love with Z Bars now! They are delicious, satisfying, and low in fat and calories.

I got home a little after 12:30, put all the groceries away, and fixed myself some lunch around 1.

huge salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, red onion, chopped pickles, chicken, roasted red pepper hummus, and hot sauce

 

plain Chobani mixed with cocoa powder and stevia, and 1/1 a small banana that was leftover from baby's breakfast

In the afternoon, hubby and I took baby for a nice walk. It was a beautiful day – sunny, breezy, about 80 degrees. We decided to spend a little more time outdoors when we got back. We picked TONS of apples from the trees out in the yard. We also picked some pears, squash, and a crapload of tomatoes. I’m thinking we need to open up a little farm stand!

For an afternoon snack, I heated up a La Tortilla Factory whole wheat tortilla and ate it as is.

 

 I decided it would be nice to get my exercise out of the way early today, so around 3:30 I headed into the basement and did Biggest Loser Power Sculpt.

I continued on with my make-different-stuff-for-dinner kick tonight. I bought a pound of bay scallops at the store today. I decided to bake them in the oven. I coated a baking dish with butter-flavored cooking spray and poured in the scallops. I poured a little chardonnay over them, tossed in some fresh minced garlic, and topped them off with some whole wheat panko bread crumbs. I sprayed some more cooking spray over the bread crumbs so that they’d crisp up.

I paired my scallops with some oven roasted asparagus, and a glass of wine (which I only ended up having a couple sips of).

It was a light, yet satisfying meal!

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Tomorrow we’re going over to my dad’s house for a family cookout, which I’m really looking forward to. We’ve been back in New Hampshire for almost 2 months and I still have lots of family members here who haven’t seen my baby girl yet!

What are your plans for the long weekend?

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