Jul 21, 2008

Food, weight, sadness, etc

A woman at the gym had a little meltdown to me the other day. I don't know if it was a meltdown or if she dumps personal info on random people on a regular basis. But it took me aback and hit home. Our lockers were near each other and right by the scale. Ihave never gotten on that scale and won't until I think I have lost some weight. I can't bear what I think it would say right now. She laughed as she got off the scale. She laughed again as she stood there looking at the scale. I said something like "that's not the reaction I typically have". That gave her the opening to tell me where she is. And I could relate to just about every word.
It was a rueful laugh - one of those you have to laugh to keep from crying laughs. She was up to a weight that had been incomprehensible for her. She had been a strong, fit, trim athlete. She is now 48 or 49. She decided there in the locker room to go to Overeaters Anonymous. She had already looked up the number.
I have considered OA. And I don't recognize myself in the mirror anymore either. Will I be like her at her age? Am I like her now?

Jul 13, 2008

40th Birthday

April 8, 2008

I took a birthday trip to Napa Valley. It was fantastic – essentially a perfect trip.
April 2 I arrived at SFO. It took forever to get bags and get to rental car. A coworker loaned me her Tom Tom GPS, which was awesome. I went to Mumm Napa and sat on the terrace and had sparkling wine. I tasted several different sparkling wines. I was headed to the hotel, but then decided to make the most of the time before the wineries closed. But I had to get some food on my stomach. I stopped and got a sandwich at Soda Creek Canyon Store. A little store with a deli in the back. I then went to Domaine Chandon, which I ultimately would do each day of my time in Napa. I just love bubbly! At Domaine Chandon, I took the tour. My guide had been my pourer in the tasting room, Meredith. I thought Meredith was snooty or cold at first, but I ultimately decided she just doesn’t not have a dynamic personality. I finally checked into the hotel. Three of my wonderful girlfriends had sent me a basket of goodies – wine, sweets and a beautiful Napa Valley photo book. So sweet! The hotel was very nice. I inadvertently dozed a bit on my couch, then woke up and dined at Zuzu, a tapas restaurant. I was the last customer in the joint, but got to visit with the owner. The soup was fine, but the fried manchego was delish! What’s not to like about fried cheese, right? I slept (though stuck on Dallas time) and headed out at 10 the next morning for my tour via Napa Winery Shuttle and its driver, Karl.

There were 10 of us on the van in addition to Karl – two ladies from New Zealand, a couple celebrating the girls’ 21st birthday, a couple from Queens, a rather strange couple from which the guy used to live in Dallas (the girl was the creepy one), Veronique and me. Veronique had not intended to be traveling alone. Her ex-boyfriend originally was to come with her. They broke up. Then all her friends flaked out on the trip. We ended up palling around all day, which worked out great. Karl had lots of 2-for-1 tasting coupons, or various discounts for us. First we went to Sterling, the farthest north, almost to Calistoga. To get to the winery, you take a little 2-person gondola up the hillside. The view from the top is fantastic. The wines were not spectacular. But we really enjoyed one white. I had never heard of the varietal, and can’t recall it now. It started with an M. Then we went to V. Sattui, a winery that sells its wines only at its winery. Vittorio Sattui has built himself a castle on the hillside that can be seen across from Sterling. My friend Larry has been there for a charity event. Apparently it has a dungeon. Creepy. We tasted at V. Sattui before we ate, which may not have been a great idea. We definitely needed food on our stomachs by the time we ate. Then we got back on the van and went to Hagafen, a tiny winery that makes Kosher, organic wines. The wine guy was very cute. The wines were nothing special to me. Then we went to Black Stallion then Andretti Winery. Black Stallion is a new winery. The tasting room opened last fall. Andretti was a lot of fun, primarily because of the guy working the tasting room crowd. The winery is owned in part by Mario Andretti. It also had a cute gift shop. Their whites were very nice. I did not taste reds there. You definitely learn to pour out wines you don’t really like, because there are many more to be tasted. As a last stop, we went to Domaine Chandon. On this stop, I broke down and joined the club. Meredith assisted again. That was the last winery stop of the day.

I had a 7:30 dinner reservation with Larry that night. Earlier in the day, Larry sent me this sweet, neurotic email. Apparently he has started dating someone seriously and was concerned about expectations for the evening. That took the pressure off b/c I was kind of nervous too. I told him I had shaved my legs just in case, just to harass him. We had a great dinner and great conversation at Fume’ Bistro. My suspicion that everyone on the planet cheats is again confirmed.

April 4, 2008 was my 40th birthday. A distributer back home had hooked me up with some complimentary tours and tastings for two, so I asked Veronique to join me. We were at Markham at 10:30 a.m. Gregory in the tasting room was lots of fun to talk to, and we lost track of time a bit. We made it to Rutherford Hill about 10 minutes late, and caught up with the tour. We got to go in the caves – really neat. We really enjoyed the tasting there with Chris, and each bought some wine. I even liked and bought port! I called Chimney Rock and cancelled because we just could not make it. We were very hungry. But we stopped at Mumm to return my tiny size XL t-shirts and had another tasting. Then it was off to lunch at Domaine Chandon – and why not since I am a member and get a discount there. By this point, Meredith probably thinks I am a stalker. Then I HAD to get on the road.

I stopped and visited our new northern Cali office. Then drove into SF to see Michelle. She and I walked and took the train down to the Ferry Building where we had a fantastic dinner at The Slanted Door. Yum! It was very noisy, but very good. Riesling was the perfect match for the Vietnamese food.

The next day, she and I just had breakfast and went down to Chinatown and did some shopping. It’s always good and easy to spend time with Michelle. I got to the airport early. The worst think that happened the whole trip is that my flight was about 30 minutes delayed leaving SFO. Big deal, huh? Larry got me a funny book for my b’day and I almost finished it Saturday. I did finish it Sunday.

The weather was amazing the entire time. All in all, a wonderful trip. I had a meltdown around the beginning of the week. By the time of my trip I was fine and I am no longer freaked out by 40.

Dinner Party

Below is the menu for the dinner party I hosted in June, with some notes. I planned the menu around the wines I wanted to serve. It turned out well, though far from perfect. All the food was good. All the wine was good. I think everyone had a good time. Though I dream of being the perfect, put-together hostess, I certainly am not there yet. Timing is the thing I have the most trouble with. When you are doing everything by yourself, it is hard to get everything ready at just the right moment. Often I have finished dishes too early, leaving them to sit too long. This time, I actually tried to relax, and ran up against my guests' arrival time. And this was the most prompt group of dinner guests I have ever had. I do appreciate promptness. Lateness is quite rude in general, but especially for a sit-down dinner like this. My guests were four wonderful ladies who hit it off well. One is a bit of a wine guru. I enjoyed the evening very much. But I won’t do another dinner party until it cools off quite a bit. It is just too hot to cook in the house right now!

Come in from the Heat!
Orange Iced Tea
Miguel Torres 2007 Santa Dinga Cabernet Rosé – Central Chile
This rose' has become my fave this summer. I discovered it at Cork in Dallas.
First
Domaine Chandon 1999 Vintage Brut – Sonoma County
Goat Cheese Croutons with Mushrooms in Madeira Cream
There was enough of this sparkling wine for each of us to have only a glass. So I promptly ordered myself another bottle. The recipe is from a Susan Spicer cookbook. I had this dish as a first course at her restaurant Bayona a few months ago. I wanted to lick the plate. I would like to try to make this somewhat less absurdly fattening, but who knows if it will be as good.

Second
Schug 2006 Pinot NoirCarneros
Domaine Chandon 2006 Pinot NoirCarneros

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Red Wine-Shallot Reduction
Summer Vegetable Risotto
Sautéed Broccolini
Multi-Grain Bread
Sarah, the Schug aficionado, brought two bottle of 2006 Schug pinot noir. She is in their wine club, so one of them was a limited production - only 50 cases made. It was my fave (of course). It was interesting to try three pinot noirs from the same year and same region. They had differences, but all were quite tasty. I made the reduction sauce with a pinot noir also. It was an adaptation of a Bobby Flay recipe with beef and cabernet sauvignon. The risotto was adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe. I did not use white wine in the risotto as suggested. There was enough wine. More chicken broth was the best choice in this instance. And no, I did not bake the bread. I am not much of a baker anyway, but I really don't do yeast breads.

Third
Rutherford Hill 2003 Vintage Zinfandel Port – Napa Valley
Organic Chocolate Truffles
New York Sharp Cheddar
St. Pete’s Select Blue Cheese
This port is what made me realize I like port. It is a ruby, not tawny. Julia turned us on to the truffles. We put down this bottle of port quite quickly. I just cannot make myself like blue cheese.

Jul 6, 2008

Grapevine Wine Trail

Grapevine Wine Trail – July 5, 2008
Dad, Mary and me

What a great value! Tickets were just $40.

We started at Cross Timbers Winery. It is a cute little farm house with great grounds. There is a patio with quite a bit of seating, a gazebo and barn. The Wine Trial started in the barn where a country band was playing entirely too loud for the space. Each of us received a bottle of wine in a patriotic bag and an engraved wine glass to mark the event. The ticket price included tasting three wines at each winery and food at each winery. At Cross Timbers we tried a chardonnay, a dry white table wine and a rosé. All were very nice. The rosé was quite good. My expectations for the wine were low, and this first stop surpassed them. We were off to a good start! Many small production wines are a bit more than I normally spend on a bottle of wine. They can’t match the price point of a large-scale production. But the Texas White and Texas Red (I think that’s what they were called) were just $12.99 a bottle. The Chardonnay was $19.99, I think.

Next we were off to the downtown Grapevine area, just about ½ mile from Cross Timbers. Grapevine has a darling downtown area. There was a farmer’s market and something called “Grapevine Market” going on outdoors. There is a visitor’s center in an old train depot and a vintage train you can ride. The well-maintained old storefronts are filled with very cute shops and cafés, and the new storefronts are built in a complimentary style. Off of Main Street are lots of cute old houses, mostly pretty small. Most seems to still be residences, but a few are now restaurants, winery tasting rooms or other businesses. It is definitely a town where you could spend a full Saturday wandering around, eating, drinking and shopping in cooler weather – more on the heat later.

Su Vino Winery was our second stop. Su Vino operates a store front on Main Street. I had hoped to talk to the folks in the tasting rooms and find out a little bit more about their respective wine making operations. But they were far too busy for that. The Wine Trail event drew quite a lot of people, which was great. Su Vino makes quite a few wines, including a couple of sparkling wines and some dessert wines. There were a couple more I would like to try here – super fruity, summery wines that sounded so good on a Texas July day. Mary really liked the Summer Rain, and it smelled like a big, juicy green apple. But with only three tastes to be had, tough decisions had to be made. I tried the Almond Champagne, another I can’t recall right now, and the ruby port. Almond Champagne sounds kind of gross to me. But someone sent me a bottle from their favorite Temecula winery recently, so I wanted an idea of what it was like before I popped the cork. Not so much. I practiced that skill I learned in Napa of pouring out what you don’t want. There is much good wine to be drunk. No point in drinking what you don’t want. At least now I know. (By the way… it isn’t Champagne unless it’s from Champagne people! In the U.S. it’s just sparkling wine, though I wish we had a cool name like Cava or Prosecco.) I recall the second wine being fine, even though I don’t recall what it was. The ruby port was okay. I am just starting to drink port, so I don’t have much to which I can compare this one. Perhaps I started with one I enjoy so much (the Rutherford Hill 2003 Vintage Zinfandel Port) that the bar is set high. It’s hard to just stand around and sip port also – cheese or chocolate is needed. Sweet obviously is big here. In addition to the Almond Champagne, there is a Raspberry Champagne, five dessert wines and a sweet red blend. Though I don’t sound high on their wines, I like Su Vino and would like to go back and try some of their other wines. The folks working the tasting room were very nice. And there was a reasonably priced gift shop with some nice items.

Next there were two more “wineries” on Main Street, to which I can give very brief note. D’Vine Wines is a cheesy name. The place was far too cramped for this crowd and the wines were boring. They didn’t taste bad; they just didn’t have much taste. Although I must note that Mary said the Pinot Grigio was just plain bad. There were production tanks in the back, but any discussions with wine makers would have to wait for another day. Farina’s was across the street. It appears to be a café with a small retail wine area. They are just starting up their wine making, and do not have any of their own to serve yet. So they were serving some well-known Texas wines – a Llano red blend, a Becker cab and a white that I cannot recall. None were great. But there were yummy Italian snacks and comfy chairs for us to sit a moment and sip on a bit of water, which we should have done more during the day.

All along the way, Dad, Mary and I were having a great time. They were so pleasantly surprised by this excursion I planned for us. It was the most fun they had had in a long time, they said. They have worked so hard in their yard since the tornado and have been depressed by all the damage around town and by the damage at their own home. They needed a break. And this was right up their alley. I was thrilled by how cute the town was and what a good time we were having. I had never been up there, so planning this adventure was a wee bit dicey.

Inwood Estates, which makes their wine in Dallas, had set up shop in a coffee shop. They make very few wines. We tried their Palomino-Chardonnay, Cornelius (cab-temparanillo) and 100% cabernet sauvignon. All were nice. At $40-$80 per bottle, they should be. Dad and I had received the Palomino-Chardonnay as our bottle of wine included with our ticket price. After tasting it, we were pleased. A man who makes various rubs was sampling his product there also. I bought a sampler pack of those. They were quite good.

Next it was a walk of a few blocks to La Buena Vida Winery. This place is what Dad and Mary expected a winery / tasting room to look like. Since we left Cross Timbers, the tastings had been in store fronts on Main Street. At La Buena Vida, the patio area was all made of stone and looked as though it should be in Italy. There were tile fountains, live music, lots of seating outdoors, yummy food. La Bodega winery and La Buena Vida are owned by the same people, so there were six wines to taste here. Also, while we were here, it suddenly became brutally hot. Luckily our adventure had begun about 11:30 a.m., so it had been quite warm, but not insufferable. Suddenly it felt like the surface of the sun. I don’t know if any of us tasted six wines, but everything I tasted here was good. There were many more wines to sample that were not included on the Wine Trial. They also make a mead which I would like to try sometime. They have live music outside each Saturday, so I will definitely make a return trip to La Buena Vida – sometime after mid-September.

We then walked a few blocks to Homestead Winery, which was in an old house with just a couple of ineffective window unit air conditioners. We were done. We could/should have skipped it entirely. I got one taste and went outside. Dad and Mary got a sandwich, and we got out of there pretty quickly and walked to the car. I think at Homestead the heat hit all of us and the wine hit Mary. Of course it was 200 degrees inside the car. Mary was in the back and went to sleep as soon as we started driving. She didn’t feel too great, so she took a very long nap when we got home. Dad and I had short naps ourselves.

It was a lovely day, all in all. Grapevine is definitely worth a visit, and the wines should be investigated. I think there is a Wine Trail event sometime in the fall. But I would like to visit when there isn’t a crowd and I could have a chance to visit with the folks who pour and make the wines. I also want to visit Delany Vineyards. It was not included in this event. It’s fully operational winery and vineyard is there. I am not sure that any of these others grow their grapes there in the Grapevine area. I suspect most of them don’t grow their own grapes at all. Nothing wrong with that, but I am curious to learn more.