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THURSDAY 26 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
I'm headed to Florida today to visit my friend Ruth. We've got a fun weekend of wine drinking, no shopping, reading, gossiping, no shopping, wedding planning (she's getting married in May), exercising, eating, visiting, and no shopping. Have I mentioned that I'm not going to one single antique store? Not one! There is going to be absolutely NO SHOPPING this weekend. I swear.
I'm back next Wednesday, but here's some reading for you while I'm away:
Burke and Wells in Paris
SimmerStock
Looka!
Sauté Wednesday
Eat Drink and Be Married
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TUESDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
The new issue of NOBODY'S FOOL is out. I just made a trip down to the post office, so keep an eye on your mailbox - subscribers, that is. Non-subscribers, this is the time to join. What are you waiting for?
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FRIDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
When I took a wine-tasting class a few years ago, I was given a piece of advice that I didn't follow until recently. It has turned out to be such a success that I am now passing that advice (annoyingly, I'm sure) along to every single person I know. Now it's your turn!
My wine-tasting teacher told me that the best thing to do if you want to find good wine is to become a regular at a wineshop and get to know the employees. I don't think this is uncommon advice - Dorothy J. Gaiter & John Brecher have said the same thing in their column, and it seems like common sense. But I usually buy my wine at the grocery store, and it seemed too much trouble to make an extra trip to a different store.
You may recall that a few weeks ago I was very happy to have met Steve, Shoppers' wine buyer. Well, my new friend is Tom Ragle, the manager of 41st Avenue Liquors. I was in there last week and struck up a conversation with him, asked him for a couple of recommendations. He asked me what I liked, I pointed out a few bottles, and then he recommended six more for me to try, all of them under $10. This week, he recommended five more. They were all good, even the one that cost $4.99.
I drink a lot of wine. If I were to drink $12 bottles all the time, I'd be bouncing checks left and right and the collection agents would start to call. But the problem with drinking cheap wine is that you never know whether you're going to get something earthy & drinkable, or soda-pop swill like Vendage or Turning Leaf. (Nasty!) This is where a knowledgable liquor-store friend comes in handy. I know California, Spanish, and Portuguese wine pretty well, but I'm stymied when it comes to France or Chile or Australia or anywhere else - and a lot of good cheap wine comes from other places. (Inexpensive California wine, in my opinion, tends to be pretty awful. Good $$ California wine, though, is delicious.)
It's not just the recommendations, it's also the deals. 41st Ave. Liquors quite often has a buy-five-get-one-free special, and the discounts on a case are more than 10%. I'm looking for our new house wine, so we can buy a few cases to stick in the closet. It's a pain to run out of wine, and it's nice to have extra around for when friends drop by - especially now that the holidays are coming up. And because we save money by buying by the case, we can also buy a case of pricier wine to drink on the weekends.
The $4.99 wine I mentioned? It's a 1999 Casa Solar Plata. It's not a "sit by the fire and savor every sip" kind of wine, but it's an absolutely decent table wine to have with dinner. It may be our new house wine, but the contest is still running.
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WEDNESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
One of the things I look forward to every week is "Tastings," the wine column by Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher that appears every Friday in the Wall Street Journal. Unfortunately, I can't link to any of their columns, because the WSJ makes you pay for an online subscription - even if you're already a print subscriber. Ridiculous! However, Dottie & John (as they're known) have a new book out, THE WALL STREET GUIDE TO WINE: NEW AND IMPROVED. I haven't read it yet, but judging from their columns it should be practical, informative, and entertaining. Here's a preview:
We worry sometimes that there's too much emphasis on learning about wine and not enough on enjoying it. We don't understand why people are told they have to become experts on wine before they can appreciate it. Imagine if people were told they had to understand all of the intricacies of baseball before they could bask in the simple beauty of the game, or if we were told we had to make a study of art before we could be astonished by a Rembrandt. Do we have to know why the sky turns purple and gold and orange before we can love a magnificent sunset?
To us, wine is like art, or a sunset, or even the green grass of the outfield on a sunny day. It can be appreciated, reveled in, for no reason other that the way it touches our senses and makes us feel. We believe people should simply enjoy wine. If they do, they might want to learn more about it, which will increase their appreciation and joy as time goes on.
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FRIDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
As I've mentioned, my sister is getting married in October, and my parents are making the wedding cake. My dad is making the cake, and my mom (whose parents had a bakery while she was growing up) is in charge of the decorating.
This has been a long, long process. My dad has been testing cake flavors & recipes for more than a year now. (Jennifer & Aaron announced their engagement the Mothers' Day before last, and my dad started practicing cake baking about two weeks later.) Every time I go up to visit them, one of the weekend events is a cake-tasting. Last weekend there were THREE - chocolate cake with raspberry filling and rolled fondant icing, rum syrup-soaked almond cake with apricot filling and buttercream icing, and "tiramisú" - white cake soaked with coffee-Kahlua syrup, cream cheese filling, and buttercream frosting.
I didn't like the chocolate (I don't like raspberry filling, and rolled fondant icing is nasty). The almond (Martha's recipe, from Baking with Julia), was pretty darned good. The cake itself had a great texture; it was sturdy enough to stand up to being stacked in tiers, and it wasn't dry. But the tiramisú...
I'm not a dessert person - I'd choose a half-dozen slices of crispy bacon over chocolate cake any time - but that cake was addictive. I apparently don't eat much sugar any more, because after tasting all three flavors (and I had very small slices), my heart was racing - sugar goes straight to the bloodstream. But even though I felt like a meth junkie, I still couldn't help having a second helping of the tiramisú.
After a year of cakes (white cake with lemon filling and lemon syrup? chocolate cake with mocha filling? walnut cake? fresh fruit filling? plain buttercream, rum buttercream, chocolate buttercream, coffee buttercream?), my dad has found a winner, in my opinion. Now if only Jennifer & Aaron would approve the choice...
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TUESDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
WHY I LOVE JOHN THORNE
Fried Kielbasa Casing Po'Boy - this is man who knows how to make a sandwich. Have I told you about the chicken skin tacos?
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MONDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
It's starting to feel like fall in Santa Cruz. The end of summer isn't something to be sad about, around here. Summer means fog and tourists and traffic and crowds. Fall means sunshine and empty beaches and a plethora of parking spaces. It's wonderful.
I'm so happy that it's warm again. I refuse to turn on the heat in August - I think it's just ridiculous that I'm even tempted - so I've been cold for the last month. But here it is a week after Labor Day, and I'm wearing a tank top and shorts. This is what California is supposed to be like.
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THURSDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
Today is the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Waffle House. Some of you may not know about the Waffle House; I didn't, until I went to Louisiana with my dad this year. It's a chain of diners based in the south, but with outposts in 24 states. It's not just about waffles, people - the Waffle House is the world's leading purveyor of T-Bone steaks, grits, and raisin toast. (I love raisin toast.) And their hashbrowns come seven ways: scattered, smothered, covered, chunked, topped diced, and peppered. (My dad eats his "scattered, smothered, and covered." I order cheese grits. Have you ever seen cheese grits in California? Me neither.)
They have their own Christmas CD - need I say more?
NOTE: When I typed yesterday's recipe, I forgot to specify that the bay leaves should be removed from the sauce before blending. The error has now been corrected. Thanks to Barry for pointing it out!
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WEDNESDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
I didn't have to cook last night - Catherine did! She made pasta with meat sauce, her favorite meal of all time, if you don't count cheeseburgers. Her sauce was pretty damned good, and it doesn't have to have meat. She uses the blender, so she doesn't bother to peel the tomatoes or peppers. Here's the recipe:
CATHERINE'S SUMMER PASTA SAUCE
Because this goes in the blender, you don't have to be very careful about how you cut the vegetables.
1 large (or two medium) yellow onion, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 T. olive oil
2 bay leaves
3 red or yellow bell peppers, sliced thickly
4 BIG tomatoes (red or yellow), or 6 small ones, chopped
1 T. minced fresh herbs (sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary - use just one, or use a mixture)
1/4 c. heavy cream (optional, but yummy)
Sauté the onion and bay leaves in the olive oil over medium heat until the onion is soft, then add the garlic. Cook until the onion just begins to color. Add the peppers to the pan, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook until the peppers begin to soften. Add the tomatoes and herbs to the pan, and cook until the tomatoes begin to exude their juice. At this point, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the tomatoes have collapsed and the peppers are completely soft. Remove from heat and let cool.
When the sauce is cool*, remove bay leaves, put the sauce in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Leave the sauce in the blender, and return the pan to the stove over high heat - you don't need to wash it. Pour in the heavy cream, boil for a minute or two to reduce the cream slightly, then return the tomatoes to the pan. Mix and heat through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
*You can blend the sauce when it's hot, but be very very careful. (It helps to pulse the motor on and off very quickly.) Hot liquids can create pressure in the blender jar, making the lid explode. I speak from experience; learn from my scars.
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TUESDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
I made myself some pesto with Vella Dry Jack today. If you've never tried this cheese, it's worth seeking out. It's a grating cheese, like Parmesan, but has a completely different flavor. The Vella Cheese Company is a fun visit, if you're ever wine-tasting in Sonoma. The store is a short walk from the Plaza, and it's good idea to pick up some cheese for a wine-tasting picnic.
When I lived in Marin, I probably went to Sonoma at least once a month. My apologies to all the wonderful Napa winemakers, but I think Sonoma easily beats Napa as a destination. There's lots of good wine in Napa, and good restaurants (I especially like Bistro Jeanty), but the geography isn't as nice for touring. There's just one two-lane highway going through the length of the valley, and it can get incredibly crowded on the weekends. Traffic is the last thing you want to deal with on a relaxing getaway!
Sonoma, on the other hand, is more of a real town, and less touristy. The Plaza has its share of antique stores and art galleries, but it also has a great bookstore, an old-fashioned men's clothing store, and a movie theater. The wineries are just as good as Napa wineries, though perhaps a bit less famous. And the traffic? what traffic?
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SUNDAY 1 SEPTEMBER 2002 link
We had some clients over for dinner this week. They only know me from our marketing/design business - they don't know about NOBODY'S FOOL, they didn't know that I used to cook for living - so they were VERY impressed with dinner. It was a very fun surprise.
It wasn't a particularly fancy dinner, but it was one of those dinners that shows off excellent produce. Corn & red pepper soup, blackeyed pea & cucumber salad, grilled chicken, grilled vegetables, and two sauces - preserved lemon relish and chimichurri sauce. Nothing complicated, nothing difficult, but everything fresh, local, and organic.
Good cooking really begins with good shopping.
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