Recently in Liquid Refreshments Category

For some reason, going on a two week business trip for the second half of October seemed like a good idea a month before I booked hotels and flights and vendors and a conference. The day before I left, well, it suddenly wasn't a good idea. Fourteen days, seven beds, three cities and two towns later, I arrived home. Despite the length, it was a good trip. A very interesting conference, time with family on both coasts (East Coast was already written about, at least the cake part), and after nearly a year, finally returning to San Francisco (the March trip doesn't count due to illness) and seeing friends whom I hadn't seen in about a year.

Culinary highlights, just for all of you:

Francine Bistro, Camden, Maine: Camden is a cute little town in Maine along some sort of body of water, where we attended a conference. I found Francine Bistro on Yelp, and we loved so much the first time, we returned a second night. Absolutely delicious, including the spinach soup, duck and multi-colored beet salad with grated apple and the most amazing lemon-based dressing I have ever tasted. My lemon salad dressings are always acidic - which I love - but I would LOVE to know how to make a non-acidic, lemony and sweet lemony dressing. The second part of Camden of note was the Blue Harbor House, a bed and breakfast with absolutely scrumptious breakfasts. Day one: poached pears with ginger and vanilla cream and blueberry pancakes with coconut butter and maple syrup. Day two: poached fruit with vanilla yogurt and egg and tomato omelet with Irish soda bread. Day three: poached fruit with vanilla yogurt and French toast brulee, cubes of French toast baked with a cinnamon syrup.

Grotto, Boston: Good, old-fashioned Italian food. My colleague ordered a heaping plate of delicious spaghetti and meatballs, and Tracy won the award for the prettiest plated dish, risotto in a pumpkin.

The Temple Bar, Boston: Delicious, delicious, delicious food. My ahi poke on a rice cake was delightful and just what I needed.

The Berkshire, Denver: A flight of bacon. I really have nothing else to say except for if you're in Denver, hit the Berkshire for the flight of bacon. I also found my new favorite line stenciled on the wall: "Temptation, libation...and a bacon station".

The Tamale Stand, Denver: Sadly, my favorite tamale vendor in Denver was sold out of tamales both mornings. Can you believe that someone came and bought all three dozen of his tamales at one time? Bitch, I say, bitch. Ahem. However, that did give me the perfect opportunity to try his burritos. At most taquerias, his would be considered "chico" sized, which gave me the perfect excuse for two samples at a time. Egg and chorizo, bean and beef and bean and chile - what else would you ever want for breakfast?

Pizzeria Delfina, San Francisco: Pizzeria Delfina moved in to Pac Heights, and Carrie and I went on Halloween. Slightly different atmosphere than the place I love in the Mission, but still just as delicious. We started with their radicchio salad, enjoyed a bite of our neighbors' fennel salad (hey, it pays to be friendly) and then enjoyed the clam pie and the margharita pie. The leftovers the next day were just as delicious.

Suppenkuche, San Francisco. Delicious German food, as always. After a German charcuterie platter, I feasted on sausages, spaetzle and purple sauerkraut. It was also a birthday celebration, back in my former hood.

Slanted Door, San Francisco: I met Mom and Dad at the Ferry Building, and we decided to try the Slanted Door for dinner. I have to say - I was pleasantly surprised, I had always heard mixed things about the upscale Vietnamese place. Before going for dinner, I had only had drinks and oysters, all delicious...and dinner was just as delicious. We started with oysters (like any Olhava would pass up oysters) and spring rolls, then scallops cooked in a clay pot in some sort of soy and oyster sauce and ginger deliciousness, a perfectly brined and grilled pork chop, sautéed spinach and delicious, delicious eggplant. I should note, the Manhattan was quite tasty. The only bad thing about our meal - the service. Not sure what was going on, but considering the price and reputation, I really expected better.

Bourbon & Branch, San Francisco: The San Francisco speakeasy, requiring either a reservation or a password, or both. We had the password, and "luckily", they had three bar seats for us. Little do they know that the bar is always my favorite seat, and in this case, it was fascinating watching the bartenders in action. Drinks were definitely worth the cost of admission: the autumn Manhattan (it tasted like fall, and let's leave it at that), and the Black Manhattan, made with bourbon and a shot of Averna (yeah Averna, my new favorite appertif).

QFC is now piloting wine tasting in their stores. I popped in for lemons (Averna + lemon juice + ginger ale = the Vertigo, and my new favorite drink) and paper towels, and left having sampled four solid wines. They sectioned off an area of the wine section, had samples of wines, Full Sail, cheeses and plenty of food. All for a $2 donation to Susan G. Komen. Yeah!

Sorry about the current state of the blog. I have a few entries queued up about and ready to go, which explains the lack of writing lately. The appearance, well, an update to the newest version of Movable Type and my pathetic attempts to give the site a facelift ended in the disaster you see before you. Richard, because he is kind and fabulous, has offered to help me fix it, and I just need to get my act together.

It may be a while, kids, I'm on the road again.

Sierra Nevada just released their anniversary ale - a nice ale, not too complex, but not too flat. It has a nice and rounded flavor, slightly nutty and not too hoppy. I really enjoyed it. Even Loren, who typically sticks with the "lighter" beers (Bud, Coors, etc.) enjoyed the beer.

I'm not sure exactly which anniversary the good folks in Chico are celebrating; the dates on the label say 1980 to 2007, meaning that they're exactly 27 years old.

Good to know that Sierra Nevada is legal.

Every once in a while, a bottle of wine really gets to me. From the first to last sip, I am infatuated, loving the sensations of the wine as it crosses my lips, tasting the nuances as it dances on my tongue, enjoying the lingering after taste of each sip. Several years ago, I remember enjoying a bottle marketed for Valentine's Day; I can't remember much about the wine, but I do that I enjoyed so much, I tried to get extra bottles from my wine club (even though the relationship that marked the bottle's consumption ended a few days later). I felt this way the first time I tasted a Gruner Veltliner and still dream of the amazing 2005 Brachetto d'Acqui Prieto of several months ago.

The other night, my wine seller neighbor Stephanie hosted a little party. I brought along my corn salad, she supplied me with a steady stream of bubbly and wine. I had to duck out for an airport run, returning in time to hang out with a few last stragglers. Walking out of her apartment after getting me a glass, Stephanie grabbed a 2004 Jade Moutain Mourvedre. I inhaled, took a sip, and instantly, felt my knees go a bit wobbly. I was in love.

A red wine, it had accents of chocolate, berries and tobacco. It tasted warm, well-balanced, not to oaky and not too alcoholic. For me, it was the perfect balance of tastes and satisfaction.

I had never heard of mourvedre. At first look, my wine bible, the Oxford Companion to Wine, didn't seem to list the varietal. What the hell, I thought? Then, perhaps due to the glass of wine I was drinking while researching mourvedre, realized that I'd confused my u's and o's and Oxford did cover it (thus restoring my confidence in the heavy tome). My new favorite wine is "Spain's second most important black grape variety after Grenache and once Provence's most important vine". It's also called Mataro in the New World (which I guess would be California).

Mourvedre/mataro wasn't that popular until the 1980s, although, considering the amount of wine I consume, it may still not be that popular. At that time, the Rhone Rangers, a group of California wine makers (including favorites Bonny Doon and Cline) decided to be a bit more creative with the blending, "which provided a useful outlet for the produce of old grenache and mataro (mourvedre) vines which had previously languished out of favor." And, the old vines were located primarily in Contra Costa county, which makes sense; while Jade Mountain Winery is based in Napa, the grapes were grown at Evangelho Vineyard in Contra Costa County (a geographic area also known as Silicon Valley). And, the bottle is labeled "Ancient Vines 1890". Amazing that the vines weren't attacked by phylloxera.

Wikipedia had an interesting notation:

"Mourvèdre, is a variety of red wine grape grown around the world. In Portugal and the New World. It is known as Mataro, whilst in some parts of France it is known as Estrangle-Chien ("dog strangler")."

Great, I've fallen in love with a wine that is also synonymous with dog stranglers.

“You don’t really write that much about wine� Richard noted the other night, while were wine tasting at Whole Foods. I stared at him. “You’re right. Not because I don’t drink wine, but mainly because I can’t remember the names of the wines that I drink.�

I’ve decided to get better about the wine part of my blog.

I joined Richard and Melissa for a wine 101 class at Whole Foods. It was the very opposite of wine tasting at a winery, with the insipid chatter and explanations from slightly tipsy pourers and tour guides. Quite the opposite, our instructor pointed out that he was not allowed to drink on the job and spit out every taste.

We began by discussing the five basic tastes, sweet, acidity, fruitiness, tannin and alcohol, tasting liquids that exemplified each taste. And then we moved into the wine tasting, trying to use our newly discovered taste buds to determine how the wine fit into the taste profile(s). We asked a lot of questions, talked about what we were tasting, looked at maps of where the grapes were grown, munched on cheese.

We tasted four whites and two reds. Richard and I agreed that we liked the reds much more than the whites, enjoying the complexity and presence that I have a hard time finding with whites. Melissa disagreed. Luckily, no chairs were thrown. It was a wine tasting, after all.

Of the whites, we had a Conte Brandolino Pinot Grigio; a Chateau St. Michelle Saint M Riesling (grown in Italy and sold under the Washington-based St. Michelle brand); a Joseph Dourhin Saint Veran (a white burgundy!); and Kendall-Jackson chardonnay. All were from 2005. I liked all, and would happily drink all (especially the white burgundy), with the exception of the last. I just do not like oaky, buttery California chardonnays. However, I did discover that I enjoy unoaked chardonnays, the white burgundy.

I liked both reds, a Barnard Griffith Syrah and a Charles Joguet Chinon, or cabernet franc. The first was jammy, but very drinkable and opened up nicely. I absolutely loved the second (and had a second glass before leaving); inky red, full of depth and rich flavors and complexity.

I put my newfound knowledge to work this weekend. I’m a big sucker for labels, and was seduced by the 2005 “Bitch� from Australia. Yes, that is the wine’s actual name. It wasn’t really that great, not matching up to the promise of the name and cute pink label, incredibly jammy and not in a good way.

Last Thursday, I was treated to the pleasant aroma of freshly brewed coffee while walking up the stairs to my office. And I realized, while I was in Chicago, the Starbuck’s machines had been installed in my building. Happy, happy day!

With the click of four buttons and about a minute, beans are ground, brewed and the resulting liquid poured into a cup. The machine also makes fairly decent cocoa and of course, produces hot water. The coffee is a huge improvement over the liquuid produced by the previously supplied industrial coffee pots (which I made the mistake of drinking exactly twice).

When my office door is open, between the melodic waterfall sounds of flushing toilets in the men’s restroom, I hear the gentle clicks of the Starbuck’s coffee machines and the caffeinated chatter of happy colleagues.