Saturday, September 28
This was the second time I have attended this event which is a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Garden Grove. The weather cooperated and it was a nice fall day to be outdoors. The wines were donated by David Scales of MAWLwine. www.MAWLwine.com, nice variety and I picked up a couple more varietals to add to my quest for the second 100 varietals tasted. The food was donated and served by Outback Steak House and there was plenty of cheese, crackers and fruit yo keep you nibbling. Towards the end they put out bags of cookies, donated by the Radission Hotel and since we had paid $10 extra to have a table to sit at, we were given a box of cookies to take home and also were allowed to take the small cheese trays and center pieces home. So for my $85 fee which is a tax write off, I more than got my moneys worth and had a really good time.
The only glitch to the day was that one of the items I bid on in the silent auction and won that bid, was mistakenly given to another person who bid on the package next to mine. They did take the charge off my credit card and are supposed to contact the person and have him return the package, which supposedly I then can get and pay for again. I will have to call the office next week to see what is going on as they have not called me. I'm not getting good vibes over this incident. That person knew the package wasn't his as he and I were talking at the auction table about the items and he had bid on the similar one last year the same as I did. The personnel that evening said he had about 12 items he won so he may not have been aware that he had mine also when he left, but when he got home he would have known. I hope he turns out to be a honest person and returns my bid item.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Wine Bottle Sizes & Names
I always find the names that they gave wine bottles back whenever they decided they needed names, very interesting. I can never remember any name except Jeroboam & Nebuchadnezzar and then I only know that a Jeroboam is 6 bottles and the Nebuchadnezzar is bigger. I recently came across an article about the subject, so for my own information I'm going to keep in my "musings".
Spilt or Piccolo....................... 187 ml
Half-Bottle.............................. 375 ml
Standard Bottle...................... 750 ml
Magnum .................................1.5 L equal to....2 bottles
Double Magnum ....................3 L .....................4 bottles
Jeroboam................................ 5 L..................... 6 bottles
Rehoboam..................... 4.5 / 6 L.............. 6 to 8 bottles
Imperial or Methuselah........ 6 L..................... 8 bottles
Salmanazar .............................9 L.................. 16 bottles
Nebuchadnezzar................... 15 L................... 20 bottles
Melchior .................................18 L................... 24 bottles
Solomon................................. 20 L................... 26 bottles
Sovereign.............................. 25 L.................... 33 bottles
Primat................................... 27 L.................... 36 bottles
Melchizedek......................... 30 L................... 40 bottles
Spilt or Piccolo....................... 187 ml
Half-Bottle.............................. 375 ml
Standard Bottle...................... 750 ml
Magnum .................................1.5 L equal to....2 bottles
Double Magnum ....................3 L .....................4 bottles
Jeroboam................................ 5 L..................... 6 bottles
Rehoboam..................... 4.5 / 6 L.............. 6 to 8 bottles
Imperial or Methuselah........ 6 L..................... 8 bottles
Salmanazar .............................9 L.................. 16 bottles
Nebuchadnezzar................... 15 L................... 20 bottles
Melchior .................................18 L................... 24 bottles
Solomon................................. 20 L................... 26 bottles
Sovereign.............................. 25 L.................... 33 bottles
Primat................................... 27 L.................... 36 bottles
Melchizedek......................... 30 L................... 40 bottles
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Surprise Ending
Friday, September 28, 2007
Normally I do not post to the blog my weekly wine tastings that I do on a regular basis. But tonight was special, I stopped at the local wine shop MAWL, www.mawlwines.com, for my weekly "fix". David had Pinots on the agenda tonight. Several people were there that I knew, but a little later in the evening, old friends, Terry & Cora came in. This was their first wine tasting in several months, since Cora had surgery on her neck. She showed me her scar which looked like a huge zipper. It ran from the base of her skull down at least 6 inches. It was the same surgery Laura Bush just had but Cora had 5 places in her spine to repair and Mrs. Bush had one.
After tasting the wines we decided to go to Buhkara for dinner. 5 of us went and had a great time. The food is extremely good (Indian Cuisine) and the fact that Cora was finally getting her taste back was a joy. I brought a bottle 2002 William Seylem Pinot and along with the other 2 bottles we consumed them all. It was a great dinner, because of the company making it special.
Life is too short not to have good food, good wine and very good friends.
Normally I do not post to the blog my weekly wine tastings that I do on a regular basis. But tonight was special, I stopped at the local wine shop MAWL, www.mawlwines.com, for my weekly "fix". David had Pinots on the agenda tonight. Several people were there that I knew, but a little later in the evening, old friends, Terry & Cora came in. This was their first wine tasting in several months, since Cora had surgery on her neck. She showed me her scar which looked like a huge zipper. It ran from the base of her skull down at least 6 inches. It was the same surgery Laura Bush just had but Cora had 5 places in her spine to repair and Mrs. Bush had one.
After tasting the wines we decided to go to Buhkara for dinner. 5 of us went and had a great time. The food is extremely good (Indian Cuisine) and the fact that Cora was finally getting her taste back was a joy. I brought a bottle 2002 William Seylem Pinot and along with the other 2 bottles we consumed them all. It was a great dinner, because of the company making it special.
Life is too short not to have good food, good wine and very good friends.
Sake Seminar
Wednesday, September26, 2007
Wine Country, www.thewinecountry.com, had another "Sake Seminar". I so enjoyed the one last year, I had to attend this one.
Sake is made with four simple ingredients. Rice, water, mold & yeast. It is a very labor intensive product to make. I will not go into the details but I was very surprised at how long it takes to mill the rice and make sake.
Good Sake is always served cold. The 3 levels of sake are, Junmai, Junmai Ginjo and Junmai Daigingo. Only 0.5% of all Sake production in Japan reaches the Daiginjo level, hence the price reflects it.
Tonight we tasted 6 Sakes . These Sakes had alcohol levels of 14.9% to 16%
First up was "Nabu Bijin "Southern Beauty" served with Oysters on the half shell with shallot vinegar.
Next was Fukucho "Moon on the Water" - made by a female sake brewer and Chiyonosono "Scared Power". These were served with steamed clams in white wine, shallots & parsley and asparagus with aoli.
The next two were Sato no Homare "Pride of the Village" made by a 6oo year old brewery, 55 generations of the same family and Ginjo Shizuku "Divine Droplets" . These were served with a Pork tenderloin with a peach glaze.
Last up was Tozai "Voices in the Mist". This was an unfiltered Sake. Served with a spicy salmon tartare and rice.
There is a website that has a lot of information of sake, http://www.esake.com/,
Wine Country, www.thewinecountry.com, had another "Sake Seminar". I so enjoyed the one last year, I had to attend this one.
Sake is made with four simple ingredients. Rice, water, mold & yeast. It is a very labor intensive product to make. I will not go into the details but I was very surprised at how long it takes to mill the rice and make sake.
Good Sake is always served cold. The 3 levels of sake are, Junmai, Junmai Ginjo and Junmai Daigingo. Only 0.5% of all Sake production in Japan reaches the Daiginjo level, hence the price reflects it.
Tonight we tasted 6 Sakes . These Sakes had alcohol levels of 14.9% to 16%
First up was "Nabu Bijin "Southern Beauty" served with Oysters on the half shell with shallot vinegar.
Next was Fukucho "Moon on the Water" - made by a female sake brewer and Chiyonosono "Scared Power". These were served with steamed clams in white wine, shallots & parsley and asparagus with aoli.
The next two were Sato no Homare "Pride of the Village" made by a 6oo year old brewery, 55 generations of the same family and Ginjo Shizuku "Divine Droplets" . These were served with a Pork tenderloin with a peach glaze.
Last up was Tozai "Voices in the Mist". This was an unfiltered Sake. Served with a spicy salmon tartare and rice.
There is a website that has a lot of information of sake, http://www.esake.com/,
Belgium Beer Dinner
Monday, September 24, 2007.
The last beer dinner of the season was held tonight at The Belmont Brewing Company. The weather was perfect for sitting outside. The light from Long Beach and the LA Harbor were intoxicating and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore made for a very romantic interlude. But alas, I was with female friends and married men and a crowd of 60 people.
First course was a Cheese and Prochuitto (spelling taken off the menu) plate served with "Wittekerke White, a wheat ale. Very light beer and something good to start off the dinner with.
The soup served was a roasted red bell pepper with smoked gouda and served with "Bornen Double". The soup was very good but the beer wasn't to my liking. I guess it was good if you like that type of beer.
Next came a salad made with bibb lettuce, blue cheese and apples. Very good combination. This was served with "Bieken Honey Ale". A good pairing but I drank a very small amount of this beer. The taste of the honey ale's always gets to me fast. A little goes a long way.
Main course was a lemon herb dill chicken with rice and vegetables. It had very good flavor but by this time I was starting to get full so 90% of this dish went home with me for lunch the next day. This was served with "Piraat Triple"
Dessert is always a disappointment at BBC. The chef obviously is not into desserts. We were served "institutional" eclairs. They sell better ones at Costco. I ate 1 small eclair. There were 3 on the plate. It just wasn't worth the extra calories to eat something very mediorce. This was served with "Golden Draak". One of the better beers of the night.
The evening was great, most of the food was good, the conversation was good, the ambiance spectacular and "Jack" was out preforming himself. When I left he had a huge grin on his face and was a little wobbly so we all assumed he had a great time like we did. Probably better by the looks of him
The last beer dinner of the season was held tonight at The Belmont Brewing Company. The weather was perfect for sitting outside. The light from Long Beach and the LA Harbor were intoxicating and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore made for a very romantic interlude. But alas, I was with female friends and married men and a crowd of 60 people.
First course was a Cheese and Prochuitto (spelling taken off the menu) plate served with "Wittekerke White, a wheat ale. Very light beer and something good to start off the dinner with.
The soup served was a roasted red bell pepper with smoked gouda and served with "Bornen Double". The soup was very good but the beer wasn't to my liking. I guess it was good if you like that type of beer.
Next came a salad made with bibb lettuce, blue cheese and apples. Very good combination. This was served with "Bieken Honey Ale". A good pairing but I drank a very small amount of this beer. The taste of the honey ale's always gets to me fast. A little goes a long way.
Main course was a lemon herb dill chicken with rice and vegetables. It had very good flavor but by this time I was starting to get full so 90% of this dish went home with me for lunch the next day. This was served with "Piraat Triple"
Dessert is always a disappointment at BBC. The chef obviously is not into desserts. We were served "institutional" eclairs. They sell better ones at Costco. I ate 1 small eclair. There were 3 on the plate. It just wasn't worth the extra calories to eat something very mediorce. This was served with "Golden Draak". One of the better beers of the night.
The evening was great, most of the food was good, the conversation was good, the ambiance spectacular and "Jack" was out preforming himself. When I left he had a huge grin on his face and was a little wobbly so we all assumed he had a great time like we did. Probably better by the looks of him
Monthly Wine Get Together
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Our monthly get together was held today. The theme was Central Coast Pinots (Noir, Gris & Blanc). Technically the "central coast" runs from Edna Valley to Monterey but everyone includes the Santa Barbara area in their interpretation. Which is good because we had some very good Pinots from that area. The real standouts were Sanford (2002), Ken Brown, Sea Smoke and Badge. All the wines brought were good except for the 2004 Sanford.
It was interesting to compare the 2002 which was that last year Bruno D'Alfonso made the wine and the 2004 which was not up to standards. Also the 2005 Badge is the new label of Bruno D'Alfonso and to compare them was quite a treat.
We had 14 Pinot Noirs and 6 of them were from the Sta. Rita Hills.
Our monthly get together was held today. The theme was Central Coast Pinots (Noir, Gris & Blanc). Technically the "central coast" runs from Edna Valley to Monterey but everyone includes the Santa Barbara area in their interpretation. Which is good because we had some very good Pinots from that area. The real standouts were Sanford (2002), Ken Brown, Sea Smoke and Badge. All the wines brought were good except for the 2004 Sanford.
It was interesting to compare the 2002 which was that last year Bruno D'Alfonso made the wine and the 2004 which was not up to standards. Also the 2005 Badge is the new label of Bruno D'Alfonso and to compare them was quite a treat.
We had 14 Pinot Noirs and 6 of them were from the Sta. Rita Hills.
Spanish Dinner & Flamenco Dancers at Sebastiani's
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