B-day, WHC, New Book, Horrorworld, Finis, and Dry Creek Notes.

Happy Birthday Amacker

It’s Amacker’s birthday week…and we are celebrating tonight under the Master Chef ’s creations. Happy Birthday, Amacker!

Belated WHC Thank-Yous

I apologize for not doing this sooner, but I’ve been under the weather and on deadlines since I got back from WHC. To all the folks I met along the way at WHC – thank you. To the organizers – excellent job! To the HWA – Best. Stokers. Ever. Special thank-you to Del Howison who came through on TGE copies (which happen to be out of print and impossible to get), and to those of you who bought them—thank you as well. Thanks to everyone who came to my readings, and to everyone who came, enjoyed, and participated in the Gross Out Contest. I’ve gotten a lot of emails great emails from folks on this one, and had a blast planning it.

The New Book-o-Meter

What happens when four Stoker Award winning poets get together in email? A book, that’s what. This new book-o-meter is for a yet-to-be-titled collaboration by Linda Addison, Marge Simon, Charlee Jacob, and myself. My goal is about 40 pages of Poetry, which is why the meter reads 10,000 words.



HorrorWorld Interview

Have a look at Steve Wedel's interview with me over at Horrorworld. Go for the interview; stay for the rest!

Finished Stuff

I finished the Introduction for Mark McLaughlin and Mike McCarty's new book, Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster. It's off to the publisher now.

Notes from the Weekend in Healdsburg with Muppet Man, Lily_Dove, and Mot.

Five things you need to know about the Dry Creek growing region:

1). Make an appointment at Michel-Schlumberger for their wine and cheese pairing. Seriously. You will not be sorry. My two favorite things taken away from that is that they make a desert wine that tastes exactly like mead – which is something I can’t ever have because I can’t digest honey. I have only ever had mead once – specially home-made mead, and at the time my ignorance of the honey as an ingredient was my total and utter intestinal downfall within the hour of drinking it. M-S's Semillion Silk Purse is not going to do that, however. Ever. Muwahahahaha! You can only get it at the winery, however. But Sophie's Cellars has it for $27...

The second thing is they paired the cheese with the appellation of the wines served – and there is this little known farm that a Portuguese family owns and operates that makes St. George cheese. The family’s name is Matos, and their farm is in Santa Rosa.

This cheese goes with anything, I swear, and is the most amazing cheese… We got directions to the farm to buy some, but didn’t get around to it with all the other running we did. It’s worth the drive to Santa Rosa, I’m telling you. Cowgirl Creamery sells the Matos St. George for $15.50/lb, and the Cheese Shop on Polk and Pacific sells it for a whopping $23/lb. I picked up a cut-to-order wedge yesterday but am still smarting from the price. You can get it straight from the farm for about $5.99/lb. (who ever knew cheese was such a mark-up…and local cheese at that). Tip – if they wrap it for you in paper, rewrap it in plastic wrap. The cheese does go hard fast in the paper. You’ll want to keep it moist.

2) Mounts. MOUNTS MOUNTS MOUNTS! This is also a family owned and operated vineyard, and has been for 40 years. They typically only taste by appointment only, but we got a hot tip that their tasting room was open (ok, ok…we saw the sign out on the side of the road, and the nice lady at Michel-Schlumberger told us if the sign was out…run, do not walk…to Mounts). Being a family farm…it looks like a family farm. You drive through dirt and gravel, find yourself at a little farm house with a big red farm barn, and a tiny four year old girl peeps around the corner at you, just as you walk around to the back of the barn…where her beautiful (and very pregnant) mother greets you with a smile and a glass. You notice the four year old climbing amongst the barrels a bit, but this is no distraction compared to the amazing flavors of their Syrahs and Zins. Oh. My. God. We bought a case. Make no mistake, this is a family farm experience, not your hoidy-toidy Napa/Somona we’re-so-rich-we-can-buy-your-soul type of tasting room. It’s part of the charm, too.

3) Ferrari-Carano has a tulip hotline for when all the tulips in their amazing gardens are in bloom. Truthfully, this was the only reason we were stopping at the (somewhat Disney Theme Parkish) large volume winery…but they also had this new tasting room tucked away from the usual tourists (at $5, most people prefer to stay upstairs), with gold flecked granite topped tables and bar, and these giant curly obsidian glass chandeliers that just were amazing to look at.

They reminded me of a cluster of myriad vampires disguised as bats, clawing and cloying to one another like some entangled body-art, hanging in disguise. Anyway…the wines were nothing of note down there (a $15 tasting fee), except…one. Oh glorious Baccus, you have hidden a treasure there in there Elderado Noir Muscat. Its black. A Black Muscat! And oh…so….goooooooooooooooooood! (insert homer drooling sounds here). Not the best price point, but I bought a bottle.

4) I forced everyone to go (kitsch-factor understood) to Longboard Vinyards, because as a surf geek, I really, really had a hard time not being out in the waves when we left at 10am on Saturday morning, with the clear blue skies, warm weather, no offshore winds, and minus tides going off around the Bay Area. They have a lot of restored old 60’s and 70’s longboards hanging, along with a few shortboards, and play some good surf movies on the plasma screen while you taste. The owner is a surfer, of course…and while not the cheapest wine, it’s good young wine, so you can sit on it for a while and it will turn into great wine. We picked up some of their Syrah and one bottle of their 2005 Merlot which we tasted there (and is excellent to drink now), but they only had three bottles left of. The tasting room is very small, but it wasn’t crowded. Probably because any surfer would have been out in the waves…(cringe).

5). Simi whites. And that’s all I have to say about it, though some of you wine-o’s would say their reds are even better. Oh! And they have this chardonnay/olive oil marinade stuff for $5.99 (or at least they did – we bought the last two bottles of it). Another thing you can only get at the winery.

Well, that's all for now, folks.

Labels: interviews, poetry, wine, writing

posted by Rain at 11:17 AM

Post Mortem on the James Bond Weekend.

Another James Bond weekend summed up in one word: Fantastic.

We had dinner at one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, Rue St. Jacques on Friday evening and opened up a magnum of 2001 Trefethen Cabernet to share with the wait staff, as it is now become our tradition to bring them wine. The Muppet is fond of his French wines, so getting a bunch of Frenchmen who know their wines very, very well, to sip and enjoy a Napa wine built in a very French way was fun for us both. As usual, the cuisine there was top notch. I have never had even so much as a mediocre meal there - the chef works with organic and fresh ingredients, and everything melts in your mouth.

Saturday we took the Aston Martin to Domaine Carneros (by way of Telfords for some Monte Cristos, as they have a very wide selection of my favorite cigars there...and the ever irresistible In-N-Out Burger. I must admit, we did get a few looks pulling into the parking lot in that car) to pick up some of their Ultra Brut, which they keep to wine club member release only - but if you can get your hands on a bottle, I highly recommend it for an affordable, light, crisp champagne. We typically compare it to the Late Disgorged.

We snapped a few photos there before moving on to Trefethen (upon arriving though, we realized the shipment wouldn't be ready until the end of the month, unfortunately). From there we went to St. Supery, and picked up my Oak Free Chardonnay and the new Elu release. We also got the deal of a lifetime on a case of the 2001 Merlot - which many of you who frequent my parlour will be privy to tasting shortly. I try to get some of this whenever its accessible - sometimes they have it, sometimes they do not. We scored on this trip. Totally.

We decided to stop in to The Rubicon Estate to have a cigar take in the new view, after they demolished the second storage building blocking the view of the vines on to the main road. The Muppet scored me the coveted orange from the Great Lemorange tree...my life is now complete.

After that it was off to the Glen Ellen Inn which is an Oyster Bar and Grille that has these "Secret Cottages" you can reserve...I found the B&B online when I was running a search on Sonoma. Our criteria is always that a place have a restaurant so we can park the car and just walk everywhere else (ie., no drinking and driving!). The little cottage we had was perfectly situated just off a lovely creek with a stone bridge, where we could hear the water just outside the window, gently going by. There was a fireplace, a hot tub - pretty much all the things you could want - all nestled in a sleepy little town off the beaten path.

Dinner at the Inn was fantastic as well - I knew when I tasted his sweet biscuits disguised as little scones that it was all gonna be good. I had a stewed lamb shank with polenta, oysters on the half shell with some good old fashioned southern influence in the sauces (not your run of the mill garlic and white wine vinegar/ginger dip), and we tapped into that Elu for the feast. All was well in Hoosville.

The next day we set out for Sonoma with the intention of antiquing in Healdsburg, however, there is no good way to get from Glen Ellen to Healdsburg so we sort of winged it, stopping in at Chateau St. Jean to sample the Malbec release (yes, it even impressed my Malbec snobbery - but it's still on the light side and reminds me very much more of a pinot noir. The fruit you taste for mere moments in the beginning *could* pass for a traditional Argentine Malbec, however). We noticed a vineyard that the Muppet recalled his former boss had taken over - so we headed on up and up and up north to visit Quivira. They were doing a barrel tasting of a few Zinfandels, which was quite tasty. We chatted a bit with Steven Canter, the winemaker, and I learned a lot about the difference between "head-trained" vines and the t-shape you normally see...how the newly implemented biodynamic farming got rid of a Floxera infestation that nearly saw them pulling up one section of old vines...instead, it has vanished and that crop was saved as a result of the new practice.

We *had* stopped in Healdsburg for burgers on the way, but were too tired to contemplate antiques by the time we finished up north, so back to San Francisco we drove...top down, enjoying life.

...And life *is* good.

Labels: cigars, food, lemorange, napa, sonoma, wine

posted by Rain at 4:52 PM

Birthdays and Weekend Colors

First...a very happy birthday to Baine. :)

With all that has been going on and as busy as I have been, Muppet Man and I decided to get the hell out of dodge this weekend for a trip to Napa and Sonoma. We got a cheap rate on hotels.com, and stayed in Sonoma where there was a restaurant inside the hotel, so we wouldn’t have to worry about going anywhere at the end of the day. Muppet Man took the cherry red Mercedes SLK out of the paddock, so we had fun zipping around wine country under some wonderfully stormy looking clouds, but never encountering rain.

The colors in wine country are astoundingly beautiful right now – rich yellows and reds contrasting with the dark bark of the vines, and a few tangles of over-ripened fruit that got missed in the harvest dangling off winding gnarls of arms…and up against a lush dark green on the mountains and hills, combined with a lighter green of the fertile land the vines sit on. Plus, many of the roses are still blooming at the ends of the vines – reds, whites, fire and ice. All profoundly beautiful and fragrant. The air smelled spicy.

On Saturday we went to these places, and picked up Lily_Dove’s wine shipment for her at Trefethen, then mine at St. Supery. Muppet Man signed up for Domaine Carneros, which was our first stop to taste some of their superb champagnes:

Domaine Carneros/Tattinger
Trefethen
St. Supery

Sunday we headed through Sonoma, with some free tasting passes from our hotel:

Imagery
Kunde
Blackstone
Chateau St. Jean
Ledson

We hadn't planned on Chateau St. Jean, but I saw a sign out front about their Pinot Noir having been released, and that was primarily what I had wanted to taste that day...so we ducked in. It's perhaps the most beautiful winery we've been to yet - gorgeous French architecture, wonderfully balanced wines...and the building is ensconced in beautiful French oak to boot.

We almost skipped Ledson, but had to check out the neat looking Bavarian Castle type architecture. The grounds were beautiful with little hedges sort of like an English maze, but the fruit flies inside the tasting room were overwhelming. We had to cover our glasses in between tastes.

Of course, we also picnicked and had some good Mexican food at Maya in Sonoma...though our dinner on Saturday night was unremarkable at the hotel, and maybe a little disappointing. Still, we had fun, got away from the city, and that's all that matters.

I did not buy any wine this trip, and was charged with keeping Muppet Man on a budget - which he adhered to very well, surprisingly. That man can sure go nuts on wine...but he didn't this time.

This will be a very busy week. I have an audiology appointment this afternoon (prior to my CT scans, as the mystery of what's going on with my brain still eludes doctors, and they attempt to rule out everything that can be ruled out. Meanwhile, the vertigo does not get worse, or any less).

Tomorrow, tarot readings.

Wednesday - cleaning!

Thursday, Turkey Day delightfulness at AccidentProne's, to which I'm dragging Muppet Man.

Friday, Seanie arrives, and I have the very fun task of showing him around my neighborhood - the last time he visited was well over 8 years ago, and when I lived in San Rafael. Saturday he departs, and I attempt to clean up some beaches.

I was going to head down to Santa Cruz with Lily_Dove and Thumbelina, but the red tides are still causing problems for surf down there, plus, there is a strong odor of oil, according to Old Surf Guy, which means it's moving in his general direction, which means me both angry and sad at the same time.

All our beaches are still closed...and dead sea birds are still washing up all around San Francisco.

On our way to Napa on Saturday, you could smell the oil in Sausalito as we passed the bay. No government ordered haz-mat teams have been dispatched. So far it's still been only volunteers (and most of them surfers at that), cleaning up our beaches. I swear, whatever presidential candidate moves to publicize and act first on this, will have a strong chance at my vote.

TheMissBlue arrives next weekend, too. I'm looking forward to it!

Labels: friends, oil spill, surfing, wine

posted by Rain at 12:22 PM

The Bestest Mussel Recipe Ever

Yanno, the Nob Hill Grill really shouldn’t have changed its hours. It’s never open when I need it to be anymore. I was going to stop in an ogle the cute surfer, but alas…closed, closed, closed. *sigh*

Instead I hoofed it another block to Cala, where they had a sale on fresh mussels. I concocted a recipe that rivals even Ian McDowell’s mussel recipe, which is pretty tough to beat. Here tis:

Rainy’s Succulent Mussels in Broth (that ain’t right, I know).

Ingredients:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ cup chopped White onion
2 cloves minced Garlic
¼ cup fresh chopped basil leaves
½ cup White wine vinegar
Salt & pepper
½ cup Sangria*
1/8 cup Fresh parsley
1 lb fresh mussels
½ lemon

Coat a large sauce pan with the olive oil generously. Add the garlic and onion, flavoring the oil over medium heat. Add the basil and parsley, then simmer until the herbs turn dull (cooked) green. Stir in the white wine vinegar, sangria, and salt and pepper. Bring to a light boil on medium high, then reduce heat back to medium and add the mussels. Cover and steam 5-7 minutes until the majority of the mussels are open and plump. Squeeze the lemon over the mussels, stir, cover for one more minute, then serve in the broth, discarding any closed mussels.

I also made a good simple salad to go with it, comprised of shredded fresh basil leaves over mixed summer greens, spinach, black berries, goat cheese, and black olives in a balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Add a half-way decent Pinot Noir (Smoking Loon will work great with this), and you will be a very happy foodie.

*Sangria: If you want to know what was in the sangria, to the best of my recollection, this is what I put in it when I made it last Thursday: two kinds of wine – one decent, one awful (1 Smoking Loon Cabernet and half of a really bad Forestville Cabernet), Fresca (yep, that’s what I said!), sugar, chopped apples, chopped peaches, and chopped pears. Normally I forgo the Fresca and use 7up or club soda if I have fresh oranges to squeeze in or Trader Joes Dixie Peach juice…but Sangria is pretty much comprised of what ever fridge stuff, fruit, and wine you have left over that’s about to go bad. I also have a great white wine sangria recipe - but that's a post for another day.

If you don't feel like going to the trouble of making sangria for this recipe (since I just had some laying around), Carlo Rossi makes an excellent sangria in the jug wine section (No really! It's good!).

Also, the white wine vinegar and salt should offset the sugar content in the sangria - so you need to taste the sangria first to see how sweet it is in order to determine different amounts of the vinegar and salt. I mean, you do remember Justin Wilson tipping that jug, don't you? I just need a littul bit dat dere wiiiine...

Labels: food, wine

posted by Rain at 9:57 AM

The Speedometer Goes Up to 220.

Before I get into this one goes up to eleven, I must thank the Chocolate Fairy. The Chocolate Fairy has been following me around all weekend, actually, but this morning he/she (whoever it is) left a giant brick of Hershey’s natural flavanol Antioxidant Milk Chocolate on my desk. The Chocolate Fairy was also present in Napa – at St. Supery, as we were about to leave, the chocolate of chocolates, most gluttonously wonderful chocolate in dark and nut…showed up mysteriously on platters in the tasting room. I swear, this chocolate is like sex - Belgique, it’s called. Orgasmic.

Now. Back to business.

Muppet Man picked me up in the Aston Martin DB9 Volante, a beautiful midnight blue with navy blue and burnt orange leather interior. The flooring is actually carpeted in a matching shade of blue. Where there was the frame of the car exposed (like holding the windshield and visor, or the frame of the top, there was a taupe suede, which made the whole car smell like brand new tango shoes. The speedometer goes up to 220, and you push a button on the dash to start the engine, as well as change gears, unless you are paddle shifting from the steering wheel.

It goes fast. It goes up to eleven.

People notice the car. They want to inspect every detail of the car and who’s in the car. That’s an Aston Martin they mouth – and you can see the words fall out of their mouths onto the street and they just can’t stop staring. We couldn’t stop giggling. That car is sex on wheels.

It was mighty foggy in the city, but we had hope that the fog would dissipate after we got through the Waldo Tunnel, and as soon as we hit Sam’s in Tiburon for breakfast, it did. After Sam’s, we watered-up and headed to Artesa, where we had perhaps the singular worst winery experience I’ve ever had. It basically boiled down to one Bitch Queen of a woman who was clearly mad at the world because she has really, really bad hair…

We went to the club member’s tasting area, which is sectioned off from the masses in a small private area off the main tasting room. We waited for about 10 minutes before a second staffer came to greet us (insert Queen Bitch here), and she gave me a hard time for not having my member’s card on me.

"You’re sure you are a member?" She said.
"Yes – you can look it up in the computer, actually." I said.
"Oh, I will, don’t worry." She said, snottily. Then she continued, "If you really are a club member, what was in your last shipment?"
"Christ, I don’t know. I don’t open them," I said, genuinely sheepish, because I actually had picked up my last shipment at the winery AND opened them for a party, but couldn’t for the life of me recall what those wines were…as Artesa is not that memorable unless you are drinking one of their weird blends like Elements, with a discernable name.

She begrudgingly poured us our tasting. At one point Muppet Man wanted to try two cabernets side by side to see what the difference was between the Alexander Valley grapes and the Rutherford – not uncommon at any winery. She got pissy about it and gave us a speech about conserving glasses, and at this point Muppet Man thought she might be being sarcastic so he played into it giving her the benefit of the doubt…because…GOSH…it’s not like a winery would have extra glasses that they might have to WASH or anything.

Finally, she tried to give me attitude again, and I just couldn’t hold it in anymore after she said, "That’s good. You are conserving glasses."

So I said, staring her right in the eyes with that Scorpio look I reserve only for people I truly loathe or about to tear apart, "Yes, I am. Not that it should really be a problem. I mean, we are paying customers…and wine club members at that. It’s all about customer service, isn’t it, dear?" I could feel her butt cheeks tighten without even seeing it (the bar was too high) and her lips pursed at the challenge. However…she was sweet as pie to us after that. Sweet as pie. The only other time I have encountered someone being rude behind the counter at a winery was at Acacia – MixerGal and I have never been back since. I have had some very good experiences at Artesa, of course, and the other lady there was more than gracious, so I did still pick up one bottle of the Elements before leaving (if nothing more than to prove I WAS in the computer…but I did so at another station, near the gift shop, so as not to give her the satisfaction of wincing in my general direction).

After Artesa, we hopped back into the car and decided to stop in at Trefethen, where we did a reserve tasting in the back room with exceptional service by a lovely blonde lady and her daughter. This made up for anything prior… and her generous information and vast knowledge of the family, the vineyard, and the wines themselves was truly appreciated. She poured us something she nicknamed "Velvet," and I swear, we’d died and gone to wine-o heaven. There was a nice local-to-Napa couple next to us that we bonded with (as only wine-os do—over drinking copious amounts of wine and recalling the incidents there-of, reminiscent style) and they offered to give us their wine club discount if we were interested in buying anything (the wines Muppet Man was interested in were far too rich for my blood, money-wise, but they waved our tasting fee and in addition to the club discount, the wines he bought were such a steal). The grounds are also a California National Landmark…and beautiful in that French country style, inside and out.

After Trefethen, we hit old faithful—St. Supery, where we tasted the staples, I picked up a bottle of Rose and my standard 2001 Merlot was not available (sold out), so I went for a 2002 that is just as good. We saw the Chocolate Fairy and indulged (afore-mentioned).

Then it was time for dinner, so we headed downtown to The Martini House, another favorite and staple, but one that Muppet Man had never been to before. The new icon (if you are viewing this on LJ…if you are viewing this on myspace, that’s from inside the car) is from dinner downstairs, since we didn’t have a reservation and it was pretty early on in the day. We did a food/wine paring that was out of this world, and generally had a blast.

Unfortunately at that point we realized two things… 1) We were in a $250,000 car that Muppet Man had an insurance deductible alone of $20,000 for any damage, and 2) We could not drive it after drinking at dinner. We were fine through out the day since we’d paced ourselves with the tastings, pouring out the bulk after a sip or two, and drank plenty of water in between, but we mucked it up at dinner having had the food/wine paring, not even thinking about it. So we elected to cab it to a hotel where we could find rooms to check into. Since we elected to stay the night, we also elected to hoof it over to the Bounty Hunter for a few cigars and more wine.

We ran into the gal I’d met with Judge Clooney and The Boys the weekend before, from Plumpjacks, and had a great time chatting with various people and watching a strange girl from Arizona parade around in her bikini because her (new) boyfriend was inside chatting up other women.

"Can you believe he’d give THIS up for those girls?" She said, doing what I can only refer to as ‘s infamous "Panty Dance."
"Can’t argue with that," Muppet Man said.
"Me either," I said, and just watched the train wreck happen. Later, she gave me her phone number and said, "Call me!" Muppet Man shook his head.

The next day we piled back into the car and headed for home, stopping in San Rafael for brunch at Lundy’s Irish Breakfast on 4th street. It didn’t set too well with us, though, and after he dropped me off at home I napped, lounged, and dealt with a tummy ache for the rest of the day/evening.

Couldn’t help but think that MixerGal and Donnamite would have really enjoyed that trip (minus the Artesa experience, which would have driven MixerGal up a wall), especially Trefethen. I need to take them up there just to visit that one place, soonish.

Now is the time in San Francisco, though, where the hustle and bustle of Pride Week begins. (c)Superman’s birthday is today (Not that it’s an afterthought, of course – but Happy Birthday will be sung later at the Ox), I have a presentation on Wednesday to organize for, and Thursday is not only Solstice, but International Surfing Day. I really need to get back out into the waves…

Labels: cars, friends, napa, wine

posted by Rain at 12:18 PM

Happiness is a Canopy of Trees with Spanish Moss on a Winding Road



As it turns out, Judge Clooney did have bad news regarding his father, but decided to make the trip to Napa after all. They flew in on Thursday, and I sent them information and directions for a party at St. Supery by way of my wine club membership. After hitting a record 12 wineries in one day, they descended upon the party and proceeded to enjoy themselves further, and procured a lovely bottle of the 2002 Dollarhide Cabernet for me as a thank-you.

Judge Clooney called early on Friday morning before I had even gotten into the office to ensure my attendance at dinner that night. After a long day at the office, various raffles and cattle calls for left over set pieces from the previous weeks shooting, (I actually came away with some glass bowls, dishes, candles, linen napkins, and glasses – but missed out on the furniture, pots and pans, and pillow sets) I stopped by my apartment to feed the kitties, grab my suitcase, and begin the drive to Napa via Marin.

I arrived while the farmer’s market was still going on down town, and strolled through it a bit on my way to the Bounty Hunter to meet The Boys for dinner. Notice I have taken out Bull Semen Boys; with two additions to their little club who are not in the Bull Semen business, it seems more appropriate to just call them The Boys (one is an OBGYN and the other is a Teacher). I wasn't particularly hungry, having had a big lunch, so we sampled wines the Boys were recommending, and I passed out some Gispert and Padilla cigars I'd brought for them. One of the Fellahs from last year brought me a Cuban Romeo y Julieta from his vast corporate travels.

Because of some kind of festival thingy, we could not get rooms in Napa or Sonoma, which kind of sucked, because we were doing the Sonoma tour the next day. We wound up staying at the Hilton Garden in Fairfield, which is a good 20 minutes from Napa proper, where we'd left one of the cars and planned to swap out mine for the rental so I wouldn't have to drive. We took the long way, winding up through Rutherford and then Calistoga, up and down the mountain again to hit a few wineries closer to Healdsburg and Santa Rosa. Since we had to swap out the cars, Judge Clooney and I wound up arriving at the 3rd winery the Boys had gotten to, and it was only 9:30am! We sampled at J Richioli, before hitting one more on the way to a party near Young's Market, where the best wine of the day was a rare pinot noir from a barrel that Randy Lewis himself poured, of Lewis Cellars. The Judge was egging me to go back for seconds, and he said, "I'll just stay behind you and ride your coat tails. He's more likely to give a beautiful girl seconds before some guy." Try as he might, the Judge did not score seconds; I did, however. So maybe he was right. Heh. We gnashed on little pizzas and cheese and crackers there, before moving on to Cardinale for a private tasting in one of their dining rooms that the Boys had reserved for us the day before.

We had little plates of delicate cheeses, and two of there famous cabernets. We chatted on the terrace for a bit, looked at the mountains through the telescope they have, and enjoyed the scenery of rolling vines, intermingled with charming little houses and lush greenery.

After that, we headed to The Martini House for dinner, where we met up with a gal from Plumpjacks that was at the Bounty Hunter the day before. She brought an exquisite Cabernet that we decanted at table, and despite the name of the venue, none of us partook of Martinis. I had an amazing halibut with ravioli in a gentle sauce, and we all split a few Beef Carpaccios. There was no room for desert, of course.

Later, we drove back to Napa to pick up Teach's keys from the Thursday night Hotel where he'd left them, and swap out cars again. They all had 6am flights the next day, so we nixed the idea of another late night, and I drove home after saying my goodbyes.

All in all, it was a lovely, lovely weekend with them.

Sunday I lounged and pondered some reality TV shows, grocery shopped, and successfully avoided the Nob Hill Grill, which has a penne pasta dish that calls my name each time I get down to that corner on my way to the supermarket. Got some writing done in the evening; still working on scripts. *sigh*.

Labels: friends, wine

posted by Rain at 10:36 AM

Wine, Women, and Surf

I’m ecstatic to be participating in WineBob’s tasting tonight. I don’t have a sophisticated palate – not to the tune of $1500. wines, at least. There will be one of those bottles there. Since WineBob, Dread Pirate Rob (aka WineRob), and Snake Eyes are all wine brokers, I expect they’ll all be telling me what to smell and taste – but I’m really just in it for the experience of saying I know what the heck a $1500. bottle of wine tastes (or should taste) like. This experience, like all the best things in life, is free. It’s good to know wine brokers.

A happy birthday to Snake Bite, too (not to be confused with Snake Eyes, of the Ocean Beach incident, though they both surf).

The Surfistas all confirmed Sunday for Linda Mar, but damn-it, we all forgot its Mother’s Day, and Brit Pop has obligations. That means Bolinas is out entirely as an option. Surf shops down in Linda Mar don’t open till 10am and 11am, and we’ve got to rent boards, since I can’t seem to get a hold of SurfPunk…so it’s entirely possible Sunday will be another dud day. The beach might be empty, though, which would be good, and if Chardonnay is still in – I’m in too. More fried chicken for us! And I suppose this is another kick in the butt to buy a board, but I just can’t afford it right now. ($15 to rent vs. $450 and up for a dinged up used board that’ll still float). WaterWookie has been schooling me on what to and not to buy. SurfPunk has also warned against buying a used board off craigslist.org – mostly because he thinks they are all recycled junkers with repair jobs that might not be water tight.

Work has been alarmingly busy, as we go into creative briefs for an upcoming pilot. Next week we do the product shoots, and the time schedule for this pilot is short (and not sweet). We are short a writer, though we just hired one, so I’ll be pitching in on scripts here and there, along with some of the other team members.

I have found that ever since I started working for a television media company, that I watch less and less TV. I am, however, addicted to Smallville, and might even work hard to watch the season finale next week.

Labels: wine

posted by Rain at 9:46 AM

Actual Details of Open Car; Insert Muppet & Tiny Girl

(this won’t give away ALL the answers, I think, to prior dialogue).

It was such a beautiful day on Saturday, I decided to pick up my wine shipment in Napa. I picked up Muppet Man and Libitina, and we loaded up two picnic baskets, two bottles of picnic wine, a few blankets, and road munchies.

We didn’t actually get up there until 2pm, so we skipped Artesa and went straight on to St. Supery; neither of which had they been to. For those of you who know (or who have gone with me), this is my standard Napa wine run. Given that they recently moved here from Atlanta, they still have quite a bit of exploring to do (and Muppet Man is a wealth of knowledge on French wines, but not so much on Napa wines).

We went up to the club tasting room, which is laced in gauzy white curtains, and not as busy to foot traffic as the big room downstairs. We were right at the end of the wine-bar, about to move on from the 2000 Dollarhide Cabernet to the 2002, when for some unknown reason, Muppet Man succumbed to demonic possession, and spewed a perfect mist across the bar that did not touch any one person, but did cover at least one full wine menu. Folks that know Muppet Man know this is a man who is never out of a fancy suit, is always the epitome of a gentleman, and has been known to smoke a pipe or two in a leisurely fashion. Never have we seen such a thing come out of Muppet Man as the Great Muppet Misting of St. Supery. Luckily, after the shock wore off (and the allergen subsided), everyone laughed instead of getting grossed out. When he raised his glass to take another sip, both Libitina and I backed away, which caused him to snarf. Again, we laughed at his expense, and again…so did everyone else.

It was right about then, that we encountered the 6 foot 2 Latino cowboy, complete in tight, tan, creased riding jeans and work-wear Stetson. As it turned out, this cowboy was the one who eventually checked us out downstairs when we picked up the wine. Libitina was scheming to get a bottle of that 2000 Dollarhide Cab at the Flirty Girl Price, but we weren’t entirely convinced yet that the Gay Guy Discount would not apply, which meant we’d have to put Muppet Man up front at the counter…but alas, I was the one with the club membership, so the flirty-flirty was left to me.

“We’ll take a bottle of the 2004 Rutherford Merlot at Re-order…two bottles of the Oak Free Chardonnay…and---“
“And a case of the 2000 Dollarhide Cab?” The cowboy teased.
“You’re cute,” I said, “But you’re not THAT cute.” I said.
“But…I wore the hat!” The cowboy said, wounded. “I thought for sure it would work!”

We all laughed, and verbally agreed that the hat worked for him, so as not to wound his pride along with the ego. Libitina piped in that I taught tango after inquiring where he was from (Mexico).

“I could pay for lessons with a case of the wine!” he said.
“You’d have to show up with the wine first,” I said.

…and we all laughed again. I love it how my friends will whore me out for tango lessons just to get a case of good wine.

We loaded up the trunk with the plundered vino-booty, and drove to Coppola’s Rubicon Estate next. will know exactly where this is going… I introduced them first to the Lemorange Tree (see entry for The Great Lemorange Heist). I explained that I must aquire at least one Lemon and one Orange from the Lemorange tree. Libitina said, "I can climb trees!" So of course, I said, "You should climb the tree. You are tiny and cute enough, that they'll like it." Climbing the tree would have been too conspicuous of course, so instead we tried for low-hanging fruit. I used a Jedi mind trick to distract the grounds persons.

These aren't the droids you are looking for. You are tired, and want to go home...

And a lemon was in Libitina's pocket-book post haste. Unfortunately, none of the Oranges were hanging low enough to pick. So we soldiered on, knowing that indeed - it is still left up to to snatch the mythical, magical Orange from the Great Lemorange Tree.

While sipping a glass of pinot noir, (Muppet Man had a glass of Rubicon, and Libitina had a glass of Syrah) we wandered through the gift shop to get my Carmine Thrifty Cigars, which you can only get at the vineyard (though they are made by the Avanti Cigar Company). Muppet Man tried on a straw Fedora, which looked very fetching. I tried on a cute little patchwork fop cap made by Christy's of London. Libitina said the hat had to come home with me, and I argued that I could find a similar hat for $6 at any thrift store - I'd done it once in Portland, and could do it again.

Then Muppet Man came over to argue her point, and I figured I should go look in the mirror. I did look pretty damn cute...and that was right about when Muppet Man snatched the hat away, while Libitina did her tiny-girl-best to distract me, as he bought the thing for me. "Happy Birthday!" He said. "But my birthday isn't until October..." I grumbled. "Happy EARLY Birthday!" they chimed in. "Besides, you drove." I decided it's best not to argue with a Lawyer, and thanked them for the hat, and wore it for the rest of the day. Where-ever we went, people complimented me on the hat. They were very wise to make me go home with it.

After Coppola, we headed to V. Sattui for a picnic. We stretched out on a sturdy wood picnic table under the shade of a beautiful tree, with lush green grass your toes just itch to feel, and were soon joined by the vineyard cat. The Cat is all black, with two very thick, stark white whiskers - one on either side of its face. "Now that's a black cat you could call whitey," I said. And the cat meowed consent. Contrary to what we thought, Whitey didn't want food. He just wanted some good cat-people type scratching and petting and lovin'. We obliged, and he remained with us for the rest of our picnic.

The drive home was gloriously light and airy. We dropped Libitina off at home, and headed back to my place for a glass of vino and to find suitable parking (as Saturdays in Nob Hill are notoriously evil for parking). Later, we walked down the hill to the Cigar Bar, where my hat received more compliments. We chatted and I half-watched the Holyfield-Riddick fight, which was really quite exciting considering Riddick never drops his shoulders when he throws his punches, so you can't tell what he's going to throw, unlike every other boxer I've ever seen. Not to mention, what a brick house the guy is.

It was an enjoyable evening, and not too late.

Sunday morning I was awakened by my apartment manager yelling right outside the window about someone parking in the parking spot that no one was paying for. Just at that moment, my phone began to light up: Muppet Man needed a "Car Buddy." Then he said, "Bring a scarf."

I rolled out of bed, threw on some suitable clothes, and began digging for some kind of scarfy thing...and all I could find was a bad babushka looking thing. You can't drive around in a convertible Porsche Boxster looking like a refugee. It's better to go for Jackie-O. But wait, I thought...I've got a new hat! And so the babushka was tossed, and the hat came into play.

We drove (albeit I was white-knuckled most of the drive) to Sam's in Tibouron for brunch, which was lovely. Had a split of Veuve Clicquot, Dungeness crab and jack cheese omelet, a bacon and cheddar omelet, home fries, and fruit. With a view of the Bay and surrounding hills, I spied a gorgeous southern style house on the hill with a wrap-around porch, and declared my undying love for it. Muppet Man said, "You would like that house. That's a famous Belvedere">Belvedere Landmark. It's for sale, too. Only 1.5 Million..." I said, "Champagne taste on a beer budget. It figures." Outside the city, that is by far my favorite house. Inside the city, however, 2323 Hyde, which sold for 15 Million, is still my favorite.

After, we wandered to a few shops looking for clothes for Libitina, and then wandered into Windsor - a little wine tasting place neither of us had ever heard of. Apparently their wines are from the Alexander Valley/Russian River, and though their prices are ridiculously cheap, they are incredibly good. Muppet Man bought a half case of a 2003 Alexander Valley, Sonoma County Cabernet, and a half case of brut champagne (yes, it was that good). They gave him $50 off, too. Yes, it all did fit into the trunk of the Boxster.

We drove to San Rafael for a quick peek into the Open Secret Bookstore's Mandela room, before returning to the City. We stopped at the Ferry Building to pick up some tacos from Mejitas for Libitina (at her request), Muppet Man's wine club shipment from the Wine Merchant, then headed back to their place for chatter, a sampling of the wine from the day's plundering, and to feed the tiny-girl. This went way into the evening hours, and at one point we all decided to make it a dinner event... which essentially became some delectable grilled bison tri-tip with Libitina's fancy chimichurry sauce, grilled asparagus in a balsamic reduction, and Yukon gold potatoes mashed with a yam.

"You do realize we've monopolized you for the entire weekend," Said Muppet Man. "Yes, but I enjoyed it!" I said.

When I woke up this morning I felt like I'd slept for a year.

Labels: friends, wine

posted by Rain at 4:37 PM

Happy B-Day to...and Mad About Musicals

First of all…a very happy birthday to my littlest sister, Ash. May your day be full of mysterious intrigue, mischief, and love. Wish I was there to celebrate with y’all.

Secondly, joetech sent me this very interesting link – read the feedback. It will have you howling.

Finally, Muppet Man took Libitina and I to dinner on Tuesday at COCO500. Most excellent. The Saint George red from Greece was so wonderful. I have to say, you get a lot of bang for your buck there, and the wine list is small but diverse and complex in a very good way.

Friday is the Marketing department's happy hour. Guess what the theme is? Mad About Musicals, darling! Oh, you can bet I'm getting my Gay on. Several of the boys are bringing Liza. I'm bringing Ethel Merman. After they heard I'd be bringing Ethel, the Cher, Dolly, and streaming audio from the Big Gay Radio Station (see LJ blog link) entered the mix immediately, along with talk of my silver glitter Betsey Johnson heels (There's no place like home, there's no place like home!) and whose Tiara would be the biggest. The fun starts at 3:30pm...which I'm guessing is Vodka:30 (same as Beer:30, but harder on the liver). I saw a meeting request come across yesterday for an "after party" where they're moving the whole thing over to Jillians. Not sure I'll make it there, but you never know.

Gods, I love my job.

It's so incredibly wonderful to be surrounded by creative people again. I know I keep saying this, but I really, really mean it.

Labels: day job, family, wine

posted by Rain at 1:55 PM