Gluttons Club

So this is (possibly) the third case. The basic gist is that the cow in question was destroyed in a way where it didn't enter any food system, effectively cutting off the disease then and there if it was isolated. IF, it was isolated. I'm not worried but I'd prefer not to see these sort of headlines.

The tissue sample that was saved at time of death is being investigated in Ames, Iowa. Perhaps there is a reader who has veterinarian experience and lives in or near the greater Ames metropolitan area with additional information?

NYT: Just in time for a hot, stupidly humid day: make veg stock at home! Put a huge pot of liquid on the stove for a while to make things even more unbearable!

A tasting of wines that sell for less than 10 buck is interesting though I think that in this price range individual tastes come into strong play. The pairings column puts those wines up against tomatoes. It will be a battle worth remembering.

Elsewhere: lamenting the excessive open-ness of some restaurant kitchens, preparing a warm weather dinner, the return of authentic szechuan peppercorns to the market, figs! and teflon controversy. I have a question, if accusations are made regarding the safety of using teflon coated cookware, will they stick?

SF Chronicle: I can't find fault with a paper that features meat on a stick, sword or skewer as the top article. Below are the usual columns: travel in barcelona food market, making mayo, cooking quick brown rice, and easy eggplant. In addition, mozzarella bufala is discussed and chocolate syrups are tasted.

The wine section is separate in this paper but there is always an inset window in the food section with the highlights. Today for some reason this window is the same as last week, click on the wine section for this weeks articles. The top feature is on Richard Peterson, a pioneering winemaker whose daughters' fame exceeds his. The tasting is of west coast reislings. The cheese is a goat gouda. The liquor is cognac over ice.

Times of London: For an international perspective and in solidarity with Londoners, this week we cross the big pond for the guest spot.

They do things a little differently over there. The writing is more personality based as the columns are headed as much by author as topic. For instance, this is the first time I've recognized a writers name; Gordon Ramsay makes his home here. The food section is in coordination with the Sunday Times Wine Club so everything appears on one page, at least in the online version. The wine section includes giveaway and sales deals which is cool. Let's get to the content.

The top articles are on making salads better and taking advantage of the short season for apricots. The regular columns on eating out appear to be: Giles Coren, "Winners Dinners," and "Table Talk." Each seems interesting and today cover basic restaurant news, being seated near the toilet to eating whale. The Eating In section covers recipes and wine pairings. There are plenty of other small bits that are tied into compos, celebrity tastes (Spice Girl Mel C) and free offers.

Then there was this which had me confused for a while; mention of GI diets. No, not eating MREs and c-rations but eating foods that have a low-glycaemic-index (GI). Maybe a more scientific person could better explain it but the emphasis is on keeping blood glucose levels low to control appetite. From the articles here, it seems that it has a fairly substantial following. In Austria for example, foods are clearly labelled in shops that way we have our low carb labels. Nurtitionists/dieters may find it interesting. I think it is interesting that the approach is to controlling intake through certain foods, not eating only certain types of foods to control weight. I have issues with diets that will come out later but this is an interesting method that I hadn't heard of before. Anyone else?

Overall, I really like the section. It may lack the diverse cuisines and products that we expect here but excels in quality of writing and organization. The personalities of the writers shine through making them more distinct than the bland and somewhat typical style and topics of the average American food writer.

Hey kids,
Last week I started a new job in the wine biz. Officially, I have begun to prepare myself for bigger, better things to come by beginning work at Vino di Vino, a wine shop in Newton Centre, Mass (link located to the left though the site is pretty slim).

It's a small shop that limits its wine offerings to just 202 distinct bottles and a handful of liquors, sakes and beers. The emphasis is on service, quality and getting the correct bottle for your needs. At checkout, you receive a little card with basic information (varietal, region, vintage, tasting notes, food pairing ideas...) about the wine you bought. The hope is that the information will allow the buyer to better enjoy the wine and remember why they bought it and where it came from.

Each wine is rated 85 points or more by Parker and his ilk and the majority cost 25 bucks or less. Every wine on the shelf is tasted and approved by the staff so we can, without question, recommend it. We typically buy unique wines that are made in small batches so the stock is constantly changing though the basic options are always available.

I will be a sales clerk who will be responsible for manning the counter, receiving customers, offering advice and taking care of the hundred other little things that need to be done throughout the course of the day. Once I get the hang of it, I'll be doing all this on my own at times.

My biggest problem at this point is getting the tasting experience and confidence to talk about the wines in order to honestly recommend them. There is no time to taste each bottle, I'll have to rely on the few that I have had, the knowledge of the other employees and the basic characteristics of the grape variety and region.

I'm excited for the opportunity to finally be exposed to more wines. I feel that I have a pretty good base of knowledge regarding wine production, varietals and regions but lack the tasting experience to apply what I know to the flavors on the tongue. I'm looking forward to getting this opportunity but I have to say that tasting wine when you're looking to get something out of it is a whole different ballgame than drinking it with some friends at dinner.

The first thing people assume is that we sit around drinking wine all day getting drunk. It is pleasurable to a degree if you're sipping just a couple of bottles but when you need to plow through a large number, it gets tiring. First off, you aren't actually drinking, you're spitting it out because a drunk taster is an ineffective one. Your taste buds get fatigued by the tannins, alcohol vapors and the many flavor compounds found in wine. You're trying to describe something that may very closely resemble the last thing you tasted. In short, it comes very close to taking all the fun out of it.

Luckily, once work is over and you get home, you can sip, drink and enjoy some wine in a relaxed setting and you remember why you like it. I am hoping that what I learn will increase the enjoyment of wine and food and possibly even enrich my cellar stock to a great degree. I'm excited to get used the job and my role in the store. Come on by sometime and I'll sell you some wine.

The first Wednesday papers coverage in a while. I've been busy, sorry.

NYT: Oy, where to begin? There's a lot of wine coverage today. The regular column is about tasting some French vintages from the 80's. Something that might be of interest to Fred. In addition, there are articles on two lesser known wine regions; the Walla Walla region in Washington state and New Jersey. Finally, there's a little blurb about how the new legalization of wine shipments takes place soon.

Foodwise, the top article is on Jamaican beef patties. This is served with a jamaican cocktail article. Capitan Minimalismo makes a mexican salad that smells cevichey. Tattooed fruit is the wave of the future, eliminating the need for those pesky stickers.

SF Chronicle: 100 great ideas is the lede here in SF. The editors put together a list of 100 things to do with summer cooking which looks interesting. Elsewhere there are many articles on fresh ingredients (this is california) including tomatoes, corn and halibut.

Wine is about giving wine some air to let it open up. Featured region is Santa Lucia for its pinot noirs. Cheese course is a spanish blue.

St. Petersburg Times: Guest spot from Florida today. It is a pretty good looking section but lacks wine coverage.
The lead article is very timely--it covers cooking in the dark, as when a hurricane hits and knocks out power. I thought that was pretty funny.

Further down is an article on a the latest garlic utensil. The cookbook column covers vacation food. There are also articles on eating like Hemingway in Cuba, lasagna for breaky chocolate-less fudge and spanakopita.

This was up on Slate today. It is a fairly even handed account of Rachel Ray, the food network Everywoman. It focuses on her cooking show however and fails to point out a major flaw in her travel show "40 dollars a day" which has many restaurant workers pounding the walls in frustration. The premise of the show is that she goes to a city or place popular with tourists and eats her way around spending 40 dollars or less for 3 meals. To make her budget, she tips poorly which provides a terrible example to viewers. The following is my post on Slates forums regarding the article:

"40 dollars a day is a terrible disservice to waitstaff in this country. In order to make her budget, Ray tips poorly if at all. Besides being a cheap thing to do to servers who are bringing her food as well as coping with the filming aspects of Rays presence, it is a terrible example to provide for viewers.

Tipping is part of the bill, not an option to be dealt at the whim. When calculating the cost of your meal, you can't just look at the prices on the menu, you need to factor in the tip. Instead, Ray seems to treat the tip (always coupled with tax on the shows calculations, a cheap way to make it seem larger than it is) as whatever is left in her budget for the meal after the food is paid for. This amount is always less than adequate and treated as a necessary evil by her recounting.

As for her cuisine, why is it so refreshing to see someone cutting corners and using prepared foods? It's the food network! I don't watch ESPN to see beer league softball games, I watch it to see the pros at the top of the game. People already use shortcuts and prepared foods, there's no need to teach it.

Finally, she isn't that good looking in my opinion and her personality is unnerving. She reminds me of a kindergarten teacher who lost the ability to switch out of her "talking to children" mode."

If any of you were wondering why I haven't posted lately, I was in California for the last 10 days. I went for a wedding and stayed for vacation. I also had some terrific food and wine while out there.

First stop was LA for Karl and Michelles ceremonial nuptial bliss. The wedding was a great time. I saw many old friends who now live far away and did the usual get drunk and dance with pretty girls thing. The reception had decent wine (though apparently the wrong vintage cab showed up) and tasty food including a pasta station, carving station and sushi station. Man, I love stations. The asparagus in my pasta had a weird effect on me the next morning.

The plan for after the wedding was that Nuno, Dan and I would drive north to the bay area stopping in Monterey. Once there, they were going to stay in San Fran while I went up to Sonoma to visit with family and drink wine.

The trip up to monterey was gorgeous; we took the PCH through Big Sur and the coast. Along the way, we stopped at Laetitia winery in Arroyo Grande. It was founded by the keutz champagne house but have since become independent. They are the proud operators of the last basket presses in California. I saw them in the back room and was quite impressed. They looked like the kind of thing that you'd see people stomping in. The wine was good, I brought back a bottle of their XD sparkling. The bocce court outside was probably the highlight from Dan and Nunos point of view.

In Monterey we visited with my cousins the Dombrowski girls who work at pebble beach. They gave us the tour of the area and the resort and we hit a couple of wineries in Carmel valley for some decent sips. Oddly, one was called Chateau Julien, the other Joulian.

That night, Karen hooked us up with an incredible meal at one of the restaurants at the resort. As a cook in the kitchen, she got us the royal treatment. Appetizers arrived at the whim of the cooks and we enjoyed every bit of it. The sun set over the water while we feasted on an interesting mozzarella made from cow and goats milk, fritto misto, a pasta special with shrimp, shrimp with polenta and a tasty central coast pinot noir from Perell. A full hour passed before we even ordered our entrees.

The osso buco was delicious though it felt a bit weird to be eating a braised meat dish in such a summerish setting. Samples of the lamb and veal piccata were equally delicious. To be honest, I thought the menu was a little odd when it came to entrees. I was expecting more inventiveness and the sort of italian cooking that emphasizes the freshness of ingredients using simpler cooking techniques. Don't get me wrong, they did classic italian dishes like a ragu and piccata very well and I'm very glad with what I had but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Dessert, however, was a flagrant violation of rational eating habits. We were already loaded up on food but the kitchen sent out two chocolate lava cakes, a cheese platter, a creme caremel, a creme brulee, and a sorbetto bowl. I had to go for a walk just to make room for it. The cheese in particular was incredible. I favored the 30 month aged parmagianno but since we couldn't finish it, I put it in my pocket on the way out. No way I was going to let that go to waste.

So, long story short, the connection paid off--we got a nice break on the bill and rolled out of there stuffed full of food and happiness.

The next day we got to SF, saw the muir woods and view of the city from Mt. Tam, and caught a Giants game. SBC park, where the giants play is newish and so I was curious about the food selection. There were the usual hot dog stands but they also had a variety of stands operated by local restaurants. There was a chowder/seafood spot, a soup stand (vital for the cold damp SF summer nights), and the obligatory panda express. The beer selection was ok, sierra nevada and red hook were available but not much else worth mentioning.

The next day was up to Sonoma and the wine tasting began in earnest. John and Deb have good connections to the industry there so we were treated well almost everywhere we went. We went to chateau St. Jean first and had their famous cinq cepages as well as a nice pinot noir. For lunch, we got some bread and cheese and stuff and ate outside with glasses of the cinq.

Next up was Arrowood. This place had some good cabs and we unexpectedly ran into another relative of ours in the tasting room. Downhill from there was Imagery, a winery that had some good variety with sangiovese, lagrein and malbec mixed in with the usual cabs, merlots and pinots. I took home a bottle of cab to stock up my steak wine inventory.

The next day we visited Lynnmar in the town of graton. They had tremendously good Pinots that we all agreed were the best wines that we had had that weekend. We later toured the Dow vineyards, broke some fences and fed the horses. Later we had a beer and appetizer at a local brewpub for a change of taste pace. The events of this day had a strong impact on me and my ideas for the future.

On my final day, it all came full circle as I joined the honeymooning Karl and Michelle for lunch and some tasting in Napa. On the way, I stopped at Domaine Carneros, a sparkling wine house owned by Taittinger. The sparkling samples were terrific though expensive. I brought back a bottle of Brut to be prepared for impromptu celebrations. After meeting up with the newlyweds, we went to V. Sattui and picniced there taking advantage of the big italian deli. The wines were just ok there though the sangio rosato was perfect for the picnic. From there, we went to Franciscan and wow, those were some terrific wines. I bought a bottle of the 2000 magnificat which might be the best thing in my collection. BV came next and last for my Cali wine tasting adventures. BV suffers from major label fatigue but they make some good stuff. After that, it was off to airport and home.

My final take was 9 bottles of wine and a six pack of Fat Tire amber ale, a great beer not available here on the east coast. I ate some great food, drank some great wine and overall had a great time. I am now planning my move to Sonoma to finally make a serious attempt to make a career out of this hobby. More details will follow for those who are need to know.