kerewin's whine cellar

Will Work For Wine

Last Friday I was doing a staff training at one of the restaurants where I sell wine. I had to drive from the office (South of town) to downtown which involves freeways and exits. I was coming off an exit where a homeless Vietnam vet usually walks back and forth with a sign asking for money. Sometimes his wife (?) patrols the other side. I can't quite decide which is more appropriate, the friendly but I-don't-give-money-out look with a small smile, or the I-can't-move-my-head-and-don't-see-your-sign.

On this day the man was there as usual but over on the right side there was a dude in a suit and sunglasses. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, early forties. People who walked by him started laughing and I was craning my neck to get a good glance at his sign. He finally turned my way and I motioned for him to hold his sign higher as the guard rail was blocking my view. The sign said, "HAVE JOB, HAVE APARTMENT, HAVE JOB, NEED DATE 555-1212" Ok, so I made the phone number up, so to speak. When he saw that I was paying attention, he held up his other hand with another smaller sign. "STRAIGHT."

I got a good laugh and went on my way. After the staff training I was walking out of the restaurant towards my car and across the street I saw a lady in a regular wheelchair. She had a standard size poodle on a leash and that poodle was HAULING ASS down the street. She was probably travelling about 20 miles per hour on the sidewalk.

Apparently, I need to be carrying a digital camera around with me at all times.

Too bad for Andrew, I am already married

Possible Ticket

So this week I have been half-in and half-out of a job, getting up early to deal with new job and running my ass off to old job. Of course you want to dress correctly and new job is dress professional and old job is, well it has a shitty dress code of either khaki pants and khaki polo, or dress black and whites with bow tie and apron (GAG). So I find myself in a time pinch gunning it to the old job in dress professional, trying to get into grocery store chic. Yesterday I was stopped at a light, no one with windows enough to see, running shitass (another very fun made up word of mine lately) late I decide to swap shirt for polo. As I have one off and the other *about* on, who drives by but a mo-to-cycle cop?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Can you imagine getting a ticket for changing clothes at a light????????????????? Dude, I was in BRA-ONLY while driving, that could be a serious moving violation, I suspect.

Since I have to drive for my new job and a perfect driving record is a plus all I could think about was how this might affect my record. TG that the dude kept on driving. Narrow escape is all I have to say. And DUDE could I use the word DUDE more often these days? Not sure, DUDE.

Torres

When we were in Barcelona we got an opportunity to tour the Torres Winery. This was taken in their museum, which not only covers the history of their winery but also a good portion of ceramic and pottery history of the area.

White Loire Wine

I tried this Sauvignon Blanc the other day and was completely blown away. It comes from Touraine which is just outside (or is it just on the edge?) of the Sancerre area of France. This would indicate that the wine would be very green and grassy with a lot of grapefruit flavor, which can be quite delicious. Instead, it starts out that way just a teensy weensy bit. Then, you get this lovely steely mouth feel and a finish that I can only describe as the flavor you get from a really nice Chablis. This wine is elegant and tastes great on its own, but is also terribly food friendly. The killer is the price, where a good Chablis starts around $20 and just gets more expensive, this little beauty only runs about $11. If you are looking for it in a wine shop and they don't have it, just let them know it is a Robert Kacher Selection.

In other news, tomorrow I am going to attend a Cooks and Books dinner at Brasa. The author is Anthony Bourdain and after having spent the day reading about him and his life, I can't WAIT to go! This will be interesting seeing it from the other side of the counter and in a completely different venue.*

*side note: Before my current job, I was the manager/wine buyer/maitre 'd of the original restaurant that helped to launch the Cooks and Books series in Seattle.

Should be a good start to the week!

Long story short, Remy helped me deal with an ip glitch that combined with a high spam filter was keeping people from commenting. We did a side run around, of course, so I will only enable comments on current posts. YAY!!! thanks Remy, as I always say, "you're the BEST!"

UPDATE: Nope, the spam filter thingee is still blocking all comments, so I turned them off again...........*sigh*

Zunified

The Hub's parents were in town visiting this weekend and we had a fabulous time. Unlike many people, I completely adore the Inlaws, they are just the nicest people. Of course, 3 years ago I almost completely screwed it up. We had moved into this house recently, and the inlaws decided to come up and hang out with us, but they wanted the visit to have some "direction." So they thought it would be a good opportunity to work on the bathroom. Granted, the sink didn't work at all, (I was brushing my teeth at the kitchen sink) and the paint was hanging off of the ceiling in strips.

The Hub was travelling the entire week before their visit, so it fell on my shoulders to buy paint, take everything down in the bathroom, wash the walls, prep, and then paint. I also had to tear out all the old caulk and recaulk the tub. It took most of the week, I ended up taking time off from work, or working very very very late nights after work. Since at that time, I was still waiting tables in the evenings.

Kevo comes back from whatever fun city he was in, and the I.L.'s blow into town on a Saturday, with the new sink we picked out. We spend the whole day on that gamn sink. Mom inlaw and I visit Home Depot at least 4 times and they still don't get it done. We decide to postpone the final steps until the next morning. Then we all go out for dinner at the restaurant that I should have been working at that night.

Dinner was fabulous, cocktails, wine, oysters, fish, dessert.......you name it. The I.L.s take us home, and everyone is happy. They are staying in a hotel because Mom I.L. wants, "a place with a working bathroom." We get home, and the Hub wants to go to bed. Do I follow his fine, shiny example? Of. Course. Not.

I stay up playing cards online and drinking more wine. I probably crawled to bed around 2 or 3. Of course, the I.L.s are there bright and early, like 7am and I have to drag my sorry headachy ass out of bed to listen to the Hub and his Dad fight about the proper way to finish installing the sink. Then we all go out to breakfast!

Typical of our breakfast experiences, we take them to our fave dive, with the fabulous weekend brunch. Then we get not only the worst service ever, but the food was cold. The Hub and I have discovered that we apparently only get good food at that place when we don't brag about it to our friends, or drag them there. So, I am already grumpy, the Dad I.L., and the Hub are grumpy, and we are trying to pay the check and leave, so we can all kill each other in private. We FINALLY get the bill paid (this is where Kere had to slide some extra cash in for a tip since Dad I.L. was pissed about our experience) and leave.

The sink is in, the weekend is over, we just had our brekkie, they were supposed to drop us off home and hit the road. Hooray! I survived. This is where the plot takes a decidedly uglier turn. The Hub had his car at the shop and it was ready, so he asks the parents to drop him off at the shop. I am already at my wit's bloody end at this point, so I say, "Hey, I really really need to start getting ready for work, maybe you can just drop me at the house?"

No prob, they do, we say our goodbyes then because they were just going to head out after dropping off the Kevster. I go into the house and breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Looking at the clock, I have lots of time before work, so I start playing around on the computer. Relief is radiating from my body. Thirty or forty minutes later Kevin comes home, walks right to the computer room and says, "Well, well, I see you aren't getting ready for work."

.....dramatic pause......

"Honey, I know. I just needed a break from your parents, they were driving me CRAZY!"

......more dramatic pause......

"Kere, they are HERE, they needed to go to the bathroom."

Oh shit. Shiiiiiiiiiit, shit shit shit shit. They pee, say goodbye, leave......did I escape unscathed? That wouldn't make for a very good story now, would it? The next morning the Hub wakes me up and says I should check my email before leaving for work. The Mom I.L. sent a note saying, "Just wanted to let you know, I heard what you said yesterday, I am sure Dad didn't overhear and I won't tell him. But my feelings are hurt, I guess we won't be helping you with any house projects anymore." Phone calls, apologies, explanations, crying. Mom I.L. tells me I am forgiven, and she won't hold it against me, blah blah blah. Still, they haven't come up to Seattle since.

I have this special gift for saying just the wrong thing at the wrong time, yet, in the 4 years previous to this event, I had a SPOTLESS record with the I.L.s. I didn't screw it up until after we got engaged. Figures. Well in the intervening years since I opened my big mouth, I have done all I can to be as sweet and nice as is genetically possible for me (everyone stop your sniggering). I have to say, that all seems well. In fact, I finally felt totally out of the doghouse when they said they were coming up for a mutual birthday weekend celebration thing. They did choose to stay in a hotel, rather than our spare bed, which is in the unfinished basement, but it isn't horrible. So, I guess my record isn't completely cleared.

That dinner I made the week before? It was a test dinner for the Inlaws. So the second run this last Sunday was an unqualified hit. Especially as I paired up a French White Burgundy with the app and the salad. (Side note: this review is for the '01, and I served the '02 which has gone up significantly in price, this year it retails around $30.) Then I served a great Italian Barolo with the homemade ravioli and the homemade marinara. Then the chocolate pots de creme were..........orgasmic. Waaaaaaaaay better than the first batch. Ad-Dic-Tive. So my cooking kiss-up worked pretty well.

Then, we had them come up the same weekend as the restaurant's latest Cooks and Books dinner. A great idea wherein, a visiting chef, with a new cookbook comes to town, we cook out of their cookbook, pair the food up with a winery, everyone who comes not only gets a book, and a four course, wine-paired dinner, but they meet the author and get their book signed! This time we had Judy Rodgers from the Zuni Café, probably our most famous chef, yet. (If you want to argue with me, which is fine, the list so far has been Marcus Samuelson from Aquavit, Paula Wolfert, and Jacqui Maloof.) Since I used to work for them, I contacted Tom and Anne-Marie Hedges to see if they were interested in participating from the winery side of things.

Since this is our fourth installation of the Cooks and Books, we have honed our skills, and this went off (almost) without a hitch. Everyone had a fabulous time, especially the I.L.s and the food was incredible.

Menu is as follows:

A fabulous time was had by the I.L.s and it seems I am 110 percent back in the good graces of the Hub's family!

Did I mention I scored an entire bottle of port from the Hedges for this dinner?

As if to do something interesting

Silvan Ridge Grenache Rosé was great! Very light and dry with a real strawberry taste. However, their Hinman Riesling was just a little boring for me, as was their Pinot Gris, which I think had some residual sugar added to it...blah! I like it dry.

Their Pinot Noir was very blah, not that earthy chewy taste I love so much, but apparently in the Spring they are releasing a reserve version that is a lot more like I care for, so I look forward to that.

Their Rogue Valley Syrah had that glycerin/petroleum flavor that is so prevalent in Washington Syrahs.......I guess if you want a wine to completely cover your palate so that you can't taste anything after one sip, you go crazy with your bad self, I just prefer somerthing a little more austere.

The Hinman Rogue Red was decent, especially for the price, a nice solid bottle, again a real fruit bomb, as you would expect from such a hot climate, but not disgustingly so. Still, the real standout is the Silvan Ridge Merlot, I could have sworn it had some Cab Sauv in it cause it had a nice chocolately tone.

The most unique and interesting wine they have is the (slightly frizzante) Muscat. A lighter muscat, with a little tingle on the tongue, it was a real delight, and it comes in these adorable .500ml bottles that might be just perfect for the wine list at the restaurant!

They are a small winery with a lot of different wines, so they are hard to get ahold of...something to look for, expecially to surprise people with an Oregon wine with a different Oregon taste.

Still if you really like classic Oregon Pinot Noir, watch this site and I might list a few faves.

A little wine with your demons from years past?

My great friend Erik A. is one of those friends that I only see every so often. Not because we don't like each other, but because.....well, I don't know. Maybe he is such an intense personality that I can only take small doses. Or, he is a bit of a recluse, so I only get him out every so often......It isn't important, the thing is we have been friends for pretty much a decade at this point, and he knows a lot of shit about my life and vice versa.

I got a call from his gf last week, seeing if I had a waiting position open at the restaurant. I called her back to let her know I didn't even have enough positions for the people who worked now, let alone another. Then I asked, "How are you?" yadda yadda......turns out, they broke up, she's upset, but moving on, hopes we (her and I and the Hub) can still be friends etc, etc. As I think she is fabulous, I agree. Hey......I am going to this industry wine tasting on Monday, the Hub was supposed to be my date but he has to go out of town on work, wanna come? Turns out she already has plans in the tone of possible dance instruction gig, hey....Why not ask Erik? He loves that stuff and it would be good for him to get out of the house.

I met Erik when we worked at the Old Spaghetti Factory together, YEARS ago, in fact, almost exactly 10 years ago to this day (can't remember the exact date). I had a crush on his stupid 19-year-old body and as is the way with my life at that time, he fell in love with my roommate and she vice-versa. And I got over it, which is a lovely feeling (Although that doesn't mean I wasn't highly embarrassed when Erik brought up an incident that I had buried in my subconscious mind, hoping never to resurface). But, they also got over it, broke up, she married someone else, had a kid, he moved on, found a new love, and I maintained friendships with both people.

When Erik, the college roommate, and I, worked at The Spag together, we had a co-worker who ended up receiving the nickname Ernie (my roommate picked it out – she once drove to work behind a car that had an Ernie doll, from Ernie and Bert, in the back of the window, and came to work only to see Ernie in an orange and red striped shirt with crazy hair) and it stuck. He even answered to it. Well, Ernie came to a party of mine with a friend who I ended up dating, and now, subsequently, the friend and I are married (to be known as The Hub). But, Once Upon A Time I had a thing for Ernie. God, we have a lot of hormones when we are in our 20s, don't we? ANYWAY, back to the wine tasting.

So, I asked Erik, and he decided to go. It was held at one of those shmancy clubs, so we had to dress up a little. He shows up today, we go and it is a TOTAL BLAST. Erik likes to randomly touch people and see the reaction he gets, or just verbalize what is going on in his mind to everyone, add a little wine to that and it makes for an interesting evening. Being a trade event, I had a name tag with my restaurant and I had to be professional. Aside from that, I have done the "get loaded at a tasting" before and it isn't pretty. I did a lot of pouring and a decent amount of spitting. Erik did a lot more drinking and a lot less spitting, so he was a little loopy by the end. Good thing he was driving!

**WINE TASTING NOTES**

Ok, there was a lot of decent stuff, and most I have tasted before, and there was a lot of just ok stuff....but the serious highlight was Dashe Cellars. California winery, wine maker was the assistant wine maker at Ridge for years, makes fabulous Zin and their Sangiovese from the Lytton Spring vineyard was amazing but the Merlot.......oh, baby....KILLER. So, Dashe Cellars Potter Vineyard Merlot, 2001, retails around $30/bottle, is a must have.

But, back to the story. After the wine tasting, we decide to get a bite to eat. And, as is our way, we talked about the past and the present and sex, and sex, and sex, and sex with people in the past and in the present. One New Year's Eve, the roommate, Erik, Ernie and I went out, but since we all worked in restaurants we didn't get out until after midnight. So we had to post-function at my apartment. The roommate and Erik stayed out for a bit, but then went back to her room to get rowdy leaving me and Ernie all to our lonesome. Now, we had flirted a lot in the past, and even talked about meeting up one night at a fave pub, but I showed and he didn't, two weeks later he was dating someone else from work. So, I gave up on him. Fast forward to New Year's Eve 1996. Ernie and that other waitress broke up. I was single too, but not expecting anything more than friendship to happen. That night however, he was extra flirty, and after our friends went to bed, we got even more flirty. He even reached over a time or two, as we were drinking and kissed me. However, he was just reaching to my shirt to......god, I don't even know, look down it? and Erik came out of the bedroom to get some water and caught us. OOPS

So, Erik goes back to bed, and Ernie kisses me another time and it just getting good and he suddenly stops, gets up and says, "I have to go." Then, with some further entreaties from me to stay, he does just what he said he was going to do, and he leaves. Of course, the next day the Roommate and Erik give me shit about what was seen, and ask me what happened. Since I was embarrassed down to the bottom of my soul, I deny everything. And I continue to deny things for years.

How unappealing can one person to be, to get rejected twice?

So, tonight, since the Ernie topic comes up, I tell Erik the full REALLY COMPLETELY TRUE story along with the admission of how it made me feel very ugly and undesirable. Well, who really knows what Ernie felt, but Erik seems to think that perhaps, Ernie was intimidated by me, and scared of his desire and just lost it and left. Not one bit of this conjecture can really be proven without asking Ernie - and I am certainly not about to start, so I don't actually know what the real thought was behind his leaving. I once told The Hub most of this story and weirdly enough, I don't even remember what he had to say about it, except to flip me shit about kissing Ernie.

I also wonder what Ernie thinks about this very successful relationship he ended up creating by introducing me to The Hub? Since Ernie is another one of those people who drift in and out of my life, I probably won't ever know. Especially as The Hub is much better about keeping in touch with him (of course, Ernie never kissed him a few times on New Year's Eve and then abruptly departed).

Here is the best part: I sincerely doubt that I ever would have gotten to meet my husband, if it wasn't for the fact that Ernie left that night, rather than staying. Since The Hub is much MUCH more grounded and good and......so many things positive, and just a miniscule amount negative, I am so very thankful. I am VERY lucky in my life.

Although in my heart of hearts, I want to know what the hell was so bad that Ernie just had to jump up and leave.

bastard