Author Archives

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2018 Sangiovese

  • Producer: Malpasso
  • Location: Umbria, Italy
  • Year: 2018
  • Price estimate: Not sure (wine and cheese box)
  • Tasting notes: Garnet in appearance with aromas of spice, unripe cherry and bramble. Smooth on the palate with hints of nutmeg, dark cherry and a little oak. Tart. Medium long finish.
  • Conclusions: I’m a sucker for a good Sangiovese and this one fits the bill. It has a lot of the dark red fruit and tartness that a good Sangiovese has but isn’t as earthy as some can get. Bob is not generally a fan of this varietal, but even he liked this one. Paired with a pecorino (and other cheeses, of course) it shows why people tell you that what grows together goes together.
  • Notes: This was the second of our cheese and wine box wines and I have to say, I’m super impressed. Not only as the wines (and of course the cheeses) fantastic, there is something about the pairings that not only compliments, but changes the way both taste. It was more prominent with the white, but it existed here too. The cheese rounded out the wine and the wine brought out the nutty notes in cheese – it was kind of fantastic.
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Sourdough Addiction

Before Val moved to California she gave me a sourdough starter and some pointers on baking bread. Fast forward a few months and I’m hooked. I may never buy a regular loaf of bread again.

Every week I am making bread – generally two loaves. Mom gets half of each and we keep half of each because as much as I love and eat bread, even Bob and I can’t eat two loaves in a week, every week.

Rustic sourdough, old fashioned sourdough, tangy sourdough, rye sourdough, pumpernickel sourdough … yep I’ve tried and tweaked and tweaked again various recipes and have now landed on three or four favorites and I make versions of two of them every week. It’s gotten so bad, I now have a second sourdough starter in my fridge because apparently one is not enough.

One absolute plus to all of this – Bob has discovered that he does not detest pumpernickel or rye bread. He thought he did, but he actually just hated the seeds that they tend to put in rye that gives it a slight fennel taste. My bread – he quite likes. And I know he does actually like it because he eats it even when I’m not home to put it on the plate.

 

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Bathroom Renovation – Part 2 – Demolition

The bathroom project started! It took pretty much one day, but everything is out of the bathroom and ready for the next steps. Apparently (Bob was home, I wasn’t) it was loud and dusty and a lot of work, but it was done.

The shower and tub tiles were removed very cleanly and neatly, and the area that was under the tub was resurfaced. Alinea, of course, made her mark in the wet cement. Bob and I are calling it a nice touch and something we will always know. Part of her will forever be in this house.

We have a new half wall for the shower and later in the week the plumbing went in and the drywall, except for the shower area, was finished.

Over the weekend, Bob and I painted. I thought I had the chip or some paint left from when I painted our bedroom, but I didn’t, so we had to guess with the color. I think got close and I really like the way it is looking.

It’s hard to see in the pictures, but it is a nice, bright yet peaceful blue. I think it is pretty close to the bedroom color and will look great with the tiles and new vanity.

Next week is the shower walls and tile so we should get a better idea of the final project soon.

 

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Bordeaux Blanc

  • Producer: Jean Marc Barthez
  • Location: Bordeaux, France
  • Year: 2018
  • Price estimate: not sure
  • Tasting notes: Pale yellow in color and a very light nose. Almost no aroma in the glass. Maybe a little orange blossom, chalk and citrus, but faint. A little effervescence. Tastes of Jasmine tea, lemon and other citrus. Medium finish.
  • Conclusions: Very good and paired incredibly well with a cheese plate. Easy to drink with just enough complexity to keep it interesting.
  • Notes: We have been part of our local cheese shop’s “monthly cheese club” for few years now and we love it. Last year they added a cheese and wine club and we decided to try that for the first part of this year. Two cheeses and two wines a month. This bottle came from the January cheese and wine club and was a great way to start. I also have to add, that the cheese Kiara paired this with – a California cheese in the brie style, but creamier – was amazing and the combination was particularly good. We can’t wait to try the red with the pecorino – notes to follow soon.

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Lazy Weekend Socks

My second attempt at socks and I have to admit – knitting socks is addictive.

Val asked for a pair of warm, wooly socks and I searched for good patterns. I came across this one with the cute cable design on the side and decided to try it. I made a pair for myself first (just in case there was something I had trouble with) and not only did they knit up quickly, they are super cute!

I love these. The cable came out great and they fit pretty perfectly. For Val’s I’m going to do a different yarn and am probably going to go with contrasting colors for the cuff, heel and toes. But for me – I love these and may kit a pair in the pretty blue yarn I picked up in California.

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Bathroom Renovation – Part 1 – Before

It’s kind of amazing, but Bob and I have been in this house for over 12 years. This is the longest I’ve lived in any one place since the house I was born in. Our house is just about 20 years old and everything in it (that we haven’t already replaced) is your basic builder’s grade. This includes our bathroom. Our bathroom that we haven’t been totally happy with since we moved in, but it was functional so it wasn’t high on the priority list to change.

The priority list changed. We have some issues with the tiles in the shower that I didn’t notice until it was a little too late. I spent a good six months trying to figure out how to fix it, and then decided we needed a new bathroom. Two years later, we are getting a new bathroom.

Not only are we going to get rid of the problem in the shower, we are getting rid of the garden tub that takes up a ton of space and we have maybe used once in 12 years. Once. The cats play in it a bit, but I don’t want to keep the darn thing just so Ella has a place to play. She has lots of places to play, she doesn’t need the tub.

So … we have a contractor. We have a start date. We have tiles and cabinets and fixtures and everything picked out. So here are the before pictures.  I’ll try to post progress as it goes along.

It’s not a bad bathroom. But oh for it to be shiny and new! And without the tub.

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2018 MoniClaire Sauvignon Blanc

  • Producer: MoniClaire Vineyards
  • Location: Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma, California
  • Year: 2018
  • Price estimate: $28 (from Winery)
  • Tasting notes: Honeysuckle, lemon and orange on the nose. Definitely a Sauvignon Blanc – lots of lemon, grapefruit and citrus taste. A little herbal, some lemon curd and a little biscuit quality towards the finish. Good acidity and a beautiful finish.
  • Conclusions: Easy drinking, lovely fruit balanced by good acidity. This is a wine that you can sit and contemplate or just sip and enjoy.
  • Notes: When we went to Sonoma in June, this was one of the wineries that we found on our wine tour. A tiny family operation (husband and wife and they live on the property) they make less than 50 cases of this wine and you can see the little plot where the grapes are planted. Even their larger wine – Zinfandel – is still sub 200 cases and is one of the best zinfandels I’ve ever had (different post on that hopefully soon). The owners are great and their wines are lovely and it is fantastic that I can support what is literally a small family winery in practice, not just as a marketing pitch.

 

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Socks!

I had a goal for the winter break – I wanted to learn to knit socks. This goal was planned back in the summer but I wanted some concentrated time, with no other projects, available before I started this. Socks seem complicated. Socks have to fit. Socks were going to require some trial and error and attention to detail. Did I mention that you have to make two and they need to be the same? Yep. This was my goal – learn to knit a pair of socks.

When we were in Sonoma, I stopped into a yarn store and asked about a good yarn to learn how to knit socks with. The very nice lady at the store suggested I start with a worsted weight. If you think about yarn, this is the weight you think about. It’s average, middle of the road, not heavy, but not light. Sock yarn is thinner, finer, more fiddly, so learning to knit socks on sock yarn might be a challenge. Okay. Yarn in hand and a pattern to look up, I was all set.

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Except. Except by the time December and break rolled around, I lost the pattern name she suggested. So I scoured Ravelry and found Cottage Socks. Not only are these for the right weight yarn and beginner friendly, they came with videos! Step by step video instruction. Perfect.

So I set out on my quest to learn to knit socks and promptly became frustrated. I’ve knit in the magic loop method before – I’ve made dozens of cat toys with it – but I just could not get it to work for the socks. Not one to give up, I searched the internet for answers. Double Pointed Needles were a popular choice, but those look hard. Two circular needles was one answer and there was the “don’t try this they are awful” 9 inch circular needle choice. Of course, that is the one I went with.

9 inch circular needles are tiny. Tip to tip they are – as the name implies – 9 inches. The actual needles are MUCH smaller than regular needles and every review I read said they are really hard to work with. But … they totally worked for me. No gap at the beginning of the round, easy to hold and, and for the flat parts and the toes … well, I just used a second regular needle. It worked.

In about a week, I had a new pair of wool socks. They fit, they look cute, Tigger approved, and they pretty much matched. I had one issue with the cuff (forgot to count rows when making the first one) but otherwise, they are great.

Socks are also addictive to knit. There are enough progress markers that give you the little dopamine hit that you just want to keep going (cuff done, leg done, heel done etc.). You have set places that you can stop and put the work down and pick up later. They are small, compact projects and best part – you get a new pair of socks when you are done.

So … if 2019 was the year of the sweater, 2020 will be there year of the sock! My goal is to knit one pair of socks per month (or more when I’m not working). Let’s see how it goes.

Happy knitting.

 

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Adler Springs Vineyard Sparkling Pinot Noir

  • Producer: Under the Wire
  • Location: Mendocino County, CA (bottled in Petaluma, CA)
  • Year: 2015
  • Price estimate: $45 (from Bedrock Winery)
  • Tasting notes: Bubbly wine! Salmon in color, bordering on orange in the glass. Very light on the nose – almost no aroma, but a hint of date and white peach. Good effervescence on the tongue with flavors of barley ripe raspberry, nectarine, a little white grape and some bramble. Long finish.
  • Conclusions:  Absolutely delightful and paired really well with the cheese we had for dinner. Light in taste, but with a lot of character and a very long finish.
  • Notes: This was one of the wines we picked up while at the tasting room for Bedrock Winery this past July. This was a delightful wine and it really shined on the hot day. Back home, on a cool New Year’s Eve, it continued to show well. While more than we usually spend on a bottle, this is still worth every penny. 12.5% ABV
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Happy 2020 !

Hi there. It’s been a while. I took some unexpected time off from writing but I’m hoping to be able to do a little more now. For those familiar with Florida school schedules, you may have noticed that my lack of posting coincided with the beginning of our school year. All for good reasons – work is great, I just took on an extra project that then turned into two more projects for the district – all in addition to my regular job – so I’ve been a little busy and a little stressed. The projects are not going away this semester, but I think I’ve got a better handle on them all and can figure out how to balance things so I can get back to posting.

So quick update … babies are good. So good. So cute.

I’ve managed to keep up with the knitting and have to admit – it is a little addictive. This past year I’ve knit a few things including three (yes three) sweaters. I made a test sweater for me that I love and wear all the time, I made a sweater for Val for the lab and one for Mom because she liked mine so much. Yay me.

I’m also still drinking wine, of course. We got quite a lot from our trip to Sonoma this year, and then some more after that so the house is pretty full of wine. Hopefully I can remember to write up some notes on some of them because what we’ve had so far from this lot is just amazing.

So … hopefully I will do better about posting and have some new knitting projects to share and some good wine to share and maybe, just maybe a new recipe or two. Although that one is doubtful given the current work commitments.

Have a wonderful 2020 – raise a glass to a great year full of possibilities.