This afternoon, our Purple Teeth Cellars wine website has been upgraded to our first official version. Up until now, it's been more like version 0.5. So, if you haven't yet asked us to put you on our mailing list, please go check it out and sign up. If you have asked us already, you may want to check the options and enroll if you are interested in anything different from the default (already checked) options.
~Marc & Jill
I noticed this past Wednesday that the NCAA Division I Swimming Championships would be in Federal Way this weekend. Since that is only a 45 minute drive, I looked at the daily schedule and thought that Friday evening was a good lineup of events.
Friday, March 28, 2008
200-Yard Medley Relay
400-Yard Individual Medley
100-Yard Butterfly
200-Yard Freestyle
100-Yard Breaststroke
100-Yard Backstroke
Three-Meter Diving
800-Yard Freestyle Relay
So Jill and I went to watch. Jill has never been to a swim meet and I think I've only ever been once when I wasn't a participant (I've been to hundreds of them over my lifetime). When we got to our seats in the stands, we sat down and two seats over sat one of Jill's former colleagues at WaMu. Wow – what are the odds of that? While Jill talked to Elizabeth, I studied the heat sheets. Elizabeth was there for the same reason Jill was – the guy she was with used to be a good swimmer.
This was a good lineup to see although most of the races had a clear winner. The closest race was the 200 free which was fun to watch (the top 5 finishers all came within 1 second of the winner). The relays were exciting as usual and both of the winners set new NCAA records. Jill was impressed that the crowd was more enthusiastic at this meet than at a Mariner's game. Sadly, I have to agree which doesn't say much for the Mariners fans – we go to 10+ games a year.
Auburn's highlight of the night came in the first event, when the Tigers set NCAA and U.S. open records in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:23.24. The same foursome, anchored by Brazilian Cesar Cielo, set the record (1:23.37) in last year's meet.
Arizona wrapped up the day in encouraging fashion by winning the 800-yard free relay in 6 minutes, 12.85 seconds, an NCAA meet record, topping a mark (6:14.14) it set last year.
My event back in high school and college was the breaststroke (and sometimes the sprint freestyles & individual medleys). These guys are fast. The guy from Arizona who tied for 2nd place was deaf. The Arizona fans didn't cheer/clap when he went by – they raised and turned their hands back and forth (the way you clap for someone deaf). He also looked over at the starter as he setup to start. The blocks have lights on them so he can see the start flash right below his feet.
100 breaststroke Results -- 1, Paul Kornfeld, Stanford, 52.03. 2, (tie) Marcus Titus, Arizona, and Damir Dugonjic, California, 52.61. 4, Scott Spann, Michigan, 52.71. 5, Kevin Donohue, West Virginia, 53.15.
At the end of the event, Arizona won the team title for the first time - breaking Auburn's streak. The Arizona women won a couple weeks ago so they swept the event this year.
If you want to watch any of this on TV, ESPN2 is running coverage on Thursday April 3 at 3pm ET. Set your DVR.
Recap of the final day in the Seattle Times. Final results:
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS
1, Arizona, 500.5 points.
2, Texas, 406.
3, Stanford, 344.
4, California, 332.5.
5, Auburn, 316.
6, Michigan, 271.5.
7, Georgia, 229.
8, Florida, 210.
9, Tennessee, 172.
10, Indiana, 166.
11, Minnesota, 137.5.
12, Northwestern, 85.
13, Texas A&M, 78.
14. Southern Methodist, 71.
15, Virginia, 69.
16, Ohio State, 63.
17, Miami, 59.
18, Arizona State, 51.
19, Kentucky, 47.
20, Yale, 40.
21, Florida State, 39.
22, Alabama, 37.
23 (tie), Penn State and Hawaii, 33.
25, Purdue, 25.
26, Louisville, 24.
27, Oakland (Mich.), 23.
28, Princeton, 21.
29 (tie), North Carolina and Louisiana State, 20.
The rest: 31, Harvard, 19. 32, Denver, 16. 33, West Virginia, 14. 34 (tie), Pittsburgh and California-Irvine, 11. 36, Southern California, 9. 37, Virginia Tech, 8. 38, Missouri, 5. 39, Wisconsin, 4. 40, Cincinnati, 3. 41, Notre Dame, 2.
Marc likes to lament that I am insane or crazy on a fairly regular basis. I always remind him that he was aware of this personal detail before we got married and he still decided to say "I do" anyway. Too late for buyer's remorse.
Why is this relevant now? Today I had my final "long" training run before my ½ marathon. Given the snow yesterday and the miserable weather last night, my coach and I made the decision for me not to spend the 2+ hours in the rain this morning. I'm still dealing with my lingering cough and figured that I could get a decent workout on the Precor while catching some of March Madness. Plus I had a big run last weekend outdoors which did wonders for my confidence.
I decided that I was going to do 2 ½ hours today on the elliptical, which led Marc to once again to think I was insane. In some ways, he is right. But hey – I really wanted to push myself for that period of time in the event I ran at my training pace (slow) as opposed to race pace during the ½ marathon. I could have gone the "easy" route and just did 13.1 miles which would have been done on the elliptical after about 1 hour and 45 minutes, but I decided to just go as far as I could for the 2 ½ hours. Plus I added extra resistance to compensate for the fact that I wasn't outside.
Yeah, kind of crazy. I know. My coach complimented me on knowing enough not to push myself in the bad weather early this morning. Now she is reading this at the same time as all of you, I'll have to wonder if she still is holding me in such high esteem after logging 17+ miles.
Even though Marc thought I was insane to spend such quality time with the elliptical, he did keep checking up on me to ensure I was hydrating and eating. He probably also wanted to see if I was going to tough it out as long as I said I was going to. As if there was any doubt….. J
It rarely snows in Seattle due to the proximity to the ocean & sound and the low elevation. For it to snow in the spring, on March 28, is almost unbelievable. I love it! Check out the territorial view looking west. We are at an elevation under 200 feet. Unfortunately it probably isn't going to stick so this will be short lived fun.
As Marc and I ramp up Purple Teeth Cellars, we are starting to join some organizations that will enable us to meet more people in the industry. One of the groups that Marc wanted to join is AIWF, and they had a private event at someone's home last weekend showcasing some wines from Turley Wine Cellars.
The food and wines for the event were donated by local members and all of the proceeds went towards funding a scholarship for culinary/winemaking studies in WA state. Actually one of the members hosted the event in his home and prepared 7 mini-courses for 12 people, so kudos to Brian!
The good thing about Marc and I is that while we like similar things, we do have different palates. All of the food and wine were awesome, but we were asked at the end of the evening to pick our favorites. So my favorite pairings were:
Marc also enjoyed the Pheasant Tartlets and the Asian Style Pork Ribs as his favorites. In particular, he added that the Pheasant Tartlets pairing was almost floral and earthy at the same time. He also enjoyed another pairing:
With all of this food and wine sampling, it's a good thing I am doing this ½ marathon training. :-)
I have been meaning to update everyone on some of the food and wine pairing that we have been doing outside of our work with Purple Teeth Cellars (2006 tasting notes here and 2007 tasting notes here).
When we were at Whistler last month, we went out for some much needed protein (READ: red meat) after 6+ hours of skiing/snowboarding. After perusing the wine list, we opted for a 2005 Andrew Rich Syrah from Columbia Valley to have with our dinner. The wine was good on its own with some black pepper and blackberries, with a little bit of oak and vanilla. With my steak, I had a béarnaise sauce on the side and Marc had his prepared with a peppercorn sauce. As I ate my meal, I noticed that Marc is clearly not having the same experience as I am with respects to the food and wine pairing. He is not enjoying the wine at all, which is unusual for him with a Syrah. So I cleanse the palate a bit and have a bite of Marc's steak with the wine.
Wow – night and day. The peppercorns with Marc's steak completely took over the wine and basically made it have no discernable taste one way or the other. This was completely different from my experience. The fat from the béarnaise sauce really went well with the Syrah and made the flavors all come out in a positive way. And Marc had a bite of my steak with the béarnaise and really enjoyed the pairing. So when a wine label says that a wine will go well with "fish, chicken or beef", think again. It has nothing to do with the main ingredient; it's more to do with how the main ingredient is prepared both in terms of seasoning and cooking method. We learned about this at the cooking class we took at the CIA last year.
Next food and wine experiment was by completely by chance a couple of weeks later, but yep – it involved red meat again. It was a stressful week, so Marc and I decided to head to one of our favorite haunts on Lake Union – Daniel's Broiler. Erik, who is our friend and the sommelier, found us in the waiting area and whisked us to an awesome table. He noticed that we brought in a 2003 Justin Isosceles from our collection and recommended that we try a ½ bottle of the 2002 Justin Isosceles that they had on the list. At first, I wasn't in favor since I had a 9-mile run the next morning, but then I was reminded that we can re-cork and bring home our wine so we didn't have to consume all that wine. Sweet – a mini wine vertical!
Again, I went with the béarnaise but Marc went without the peppercorns. I was all over the 2002 vintage; the differences between the 2002 and 2003 were significant. The 2003 was much more fruity and had some earthiness to it, while the 2002 was all earthy. The earthiness aroma and flavor went really well with the béarnaise. When we got home, Marc found this great tasting chart from Justin comparing the vintages. All in all, a fun evening and special thanks to Erik for the recommendation to do the ½ bottle. Well worth it.
And in case you are wondering, my NCAA brackets are down the tubes. L
Lisa: Dad, "Amazing Race" was a repeat tonight.
Harv: Take a steam shower, you'll feel better.
Or:
Jill: Dad, I had a meeting that didn't go as well as I would have liked.
Harv: Take a steam shower, you'll feel better.
You get the idea, but these are words of wisdom (as you can see above, Harv is getting ready to invoke some words of wisdom). I was pretty under the weather this week with a bad chest cold and congestion, and felt pretty crappy. As mentioned in the past, I am training for a ½ marathon and we're getting close. So I had a big run scheduled for this morning – 11 miles, my longest yet. As of yesterday afternoon, I still felt pretty awful. So I decided to take Harv's advice (without actually asking him) and take a steam shower. I felt better after the fact. Hmmmm….
I decided this morning to run because I felt marginally better and my coach says that I need to start preparing for days when I am going to race and things are not going to be perfectly aligned, no matter how much I prepare. Feeling as unwell as I did was a good test for this lesson. The loop I was going to do is close to the house, so I figured I could always stop and turn around. Note this is the loop that I have maintained for some time that if I could complete it, that I would be ready for my ½ marathon. Even though it is only 10 miles (I added a mile for this morning's run), the loop has numerous hills, including one that takes you up 250 ft in just over a ½ mile. It may not seem like a lot, but it's tough – at least for me.
Since I wasn't going to be running with my normal group for this run, Marc decided to bike next to me as I ran. What an awesome guy! It was cold when we started and I don't run fast. He made sure I ate and drank at the right times, held on to my hat and gloves when I got warm, and of course, provided positive reinforcement. Fortunately the weather was pretty dry and calm, so that made things slightly easier.
Well I finished the run averaging a pedestrian 11:10 minutes/mile. But I know now that if I can finish this level of run feeling as crappy as I did, I am ready for my ½. I still have another big training run ahead, but I'm starting to feel good. Thanks as always to Marc for being so supportive.
And of course, thanks Harv for the great advice! Had it not been for the constant hammering of 'Take a steam shower', I may not have done the run this morning.
"He’s a hypocrite. He destroyed reputations of people who had good reputations, deserved reputations. He talked today about his standards, but what he didn’t talk about was the standards he held everybody else to that he couldn’t keep…We all have our own private hells. I hope his private hell is hotter than anybody else’s.”
"I didn’t hear any cheer, but I heard a lot of animated conversation, and somebody said the best thing that you could own yesterday was the nearest liquor store to Ken Langone’s house, because there were probably 33 cases of champagne being ordered.”
Over the weekend, we tasted from a sample of our 2006 Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah. The tasting notes are on our Purple Teeth Cellars website. The word is that this wine will be a perfect way to start our business!
The weather ended up being favorable this morning (about mid-40s and partly cloudy), which helped things. Also saw one of my friends at the starting line, Chris, so it was fun to catch up with him before the gun went off. He's much faster so we didn't run together, but he hung around with some other friends (Jason and Char) to watch me finish. Entertaining for them, I am sure.
My general pace is about 10:30-10:45 minutes/mile (READ: slow). I figured out that with a 10 kilometer race coming in to about 6.3 miles, I should come in somewhere around 65 minutes. The course was a little hilly, but manageable, although one hill at around the start of mile 5 tested my determination a bit.
As I was running, I was more focused on my form (I tend to get shin splints so avoiding those were key) and my pace per mile as opposed to my total time. I was pretty shocked that when I crossed the finish line, my watch said 61 minutes at a pace of 9:50 minutes/mile. Of course, it would have been awesome to finish in under an hour but that gives me something to work towards.
I would be remiss if I didn't thank Marc for being awesome, per usual. He was a great cheerleader (no pom poms unfortunately) at the start, 3 mile mark and finish. Although when I gave him a high-five at the 3 mile point, he probably was upset that he had to touch my sweaty palm being the germophobe that he is. Seriously, he has been a huge support since I started training.
The other funny thing worth mentioning was that for pretty much the 1st half of the race, I was running next to a person wearing a 'Honey Bucket' t-shirt. Now *this* was something that I wanted to be thinking about while I was running. Finally I decided to pull ahead and pick up the pace.
Another big thanks to Coach Lesley for training me and keeping me focused on the big picture. I've blogged about her before on her Ironman adventures.
[Special thanks to Jason for snapping the pic.]
Last week, we tasted barrel samples from our 2007 Syrahs from Alder Springs and White Hawk. Marc posted our tasting notes yesterday on the Purple Teeth Cellars website. We tasted without any food pairings and then tried the wines with a few different food combinations. Fun stuff. That 'Food and Wine Pairing' class at the CIA really came in handy. Click on 'Our Blog' in the top right corner to get some insights on what is to come!
We'll have tasting notes from our 2006 Petite Sirah in the next few days. Stay tuned!
After the run, it was time to prep for yet another 'Open That Bottle Night' at the house. An 
awesome crew of people with some excellent wines:
So JoAnna and Mary get the award for the best story (prize TBD but it may have to do something with Purple Teeth Cellars – ahem). JoAnna grew up in the Tri-Cities and she had an aspiration to be able to afford to buy wines from a winery close by known as J. Bookwalter. So when she and Mary went there a few years ago, JoAnna just said to Mary that money was going to be spent on a case of wine and that was it. Hmmm….. Apparently this mindset was something new to Mary, but eventually she came around…. Mary stepped up and splurged on a bottle to go along with JoAnna's case. To those not in attendance, let me assure you that the delivery was pretty hilarious, especially because they both tend to like some great labels like Pepper Bridge (my favorite in WA State). And now Marc and I have a new winery in the Columbia Valley to check out because we need to acquire more wine.
Some words about the Kindzmarauli Sapervi Dessert Wine (1997). This was given to me back in 1998 when I hosted my very 1st dinner party back in my shoebox in the West Village by a gentleman named Matt Bartels (now Bartelsian). Now there was a ton of alcohol consumed at this dinner party – one might use the word 'paralytic' to describe the state of things including one person needing to be carried to the cab to get home. I guess that had to do with the sangria that my friend, Ian, and I made. Oops. Anyway we never got to Matt's bottle but I had always vaguely remembered the description as some kind of Armenian cognac thing. Most of the bottle was in the Cyrillic lettering, so I never bothered to really look at it in too much detail. Matt had just gotten engaged to the woman who would become his wife (Ella) and she was Armenian so we didn't give the origins of the bottle much thought except for the fact that it was really cool…. Now this bottle has been in 4 cross-country moves, apartments/condos/houses with different temperature fluctuations, etc. I finally told Marc that we had open this year since I got it 10 years ago and also reconnected with Matt on Facebook. We discovered it was actually a semi-sweet red, which made us even more skeptical of how it was going to taste. It actually tasted pretty nice – not too syrupy, great flavors, etc. I think we are going to do some kind of candle holder thing with the bottle itself. But the wine in the bottle ended up being quite the positive surprise.
My favorite wine of the evening was actually the 2001 Atalon Merlot, which was purchased because Michael wanted to be "anti-Sideways". "Sideways" was the movie that pretty much killed a lot of Merlot producers for a long time because the main character had a personal vendetta against the grape. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy any of the other wines but I had to pick my favorite of the evening. The Lokoyas brought by Sharon and Ralph were superb (BTW, we love that Ralph had an obsessive wine buying phase in the 90s and he is so generous to share with us every year), and the '97 rocked. The Glaetzer from the Ba-ross-a (not Ba-rose-a) Valley was very spicy and the Kistler Chardonnay was perfectly paired with Michael's seafood appetizer of salmon, crab, shrimp, garlic and some other excellent ingredients.
We needed something healthy at some point in the dinner and Sharon came through with an excellent salad that was not only healthy, but tasty. JoAnna 
and Mary came through in the pinch with some fruit pies (liked the key lime one). Shelly and Chris brought a very globally oriented cheese course which included some Drunken Goat (very appropriate). Rebecca made an outstanding twice baked potato dish that could not have gone better with the main course (Brasato al Barolo) and the wines served with dinner, particularly the Lokoya Cabs. And finally, Marc made some kick-a** chocolate truffles from a recipe in Wine Spectator. No leftovers on that one unfortunately.
Fun times…. Thanks to all who trekked to the house for an outstanding evening.
Well folks…. My heart rate has come down to a level that would be considered healthy. It only took about 36 hours. I can tell you that for the 1st half of yesterday, there wasn't a heck of a lot 
getting done at work. Listening to the Mike and Mike recap. Reading the Boston press discussing how fans were going to jump off one of the bridges into the Charles River, etc. Of course, I am getting my hands on the papers yesterday back in New York – thanks, JB. To answer some of the questions I received from everyone:
Here is my favorite exchange with a Patriots bandwagon fan – Ian, who has tried to resist learning American football for as long as possible, even when we bought him a Football for Dummies book:
On Feb 4, 2008 10:56AM, Green, Ian wrote:
Only that I guess I am truly an American now; I watched some of the SuperBowl and actually cared who won. I may have wished to see the perfect season, but the Giants deserved to win. Boston is a very chilly town this morning. One of my local colleagues has had a mope on all day, he described is as: "you know, it's like when your girlfriend dumps you".
Speak with you soon. Hope all is well.
Ian
On Feb 4, 2008 6:20 PM, Jill Beck wrote:
Hmmmm..... anything you would like to add? It's been remarkably quiet from your end. Would that be because of wedding planning?
I've finally found my interest in football given the record-breaking season, and one really close Monday night game, for the patriots. Your giants might still be in it, but I'm not thinking they're getting my Green Bay this weekend or if they do, Brady will see off Manning in a couple of week. You had to be a little bit impressed by those comments, right :-)
On Jan 18, 2008 6:20 PM, Jill Beck wrote:
OK - I am impressed by the name recollection, that 'Football for Dummies' book may see the light of day.
The Giants ALMOST beat the Patriots in week 17. Don't count them out so quickly. The Giants have already knocked off the #1 and #4 NFC seeds in the playoffs. They may not beat the Pack, but understand this - if they do, they have a 50/50 chance to win and will be going in as the supreme underdog without the pressure of trying to convert a perfect season.
It's never really a QB vs. a QB match-up anyway because they are never on the field at the same time. That being said, Brady is a terrific QB. The other thing is that I don't really care so much if the Pats win. In football, our hated rivals are the Dallas Cowboys and we shut them up last week after TO talked about getting the popcorn out, and their owner (Jerry Jones) prematurely gave extra playoff tickets for this week's game to his Cowboys. And the Seahawks got their butts handed to them - which was awesome. Great weekend of football.
If the Giants win, I'm cheering for them. No need for bandwagon fans. :-)
If the Pack wins, I'm cheering for them. Just because of the Patriots cheating scandal earlier this season.
See - now you got homework. :-)
On Jan 18, 2008 3:15 PM, Green, Ian wrote:
I've finally found my interest in football given the record-breaking season, and one really close Monday night game, for the patriots. Your giants might still be in it, but I'm not thinking they're getting my Green Bay this weekend or if they do, Brady will see off Manning in a couple of weeks. You had to be a little bit impressed by those comments, right :-)
Ian
As Marc has mentioned in the past, my language during these games is not exactly family friendly. That being said, if kids are ever present during a game, my face just turns different colors and I bite through my lip whenever a dumb play or penalty happens. To me, I have very little sympathy for dumb mistakes. Dumb penalties like 'too many men on the field' (thanks, Chase Blackburn) or 'delay of game' (Eli, even Peyton knew you needed to get on the ball) annoy the crap out of me because they are preventable mistakes. Fortunately those penalties were not the difference in the game for the Giants' win on Sunday. But my stress level was through the roof because when you are playing a team that is playing for perfection (READ: The Patriots) that generally means that you do not have much room for error.
Marc aptly noted that the Giants weren't playing bad. But with the game being so close, mistakes matter and are magnified. And then in the 4th quarter, both offenses woke up and our defense looked gassed. I was literally shaking for the entire 4th quarter and probably for some of the 3rd quarter as well. I know – insane, but I am being honest. It was that intense. Marc actually remarked that he was worried about my health. Based on this article and my family history, it was not out of the realm of possibility.
As the Patriots were making their way down the field in the 4th quarter, I said, "here we go…. Tom [bleeping] Terrific is going to take it home as usual." And then here comes Eli and the Giants offense, which had been a little bit better than mediocre (save for the 1st drive of the game), and the play that will forever be a part of Giants lore – our version of 'The Catch'. Note that at this point, it is 3rd down with 5 yards to go.
TV (paraphrased): Manning has the ball, drops back…. He's down, NO HE IS NOT…. Gets out of it, throws it down the field…. David Tyree jumps up, catches it…. Holy cow (channeling Phil Rizzuto), he caught the ball!
Jill (in parallel): NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Oh my God! I can't [bleeping] believe it. I thought he was down. What a catch…. [thinking, please don't let it be challenged – not sure if he maintained possession and caught it…. Whew, replays show he caught it]
I'm sure Marc was cheering but I was still in shock. A few plays later, Eli throws to Plaxico Burress [THINKING: Plax – please catch this after the prediction you made] – TOUCHDOWN!!!!! Holy crap!
But the Patriots had 35 seconds left as well as 3 time outs. They were down by 3 points so all they had to do was get in field goal range. This game is not over by a long shot. I was still nervous…. The defense looked gassed on the last drive that the Patriots had. I was feeling queasy. 5 minutes later…. The Giants shocked the world! Wow….
Some thoughts on the game:
Thanks to Michelle G. for sending the above picture from the parade in NYC today.
OK - trying to get a grip on reality at this point. I think it is a good thing I am not wearing the heart rate monitor I use for working out. So just to let you know:
The Giants shocked the world and beat the heavily favored (and undefeated) New England Patriots! Correction - the Patriots are no longer undefeated. Ian, how about them Patriots, eh? :-)
So much going through my head right now - this was a tight game that had pretty much everyone who watched on the edge of their seats. Most of the bloggers who were providing real-time updates talked about how burnt they were from all of the momentum swings.
I know that I have friends who are Big Blue fans all over the country, and the party will continue for awhile. If you have any business dealings with anyone in NY, don't expect anything to happen tomorrow. Now we do have a question if our friends, A-C and Dan, are going to name their unborn child Eli? This will be interesting.
And thanks to the author of the book that highlighted the Patriots going 19-0. Good one. I guess you will have to rewrite the manuscript on that one. And special thanks to Tom Merino (mayor of Boston) for last week scheduling the Patriots victory parade under the assumption that they were going to beat the Giants.
Holy cow... I am so in shock. The souvenir DVD and attire has already been ordered. Wow. My family back in NY is elated.... I grew up a Giants fan because of Puff Daddy. He is ecstatic.
More later on in the week. Big Blue - Winners of XLII!
…you look around the room and decide you're ok with kissing every person in the room.
For those that know me, I would not like the double dipper at my party. Jill forwarded this article along, but as you know by now, she's not blogging right now from superstitions. The study (to be published in the Journal of Food Safety) was based on a Seinfeld episode. George Castanza is officially not invited to any Super Bowl parties we ever throw.
Professor Dawson said that Timmy was essentially correct. "The way I would put it is, before you have some dip at a party, look around and ask yourself, would I be willing to kiss everyone here? Because you don't know who might be double dipping, and those who do are sharing their saliva with you."
Kids try the old lick a flagpole trick and both get bleeding tongues. Still laughing…
Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander were serving on flag duty at Jackson Elementary School Friday morning, with the job of raising and lowering the school's flags. They decided to see if their tongues really would stick to the cold metal.
And the nurse had a good sense of humor.
"The nurse asked them, 'OK, who double-dog dared who?"' Billie Dempsey said, a reference to a phrase that a character in the movie used to dare another child to stick his tongue to the pole.
Jill hasn't blogged since last year. The reason: the Giants & the playoffs. It seems that she has superstitions (like players & coaches) and they keep winning so she is sticking to it. She apparently wears the same clothes on game day. She told me I'd have to blog because she wasn't going to until after the Super Bowl.
I figured I'd wait until the NFC Championship because I didn't think it was possible that they'd actually make it to the big game. Why? People seem to forget the deer in the headlights look on Eli's face during the first half of 2007. Clearly Eli is a decent QB and seems to be fairly cool under pressure. He even seems to handle bad times better than brother Peyton who looks like a very serious sore loser (I experience the German schadenfreude when Peyton Manning has a bad day).
Anyway, you won't be hearing from Jill in this space until February.
Been busy on the cooking front this past week. With the holidays rapidly approaching and being lucky that I got most of my shopping done, I had the opportunity to get in some more experimenting in the kitchen. Some of the books I have been using for inspiration include:
We also had some wonderful short ribs with some fellow wine lovers, Sharon and Ralph. The occasion required bringing some awesome wines from the collection, especially considering how generous they are when they come to our home for food and wine:
Recent cheeses consumed – Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, "Guinness" Cheddar, Sottocenere al Tartufo, Coach Farms Triple Cream Goat Cheese, Maytag Blue from Iowa (hey, we've been there!) and Saint Nectaire, along with some others I am sure I am neglecting….
Back to the Chocolate Peppermint Tart mentioned earlier. We made a lot more than what Marc and I could consume in a reasonable timeframe, so we called Gure, our friend who lives close by to see if she would help us out and take one for the team by taking some of the tart. What a trooper – with friends like these…. Anyway she called us up shortly after we dropped off the tart to tell us that while she LIKED the recipe, she does NOT want it (we offered to give it to her in case she wanted to make it herself after she said she really liked to bake). Now I don't want to upset our good friend in the event that she is reading this, but in honor of our good friend, Gure, below is the recipe for the Chocolate Peppermint Tart – page 1 and page 2.
Marc, we should have paired a scoop of mint chip ice cream with the tart! Oh mon dieu!
Happy Holidays everyone!
