Sandy

Sandy

Where to start? I have been eating out more than usual unfortunately due to Sandy. We lost power from the Monday of the storm until the following Monday. It was cold. Luckily my town center had power and we were able to eat at several places. In addition I had the opportunity to meet lots of people at communal tables in restaurants and sitting at the bar in several restaurants.

Communal tables in restaurants is an old/new idea. Arturos in Maplewood and Indie in Lincoln Center, NY both have communal tables. I like the concept.I was able to sit next to delightful 8 year old twins and some Julliard drama students. My new friends made dinner a delight for me and my wife. What do you think about communal tables? We have seen where people have declined to sit at these tables with looks of horror.

Sandy has caused unimaginable grief for the tri-state area. I would like to help more than just giving money but it is not that simple. I am searching for ideas on how to be able to mobilize people to help specific issues faced by others in times of need. It seems as if agencies such as the Red Cross and the different levels of government can handle the big picture (maybe) but simple things like a hot meal seem to be difficult. It seems that even with all of the communication devices and social media that exist today it is still difficult to identify specific needs.

Actually I just came up with an idea. Why not send food trucks into these areas. We can contribute towards paying for a food truck to give out free food in distressed areas. Food trucks are the new rage. The Summit farmers market has a pizza truck that makes fancy pizza in a wood oven. The market also has a taco truck. We could use donations to send these trucks to areas of most need. Nothing warms the heart like a fresh pizza or taco. Hopefully these trucks are already doing this but I have not seen it yet on tv or in a paper.

In the last week I have had Thai food, pizza, steak, calamari salad, antipasto salad, and middle eastern food. I have eaten at several bars and made lots of new bar buddies. I usually have draft beer when I eat at a bar. Bars are great for watching football games and just hanging out.It is good to know that there are still places where "everyone knows your name". I find that draft beer is a treat but that many bars are stocking small batch beers which don't usually impress me. Many of these beers taste okay for one sip but it is hard to drink a pint. I still like German beers and other beers with long histories. In my area Yuengling is an inexpensive tasty lighter style beer that has been around for a long time.

Interestingly I found a Duane Reade drug store in NYC that has a beer bar. You can fill up or buy a growler of beer to take home. The beer is some new brewery's beer. Interesting concept. I did not try the beer to see if it is any good.

Theater tip of the week.

We saw Giant at the NY Public Theater on Lafayette Street publictheater.org in NYC. It is a musical based on a book by Edna Ferber and a movie of the same name from 1956 with James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.It was directed by George Stevens and has made of the AFI's top 100 films of all time. I have not yet seen the movie.

The musical was superb. Brian D'arcy James and Kate Baldwin star. The theater is small, they have a decent sized orchestra and the production is engrossing. Michael John LaChiusa wrote the music and lyrics.The music was very good. This is not Cole Porter song and dance but we found the play fascinating. It is long but we were never bored. Great singing and the story is intelligent.It is about rancher and oil in Texas from the 1920's to 1950's. Check it out. It has not officially opened yet.

Wines of the week

Chateau Dallau  Bordeaux2009 Good 09 Bordeaux; good value; nice bouquet, good fruit and nice structure;enjoyed the bottle with Thai food

Borsao 2011 Not my favorite Borsao. I found it too grapey with not much tannin to balance the wine. Still a good wine and a great bargain.

Edition Rose 2011 Domaine Drouhin, Dundee Hills Oregon $15 Very good rose. Bought this at the winery. Do not believe it is available elsewhere as production was limited to 570 cases. The grape is pinot noir and it is a dry wine with good flavor and structure. Enjoyed with salmon.

2004 Bodega y Viñedos Fernández Rivera Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León Dehesa la Granja    Funky nose; opened up as we drank it; started somewhat sour but developed well, complex, good structure; enjoyed the bottle; drank with london broil; good stuff; could develop more.

2010 Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir Santa Barbara County  $16 Good wine. Not a typical Cali Pinot Noir, terroir, low alcohol and good balance with nice acid. Complex, the wine just works. Enjoyed the bottle. Good value for the price.

Jadot Macon Village 2010 $11 Good solid white Burgundy. Nice fruit, no oak and decent complexity. Very good value. I think 2010 was a good year for white Burgundy.

2008 The Winemakers' Collection Stephane Derenoncourt Cuvée No. 4 Château d'Arsac  $17

Started slowly but the wine opened up nicely after about 20 minutes. Nice bouquet, good mouthfeel,

nice structure with fruit and tannin balanced. Enjoyed the bottle.

 

2010 Louis Jadot Mâcon-Lugny  $13  Solid white burgundy; nice acid with fruit, not a light wine;

enjoyed the bottle; restored my faith in Macon wines

as I had not been having much luck lately; good value

 

2007 Castello di Monsanto Chianti Classico  $17 Good chianti. Nice fruit and balance;

not as complex as I expected. Enjoyed the bottle with my pizza.

 Have had this wine before and this bottle was not as good as I remembered.

2009 Bodega Numanthia Termes Toro Termes $24   Had 2 glasses of this wine at a restaurant. 

The first glass was excellent with great flavor and mouth feel. Nice aroma and good balance.

The second glass tasted grapey and did not appeal to me

 Did not see the wine being poured so did not know if the glasses came from the same bottle

 

2009 Moulin d'Angludet $24  Good 09 bordeaux; nice balance, good nose; excellent fruit

without being grapey;  enjoyed the bottle. I think this wine has a good percentage of cabernet sauvignon

2009 Poderi Foglia Taburno Concabianco Galluccio $17

Good white wine,not sure of the grape but good balance with decent acid and fruit.

Good mouth feel, not a light wine. Drank with spaghetti with clam sauce.

  Enjoyed the bottle.

 

2011 Bibi Graetz Casamatta Bianco Toscana IGT  $8

Decent wine. Not complex but nice fruit with some structure. Good value wine.

 

2009 Sokol Blosser Pinot Noir Estate Cuvée Dundee Hills

VG 09 Willamette Valley PN; Had 2 bottles at dinner in a restaurant. The second bottle

was not as good and tasted like cherry soda, not good,

it was as if it as completely different wine. This rating is based on the first bottle.

 Nice structure, good nose and well balanced. Enjoyed the first bottle.

 

My mom

 

My mother died 2 weeks ago. She would have been 82 in December.

She was my inspiration for all things but especially food, wine and travel.

She and my dad introduced me to all kinds of  food at a very young age. I remember going to Chinatown in NYC 

when I was around 5. We would go to King Wu and Wah Kee on Doyers street. King Wu had

sizzling rice dishes and was run by the dragon lady. You did what she told you or else.

Sizzling rice is really good. I will post a recipe in the future.

 

I remember going to Manganaros, an Italian food shop in NYC and getting a 6 foot hero sandwich

for my parents New Year's eve party when I was around 10. This was way before anyone else 

was doing this kind of sandwich. Not Subway ingredients either. The sandwich could not fit in our

car and we had to extend it through the windows. My mother then wrapped the sandwich

 and  we had guests at the party try to guess what was in the box. Of course no one figured it out.

The shop is still on 9th Avenue around 39th street.

 

We went on vacation to Nova Scotia one year and stayed at Keltic Lodge on Cape Breton Island.

It is a beautiful place on a small peninsula. The dining room was elegant and had large windows

overlooking the ocean. My mother ordered lobster and proceeded to eat every bit of it, not just the claws

and tail. When she had finished several other diners started applauding in amazement at how

much she had enjoyed the meal and her lobster eating technique.

 

She loved to cook whole red snapper. As a kid I did not like it. Now it is a favorite.

One day we tried to think of a food that my mom did not like. The only thing that we could get

her to admit not liking was pickled watermelon rind. She also liked to bring back all types of cheeses

from Europe. Customs never tried to smell her luggage.

 

That was my mother.