The crazy, the loud, and the not-so-fast

So,

the crazy: Me. Who was I to think that I could not work at all, so as to spend time with Dan and T., and then have money to go to burning man?

Oh, and also, all the stuff I have to do for the newer, bigger, Cheeseworld2.o. Done by next Wednesday? Not so much. I am insane. Oh, and I'm soooo overextended for when I get back it's not even funny. No, I do not laugh so much.

the loud: My neighbor's friend who drops by every weeknight at 11pm, and honks, and honks, and honks, and honks. I think tonight I maybe might run out in my bathrobe, and pound on his window, and yell "Are you okay? Should I call the police?"


Methinks scary, crazy white lady showing concern might make him stop.


The not so fast: My knitting of course. Nothing is done. Nothing. All works in progress, all not so much finished.

What have I been doing? Tasting over 250 wines in increments of about 30 per meetings with various wine reps. Buying about 80 of those. Trying to keep track of what I've bought. Trying to make sure I have a good spread of all countries, and styles. Trying not to just buy the delicious, expensive stuff, but dig for the fun, welll-made everyday wines as well...oh, and make sure they are food-friendly, and they all are small production, handmade, biodynamic, organic or sustainable.

It's really a little more difficult than just sitting around drinking. I swear.

Oh, and the new wine of time?


Viognier.

Stop laughing, it's really a grape.

Say it with me Vee-Ohn-yay. That's it!

What it is:

Tradionally Viognier was only grown in the Rhone Valley in France. It was bottled as a single varital, and was heavily oaked, as to add 'structure' so that it would be ageworthy.

Now? It's grown in California, Washington State, Australia, and most cheaply, in Chile and Argentina.

What it's like:

To me, good Viognier smells like orange blossoms, peaches and ripe apples. Stylistically, the Viognier from France might be oaked, and will have a darker color, less exhuburant fruit profile, and more baking spice and vanilla from the oak.

New world viognier is rarely, if ever oaked. Most viognier is full-bodied (that means, like 14 percent alcohol, which is going to get you shit faced if you drink it on an empty stomache. Ask me how I know), and will have a beautiful mouth-watering acidity.
It loves root vegtables. It loves rich foods and firm cheeses. It's my friend.

Little cash? 10-14 bucks a bottle. Search out Con-0-Sur, from Argentina.

Lots of cash? 25 bucks and up. Search out Westerly, in Santa Barbara...I think all the viognier is sourced from Paradise Vineyard, but I might be wrong.

Also, Witness Tree Vineyard in Orgegon makes a killer viognier.


Middle amount of cash? There actually isn't much out there...Viognier is a hard to grow grape, with only a wine geek following, so there's not much of a market.


Drink on.

What's that? No Photos? Shocked, truely shocked

Ahhh, now to continue onward with my photoless blogging. My batteries are dead, and thus, not so much with the camera. Someday.

Yesterday I cooked down 15 lbs of Roma tomatoes with 4 cups of homemade Syrah (no spices, no nothing...this is a basic starter sauce for this winter. I wanted to be able to have options.)
for about 4 hours on simmer, and made approximately 9 cups of tomatoe sauce. I froze it all in freezer bags in 2 cup portions. I may do this again before summer is over.

I also made a huge batch of 'everything' stock. I had 3 chicken carcasses in the freezer, so I tossed in some beef bones, some onions, some shallots, carrots, bay leaf, salt, pepper, and three fire roasted green peppers, and simmered for about 4-5 hours. Strained, and let sit overnight in the fridge so I can pull the fat off the stop, and package, once again, in 2 cup portions, and freeze.

The kitchen was hot last night with all the simmering, so I decided, what the fuck, let's bake.

So, with the leftover red hen chocolate bread, and some frozen overripe bananas, I made some chocolate bread pudding, and with the zuchinni from the garden I made chocolate zuchinni cake.

I will start freezing blueberries from the farmer's market today,and will be making a batch of freezer jam, as well.

Whoa, you say...that's alot of cooking.

Yup, but when I have frozen organic blueberry jam this winter, it's gonna be worth it. Sooooo worth it.

I read Animal, Vegtable, Miracle last week, and it really changed the way I think about food...I was always for eating seasonally...that's the snooty restaurant training, but I never thought about perserving the food for later...that's the Kingsolver message, and I'm totally down with it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to take the canning plunge, but I'm for sure going to stuff my freezer with the goodness of summer, and my wine cellar is going to have to share with potatoes and onions from the farmer's market.


Now to finish up those slippers for Dan, and to make sure the house is okay for business visitors.
I'm starting the tastings for the new Cheeseworld, and I have reps comming over to taste this afternoon.

I know, it's weird that I'm forced to taste beautiful wines for free in my own home. Sometimes, I have the best job ever.

Summer. Whah. Boom. Crash

So, we've had houseguests. The good kind. The kind where you are all "You guys don't really have to leave in August, right? You can just stay here forever."

However, since I love our houseguests, I haven't been doing much blogging. I have been doing some knitting, and frankly, I'll be taking some pictures, soon, 'cause I know that pictureless blogging, is sooooo, like, uncool and boring.

Knittingwise...Fingerless gloves are almost done. I just have to do a thumb, and then finished.

I started slippers for Dan, and the Fuzzy Feet (from knitty.com) are halfway done.

Socks of Hate? Still one lonely sock. fuck them.


Winewise?
Gruner Veltliner. Wine of the Summer. Oh, and dry reisling.
I can hear you now. "Reisling isn't dry, it's sweet. I know this 'cause I spent one summer in Germany and..." Shut up now. Wine doesn't decide how sweet it is. Winemakers follow their heart. Sometimes, local tradion rules their heart (like in Germany). Sometimes they just want to drink a delicious, aromatic reisling...and they make it dry.

Try 2006 Charles Smith Winery's
"Kung Fu Girl" Reisling, Washington State

It's about 14-16 bucks almost everywhere.

I'll wait.

Okay, now wasn't that amazing? Aren't you like, falling all over yourself? Me too, the first time I tried one.
Think about it, how many other wines have you not tried 'cause you made assumptions?
Get out there and drink.

Wine and happiness and knitting

I was thinking about the fact that most knitters don't drink amazing wine. I wonder why?
I mean, they're happy when they get a knitting or fiber related wine that has a name like "Funky Llama" (real wine, btw), but wouldn't everyone be happier if they got a wine with a real, solid fiber link that tasted really, really good?


So, here it is, the beginning of a short list of wines that are made by folks with a real fiber content:


Owen Roe (I see you frowning. Owen Roe? What's up with that?)
Google the wines.
He's a Irishman who makes amazing wines in Oregon, and the last time I went to a trade tasting (His name's not Owen btw...) he and I had a nice little chat about his sheep. He owns sheep. and shears them. and makes cheese out of their milk. He's a sheep guy.

I like the Abbot's Table. It's not super-expensive, it's a fun blend, and it's complex and lovely.

Of course, he's got a second lable, as well, that's less expensive.
O'Reilly's. He makes a stunning dry, citrusy Pinot Gris that's amazing.

So, drink handmade wine. With real fibery content, not just some stupid name.

We fiber people value so many things handmade...there seems to be bleed over from the fiber stuff into the slow food movement and eating local. Think about the booze.

My focus at Cheese Wonderland (not it's real name) is handmade, organic or sustainable or biodynamic wine that's made by people and not by machine.

It's not all expensive, and it's not all snotty, and really, it tastes better.

Try it.

Out Damned Spot, Out.

My hands are stained with wine.
My bra is stained with wine.
My sweater was stained with wine.

Just another big night out?

I think not.

I was making custom wine blends for the Hospitality Mines with the Boss in California.

The Stats:
In two days:

I hand-corked 810 bottles of wine.

I drank 5 glasses of wine.

I had 4 Amazing Meals. (breakfast is breakfast everywhere you go)

I got no knitting done.

I drank 6 beers.

I handled over 120 gallons of wine.

I watched two cute guys stomp grapes.

I watched 10 tons of grapes get made into wine.

I had over 5 gallons of wine spilled on me.

I met one great dog.

I stayed in one amazing house.

My hands will never be clean. They are stained with wine.

I will be used, and I'll like it

So, I have been teeter-tottering about this California thing.

Sure it's great that I go. It's awesome. I'm thrilled, really.

But why? Why after almost 5 years of screaming indifference, or sometimes outright hostility, is The Wine One being nice to me? Really, really nice. Almost kind.

It freaks me out. I'm uncomfortable with it.

However, I've decided that it doesn't matter why this situation has turned around, it just has, and as long as I'm not dirt to be scraped of Himself's shoes, I should sit back and enjoy the ride.

Yarnwise, I'm in high gear. I've been spinning every second that I can to make yarn for the upcomming craft fair. At Shuba's. On Sunday. noon to 4pm.

I'm pretty excited. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and stop by and say hi!

New Yarns, upcomming Craft Fair, and Fiber time

Okay, so I had a great time with Sarah, who came over and did some fibery stuff the other day.

We spun, and fondled fiber, and she crocheted. The picture is the finished yarn that I was spinning...I'm calling it 'Grape Jelly' and it's super soft, shiny and delovely. It's in the shop.

Sarah took some hand spun to make into a sample.

People who love fiber are cool.

My right hand (whom I call Mr. Burns), won't let me knit all that well yet. The funky way my hand now sits on my arm is probably at fault...that, and the fact that I can't really bend it, and I have no strength in it. But. No Cast. Groovy.

I'm now experimenting with some royal purple for her, to pay her in trade.

There are some new yarns up in the shop. I am doing the Handmade Market on the 29th of October, right before I fly to California. Cali. Wine. Groovy. Beckmen Vineyards. Hitching Post. Santa Inez. Groovy.

Wine. Yum. -insert Homer Simpson sound of food happiness here-

The new job type thing that I'm doing for the Hospitality Mines is fun. I am the voice of all wine education, which is cool. I just go in, talk about wine, and leave. Pretty fucking ideal, I have to say. I can't beleive that I'm getting paid just to do that.

Cheese world is edging up onto crunch time, and we've had some amazing wine sales...we're already ahead of where we were last season...

So, off to teach about wine.