Okay...No

Of all the useless crap I have ever seen....how the hell does this thing even make sense?! Just what the hell is going to happen when you go to take a sip of your wine...don't know about you but the idea of having food in my eyebrows aint all that appealling. Not to mention it just looks so stupid....I'm sure it will be all the rage for awhile, just like those lame charms that left everyone saying, "was I the green grape cluster or were you?"...um, yeah...gonna have to throw this into the VETO pile.

Going Large On A Monday

Sunday, Mother’s Day…it was kinda sucky. I woke up a touch sad that I can’t even get a hug from my son, (his college is too far away) and thinking of my own Mother who sadly passed away, (very shocking and far too young) nine years ago. I tried to wear a happy face for my hubby who does holidays where the focus is ME, very well. He kind of waits on me hand and foot, lets me pick whatever I want to eat and doesn’t even squawk at whatever I am watching on television….really not all that different than any other day really, but he just seems happier to do in on birthdays and Mother’s Day.

I had offered to work but owners, Randy and Dale would not have it, I am the only mommy on staff and they wanted to honor me, very sweet really, plus the Lakers were on and they knew I wanted to watch so they ended up working Sunday for me…so nice to have bosses that care dontcha think?

I woke up, got my coffee and flipped on MSNBC, nothing all that important going on…you know aside from the scandal of a beauty queen and her intolerance of others on account of her strong religious values and morality, you know, the same religious morality she popped up on a shelf to pose for half naked photos. Never being a fan of any “job” where a woman is told all her value is in her face and body, I have never really followed the beauty queen crap….this scandal has not changed that in the least. She had every right to say how she feels and we have every right to call her a bigot and a hypocrite…so that little news bit sucked up about 5 seconds of my time.

I popped on the interwebs and started checking the blogs that I read, went to Fermentation and read a piece that Tom Wark wrote about his Mother, “Memories of Broken Glass and Mothers” I was crying….hard, by the second paragraph, a beautifully written and heart wrenching piece but it did little to shake me already less than chipper mood. I glanced at the beautiful flowers the hubby got from my favorite florist, Devynn’s in Sunset Beach, even when you are in a funky mood it’s nice to feel all loved and junk.

And then put all my energy into sending my Mother’s Day mojo to the Lakers…well, watching your favorite team take in the rear in a playoff game, it does nothing to cheer one up…the Lakers having 47 points in the third quarter….beyond a bummer.



When the bloodletting of a basketball game was over we headed to my In Laws to eat take-out and look at their pictures from a recent trip to China…fun. I love my In Laws, they are very sweet people, although I am pretty sure my brother in law finds me annoying in that, “fancy pants” kind of way. He makes plenty of less than clever digs about wine and food, makes comments like, “Well, soorryy I’m not as cultured as you are” when we talk about…well, my life and what I have been up to. Drives me nuts, this is what I do dude, not trying to make you feel less than…sheesh. I knew he would be there, so I had to load up on the fake chipper. The night was pretty easy, the in laws were adorable when they showed their photos so all in all it was a painless and pleasant end to a less than fun day.

“Sexy Bitch is out of town, why don’t you and Call-o come over and we can all cook dinner together. I’ll get some Halibut and grill it and you can make the sides” the email from Amy read Monday morning. I was off and have yet to have a bad time at The Vortex, so I spent Monday morning flipping through cookbooks and magazines looking for something new to accompany Amy’s grilled fish. I could not choose between 3 things so I decided to do all of them; stuffed rice balls, baby greens salad with roasted pears and blue cheese and roasted potatoes with mushrooms and onions. Went shopping, prepped my rice, gathered my other ingredients, yanked my Mother’s Day Champagne, (was not in the mood for it Sunday) from the fridge along with another bottle and headed over to Amy’s for a relaxed evening of cooking, wine and conversation.

Amy greeted us with a glass of Rose from a bottle she had already been “working” on, when she saw which Champagne I brought she went to her cellar and brought up a special bottle to have with dinner…awesome! We got right to work getting the food going, first up were the rice balls. I don’t follow recipes well, I’m a glance and improvise kinda gal so there was a slight problem with my rice mixture, I didn’t have as much Arborio rice as the recipe called for, but knowing it was only a snack before dinner I figured it was fine as we didn’t need a bunch of those little suckers…yeah, problem was I still added 2 eggs to the cooked rice mixture so it was too soupy to form into balls. Not to worry Amy to the rescue, she grabbed some breadcrumbs, sprinkled them in and it tightened the mixture, (cooked rice, eggs and Pecorino) perfectly. We rolled the rice into just slightly over golf ball size balls, poked a hole in the center and carefully stuffed each with a small mound of cooked sausage and some mozzarella cheese. Popped the balls in the fridge to set and moved on to the potatoes.

Amy diced the salt pork while I thinly sliced the onions, we got both into a pan with garlic, butter and olive oil, letting them get nice and brown while I sliced the potatoes into 1/8 inch slices. Tossed the raw potatoes with the browned onions and rendered pork goodness, dumped them in a pyrex dish and popped them in a 350 degree oven. I added a nice glug of white wine after 30 minutes, then stock and sliced mushrooms after 15 more. Left the whole thing bubbling away in the oven to cook through, taking the time to baste now and then…on to the pears for the salad.

I sliced and peeled the pears before popping them in a sauté pan with butter and thyme to get all soft and brown. Diced one shallot and thinly sliced another, (diced for the dressing, sliced for the salad) and rough chopped some smoked almonds to top the salad. When the pears were soft I removed half to cool and took the other half, smashed them to a paste and added Sherry vinegar, diced shallot, olive oil, salt and pepper…viola, dressing!

Amy got a pan started for the rice balls and began dredging them in egg then rolled them in breadcrumbs…dunk, roll and dropped into the sizzling hot oil until brown an crispy…um…yeah, time for the Champagne. “Pop” went the cork on a bottle of Camille Saves Rose, a bite of crispy fried rice that gave way to a gooey cheese and sausage stuffed center, all washed down with deeply red fruited Camille Saves Rose….it was so good I almost felt guilty! The Champagne was in a perfect place, powerful red fruit, roasted flavors and a deep, sexy as hell black cherry core…the bubbles lifted the weight from the rice balls right off our palates, leaving us longing for “just one more”. Amy had pickled some fresh veggies the day before that were also perfect for the fried starter…pickled fennel, radishes and green beans…delicious!

I tossed the greens with the dressing and sliced shallots, plated and placed the roasted pears, chopped smoked almonds and chunks of uber creamy St Agur blue cheese on the top…the pears offset the savory flavors in the most beautiful way. I have never been too hot for that candied walnut and blue cheese salad..too sweet for my palate but the mild sweetness of the pears that had been roasted in butter and thyme, with the tender greens, sharp tang from the sliced shallots and that insanely creamy blue cheese, “Um Vortex…we have a winner” I will be making this salad again. We all just sat there moaning and groaning while drinking bubbles and Rose…could have been done there but wait…there’s more!

Amy grilled the fish that she had smeared with mayonnaise, salt and pepper along with a few lemons, just after turning the fish she basted them with lemon butter…done in no time and I pulled the now soft potatoes from the oven and sprinkled them with some diced green onion. We loaded up our plates and headed to the table while Amy opened her offering for the evenings wine consumption, a 2005 Dagueneau Silex…dude.

I sat there, a plate of simple but delicious food and three glasses of wine, Camille Saves Rose Champagne, 2008 Canorgue Cotes du Luberon Rose and 2005 Dagueneau Silex thinking, “Yeah, just another Monday night!”. The Silex was screaming with the fish, with time the wine had taken on a weight, massive in the mouth with grapefruit and serious minerals. “It drinks more like a white Burgundy” Amy commented and I had to agree, anyone that thinks Sauvignon Blanc is not serious or age worthy, is not only high but has never known the pleasure of Dagueneau.

We munched on the fish and were blown away by the potatoes, they were rich and deeply flavored but without butter or cream they were still very light…spectacular. After cleanup we made our way to the living room, worked our way through the remaining wine and talked late into the night. Great food, amazing wines and spending the evening laughing with those you love….really puts things in perspective huh?

From Chablis To Meursault

Last Friday night we hosted an evening class devoted to Chardonnay from its birthplace….Burgundy. We had a small crowd, only 19 people but as I have said before, white wine seems to bring out fewer people for whatever reason. There was the usual suspects, (group of passionate regulars) a few new faces and even a couple that just “loved Rombauer Chardonnay” but were interested in trying something new. Because we weren’t featuring one estate I got to pour a nice range of wines, everything from Chablis to the Maconnais.

I adore doing classes like this, one region, in some cases, one winemaker and one grape…tends to show what terroir means without me having to go on and on about it, sounding like some crazed soil fanatic. Truth be told, the geography stuff just sends my blonde head spinning, but being able to detect differences in wines that are literally grown just yards apart…that shit just floats my boat to no end! Even better is when I can make others understand it, and watch as their light bulbs go off…..many an “Ah Ha” moment has been had at The Wine Country over glasses of Burgundy, both red and white.

Due to the budget, just $40.00 per person and time constraints, that was all me, wanted to catch some of the Laker game, I went with only 9 wines. Many of our classes can have up to 15 wines featured, although I will admit, when they are my events I tend to pour fewer…better, but fewer so 9 was not all that unusual. For the first flight I wanted to show people just how both climate and soil can make a massive difference, so the wine on the left, a Chablis the wine of the right, Macon. The first wine was nervy, steely even with a fierce acidity and the second was plump, soft, almost tropical and just seemed to have a warmer, “Come on in and drink me” feel to it. From that first flight we made our way to the middle and Burgundy’s Cote d’Or, or “Golden Slope” where the wines were fleshier, deeper, sexier and definitely more expensive.

Most in attendance said it was the best white Burgundy event they had ever attended and the wines sold exceptionally well, especially when you consider the size of the group. I have to say I was shocked at how well the wines performed, they were all quite young and we didn’t decant them, (well, we did with one) but they were all just singing, with each wine building atop the last to the grand finale. A really remarkable evening of alarmingly beautiful wines. As for the Rombauer couple….well they still “really love Rombauer”, I thought I was getting through to them but once the husband asked if it was possible to scoop up a bunch of the soil in Meursault and bring it back here and makes wines that tasted like these, well I pretty much knew then that I wasn’t reaching them, and truth be told…..I don’t think they were really all that interested in listening. Alright by me, they tasted 9 wines they had never before tasted and learned that they are just not that into white Burgundy, so not a complete loss I guess.



2006 Pommier Chablis, ($26.99) This was the first wine of the night and while I thought it might be a bit shocking to the palate to start with the driest, most mineral driven wine I could not quite figure out where else to put it and it turned out being a favorite of many. Bone dry, uncooked bread dough and loaded with limestone the wine had a nice mouth feel and a clean not too severe finish.



2006 Heritiers du Comte lafon Macon-Bussieres, ($38.99) We had two wines from Dominique Lafon at the tasting and the focus with this wine was VALUE! Lafon’s wines from his property in Meursault retail for anywhere from around $100 to over $1,000 so the dude is no slacker in the Chardonnay department, this wine comes not from that estate nor from the Cote d’Or but from the southern region of Macon. Still highly sought after wines that we only get once a year in 1 case drops, this wine is tropical, full in the mouth, seasoned nicely with just a hint of oak and the finish is long and textured. The 2007’s are here as well…going very fast but in right now.



2005 A et P. De Villaine Rully Les Saint-Jacques, ($34.99) I’ve always been a big fan of this estate, but I think the 2005’s are beginning to go through a really weird period, that being said I found a lot of almost roasted Seville orange, white stones and a faint nutty quality..seems like the wine needs to just chill, (as in relax) for a bit, it would be worth tucking it away for a year or two.



2006 Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet Puligny-Montrachet, ($63.99) I’m writing these notes from the little glass I had after the class because it had completely changed in the hour after we had initially poured it. Pears poached in brown butter with just a hint of cinnamon, lemon zest and a rich unsalted buttery finish. Showing stunningly after being opened for about 3 hours.



2006 Philippe Colin Puligny-Montrachet, (54.99) Such purity….clean, nervy, fleshy fruit, bright green apple with just a bit of toast. Hands-down one of my favorite wines of the night.



2006 Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet Chassagne-Montrachet, ($54.99) Deeply nutty, full in the mouth, roasted fruit and loaded with stones and spice. Big wine that would be a freaking knock-out with butter poached seafood or chicken.



2006 Chateau de Puligny-Montrachet Meursault, ($53.99) Probably one of my least favorites of the night, not a bad wine in any shape or form but just seemed the most disjointed and clunky. Roasted nuts, minerals, super ripe apple and pears with a long, somewhat oaky finish.

2005 Francois Jobard Meursault En la Barre, ($74.99) Stunning, freaking stunning….this was the wine that needed the decant, as it was almost climbing in on itself. Once opened though…Oh My God, I could not stop smelling it! So floral and vibrating with minerals, wet stones and more white flowers, each swipe around the glass offering something even more intoxicating. I think this wine got lost in the line up being second to last but to me….I bought a bottle that night and I will be thinking of it until I get to taste it again.




2006 Domaine des Comte Lafon Meursault Clos de la Barre, ($126.99) Without-a-doubt the star of the night and even though it was the most expensive we sold more if this wine than any other. I think its beauty just stole the focus away from the more intellectual Jobard, but I can’t blame anyone for falling in love….statuesque, regal and doing the dance of the seven veils beneath your nose and on your palate. Haunt you this wine will and once you give in you will never forget the way it smells, feels as it curls around your palate and leaves your mouth vibrating and tasting of salted caramel….sigh

You Know What....(Not A Wine Post)

So I swear I am working on, (and by “working on” I mean all the details are swimming around in my melon, just waiting to be put on…well, not paper but screen) 2 wine posts, (visiting Frenchmen and a glorious white Burgundy evening recap) but I woke this morning, flipped on the news and this thing was in my face….again. It came up 3 times yesterday and BLAMO all over the news again first thing this morning….and just want to say, (it would be Stop It but since that was my last post) I Don’t Care, not only that, I am so pissed off at the morality police that seem to be foaming at the mouth about this stuff, this stuff that in none of their business.

The issue at hand? Affairs. Before I go any further, let me just put on the table the way I feel about this personally. First of all it’s not something I spend much if any time thinking about, I love my husband and am very confident that he loves me…kinda all I really care about, I just cannot imagine weaving a thought process about something that may or may not happen about something or an event that I had nothing to do with. I don’t think people cheat because of their spouse, they cheat or they don’t, and spending a lot of time trying to figure out “why” is a giant waste of time, not to mention if you believe everything is about you…that might be the bigger problem.

Now in my relationship it is wildly believed, (and yes we have talked about this with others) that if one of us were to “step out” it would probably be me, not sure why that is other than I am out more and tend to make friends with men pretty easily. The truth is I have no intention of running around on my husband, just not something that crosses my mind, maybe I’m just not that sexual a person, but should it happen I just can’t see why that would mean I love my husband any less and I feel the same way if it were Carl that “stepped out”. I just don’t see love and sex as the same thing, matter of fact there was more than once that I had sex with someone that I didn’t even like, let alone love, so the two don’t always go hand in hand in my mind.

Do I want to cheat or have my husband cheat…hell no, but I don’t think it is the absolute worst thing that can happen. Now some very close friends of ours are in the other camp, one night with another and it would over for them….I think the point I am trying to get at is, there is not and should not be only one way to see this whole cheating thing, so when you hear about an affair don’t go making assumptions about….you know what, howz about we stop hearing about them in the first place! I sure as shit don’t want the world’s prying eye in my bedroom and I have no interest in peering into yours.



So last night as I was checking in a customer that was attending our White Burgundy seminar I mentioned that it was probably going to be a short evening as I was hoping to get home in time to catch a bit of the Laker game. He then spurts out, “well I don’t like the Lakers” I shrugged my shoulders and said, “well, I do and I had to miss most of the last game, so I am really looking forward to it” he then goes on to tell me a few of the reasons he disliked my beloved team. I listened and tried not to let the comments get under my skin, that was until this little gem came flying out of his mouth, “Ultimately, I cannot forgive Kobe for cheating”…..blink….blink. “Wow, I had no idea you two were married” was my tight lipped response, followed quickly by, “You know I really don’t care about that” I swear you would think I just crapped on the floor by the look on his face. I was beyond baffled, how could this guy feel betrayed by someone that had made no commitment to him? I chalked it up to weird and tried to put it out of my mind.

I got home not in time to catch any of the Laker game, but in time to watch Bill Maher, (very good one by the way) and the topic of cheating was up again, this time it was John Edwards and how his fling may cost him his political career, and maybe his wife. Now losing his wife, that is between he and his wife but losing his career?! Over a brief fling?! We are going to toss away a smart, compassionate, articulate politician over something we had NO BUSINESS knowing or caring about in the first place…utter bullshit.

Then this morning it was Jon of Jon & Kate Plus Eight and speculations about an affair…I just about lost it! For a country that uses sex as its number one marketing tool, we are pretty tight assed when it comes to sexuality…and why is it that anyone gives a rat’s ass about other people’s marriage?! Don’t you have your own shit to deal with? No one knows what kind of relationship any of the afore mentioned people have, what they value and what is really important to them as a couple, but we label these guys as cheaters or bad husbands….well, if you are not married to them, then you don’t get to call them that, and more importantly, stop pointing cameras in these women’s faces, forcing them to be defensive about something that they may have known about and chosen to ignore or not make a big deal about! How about a little, don’t ask don’t tell about other people’s relationships?!

I went into work in a freaking tizzy and was ranting to anyone that would listen, arguing my point and challenging people on every comment they made about infidelity, other than that between themselves and their partners. One staff member told me a story about a friend that had cheated, and how angry they were at this friend when it came out, but this friend was very remorseful and over time my coworker was able to forgive them…but said, “If he hadn’t have been so torn up about it I don’t know if I could have forgiven him”, my coworker then went on to tell me that this poor sap was in a horrible marriage and ended up getting a divorce anyway….um, the moral of that story was? Maybe minding your business and not passing moral judgment on your “friends” is how to NOT waste your time and unwarranted emotion? I just kept thinking, “Would you be as pissed off if this friend cheated on his taxes? Because you know, that does really affect YOU”…argh!

I am just so tired of all this; who we should marry, how we should be married…for a country with an alarming divorce rate we certainly have a lot of opinions…and you know what, we are beginning to look like assholes.

Quick Shout Out

Suffering from painful shyness and being one of those less than approachable people, has always kept my group of friends on the smallish side….tight as hell but small none the less. The one thing I have discovered about blogging, is my group…it’s growing! Not sure what it is about the anonymity of the glowing screen that seems to open people up but whatever it is, I’m thankful for it, and find myself tucked in with an amazing group of supportive, intellectual and damn funny people that thankfully share my love…okay, obsession about wine. I wanted to take a quick second to thank my fellow bloggers for their continued support, interesting reads, laughs, and in one case tears, by spotlighting their blogs here on Samantha Sans Dosage.

Blogging is kind of a thankless task, many of us do it in our free time for no money with only the love of wine pushing us along, (see there, I made it seem like we were training for a marathon or something…dramatic much?!) that and the hope that somewhere, someone is finding pleasure, information or inspiration in our prose. I know for me, seeing the traffic on my site thrills me to no end and when someone takes the time to post a comment….well, it makes it all worth it. So I implore you dear readers, check these guys out…always something interesting, sometimes silly and always full of heartfelt enthusiasm.



Benito's Wine Reviews

I have to start with Benito, he was the first wine blogger to return an email to me, (well, I had only dropped a line to two others, but still) and he has supported me more than I can even tell you. He answers my “Please help me” emails with volumes of information and even went as far as to use his background in graphic design, to create the super cute header of this blog…I still cannot believe I was lucky enough to stumble on such a sweetheart but I am unbelievably grateful…and often humbled by his support and kindness, oh and on top of all that I thoroughly enjoy his posts about wine, cocktails and cooking adventures!



Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel

Besotted Ramblings & Other Drivel was a natural for me, Peter Liem is an American living in Champagne and he blogs about…well, mostly about Champagne but by no means is it limited to that, noodles and Sake and Sherry Oh MY! He is a professional writer so his posts are beyond easy on the eyes and there is a richness to his style that lets you feel his passion and tremendous knowledge but in a way that is not at all “snooty”. He was one of the people that blogrolled, (linked my blog to his) early on, (without even telling me by the way…I was just scrolling down reading one of his posts and BLAMO there was my blog linked, felt all Rock Star and junk) and I value his Champagne palate more than any other.




Fermentation

Fermentation is a blog mostly about the wine industry, full of stats and the latest in the biz but Tom Wark will go off the rails once in awhile and post these fun, thought provoking or in the case of the post I read this morning, (Memories of Broken Glass and Mothers)….painfully beautiful pieces that keep the blog from being too industry for the casual reader. Tom flattered me beyond belief when he interviewed me and posted the “Bloggerview” on his site, which brought me a flood of new readers, and has been leading the charge for wine bloggers far longer than I have even been blogging. Always something interesting to read and Tom inspires some fun comments by some really passionate people.




Dirty South Wine

Hardy Wallace from Dirty South is a fairly new friend, I had seen his blog a few times but always seemed to stumble in where there was a video link, which I’ll admit, I don’t often click on…just a thing with me, tv is for watching and the computer is for reading…he is quickly changing my mind about that. He first raised my eyebrow when I read a few of his brilliantly written comments on the eBob, (Robert Parker) board, responding to the thread about blogger credibility. He took a swipe at the “crusty old wine dude” way of thinking, in a way that just made those dudes look foolish, I dug that. Then my friend Benito told me I had to check out Hardy’s site because he was sure I would like, and appreciate Hardy’s less than serious take on wine….as always Benito was right. We are now reading each other’s blogs and we are even friends on facebook…see my group is growing! Hardy is currently competing for his dream job as a blogger for Murphy Goode winery, he needs votes to make this happen…so I’m asking all my readers to click on the link below and vote for Hardy, let’s bring a little Dirty South to northern California and a bit of fun to a historically “serious” industry!

Vote for Hardy

Just wanted to share with all of you, some of the people that have helped, entertained and supported me and this blog for awhile, thank you to all the bloggers I mentioned above, (to those I did not include I will be doing another of these posts in a week or two) and as always thank you to all who read this silly blog about a girl who, drinks and eats too much but laughs a lot….your support means the world to me!

Stop It...

I respectfully request that we stop:



&



&



&



&



&



&



&



&



&





&



&



&



&



I have more...