French?

I shall need a French wine this coming weekend. I began my enjoyment of the French Open last Sunday. I always cheer for the underdog unless he's playing against Nadal or Federer or an American.
On the women's side, since Venus didn't manager to make it deep into the tournament, in her absence, I shall most likely be a Stosur fan.

More to come...

Steak House

Oh, this title is true on two levels this evening: the menu and the wine pairing. The ninja and I grilled marinated filets, topped them with bearnaise and enjoyed them with a salad and our very first attempt at fried green tomatoes! The ninja did not of course share my wine pairing. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure what he's drinking this evening. But I'll give you 5-1 it has tequila in it.

I paired my steak with a beautiful, big Cabernet Sauvignon called - you guessed it - Steak House. The wine is an 89-point, $11 bottle that I chose for the label (duh!) and for the price (the 91-point bottle was $26; the 93-point was $55 and the labels were absolutely NO COMPETITION!) Of course, I knew the menu and there was never a doubt in my mind that a Cab was a necessity.

In the following snip, turn up the volume. You can hear the garden fountain in the background and at the end you can hear the panting of the 15-yr old cattle dog when she walks out on the porch to see what the heck I'm doing...

The Fried Green Tomatoes, you ask? Oh, yeah. They turned out quite nice, fried in walnut oil...

The rest of the day was the usual: tennis, bumming around Oak Ridge and around in the yard and in the house. We do have a new member of the family. Creevey II. Here's his story:

Our former tabby (Creevey the First) abandoned us in the last month we lived in California. He had been two-timing us at the house 3 doors down for several months. We think he sensed we were short-timers and he abandoned us completely several weeks before we left for good. We still caught glimpses of him, but he never got close enough for us to nab him and put him in a cat crate for the cross-crountry trek.

Meanwhile, we've settled in Oak Ridge, TN. We've nurtured our flower garden through a Winter and Spring. And, now I've begun watching the chipmunks have their way with my bulbs. I'm furious. So, we visited the Animal Shelter last Saturday. I was immediately drawn to the tabby in the first set of cages. But, the tag on his cage said "On Hold", so I wandered aimlessly past several more banks of cages eyeing longhairs and kittens but being drawn back to the tabby the whole time.

I finally got up the nerve to ask about him. Turned out the label on the tag was wrong. So, we adopted the tabby. He's been with us barely over 24 hours. Not sure how it's going to work out, but so far he's doing better with the Border Collie and Cattle Dog than Creevey the First ever did.

A Quiet Sunday Afternoon

Played tennis earlier.

Came home to the best pizza in a VERY long time. It's the ninja's work. It's one of those "semi-homemade" things. He didn't get the recipe from the website in that link, but his recipe is in that vein. He used a store-bought whole-wheat crust and a store-bought sauce. To mine, he added Canadian bacon, pineapple and spinach that he saute'd in olive oil. I don't know what he did with his pizza, but it was probably a lot healthier, probably had a lot of peppers and mushrooms on it...

Anyway, it truly was the best pizza I've had in many years. The ninja outdoes himself quite often. Probably part of the definition of ninja...

Now, we're sitting on the couch watching "The Cowboys" (the 1972 John Wayne film). This is a sort of "heaven" to me - this afternoon. This was the first movie that I can remember watching in the theater! Daddy took me to see it. It has stuck with me all these years.

A couple of quotes I dug up on imdb.com:

When John Wayne informed Bruce Dern that Dern's character would shoot Wayne's, he told Dern that audiences would hate him for it. Dern responded by saying, "Yeah, but they'll sure love me in Berkeley." 


Despite their political and social opinion differences, John Wayne and Roscoe Lee Browne shared a love of poetry. They sometimes quoted their favorite verses between takes of the film.


Now, the best line from the movie so far: (and, believe me there are too many "best lines" to count in this one!)

Ann Anderson (Wayne's character's wife of many years): I'll think about you before I go to bed at night"
Wil Anderson (Wayne's character):  "You do and you won't sleep." Delivered with that impish grin on Wayne's face. This exchange came shortly after she told him that she only wanted 2 things from him: to come home and a strand of blue glass beads. He said "you don't ask for much" and she said "I don't need much."

They just don't write 'em like they used to!

My accompaniment for this afternoon is a truly lovely Chardonnay. I know. Probably not the best pairing ever. But I had this bottle open from last night. Don't worry. I use one of these cool gizmos to seal my wine for up to 3 days:

This 'truly lovely Chardonnay' is one I bought recently for a party. The party had a too-large-contingent of teetotalers in attendance :(

The only thing left to complete this perfect day is the view when I look down at my keyboard...

New year, new energy

I love the Christmas Season for many reasons (not the least of which is "the reason for the season"!) I'm unashamed and unapologetic of the fact that I celebrate my Lord's birthday. However, that is not the reason for this post and it's probably the most "religion" you'll hear from me in this public forum.

Instead, I just think the timing of the Christmas season and the New Year's Day holiday and even Thanksgiving is fortuitous. It's a long holiday season. Love that bit. Lots of time for reflection and time off from work and all that. It's a very "positive" season what with all the gratefulness and the giving of gifts and the time with family and the making of resolutions and so forth.

All of these factors serve to make me feel rested and renewed. In turn, I feel ready to take on new projects and tackle old ones from different angles and find new perspectives for old problems.

The world looks different, brighter, friendlier and more exciting - all at the same time. To that end, I saw the above list of New Year's "Resolutions" yesterday. It sums up all mine very nicely!

Longnecks and Apothic Red

A couple of weeks ago the ninja and I traveled to North Carolina on a day trip. We were on a recon mission.

After 28 years in the ski business, he just can't help himself. He had to go and check out Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain. He's really pretty amazing. Before we even drive in the parking lot, he's starting on a running "SWOT" analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.) And he doesn't stop. As we're strolling around the base area and the lodge, he's making comments like "I would have killed for a dining room like this at Mountain High" or "that (lift) loading ramp needs some serious work" or "they really ought to exploit this or that strategic advantage more". Things like that. I am usually in awe of him.

On the way back from North Carolina, we stopped in Marshall, NC at Longnecks. We had a ball there! It's billed as the oldest tavern in Marshall, NC. It's true. But it's only been there a few years. The town was dry up until a few years back :)

We walked out of Longnecks with a six-pack of the ninja's favorite beer from Breckenridge Brewery. And, we also walked out with a bottle of Apothic Red and an authentic mead! I'm sitting here enjoying the Apothic Red as I write this post. It's a very nice blend of Zin, Merlot and Syrah.

 

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