LindaJ

Thanks. Confirms what I already know. I live in a weird little town. If you ever come to Quakertown and eat in one of our fine dining establishments, you'll know what a Weber is.

This is way off topic but technically a Polish grandmother is a babci. Maybe a Yiddish grandmother is a bubbe. My mom would look at you real funny if you called her a bubbe. To put this at least semi-on-topic with food, Babci is a fairly decent brand of frozen pierogis, but I like Millie's better.

I was raised in Western Massachusetts and have lived in Bucks County for 2 years. The first time I went to a hoagie place, my husband had to translate the menu for me. There was 1) cheesesteak - as described so beautifully above 2) chicken cheesesteak - as above only with chicken; no steak is actually involved 3) a weber - a cheesesteak made with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo; no Whiz is involved 4) a chicken weber - a chicken cheesesteak with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo; no steak, no Whiz So is this weber a Quakertownian thing because I've not heard anyone describe that condiment option as a weber anywhere but here. I don't get the whole cult of cheesesteak. Even the McDonald's here was selling them for a while. I just want a good pepperoni grinder.

Sadly, I was the sole caregiver to my one year old. I had a diet coke with too much rum (blech) at a neighbor's house with baby monitor in hand. I was in bed by 10:30. I will simply live vicariously by reading others' wine notes.

Due to the fact that I am basically a suburban Mom, I approach recipe collection as scrapbooking. I glue my recipes from printouts, scans from books I own, handwritten stuff, etc. to acid free paper using acid free glue. Scan if necessary to preserve the originals. I put them in acid free page protectors and organize them with index tabs by category in a three ring binder. So far it's worked really well and beats all the computer programs I tried. When a friend asks for a recipe, I pop it into the printer and scan. Or I have the URL printed out on the page so I can e-mail it directly from the site (I know both Food Network and Martha let you do this). Good luck. It's a big task. PS: After posting and reviewing this message, I realized I might be a tad bit more anal than most in terms of organization. But I would invest in a three ring binder and those page protectors and just start shoving stuff into them so you don't lose all your years of collection.

I lift my glass to you guys. I come here everyday to read all of your adventures in wine. Happy holidays as we look forward to 2006. May our glasses be full and wine never corked!

8 out of 11. I'm such a homebody. I missed the Polish one though and that's just wrong. I'm half Polish. My whole family is made up of old Polish wives who have tales (just ask my husband who has to listen to them) and I've never heard of that. Fun though.

So... How'd it go? Do tell!

I still like the idea of a turkey baster especially if I could sell it for $50.

No one else replied so I will. The folks around here are pretty skeptical of doo-dads that mess with wine (ref: Classic Wine Threads post - look for Wine Clip, and a recent discussion of some sake drinking Japanese gent who liked to electrocute his wine). I think for $50, you could pick up a couple not-too-fancy, but servicable decanters that would accomplish the same result of oxygenating the wine. Or just open the bottle and let it breathe a while. Or buy a turkey baster cause that's what it sounds like.

Of course I have. I STILL buy wines cause the name or label intrigues me especially if it's a value type wine. This is the way I discover a lot of my cheap, drinkable favorites. There's a German or Alsatian that has a picture of a bunch of fish and shellfish on the label. No clue what the name is or winery, but I bought it cause the label had cute pictures of lobster on it. It's a nice drinkable wine and I would tell friends to go buy the "fish wine" from my local store. I'd really be interested to see the age demographics of women who are purchasing wine. I think the "pink is for girls" type marketing might work for the partying 20-something crowd, but I'm not sure the harried working Mom who controls the pocketbook on grocery purchases in the US is going to fall for that. I have a feeling these guys may be totally missing the point.

I went to the wine store last night and saw a display for "Cheeky Chick" wines. Just googled it and found it's an Australian brand with a red and white. The white blend is the unfortunately named Pecker's Blend The importer's web site has shelf talkers with Parker scores and everything. That provided what we like to call in my house a "wtf moment." This too will pass with all the other stupid marketing strategies that brought us the Bartles and Jaymes wine coolers, Zima, hard cider, ad nauseum. I don't know if anyone has mentioned it, but I think the genius stroke of marketing to women wine consumers has been putting Gina Gallo in the Gallo of Sonoma commericals. I even identify with a hard working lady in jeans who works in the family business - which is the image they project (reality about the company notwithstanding).

Yet another article documenting how some wine marketers insist that the way to sell wine to women is to totally dumb it down. That's really starting to make me crazy. Haven't we seen the low calorie, low alcohol type wine before marketed to carb counters? Same wine, different marketing strategy.

Realistically speaking, that's about right. I still live in the fantasy world that has me aging the wine for more than say... 8 weeks. But it sure goes fast.

I've made wine from the concentrated kits and frankly, it's quite good. I've paid a lot more for crappier wine from the store. I was hesitant when I had to actually add oak chips to the fermentation - seems a pretty ghetto way to get tannins in the wine, but there you are. At least I'm not doing that and selling my wine commercially The kits come out to about $3 per bottle after you pay for the equipment. It's not going to knock your socks off, but it's drinkable as everyday table wine. I've served it to guests and they like it. It's also given me a greater appreciation of what a winemaker goes through and basic chemistry involved in winemaking. I currently have a Petite Verdot that should be ready for bottling about Dec 22. I think it's cool that I can make wine for home consumption from varietals most people haven't heard of. At some point I'll probably trade up to grapes or frozen grape concentrate, but the kits are fine for me for now. I just don't have time to fuss with that at this point in my life. I would suggest giving it a shot. The initial investment is only about $200 which is pretty minimal for starting a new hobby. Just save all the bottles from wine you are drinking now for reuse.

Best quote from that article regarding their sales practices: Indeed they would be.

I'm a stay at home Mom. My coffee fix has turned into a tea fix. I've discovered something from Celestial Seasonings called Morning Thunder which is a mixture of black tea and mate. It's supposed to rev you up without giving you the jitters, and I'll be darned if it doesn't work as advertised. I <heart> my Morning Thunder.

Google pregnancy and smell sensitivity and you'll find a bunch of info including medical studies that show women have a heightened sense of smell especially during the first couple trimesters of pregnancy. The "theory" (and it's just that) is that women will avoid certain foods/drinks during the first trimester when fetal development is so sensitive to toxins. As for me, I couldn't walk into a liquor store until the first few months were over. The sheer thought of trying to taste/smell wine during those fun weeks of morning sickness still makes my stomach turn. I would have sucked as a wine taster. However, I admit a wee bit of champagne made the nausea go away once we got past week 14. I also had a massive craving for single malt scotch which I still can't explain since I never drink it. Overall, it would be terrific to read an article about women in the wine industry that wasn't so treacley. I think intelligence, hard work, talent, and business sense are probably better predictors of success than maternal instincts.

My experimental orangecello (using Katie's recipe) has been a huge hit. I'm planning on making up more, plus limecello and maybe grapefruitcello to see how that works out. I'm planning on buying 375ml bottles from my local home brew store and give them out as Christmas/hostess gifts. Maybe even in sets of three for people I really life with funky labels and bows! I feel vaguely like an alcoholic Martha Stewart.

Honestly, if you decide to sell those photos online, I'd buy all of them. They are just stunning and worth framing. Keep it coming

Certainly many of these bottles are irreplaceable, but if art museums can insure against theft and fire, wineries should be able to do the same. I'd really love to hear the results of that Q&A. This is where regional producers' associations could really help their membership by providing cost effective coverage. So sad that folks work so hard and put their heritage into the hands of some bastard who screws them out of spite or greed.

Next time I'm in Vegas, I'm hitting up Peppermill's Fireside Lounge. I love me a good girlie drink. That is just the best tip on a place in Vegas that I've ever heard. I am so in Bourdain's debt.

I noticed that too. Maybe the guy should just pony up the cash to buy better sake?

I'm all for scientific improvements. But some things just aren't meant to be tweaked with. I just don't see a problem with aging wine in a barrel and bottle rather than getting Frankinstein wine.

In the state I grew up in, you got your learner's permit at 15 1/2 and license at 16. I'm just saying society sets certain age guidelines and it's in my best interest to follow them. Here in the Philly area, a father was recently teaching his daughter to drive. She lost control and killed a young mother. Tragic accident. They are throwing the book at the father legally because the teen was just too darn young to have been behind the wheel. I know a young man in college who has never drunk illegally because his parents explained to him all the implications from a personal and legal standpoint. He HAS drunk legally WITH his parents while on vacation in areas where the drinking age was 18. I actually have no problem with that and would introduce my child to wine if we were in a country where that was an accepted tradition. But I agree with the jist of Brad's postings that there's lots of ways to teach moderation other than having the kids actually drink the stuff. I'm pretty optimistic about parenthood I guess. Then again, she's not quite tall enough to reach the top of the carboy where I'm fermenting some home made juice so my attitude might change in 15 years or so.