Bombdog

It really doesn't matter where you find them....just make sure you seek out Rancho's beans... My first purchase were pintos so fresh they didn't need soaking. A little onion, a little garlic and they were pronounced "the best beans I've ever had" by my SO's 11 year old daughter. "Ditto" was my answer. I'm working my way through the entire line, pintos, cannelini, and black so far. Two farmer's markets in Napa each week = 2 pots of beans in our house!

Ahhhh, the Backbar Marguerita.... My son has a friend who is a bartender there. I am rarely in any condition to drive home after we visit him.

Well, you actually can purchase just about any of the wine grapes....but they normally come by the ton. If you live near some vineyards you could possibly talk with the property owner about tasting seconds after harvest. Alot of vineyard owners used to leave posts on the bulletin board at school looking for people to come and pick the seconds (grapes remaining after harvest). Most home winemakers in the valley have some sort of connection that allow them to do just that. I personally made 20-40 cases of Pinot for several years from a friends vineyard just by harvesting the left overs.

A very knowledgeable foodie friend of mine ate at Tra Vigne 2 weeks ago and pronounced his meal very disappointing. I've only been there once since Chiarello left and wasn't very impressed either. Perhaps some other locals can chime in, but for now it's not on our summer list like it was in the past (the outside patio can be wonderful on a summer evening)

Terra, hands down, no doubt

I believe 1999, from a restaurant supply in Sacramento. It was one year old at the time, from a failed venture. I believe you are correct as far as residential models are concerned; no pilot lights.

I only know this from family lore. My mother used to love to tell the story of returning to the back yard to find me with 2 LARGE grasshopper legs protruding from my mouth, when I was a young'un. I'd love to tell you how much I enjoyed them, but that would start to sound like an episode from Cook's Tour.

Well, you have to violate a few building codes, but I have a commercial Wolf 6 burner with 3 pilots for the burners and one big one for the oven. I have never checked the temperature, but use it to dry herbs from the garden pretty much all summer long.

Maggie, hurry out here to Napa. Saturday is bag day; all you can carry out in a grocery bag for a buck!

Added 3 more today from the Friends of the Library sale. All pre 1940 editions.

According to AJ Winkler, in General Viticulture, cross pollination is possible. However, when it is desired it must be done by hand. Tests done at UC Davis on vineyard rows planted across the prevailing wind there was no cross pollination from row to row as close as 12 feet to each other. He cites some examples in Spain where the detached clusters are brushed over the other clusters by hand to achieve the cross pollination. With that in mind, there isn't much chance of cross pollination from a neighboring vineyard, or even from different blocks within the same vineyard. I understand your example of the chili peppers perfectly. A friend of mine grows heirloom pumpkins. He told me that he has to replant with new seeds every year instead of harvesting the seeds from his own for the same reasons.

Actually, the clusters do flower before becoming berries. I don't think Carrie posted a picture that actually showed that step yet. I don't know if I have this right yet, as it's my first attempt to post a picture, but here is a cluster from a table grape vine in my back yard. As you can see, there are a few flower remnants and the beginning of the berries. I think you can actually see a cap or two also, where the remnant of the flower is still sticking to the top of the new berry. As far as pollination goes, there seems to be several theories with some support to wind and insect polination in vinifera. However, studies at UC Davis have led to a dominant belief that wine grapes are self pollinating.

Toliver, the fruit is indeed a tasty target for birds, but not until verasion occurs (the point where the berries begin to ripen). At that point vineyard managers will do anyone of several different types of things. The most prevelant, and most say effective, is the use of netting. Others will use strips of bright mylar and still others might opt for percussion devices (shotgun sounds). When I was in school our professor said that the mylar was simply a way of helping the birds find the berries easier. Research at UC Davis has shown that although effective for a short time, birds soon become accustomed to the percusion devices and simply ignore them. However, since most birds will not venture past a couple hundred yards from the trees they use for cover, only those vineyard rows within that distance are normally netted. Squirrels are not normally considered a problem in the vineyard. Bees can be a problem and there is really nothing done to aleviate them. For the most part, bees don't become a real issue and don't really disturb the crop until near harvest when the brix is very high.

Downtown Martinez, near the Superior Court building, Legal Grounds, coffee house.

I can tell you, from a beat officers point of view, that this is right up there with barking dogs and loud music calls. It would be assigned as a priority 3 (1 being immediate) and depending on the time of day it could take a hour or so to even see an officer. Most responding officers would not treat it as a trespass unless the subject returned and refused to leave. As far as the attitude of the responding officers, once again depending on the time of day and calls pending, it would be something along the lines of "Why are you bothering me with this?"

Just got home from the first trip to the Napa Friends of the Library sale. I scored pretty big (in my book, pun intended) Amy Vanderbilts's Complete Cookbook, first edition, published 1961 James Beard's Menus for Entertaining, first edition, 1965 EXCELLENT condition Craig Claiborne's Cooking with Herbs and Spices, 2nd edition Julia's The French Chef, 1968 edition, also in EXCELLENT conditon A leather bound 1950 edition of The Gourmet Cookbook, 781 pages! and the real find, located in the History section, not the cooking section: Tante Marie's French Kitchen, which is the first english translation of La Veritable Cuisine de Famille par Tante Marie, 1949. I meant to say, first trip THIS sale for the Friends of the Library. There are normally 3 or 4 of these sales a year, about a week in duration.

Trust me on this one....the is NOTHING in Antioch. I lived and worked there for 16 years and know it well. However, if you are in that area of Eastern Contra Costa and HAVE to eat, the New Mecca in downtown Pittsburg has some decent and inexpensive mexican food.

The Friends of the Napa Library Sale started this weekend. I WILL have more to post by the end of the week.

Aliwaks my dear, as I near 50 I finally get the woman/shoe thing. Yes, you may have all the shoes you wish AND the first bite of the dip cone. BUT, you must share all of the other 'best bites'

OH my GOD. Will you marry me?

Oh, you can COUNT on it!

People have no right to be stupid. It ain't in the Constitution. I looked it up.

You're very welcome. I hope everyone is enjoying it as much as I am posting it.

At this stage in the growing process, heat really isn't a direct factor in the sweetness of the fruit. Indirectly, of course, it is for alot of the reasons Carrie and I said above; too much for an extended time can cause some problems and certainly too little or complete lack of has obvious consequences. Where heat really becomes a factor is in the last stages before harvest. Typically, in late September and early October, the days are growing shorter and are a bit cooler. This is the point where winemakers are in the vineyard doing berry sampling daily. It's not unusual for us to have a small heat wave in October; a week or so of really warm weather. When that happens you will frequently hear winemakers wax poetically about the effects on the fruit. That heat period will give the grapes that extra push, ripening a bit more, raising the sugar level a bit and giving the fruit some more complexity in flavor. We'll get into that part more later in the season, after verasion. Just to add a bit to the nitrogen explanation. In a normal vineyard, one which doesn't require soil additions, nitrogen is really the only fertilizer used. Nitrogen helps the vine produce green growth, which is really desired at this point. Normally, there are a couple of times during the year when nitrogen applications are called for, primarily after harvest, and early season, after bud break. Most vineyards are established today with a drip irrigation system. This allows a liquid nitrogen to be injected into the irrigation. If a vineyard had received too much of that nitrogen, post bud break, coupled with an extended heat wave, and the varietal being grown is susceptible to shatter, the results can be what GunBun experienced last year. As far as our weather. We were supposed to have only 2 or 3 days of the high 90's that we had. Forecasts for the south part of the county, where I live, were for 81 today as a high. I just checked the recording thermostat (at 4 pm) and see that it was 91 here today. We were SUPPOSED to have a bit of a cooling trend for the next few days followed by some more days in the mid 90's. Frankly, I'm not too confident lately with our weather guessers. It's not going to have any devasting effects, at this point. However, what everyone wants now is to have consisently warm, comfortable days. But, don't we all?

Well, I suppose you could phone in a bomb threat....Napa PD frequently calls us to search for them when that happens... But then again, NAH...probably not a good idea. Although, the idea of having the entire place to myself for about an hour to pore over the wonderful offerings is enticing!