Smithy

It's quite possible that I didn't taste "the right" (for my tastes) zins when I was there. Years ago, my darling and I and 3 other couples liked to get together for wine tastings and dinners at each others' homes. One of our members, by far the wealthiest and best-traveled, asserted that no wine was worth purchasing, in his opinion, unless it cost at least $20 and was from France. His sole exception was Ridge. By the time our group got around to zinfandels, we'd begun doing blind tests: one host member would bag the bottles and the other host member would number them, so that we could all enjoy the mystery of ranking and tasting. Our zin testing set included Sutter Home at $4.99, Ridge at, oh, $28? and two zins priced in the mid-teens. We all ranked them according to our preferences. I forget which one was got the most votes for "best" but I think it was one of the mid-teens bottles, probably Seghesio's Old Vines Zin. I knew at once the Sutter Home; ro me it tasted like Buzz Saw in a Bottle. But THAT one was our wine snob's favorite! He was very gracious when the bottles were revealed and he saw he'd picked the cheapest of the bunch. 😆

Western maybe, but not Montana. My mother used to do that same salad, using iceberg lettuce. i don't know whether she brought that idea with her from Florida, where she'd grown up, or learned it in California, where my father grew up and where we lived.

I like Sunce's zins. There's something about the Dry Creek zins that I think really brings out the grape's spice, and Sunce does it well. My other favorite -- but I've dropped this membership -- is Seghesio. They do some fine zins as well. Porter Creek used to, but their head vintner left for greener vineyards years ago. I don't remember if that's why I dropped that membership, or it was simply a matter of expense. I'm missing one or two; if their names come to me I'll come back with that information. On the "disappointing" side was Ridge. Although they're in Healdsburg, their zins to me seemed flat - none of the spicy character I love -- and overpriced when I tried them. Times change, of course. It would be fun to go on another wine tour through the Sonoma area some day and see what I think now.

We have belonged to multiple wine clubs, but as the years have gone on my subscriptions have dropped to just 2 clubs. Sunce is one, and the only single-winery club to which I still belong. They're lovely people, good marketers, in their 2nd? 3rd? generation of winemakers. I hadn't heard from them in a while and have been rather worried that the fires and drought in their part of California had taken a toll; however, Janae called the other day to say that it's finally cool enough there but not too cold here to ship my allotment. This bottle is from that shipment. I'm back on a blended-wines kick, having been a hard-core Zinfandel fan for some years. This wine is rather light -- note the 13.1% ABV -- and that also suits my tastes these days. Barbera and Nebbiolo make a nice blend.

Really, the gift article should be readable. However, here's a taste of what else he had to say, from the article:

That's a great writeup, gfweb. I hadn't bothered to read the article until you brought it up here. For those who don't subscribe to WaPo, this gift article should be unlocked. The article even quotes Calvin Trillin! I normally avoid the fast food joints, and have no love for Arby's, but I may have to try these now.

You mean the lettuce is wilted with a hot dressing? What else do you put into it? I like wilted spinach salads with bacon, slices of boiled egg and other goodies. If you don't mean this sort of wilted lettuce, then how do you plan to do it?

I see they ship! Now I just have to make room in the pantry. 🙂

I noted over here that my darling's daughter recently gave me a bunch of twice-baked potatoes, frozen and vacuum sealed. Tonight's dinner was one potato half, with her special cream cheese / potato filling, and some of last night's roasted vegetables. One half strip of bacon over the top added a nice bit of salty goodness. This has to be one of the easiest and most filling microwave dinners I've made in a long time!

My darling's daughter and her family live in western Minnesota, where the potato crops are being harvested. They discovered a farm that allows people to come dig their own potatoes after the harvester has gone through. I think she said the potatoes are free. They came home with gunnysacks full of freshly-dug potatoes, and sent me home with a 5-gallon bucket worth. In addition, she had already made, frozen and vacuum-sealed many batches of twice-baked potatoes. She packaged them in pairs for easy parceling out. She sent me home with a box of these, too! An interesting side note: at least in that area, the spuds are harvested for processing as potato chips (and possibly some other potatoey treats). The harvester is set to take only certain sizes of potato and leave the rest behind. The family said there were rows and rows of potatoes to be dug freely, but they only made it partway down one row before they had their gunnysacks filled. It's a bonanza for the folks who can come get the potatoes, but at the same time seems mind-bogglingly wasteful. I hope some food shelf folks in that area have helped collect some of the bounty.

I have no idea what that looks like! 😄

Okay, time for a bit of culinary levity again. Some treasures from the last of the local farmers and their markets have been languishing in my baskets or refrigerator drawers. Tonight I decided that they had to be dealt with: Asian eggplants; a red (ripe) bell pepper; a bunch of broccoli; a no-longer green tomato and another not-quite-ripe yellow tomato. I sliced them, tossed them with olive oil and salt, and let the oven do its magic. When I'd decided that it was done enough, I served it over reheated Rancho Gordo Domingo Rojo beans and added lemon vinaigrette and tahini. It tasted a lot better than it looks, but it's a dinner that will keep on inspiring good dinners.

Welcome, Arin! I look forward to learning more about traditional food from Bengal, as well as your modernist spins on it.

I haven't tried blanching the broccoli, but I agree that a bit of olive oil and then roasting is good. I do that with cauliflower and slices of ripe bell pepper too. I'll try blanching the broccoli first next time around. Thanks for the pointer.

That's an interesting distinction. The Hellman's I wrote about above came from a squeeze bottle rather than a jar. I'll have to look at the ingredient lists on both the jar and the bottle. Maybe there's a difference?