Rebel Rose

Here's one of my favorites: So gee, that would mean (finger in dimple) that these five foot vines have roots two miles deep! Wow. I wonder how the geologists figure that out.

Well ::cough:: this is one particular culinary program. God forbid it might have something to do with administration or a lack of inspiring educators. In Paso Robles, California we have a culinary academy for high school students which is the only program of its kind west of the Mississippi, and enrollment is up. Not only is enrollment up, but the wine community has adopted it as a fundraising beneficiary. It's "for the kids" in a whole new way. I wouldn't take the doomsday prediction from one college as the death knell for young interest in the culinary arts. To quote the article:

Does this mean we have fudtv in our future titled 'Outre Limits' and the 'Twilight Bone'?

Ah hah. As the article is quoting a South African, I believe, that's interesting. You all do know what they call a really big mushroom, right? A real fun-guy to know.

Thanks, Milagai and carswell. A quick search also turns up a previous thread on Reds with Indian Cuisine. I associate a lot of spice and heat with Indian cuisines, however, so that would be a challenging matchup for wine . . . And a clip from my cookbook, Fresh from Dover Canyon:

Kids are fascinated by the whole process, actually. As an adult, I am still squeamish about the killing moment. I'll never get over it easily, even though I was raised with goat, pig and cow butchery. The butcher from Trodahl's Market would come out to our farm and after dispatching a chosen docile cow, the men would use pulleys anchored on a mulberry tree by the barn to hoist it up, gut it and cut out the sides. Then they would stand around with a cold beer discussing the various cuts while my siblings and I poked at the stomachs. The butcher would take the meat (and, fortunately, most everything else) back to the store, cut it to order, wrap it, and call us when it was ready. I am an accomplished trout and salmon fisherperson, with a cover article on salmon fishing to my credit. I have gutted and cleaned my own fish from the age of nine, while cheerfully dismembering live crawdads and periwinkles for bait. I have killed, scalded, plucked and dressed my own ducks. And I'm fine. Really. But when it came time for my SO and I to actually prepare fresh lobster, well that was a whole new experience. We picked the live lobsters up at the market. Their claws were rubber-banded and they were tucked into a small cardboard box with breathing holes. They were scampering and scratching, trying to escape. As we walked through the market, Dan tossed the box to me and I tossed it back to him. "No way, am I carrying this!" When it came time to dispatch them, we both stood around making "eeww" faces. We didn't know where to stab them, or what to do. We'd heard they scream if you drop them in boiling water. So, not knowing what else to do, we dropped them in, slammed the lid closed and ran from the room. So I agree with Corinna and Beets and other posters here. While it may not be comfortable, the act is part of eating. Certainly no one wants to force a child into this experience, but generally kids are pretty curious and willing to learn about it.

A discussion in FM&N and a current thread on pairing wine with French onion soup got me thinking . . . Assuming that "vegetarian" entrees might include fish or eggs, but with an emphasis on truly veg dishes, what are some excellent pairings that you have tried? Are there wines you would fall back on when unsure? Some of my favorite veg entrees: * A classic veg dish with wine, of course, would be linguine with white truffles. * Spinach and mushroom lasagna, or eggplant lasagna, or eggplant Parmesan * We often make frittatas for dinner (heavy on the mushrooms) and we call them "crustless pizza." Or use the bread machine to produce a simple pizza crust which we roll and stuff with cheese, for an heirloom tomato, caramelized onion, and basil pizza. * Mushroom and asparagus risotto (I seem to be big on mushrooms . . .) Not to mention the salads, soups, side dishes like grilled portabellas with Gorgonzola, and desserts that are all veg and go well with wine. Since I love mushrooms (apparently) I tend to gravitate toward pinot noir or sangiovese for these dishes, although I also love an oily roussanne or Rhone white blend as well.

Thanks for your patience, Milagai. I agree that the term 'nitwits' is skating through the thin ice of impropriety, but I also agree that I got the sense the poster wasn't referring to vegetarians, but to people in general who take brainless, bacon-bashing stands on an issue because of a twenty-minute television show. I have customers who are vegetarian, and I am frequently asked for food and wine pairings for vegetarian dishes, so if you can help me out with that, please come visit the wine forum!

New wine term for me! While reading this article on wine marketing, I encountered this quote: According the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, a fundus is: I guess that's a pretty good description of me. But I don't want to be a fundus all by myself. Is there anyone willing to join me in the Fellowship of the Fundi?

Precisely the point of my earlier post, Adam. I'm afraid it annoys me "to the bone" when people complain on behalf of children, but clearly they are willing to abandon all of us poor chiluns' who were raised on farms to the perceived brutality and trauma of that life. Thanks, all. I suppose the argument can be made that the gore would be startling to a city kid who has been sheltered from these concepts and never secretly killed a frog or slowly dismembered an insect. But if that's the case, wouldn't said sheltered children have parents supervising their television habits? Edited to add: I still cry like a faucet when Bambi's mother gets killed.

No it wouldn't. And actually? Seriously? Michael Ruhlman, who is such a good friend of mine, and I had this looong conversation about how embarrassing it is when your spouses and grown children sign online and post things under your name just to embarrass you.

Dallas Observer: Sour Grapes Oh. . . My. . . God. Well now, for Texans that just maht be trew. Edited to fix link to the first page of the article. Be sure to read all 8 pages! I see a new sales pitch in my future . . . "Do you see this harmless looking egg? And this bottle of fine Dover Canyon old vine zinfandel? This zinfandel has less sulfur (which as you know, is a dangerous chemical) than this itty bitty egg. That's why it's so expensive!"

City folk, obviously. Country kids aren't content with watching. They want to help.

Last Wednesday I received an email addressed to "The Amazing Mary Baker," which of course is always true, but it nearly went to my spam box unread until I noticed that the writer, who did not sign the email and had a hotmail account, mentioned several personal things about me, including my participation in eGullet! With a little checking, I discovered that it was indeed from the wife of a chef who buys our wine, so it was all good. And I've enjoyed some interesting opportunities personally and professionally that arose from my participation on eGullet. But I hereby raise my hand in support of those who favor using screen names online. The majority of our members are really great participants, whether they use screen or real names. As a host, I don't find it all that difficult to spot shills and troublemakers, and our members are a pretty alert and curious bunch. It all comes down to evaluating posts on the basis of logic, and courtesy to other members. It is a shame when someone uses anonymity to post glowing reviews about their own restaurants, for instance, but if outed that person has done more damage to their business than good, so it's not a good idea, eh? Personally, as a member, I don't have a problem with someone having a personal relationship with a figure under discussion. It would be nice if that relationship was revealed, but I don't really care (speaking as a fellow member here). In my view, each post has to succeed or fail in persuading me to a particular point of view based on its own merit. Edited for grammar.

Great notes, Shaun. Makes me feel like I'm right there tasting along with you . . . looking forward to the pics, for sure!

A combination of professional and personal curiosity. I've been reading another wine forum where every third thread is a complaint about either TCA or winery shipping practices. So on the one hand, it's a professional double check that our practices are satisfactory--we only ship in the fall and spring, only Monday through Wednesday, separate out long distance shipments to be sent on Mondays, no shipping during heat spikes, and we use durable but recyclable shippers. We will also hold shipments and send them on specific dates, as long as the request is within a reasonable period. We also try to be aware of general weather conditions in the rest of the U.S. as well, but frankly, it is beyond me to track changing weather conditions everywhere, so I rely on my customers to let me know if they want their shipments held because of extreme weather conditions. But on the other hand, I'm also personally curious, because on this other forum, it's complain, complain, complain . . . and yet my experience with customers is that most of them want their wine right away! I frequently have to explain our shipping practices to customers (who are actually grateful for the extra care 99% of the time). So to hear a few people say, "Hey, I get my wine just fine, no problems," is reassuring indeed.

Some of our members order expensive wines for delivery via common carrier, and many of you belong to wine clubs. Have you ever received your wine too hot, too cold, corks pushed out, bottles broken? Has your wine been delivered on Monday during 90 degree weather, after sitting in a carrier warehouse all weekend? Who's at fault? The winery? The delivery company? Do you know? What can you do about it? What type of packaging do you prefer? Do you have a preference? Do you think wineries should offer free shipping? If so, do you feel that $30-$40 wines should be shipped for free, or wines in the $70-$90 per bottle range? Does anybody want to know why I'm asking?

As the holidays approach, the question arises again. Tom Wark suggests some strategies for dealing with family wine appreciation on his blog, Fermentation:

* How about another topic on miscellaneous practices that are permitted elsewhere, but not in the U.S.? Like chaptalization and cepage (cepage is permitted here if a wine is non-vintage), increased use of copper, etc . . . * Another catchall topic on "what happens in the barrel?" Addressing racking, topping, sur lies aging, oxidation and reduction, the angel's share, etc. * Would blending be a Wine 201 or Wine 101 topic? ::scratching head:: Why certain varietals are blended together, what characteristics each varietal is expected to contribute, how these wines age compared to 100% varietal wines, how blending trials are conducted, and whether the lots are vinified separately or together.

Michael, I am sorry to hear that your post was deleted without contact. As a forum host I always send a PM when deleting posts or trimming a thread, but the wine forum is relatively mild-mannered and I seldom have to deal with multiple deletions. Please be patient with our staff when the busier forum hosts (Cooking, GFT, FM&N, to name a few) are hit with maintenance-intensive topics. It takes time and many steps to trim a thread, and if a customer walks in, the phone rings, or the kids start pleading for food . . . As Jonathan pointed out earlier, please contact another staff member if you don't receive a PM within a few hours, and someone will look into it for you and thank you for your patience and understanding. On the topic of anonymity, I can't help but notice that at least two posters currently supporting the issue of using real names have only recently added their signature lines, and one of those posters is merrily posting on another food board without a real name signature. I suggest we all keep one-pound bags of salt handy.

Another article on Beaujolais, this time in The Japan Times, Apparently Asia is soaking up most of the Beaujolais overproduction, while maintaining it's sense of humor about BJ quality.

You never know on(less-y)alaska. Puyallups they might. Then you'd be skookumchuck.

You dog! How fun. And the link to this article would be?

And this week's article in MSNBC, byeGullet member Jon Bonne: Kicking Beaujolais up a notch Jon discusses the differences between BJ nouveau and cru . . . Includes tasting notes on his top 11 Beaujolais.

A new French lobby group is pushing to change the way wines from France's wine appellations are officially approved.