docsconz

While I certainly didn't make it, I brought back some from Regaleali and Anna Tasca Lanza.It is good stuff, but what I brought back was very darkly colored.

Was in the neighborhood (relatively speaking) this past weekend and zipped by to pick up some cheese and bread. The Tarte de Vache and cheddar are my two personal favorites. Wonderful food, wonderful place and wonderful people. Unfortunately we got a late start to get there and it was a little further than I anticipated, so we didn't have a lot of time to linger. Next time I hope to be able to stay a little longer.

Just got this thread. If my on-call schedule permits I'm in with my wife and three kids. Possibly some home-made fresh apple-cider?

I recently ordered cherries and peaches from Frog Hollow. while they were good and better than average supermarket fruit, they weren't special and certainly not worth the cost. I also recently ordered bing and rainier cheries from Buckskin Orchard in Washington. They were exceptional.

Maybe we could start with some Italian wines that are readily available. One thing that would possibly effect a virtual tasting would be the different environmental conditions prevalent at each tasting location. Weather and climate related effects on wine is another whole topic of discussion.

Let's call the whole thing off

Are you saying that corks that are found soaked with wine in bottle have a greater tendency to corked? Ifso, is that actually the corkiness that comes from the specific chemical present in a "corked" bottle (I can't remember the name offhand) from a tainted cork, or is it that the wine has become oxidized and or contaminated over time due to a "leaky" cork?

I have some '97 I'm waiting on. Do you have any experience with that vintage of Pickberry?

I'm game.

My favorite drinking glasses are actually plastic . They are made by Guzzini. I bought them in Italy in 1998 and have been unable to find anymore since. Fortunately, I still have all the ones I originally bought (they don't break). They are of a perfect size and weight and do not add any flavors to beverages. I am otherwise not crazy about plastic cups.

Will he use local ingredients or have them shipped in?

Nice reportI I am looking forward to your continuing saga as I too have a strong interest in visiting this part of the world with an emphasis on gastrotourism. Lou's in Hanover brings back a lot of memories. I haven't been there in years, but in my day it was a popular place for breakfast and well prepared, but fairly basic meals for the college crowd. Canned salmon has never really done it for me, although I can't say I've tried too many different kinds or brands. In fact, I really haven't tried it very much at all Do you have a particular use for it over say fresh or smoked salmon? We don't really see much canned salmon in the US. Tuna seems to be much more prevalent here. To be honest, I don't really eat much of that either, although I like the Italian style canned in olive oil for a nice salad nicoise.

Duck eggs are great. I also buy turkey and goose eggs at my farmer's market when they are available. The goose eggs are my favorite. They are very rich. One goose egg is equivalent to about three chicken eggs. Oh yes, I also buy chicken eggs there .

Craig, Thanks for the suggestion. that's a great site. I got the idea about setting aside a case of wine for my kids in the early nineties when I read an article on a British tradition of setting aside a case of port from a child's birth year. My oldest son was born in 1989. Since that wasn't a good year for port, I opted for Bordeaux. He got a case of Lafite. My wife and I were married in 1986. I set aside a case of Lafite for us. My youngest son was born in 1999. He has a case of Haut-Brion waiting for him. Inretrospect I wish I would have loaded up on more wines from 1989 (Bordeaux, Piemonte, Rhone, Alsace) and 1991 (Rhone, Burgundy and Spain) than I did. I learned from my mistakes and have a good stash of various 99's. All I can say is they better share

I always try to have a wine from the birthyear of my children on the occasion of their birthdays. Yesterday was my son's 12th birthday and I uncorked a 1991 Vieux telegraphe CDP that was dark purple, jammy, big and bold with a nice acid balance and a long finish. While it is certainly not "old", it is still in fact fairly young and still vibrant. We (my wife and I ) drank it with my son's birthday dinner. He requested fettucine alfredo (the full fat version), chevrilade (Italian skinny, pork sausage wheel flavored with cheese and parsley) and fresh peas with butter and mint. The birthday cake (not served with the wine) was an oreo "dirt" cake per his request. My stock of 91's unfortunately is beginning to run low. I bought a case of wine for each of my kids from their birth years. He has a case of '91 Dominus waiting for him. Any suggestions for restocking quality '91's?

I have enjoyed Wylie Dufresne's food immensely at 71 Clinton. Because of that, WD50 is no. 1 on my list of restaurants in NYC to go to. I'm glad that there is mixed opinion on it, so that my expectations will not necessarily be so high that they cannot possibly be lived up to. I found that to be the case at Nobu, for example. My priorities are food that tastes great, looks great, professionally unobtrusive service, unique and novel combinations of foods and flavors, a nice room and value. The most fun experience is when a unique and novel combination of flavors and foods really tastes and looks great in a nice room with professionally unobtrusive service and someone else is paying I must not forget about a great wine pairing either.

Glens Falls, NY Farmer's Market yesterday: grass-fed, organic sirloin and porterhouse beefsteaks last-of-the-season strawberries and asparagus petit-pois snow peas sugar snap peas mesclun french lettuce type (I don't remember the name zucchini new, small yukon gold potatos spinach chocolate brownies

Every one I've tasted is spot on. My 4yo actually tasted a "vomit" and liked it. I didn't try it I particularly liked the spinach, which had slight mint overtones.

The store is in a separate building and is totally unobtrusive. The products are actually quite good. We brought back some tomato sauce and pasta, both of which were excellent.

Was there a provenance on the salmon? The color of salmon depends on what they eat. Salmon thateat a lot of shrimp, for example, tend to be pink. Copper River salmon tend to be a deep red. Then theere are the "white" salmon, that, I believe, tend to eat a lot of squid and don't taste much at all like salmon. I think that they are also from around Alaska, but I'm not sure.

We had the 2000 M-M Echezeaux tonight with some nice cheeses from Bobolink in NJ (CurdNerd), epoisses and bread from Rockhill Bakery in South Glens Falls, NY. The Cheddar was particularly excellent. The wine went very well with each of the cheeses. The Echezeaux was very feminine with a relatively light red color. The nose was not particularly overpowering, but had hints of rose petal and dried cherry. The wine had a soft mouthfeel without an overtly tannic component. It was nicely balanced with acid and minerals. At $30/bottle this was a great value. I am looking forward to the other 11 bottles.

If only it were a week later

Wow. What dreams are made of!

This juice is drinking quite well right now. It is complex with good balance. It is smoky but not over-oaked with an essence of roasted almonds. It was a fine match for rigatoni with asparagus and anchovies in EVOO. Yum!