Read Drink & Be Merry

Everyone who drinks wine has one.  Many who don’t drink wine have one.  That bottle of wine that you have been saving for a special occasion.

It may have been bought on a trip someplace exotic or mundane, a gift for a special event or from someone no longer with us.  The bottle that represents a memory that you are now saving for a special occasion.  But as time goes on a couple of things start to happen.  After looking at the bottle sitting there for a couple of years the occasion needed to open it becomes so important that you pass over opening it in the hopes of finding just the right moment.  What will come first?  The ‘right moment’ or vinegar.  Wine is a living thing and has a youth, a prime, a maturity and, yes, a death.  What a waste it would be to save a memory and then try to relive it by opening a bottle you have kept too long, adding a sour memory to your more pleasant one.

With all that in mind, someone smarter than I, created something called Open That Bottle Night back in 2000.  The idea is to actively look through you wine cabinet and find that bottle that needs to be dusted off and enjoyed before it’s too late.  The date for 2009 is Saturday, February 28th.  So I encourage you and someone special to put aside an hour or so this weekend to enjoy that special bottle of wine before it is too late.

Oh, and just in case… have an extra bottle set aside and ready.  It would be a shame to have no other choice than vinegar.

Back in the day, at the credit card company that shall not be named, I was a slave to Outlook. This program told me where I needed to be, whom I needed to speak to, what deliverables I needed to deliver. The only bright side of this was Blackberry’s were only for the most senior people at that point so I had to actually find my way to my cube to be told what to do rather than have my minder with me 24/7. Life is a little slower now. With the exception of government forms most things can be done tomorrow afternoon, or not.

A typical day starts with Finn and rolling out of bed around 7:30. M has already left for the day and Finn has magically transported himself from his bed into ours. We used to start out watching CNBC but the business channel has lost my rapt interest as I have divested myself from the markets. MSNBC is our morning wake up choice. Although if something really big is happening I turn to Fox to see how if they are ignoring or distorting. (My fav was the morning Scooter Libbie was found guilty. Fox didn’t mention the verdict except in the bottom scroll and their lead was that Osama Bin Laden’s capture was imminent…… Reminded me of all the terror alerts Bush trotted out in 2004). After that and a bit of breakfast it’s off to the store.

We open at 10 but I usually arrive up to 45 minutes before. Finn spends the early morning trying to figure out where he left his toys the day before while I get the accounting programs up to date with the latest data. The early morning can be a bit busy. People dropping off books for trade, UPS & Fed Ex deliveries, and lots of phone calls. More than a few telemarketers but an increasing number of people looking to sell books. We can always tell when the economy is getting bad and people start getting desperate. Sadly, buying books doesn’t work with most used-bookstore business models. Trades, yes. Cash, no. Skyrocketing rents and capital cost overrule that. Only two places in town buy books, Black Swan & Chop Suey, and only under very specific circumstances. If all you’ve got is current pulp fiction they send you to me and we only do trade credits.

After the lunch rush things get a little quiet and Finn and I try to grab a bit of lunch. The new store has a little kitchenette so our choices are a bit better than in the old space. Murphy is always at work though and the moment I sit down someone comes in with a big box of books from ‘grandma’s’ attic that they don’t understand why I am not interested in. Perhaps it is the yellowed crumbling pages or it could be the baby roaches crawling out. Regardless, if you wouldn’t buy it why do you think my customers would?

Today we had a nice surprise. Sketchy came by with gifts. A very pretty cake box with cupcakes for Finn and I. Two dark, rich chocolate cupcakes filled with a bittersweet ganache and topped with a salted caramel icing (I probably got the description wrong but that’s what I tasted). We were told to allow them to come to room temperature before eating so, against Finn’s protestations, they were set aside for a while. When they were consumed later they were wonderful. Just feel sorry for my poor assistant who has to sweep up tomorrow…. (Actually, I cleaned up most of Finn’s mess but I am sure I missed a few crumbs about the store).

Late afternoon and into the evening can be a crapshoot. Fewer books come in but more browsers. The music changes from classical to contemporary as the customers get younger. Most of our CD and Tape Audios get sold in this time as people swing by before a big roadtrip. It’s also when M arrives from work to take Finn home. It’s also around the time that I sometimes indulge in a glass of wine. Chatty owner = more book recommendations = more sales. I thought that was not to be today as I had neglected to grab a bottle of wine from home and had only beer in stock at the store. Not being a big beer drinker this made me sad. It especially made me sad after a particularly strange exchange with a customer, or I guess a non-customer. To my delight someone heard my pain – or at least my ‘whine’. Ms In Vino Veritas arrived bearing gifts. A very nice bottle of Layer Cake Primitivo (Zinfandel) – Why, yes, I do have glasses in the back….

Cupcakes and wine in the same day! Being stuck in a bookstore all day, with your kid, reading, eating, drinking…. Days like this (even though sales were really bad…) are the ones you must remember. When the dark gloom takes you it’s nice to know you have friends and to recall that you have a life you enjoy.

The day is now winding down. I’ll close in an hour, go home and have dinner with the family. Tomorrow I’ll get up and repeat.

M and I celebrated our second anniversary last week. For our first we had gone to Lemaire for dinner and had decided that we would make that our tradition. The dilemma, faced with a shaky economy and soaring gas prices, was did we want make that kind of dining investment. The solution soon presented itself. A six-course wine tasting dinner for $100 per person, including tax and gratuity. What better way to enjoy fine dining – subsidized by Orchid Hill Vineyard.

We arrived a few minutes before the start and, after a quick chat with Genevelyn, staked out a couple of seats. The staff soon started pouring wine and brought out a cheese platter. With the exception of a very tasty boursin style cheese the rest were standard and boring (brie, swiss, smoked gouda). The wine paired with this course was Orchid Hill’s 2006 Muscat Canelli. The wine rep made a big point of telling people that this was not a normal sweet Muscat. He was right, it was more reminiscent of a Pinot Gris, a much more crisp wine. It was nice but not a real standout. Not something you order for dinner but it might work well on a porch on a warm afternoon.

After a brief speech about the vineyard we took our seats and the first course quickly arrived – Early Season Soft-Shell Crab with Herbed Orzo, Ramps, & English Peas. The crab was excellent, crispy exterior with sweet crab meat inside. The creaminess of the orzo complimented the bitterness of the ramps and the sweet peas. With the crab came a 2006 Viognier, a perfect match for the Chesapeake Bay inspired appetizer. If your burned out on cookie-cutter chardonnays grab a bottle of viognier from Orchid Hill or any other good vineyard for a nice change of pace.

The next course brought giggles to many throughout the crowd of fifty. Sometimes the chef is looking so close at the details he/she misses the big picture. The Garlic Roasted Georgia Quail on a Maytag Blue Cheese Tart with Apples, Spinach and Bacon looked a bit like someone reclined on a pillow and, quite frankly, a tad pornographic. The quail was excellent. Succulent and moist, people were putting down their silverware to get the last bits off the tiny legs. The tart was wonderful, rich and creamy with big chunks of crisp bacon on top. This course featured Orchid Hill’s 2004 Pinot Noir, a wine that many of us requested more of.

After a palate cleanser of Rhubarb Apple Sorbet came the Grilled New York Strip Loin. A thick slice of medium rare beef over a bed of morels, asparagus, fiddle head ferns and oven cured tomatoes with a painting of lobster cream across the plate. The beef was fantastic and while there was very little of the lobster cream the flavour was intense. The morels were good but had the textured of being re-hydrated but any issue with that was forgotten over the joy that was the fiddle head ferns. These little treats are only available a few weeks in the spring, taste a little nutty with a hint of bitter and are something you must try if you ever see them on a menu. The cooking process is a bit difficult so I don’t recommend trying it at home. The wine, the 2003 Estate Syrah, was chunky. I nearly requested knife for this wine. It was a good wine but was a bit too heavy for my taste, I asked for another glass of the Pinot.

To wrap up we received a House Strawberry Cocktail and a Strawberry Shortcake. This was my least favourite course of the evening. The cocktail was a bit odd, blended strawberries and vodka over ice. While I knew it was fresh it tasted more like a prefab mix. The shortcake was dry and tough and, since we had Lemaire’s expert service, there were no knives from earlier courses left to cut it with. The fresh strawberries with aged balsamic and marscapone were tasty so that was eaten and the cake left behind.

During the course of the evening the restaurant director came by each table and spoke about the future of the restaurant. They are soon closing for a redesign and general overhaul. I heard a lot of buzz words about ‘value’ and making the restaurant more ‘accessible’ to a wider audience. Sounds a little like a down grade to me but I could be wrong. We’ll have to wait and see what the relaunch brings.

The staff, chefs and waiters, did a great job. It is tough for a kitchen to put out a multi-course meal to a group that large without it tasting and feeling like a banquet. They managed to keep it fine dining and if they cut corners for speed you couldn’t tell. If you go to an event like this you should be very aware of your limitations. Bottomless glasses of wine can be fun for some but not everyone can handle it. Just ask the women who threw up all over The Jefferson’s expensive carpet at the end of the evening. People! Know Your Limits!

Our evening ended a bit badly too. Upon getting to M’s car in a light rain it made noises but declined to start. The result was calls to friends getting ready for bed and a long wait for a tow truck. Poor Cy-n-Ide were stuck with Finn till I manged to get to their house at nearly midnight. Looks like we’re going to owe them a few extra babysitting shift once Cy IV arrives…