October 7, 2008

Happy Birthday Mike / Pacific Northwest


Wines: (alphabetical)
Arbor Crest "Dionysus 16" 1995 (Corked)
Bergevin Lane Merlot 2005
Bergevin Lane "Qui Deux" Syrah 2005
Bricco Sangiovese 2006
Bricco Syrah 2005
Cadence Bel Canto (Cab Franc/Merlot)2006
Domaine Serene "Cotes Sud" Chardonnay 1999
Domaine Serene "Clos du Soleil" Chardonnay 2000
Elk Cove "La Boheme" Pinot Noir 2000
Hedges "Three Vineyards" 1995
Ken Wright Pinot Noir 1997
Northstar Merlot 1994
Willakenzie "Aliette" Pinot Noir 1999
Willakenzie "Pierre Leon" Pinot Noir 1999

All wines provided by Baseball Mike. Thanks Mike. Photo provided by Chef Tahya. Thanks.

Menu:
Salmon Cakes with Remoulade sauce

Grilled Flat Iron steaks with game sauce
Sauteed Green beans with parma butter
Roasted medley of new potato, sweet potato, turnip, parsnip and butternut squash
Wild Mushroom Risotto

Carmelized Washington Apples on Puff Pastry topped with Creme anglaise

Wow, what a night. Even though we had the second presidential debate there wasn't much talk about politics. The evening did get a late start since we waited for the debate to end before opening the doors. Hey Baseball Mike, thanks for bringing 2 foodies to our table. Kim, a local wine snob (she said it, not me) was here as was her friend Laci (Hoover) from Washington state. We all hung out while Mike opened the many bottles of wine for us to sip and drip. Chef Tahya cooked away and did a great job. Everything was F A N T A S T I C. (and cooked right too) Well, lets just say the timing may not have been perfect, but the comraderie was. Laci really gave Movie-man Sandy (Hoover Jr.) a run for his stomach. They both powered down two plates of food, but in the end, Sandy threw in the white towel. Laci was victorious. Whoop, Whoop. Sorry Hoover Jr., ya got showed up by a 'goil'. Nice job Laci. Thanks for making Chef Tahya feel great seeing someone truely enjoying his toils.

Mike, how many corks did you break? I guess that just goes to show you that even a $100 cork screw can't pull corks any better than a $3 waiters special. Or maybe it was user error? Hmmm. Probably just dried corks since a lot of these wines were old or should I say pleasantly mature. Either way, the cork particles and dust were kept to a minimum. Thanks Mike.

Water! Water! Where was my water? There were plenty of glasses in the cupboard. Oh well, got my own thank you.

Denturegrip. Upset stomach. Lazy bowels. What's up with these S L O W eaters? I thought the whole idea with serving food hot was to eat it at least while it's warm. Maybe there's some new culinary concept I'm missing here. I think I get it. It starts out as a sauce, then congeils to a gluey goooo,then bonds the fork to the plate and you can't eat anymore. This must be a new diet idea. Hopefully it makes someone rich. Money, money, money.

Northstar Merlot. I guess this was suppossed to be the "STAR" of the evening. Don't you hate it when you get all dressed up for the party only to find someone else wearing the same dress? Well it was o.k.. Mind you, I've probably only had a couple THOUSAND Merlots in my life but I would never profess to be anything more than a stay-at-home dad, ex chef who loves to cook, drink wine and cocktails and hang out with my friends. I've had lots and lots of opportunities to drink really good wine and really bad wine. And in the end, all anyone can offer is just an opinion anyway. Even Robert Parker can only offer his opinion. So here's mine. The 1994 Northstar Merlot was ...

O.K.

But, the story is what makes it cool. Baseball Mike said it was the first vintage. If you want to read more about Northstar, you can click here Northstar Merlot. Unfortunately, they don't list the make-up of the first vintage, but the 1995 vintage was 77% Merlot and 23% Cabernet. I thought the percentages for the 1994 were:
80% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Cabernet Franc. But more than likely there wasn't any Cab. Franc used. However, the current 2004 vintage uses Petite Verdot, which I believe Baseball Mike said they don't have any up there. Hmmmm. Should have asked Movie-man Sandy. He's a certified Sommelier. Just messing around kids. It's all in fun, don't take yourself too seriously. But I digress...

So Laci had on the coolest sandals I've ever seen. They had a bottle opener on the bottom. Check it out. A bottle opener on the bottom of her sandals. They are REEF sandals. Reef Fashion Coolest thing since sliced bread. Really.

It was a great night. Even though Movie-man Sandy only had cigars as his "skin" in the game, it all came together just fine. Sure the venue changed and I still did all the dishes (I'm pretty sure there was more than one drying towel) but alas, so it goes. Maybe next time everyone will pitch in and clean up so we can all sit outside and smoke cigars and drink port.

It was great fun and always nice to meet new, fun people. Thanks Laci and Kim for spending one of your evenings with us, the crazy foodies at Tuesday @ Chef T's.