Cork Poppers Cook with Wine!

I'm trying to catch up with things past in my life. This time it's Cork Poppers take on cooking with wine.

Our challenge was to bring wine to the party along with our dish to pass. The wine had to connect with the dish, which is most cases meant cooking with it.

It was a good challenge and the results didn't disappoint, starting with the cheeses from Dick, Cheryl and Pat and the bread from Baker Rick. Dick said the cheese had claret or port in it, so he brought a bottle of claret to share.

The Seltzner Napa Valley Claret 2010 was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes. It was tart, spicy and very dry. We all agreed it had a remarkable fragrance. I'd wear it as cologne -- at $17, it costs less than most cologne!

Barb's dish was a Caesar Salad and the wine she used in her dressing ended up being my favorite of the tasting -- and I'm not by nature a white-drinker.

It was a Clean Slate Riesling 2011, a German wine. Dry and light it was very refreshing. It smelled lovely and a little fruity but not sweet. Of particular interest is that it had a surprisingly low alcohol content -- 10.5 percent -- which may mean one could drink a little more! And at a $10 price (Barb got it on sale for $8) it is an excellent bargain. And mighty good in salad dressing!

Can you buy a wine by it's label? Sometimes! And sometimes it doesn't matter, because the label is so good.

In the case of La Capra Viognier 2009 from Fairview (South Africa) you can enjoy both. The label describes this white as "bold and expressive, like a vaudeville show." While I didn't like it as well as the Clean Slate, it was still very good at $9, a good buy.

Our menu would include Welsh Rarebit served over asparagus. Meredith and Roger used a 2011 Sauvignon Blanc called Marlborough Zeal Estate Wines.

We all agreed that the aroma had a lot of grapefruit in it -- I can't usually tell too specifically and this one was no contest. Or, "Grapefruit juice with a kick," someone said. At $9.79 it was well-priced.

For mine, to go with dessert of marinated strawberries over puffed pastry galettes with a Lemoncello cookie, I chose Chateau du Pin, a red from the Loire Valley of France.

It was $9.79 and a good buy, delicious with the berries. (I've written about that at this tasting; it was the first and only (to date) wine that we tasted and immediately ordered a case to split among us.

There are three other wines to mention from this tasting, two of which were sipped and savored and one of which was used in the cooking but neither sipped nor savored.

I wrote that the Tres Picos Borsao 2010 Garnacha was "really yum, very berry." A nice red, it had a fabulous aroma. The 2010 had aging potential through 2015 and was $14.

The Nisia Rueda Old Vines Verdejo 2011 was a Spanish white. It had the second-best label of the day and was very tasty.

The merchant who sold the wine recommended it go with goat cheese, which was one of the cheeses on our tasting platter. It worked very well with it. It has a one-year aging potential.

Clayton used a grocery store favorite on the sauce for the garlic mushroom brown sauce for the chicken rollatini.

It was Barefoot Chardonnay, which he chose because it wasn't oakey and worked well in the sauce. It was $5 (on sale 2 for $10, so it might be a whopping $6 or $7 regular price).

The wine is from California and was perfectly fine for the sauce and didn't even taste so bad on its own! In fact, for an inexpensive drinking and cooking wine, it was fine!

Our Cork Poppers are nothing if cheery, so after tasting some wine, we engaged in bean bag toss with nearly everyone taking a turn to the cheers of the spectators! Given the wine tasting was before, our aim in general was remarkably good!

Then it was on to the dinner, where we had to admit that everyone exceeded their challenge of cooking with wine!

 

What a wonderful way to welcome spring! Cheers! (I love this photo of Rick -- he looks like he's in France, not Michigan!)

So Much Can Change in a Year

May 15, 2012. We were having a lovely birthday dinner for my friend Jan at a restaurant where the food was delicious as the atmosphere was elegant. The converted home-turned-inn was once owned by one of the executives at Oldsmobile when cars were young and we weren't even born. The wood walls were rich and polished, the paintings suitable for a spot like "Downton Abbey" and the service elegant. We were dining with friends visiting from California. It was a happy occasion.

And yet, I wasn't. Any gaiety on my part was false. Forced. I knew the next day would be one of the hardest of my life.

We returned home and I said to Rick, "Unless Gypsy shows an improvement tomorrow, we have to call Dr. Anne. It's time to let him go."

That night, we went to bed. Gypsy could barely walk, his poor back legs giving out on him, his once overly-plump body a gaunt, fur-covered skeleton. We had to feed him baby food on my finger. As Dr. Anne said, "He was wasting away," the kidney disease taking its final toll.

When we woke in the morning, somehow -- through the grace of God, I think -- this wee, weak, beloved creature had somehow -- we have no idea how -- made his way into our bed. It was the ultimate gesture of love, Gypsy's gift.

We drew him between us, and when we woke to call Anne, we left him there, where he stayed until soon before she arrived.

When we sat in the yard, under the unseasonably warm May sun, holding our boy, Dr. Anne came, and helped him through the last hour or so. There was warm, a gentle breeze, and if we weren't saying goodbye, it would have been a perfect day.

Gypsy was more than fourteen. He had come to us as a dumped kitten and this wee ball of orange fur quickly won our hearts.

He lived for treats. For Fancy Feast. For cuddles and love, forcing his way onto my lap no matter what I was reading, knitting or writing. He ruled the screened in porch at the lake.

He was legendary for the catching of a mouse and presenting it to me at five in the morning in bed. Not our finest hour, I think, but a memorable one.

 

And he always let us know exactly what he thought.

 

I've rarely known such grief. For my parents, yes. Maybe once or twice otherwise. Maybe. I truly thought I would never heal from this deep, impossible sorrow.

I wasn't sure either of us would. He was Rick's cat as much as mine.

 

A year has passed. We grieved long and deeply.

We had vacations up north and out west. Kevin graduated and became engaged. Greg was finding more work as a working artist, including two gigs at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Rick had a summer bike crash, then MRSA. And you know I've had my share of trials.

But we did learn to smile and love again. And while Lizzie Cosette is not Gypsy, she is Lizzie Cosette. We love them both. 

But we'll never forget our sweet boy.

Picky, Picky

I've been playing with two online photo editing sites, picmonkey and pixlr express to see what I can do to my photos.

I haven't decided which I like best of the two -- which I guess is a good thing. It means they are both worth a try.

Here are some before and after looks.

 

Above and below -- a Venetian Mask. (Pixlr Express). I think that in this one, the effects add to the age and mystery of the mask.

 

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Above and below, a scene from Mackinac Island. This is using PicMonkey. The filters add to the vintage feel of the photo.

 

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Above and below, the window in my friend Jerry's Parisian courtyard. This was done with PicMonkey. (Actually, these are different photos of the same window; I couldn't put my hand on the original, but you get the idea as far as colors go.)

 

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Above and below, the view from Jerry's apartment. (This is from Pixlr)

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The windmills at Kinderdijk, Netherlands. (This was done with Pixlr Express)

 

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A gate in Giverny, France at the cemetery where Monet is buried. (This is PicMonkey)

Holland

So, give them a try. If you want some great tips on PicMonkey, scroll down Beth's blog and check out her photos -- she does a lot of her photos with this system.

I don't think every photo should be altered and to be honest, I don't always like it. I like the documentary quality of from-the-camera, maybe cropped or color corrected or converted to sepia or black and white. But sometimes, manipulation can really help you tell a story in a more dramatic way. It helps move the image from just a memory to something with a history. I think you can see that in a couple of these. Have fun!

Signs of Life and Change

So many of you have emailed me and asked for an update, I thought I would share. Then it will be onto other posts for awhile, some of which have been stacked and waiting! (These photos are from the two walks I have been fortunate to take over the past two days. Short ones, but important in so many ways.)

Harry the Heron at Groesbeck Ditch

First of all, thank you, thank you, for your comments, emails, notes and calls. I'm not sure if you can realize what that means -- I've said it's like a soft, fleecy blanket wrapped around you, keeping you close. It means more than I can say.

MSU meditation garden

 The shingles did indeed set in and with them the debilitating headache I mentioned in the last post. Clearly the most painful thing I've ever experienced and some of you have said much the same. I'm pleased to say that now the head pain is still constant and never-ending, but the "Psycho-stabbing" bits have stopped. My face and head are healing over and I will spare you the photos of that! 

Trout Lily

 Word of advice: Get the shingles shot.

On the other, more serious front is that I have a final name for my malady -- mycobacterium malmoense. I think my doc was floored. He was so sure it was MAC and in a way it is -- he described it as MAC's reclusive and rare cousin. In fact, he said he looked it up on Google, which both made me laugh and gave me pause. I hope it wasn't wikipedia, though that's the only definition I can sort of understand.

MSU Meditation Garden

 They will start a three-drug oral chemo protocol after my shingles are gone, hopefully later this month. It will go for two years.

The CT also showed a thyroid mass that needs an ultrasound, and that will come soon, but right now I'm tackling things one at a time.

MSU Meditation Garden

 After being off work for way too long, today was my first half-day back. Made it through, but it was tough. But I do feel I have good support on that front, which means a great deal. I may work at home part time if need be, but I'd like to be "in it" with everyone else.

Despite a purring cat and a handy bed for naps, being home is a little frustrating when you don't feel well. Like many, I have closets to switch, basement and garage to clean, garden to weed and plant, laundry to do, work from the office to plug away and all I managed was some of the office stuff. The rest, not done at all. Not a darned thing.

Harry

 Baker Rick is taking good care of me -- the pounds of yeast he bought are being put to good use. He has a lot on his plate right now and I hate to be one of the bad things, but he is right there for me and that means so much.

Another friend on FB suggested some relaxation/visualization tapes and someone else downloaded them and added them to my iPod. They're tremendously helpful.

Trout Lily

 My neighbor, who is both a nurse and homeopathic practitioner, brought over some essential oils and told me about some wonderful natural remedies. They won't cure things, necessarily, but they may help. I'm big on what will help.

Can anyone tell me what this is? While many plants at MSU Meditation Garden were marked, this wasn't.

 My massage therapist offered some assistance as well, and while I couldn't do it right then because of possibly sharing the shingles, it was more appreciated than she could know.

MSU Meditation Garden

 I've taken a couple of walks during the first genuinely perfect days of our overdue spring and as you can see from the photos here, it's bursting. Signs of life and change.

And finally -- though you may have noticed the hint in the photos above, Harry the Heron is back. And he has friends, a second heron and two white birds (the same) that we can't identify. No egret crest, but long legs.

Anyone able to tell me what this bird is? There were two of them at the Ditch, I have other photos, but they're a bit fuzzy. Like this one.

 Needless to say, I felt my heart explode with the rhythm of life and spring. Now I just need to be well enough to enjoy it.

Onward, one day at a time.With you support and knowing you are in my corner, I can't go wrong.