6 Kids, 3 cats, 1 dog, Mom, and Dad

OTBN Follow up or I got an email reply from them!

I sent Dottie and John an email praising their book and telling how I finished it in time to participate in the latest OTBN. I got an email reply back from them today personal enough to know it wasn't just a form letter.

I read in their book that they used to answer all hand written mail because they figured it was the least they could do since people took the time to write. I'm sure email has made that task much easier!

OTBN or Open That Bottle Night!

Dottie Gaiter and John Brecher (married but she kept her name) write the wine column for the Wall Street Journal. They also wrote the book Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes from a Marriage.

In it they mentioned how people always wrote in seeking their advice on when to open that special bottle of wine they had been saving for just the right occasion. So they started, four years ago, Open That Bottle Night. People from all over wrote in about that special bottle they opened, what they had to eat, and the memories that were made by opening that special bottle.

We opened a bottle of Champagne (read about it when you click the link below) over my Mom's house. I didn't even know how much she likes Champagne until it came up in a conversation last week. I'm glad we opened it because even though it was easy to drink, it was not very interesting or notable in terms of taste.

So that was our first OTBN. I wonder what we'll choose for next year.

Winery: G.H. Mumm
Wine: Extra Dry Champagne Carte Classique NV
Score: 85
Price: $28
Country: France
Region: Champagne
Issue: Oct 31, 2001
Trim and focused yet neutral, exhibiting only modest apple, berry and dough flavors. Drink now. (BS)

Wines of the Century or I can't wait until this Spring!

Good Friends renewed my subscription for Wine Spectator and I'm glad they did. It will be an amazing year for the release of 2000 Bordeauxs and 2001 Rieslings. Of course the top wines of these varieties don't come cheap. The main release is this spring and I can hardly wait. I'll be thrilled to even see them even if they are out of my budget.

Three Bordeauxs received a Wine Spectator score of 100: Chateau Lafite Rothschild ($400), Chateau Latour ($475), and Chateau Leoville Las Cases ($170). The 2000 Chateaux Petrus, long considered the gem of the Bordeaux region, scored a 98 and can be yours for a mere $1,800! What is even more amazing to me is that if you are willing to pay this much, they don't recommend you open the wine until after 2012.

Don't despair though because there are values to be found. The Clos du Marquis scored 94 yet has a retail of $30 or the Chateaux Labegorce-Zede which scored a 92 and costs $20 (both still not drinkable until 2009). Even the Bordeaux I spoke about in a previous post tasted great yet only cost $9.99 and I was able to drink it right away.

The Rieslings had a great year and the top one was a 100 pointer that costs $259. The description of this Riesling is enough to interest me in trying some of the lesser cost bottles. I think there should be a prize just for saying the name:

Gunderloch Riesling Trockenbeerenauslese Rheinhessen Nackenheim Rothenberg is "Spellbinding. Forest underbrush after the rain comes to mind while smelling this ethereal Riesling. Then a kaleidoscope of mint, caramel, pineapple, lemon candy and stone wash over the palete, melting away into an endless finish of mineral and tropical fruit. Each sip offers a different nuance. Best from 2005 through 2030." What's the kicker on this one aside from the price? Only 20 cases made!!!!!

The plus with the Rieslings is that you can get many of them for substantially less then you'd pay for a comparable Bordeaux just because Rieslings have fallen out of popularity over the years.

Before the advent of White Zinfandel, Riesling was the crossover wine for people who drank cocktails but wanted to drink wine. White Zin was much cheaper and that was the deciding factor among those who's palete wasn't appreciative of the nuances to be found in a spectacular Riesling. Vintages of this quality along with reasonable prices may indicate a rise in Riesling's star among wine drinkers.

Wine of the Day or I wonder if I can get in trouble for copying this.

DR. LOOSEN Riesling Kabinett Mosel-Saar-Ruwer Bernkasteler Lay 2001 (92 points, $17) Germany's '01 Rieslings offer terrific quality and value, as this Mosel Kabinett shows. Brilliant and snappy, here's a mouthful of tangy mandarin orange, lime and mineral against a transparent backdrop, all supported by vibrant acidity. With wonderful harmony and "lightness of being," this resonates on the palate. Great finish too. Drink now through 2012.

Happy Birthday or Co-workers took me out to lunch today.

Co-worker and Other Co-worker took me to lunch today along with Son and Beautiful Wife. The Co-Workers gave me their bday presents which were a lot of fun to receive. One gave me a beautiful wooden box that contained a bottle of 2000 Domaine Fayolle Hermitage Les Dionnieres. It is a wine from the Rhone Valley but I wasn't able to find any information about it online.

The other gave me a zipper carry case that holds a bottle of wine, she included a bottle of PepperWood Grove 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon, and also included a bottle stopper, two plastic goblets, two napkins, and a corkscrew. The Pepperword Grove is a great wine that falls into the less than $10 realm.

New Wine or Actually, I spent the night in the hospital.

I was sitting at my desk in Liberty Mutual on Friday and suddenly felt a tightening in my chest. It kept getting worse and I felt myself get flush and then break out in a sweat. I just sat there a couple of minutes and then it started to pass.

I walked all the way out to the parking lot and felt slightly better as I got to my car. I started to drive but still felt a tightness in my chest. As I drove down Borthwhick Avenue I passed Portsmouth Hosptial and noticed the "Chest Pain Center" sign out front.

I went into the ER and they took me in right away. My blood pressure was 225/140 or something like that which isn't good. They started and IV and took blood and gave me lots of shots including two blood thinners in my stomach.

The good news is that I didn't have a heart attack and there is nothing wrong with my heart except for a slight thickening caused by hypertension. I've got a prescription to take now, one pill once a day.

I'm glad to finally be home.

Dinner or Which bottle of wine should we open tonight?

We had the 1999 Sterling Merlot Napa Valley with our dinner tonight. We had a stir fried chicken teriyaki and vegetables and it went well with it. Honestly, I was picking the bottle more because I wasn't expecting much and just wanted to get it out of the rack to make room for something else. Boy, was I wrong.

I decanted this wine and it was a regular family event as everyone watched the wine swirl and cascade to the bottom of the decanter. The first thing that was noticeable was the bouquet of vanilla and black cherry that wafted from the mouth of the container. All Daughters agreed that it smelled great even though they don't like the smell of wine.

It was a medium bodied wine with a brilliant purple hue as its color. I noticed more tannins then you'd expect in a merlot because of the other grapes used in this blend. The tannins didn't overpower and gave this wine some real body and a nice finish.

This wine was a Christmas gift from Youngest Little Sister and the first merlot that I've had and enjoyed so much. I probably never would have spent $22.00 on a merlot before this but now I definitely would buy this wine again.

New Snow or There's no way in hell that we got anything less than 2 feet!

And we've got Landlord who decided that this year HE would do the plowing. Problem is that this guy does is so he can save money not because he needs the money. The result is that he does an incredibly bad job when he bothers to show at all.

Landlord is under the impression that it would be better if we all moved our cars and parked them sideways over by the steps so that he could plow straight into the driveway without worrying about cars at the end. Sounds great in theory but what ended up happening is that he came straight down the driveway and cleared out that area and left 10-15 feet of unplowed driveway in front of our cars of 2 feet deep snow.

We used to have a tree that overhung the driveway and every other plow driver found a way to get around that, turn sideways, and clear the driveway leaving a small snowbank in front of the rows of cars. I wish the guy had shown up again after I finally got our two cars out. Right now our Neighbor is out there trying to clear out in front of their cars too. Son is out there earning some money by helping plus getting to check out Neighbor's Daughter who recently moved back home.

Home Sweet Home or Good Friend is now hosting my blog!

I like this new location better already! I especially like the cool bells and whistles I've admired on his blog like comments. I'd really like to get a handle on HTML though so I can make this site look a bit better.

Sunday Night or Time to open another bottle of wine!

Well, we were supposed to join Good Friends for dinner last night but the responsibilities of parenthood interfered. Son needed a ride home from work and we couldn't find a relative that could stand in for us. Son won't get his license soon enough I'm thinking.

Anyway, I opened a bottle of 2000 Chateau Haut-La Pereyre and was absolutely amazed. This wine cost $9.99 and was purchased at a place called Vintages in West Concord, MA. The tasting notes in the link are right on the money though they don't mention the peppery bouquet and the incredible fruit on the pallette with a final zing of pepper in the finish.

I also tasted this wine using the new Riedel Crystal Bordeaux wine glass that Beautiful Wife purchased for me at the Wine Expo. We compared the taste and impression using the Riedel and another nice crystal wine glass. The difference was amazing. The wine didn't so much as taste different but was bigger in the Riedel. The bouquet was bigger too which really enhanced the wine tasting experience.

Another cool thing was that this was the first wine I've decanted. We used the decanter given to us by our Good Friends shortly after their wedding. They purchased their wine glasses in sets of four and each four included a decanter. The decanter looks similar to this and the picture also contains the wine glass mentioned above. When you pour in the wine it hits the sides of the narrow neck and then streams down the side to cascade into the wide bottom. I wondered what it would be like to pour using this since I tend to drip even pouring from the bottle. The wine poured out in a steady, thin stream and I didn't have dripping issues at all. It really gave us a chance to admire the color, smell the bouquet and it greatly added to the whole experience.

What I'm reading now or I'm reading this book now.

University Wine Course is the latest book that's found its way next to my chair.

Happy Birthday or Well it is Valentine's Day and Having Son and Son's Girlfriend along is just what I wanted.

We all went to Dante's on Route 125 in Barrington for dinner. We went there mostly because any place we wanted to go had reservation lists filled out long ago and this place doesn't take reservations. On the whole, it is a pretty good value and we enjoy the food. I did send back my glass of sparkling wine because I could clearly see lip/lipstick prints on the glass and it was flat. Yep, sparkling wine without a bubble in sight. They brought us two new glasses from a freshly opened bottle so that was good.

Good Friend has mentioned that he doesn't like Champagne and I wonder if it is because all he's had is stuff that's been poured for an hour, is long ago flat, and is warm to boot.

I also had a white wine called Principessa Gavi Gavia. It went very well with the fettucine alfredo with chicken that I had for dinner. One thing I've found with white wine is that I most enjoy it when having it with food. I can drink red just for the pleasure but white just doesn't have what I like in order to stand on its own.

Birthday Weekend, or I still have to run around and pick up or drop off kids.

I bought a half bottle of this wine for $14.99 at the NH Liquor Store in Hampton. Half bottles can be a cool way to try a new wine without paying the full bottle price. This is an instance where a full bottle would have been great!

Taittinger
Wine: NV Brut Champagne La Française
Score: 87
Price: $37
Country: France
Region: Champagne
Medium-bodied, with a rich texture balanced by a crisp acidity, with apple, honey and citrus flavors. Drink now.

Fine Old Port or What is she trying to say to me?

Beautiful Wife got me Rosemount Old Benson Port for my birthday. This is a Wine Spectator 97 point port and I can't wait to try it out.

Forty or Now fifty doesn't seem that old any more.

Beautiful Wife is thrilled that I'm 40 now because she's been 41 since October while I was holding fast at 39. The thing is, nobody believes she's in her early forties because she's so dang hot looking!

Training Break or The instructor thought this was a cool movie and she was right!

Of course the movie on the Warriors of the Net webpage is for network geeks first and foremost. It does deal with networking on a level that anyone can understand but the entertaining part is being a geek who is in the know.

Training or Ok, I only thought I was going to become a babbling idiot before, now I know!

If you have spare time try out this Sample Class from Wine Spectator and let me know how it goes. Maybe I'll try to do it tonight after I get home from karate.

Training Continues or Not much time to put things into this Blog.

I read an interesting article by the couple that does a weekly wine column for the Wall Street Journal. This article's premise is what wines they would choose if they could choose 12 wines to make their own case of wine. This isn't a list of what they consider best but what they considered memorable.

I think it is interesting to note that the article had an entry for Vigil, one of the wineries that will be at a wine tasting dinner we'll attend in March.

Vigil Vineyard "Valiente" Meritage 1997 from California ($28.99). American winemakers are trying to persuade varietal-centric drinkers to give fine blends a chance so we tried some. This exciting wine rated a rare Delicious! "Even the smell is mind-blowing," we wrote. "Massive, ripe and chewy, with a remarkable combination of big fruit and tight structure." Vigil has since been sold but the original owner of the winery in Calistoga says he still has wine to bottle and sell for at least another year.

In Training or Oh My God! Not the OSI Model again!

I'm in training with a roomful of predominately voice people having to learn some data technology. We've spent half a day on the OSI Model and we still have layers 1 and 2 to go. Tomorrow? Tomorrow we'll be covering IP subnetting for most of the day.

Another War Protest or No Bush...he he...they said no bush.

Why stop at protesting a possible war with Iraq? How about a protest against those parents who let their boys have rat tails or against another interview with Michael Jackson trying to convince us that it is no big deal to have young kids sleep in his bedroom with him. Oh! I know! Let's have a nude women protest against pandering friends!

War Protest or This is WAY better than picketing down at Market Square.

This way of protesting has seen a rise in popularity in recent years. Personally, I don't even have to agree with the cause to think that this is a great idea. Over 750 women, aged 20-60, got naked on a hillside forming the shape of a heart and the words "no war" in the center to convince their prime minister to not follow our President's lead in a war with Iraq. Maybe they've hit on the best way to avert a war. Get enough naked women protesting and who will even remember what the issues were in the first place.

Shuttle Looting or Since the Beanie Baby market is in a slump.

I couldn't believe it when I read the story about Shuttle Looting on the Yahoo website. Looters were given a three day amnesty, after a high profile arrest of two people, in order to turn stuff in to authorities. I think it is sad that investigators will start visiting flea markets in order to find some of this stuff. I'm not sure what is worse, taking the stuff and trying to sell it or being the idiot who buys it.

Oops or What happens when someone Googles your Blog and you didn't say something nice.

Good Friend over at You Who had a lengthy entry about the Wine Expo we attended in Boston. In it he mentioned the winemaker for Four Vines and the experience he and his wife had with him at the Expo. Apparently, said winemaker also managed to offend a friend of theirs but you can't believe everything you read in these Blogs. I tried the wines and thought they were absolutely incredible. I heard of a wine dinner that is coming up in March and decided that I just had to attend, especially after having the wines and enjoying the engaging and honest expertise of the winemaker who will be there.

Good Friend managed to "offend" some stuffy designer who decided to voice her displeasure in a comment to his Blog entry about one of her reviews. She felt compelled to write him in order to set him straight but decided that spelling and punctation were of secondary concern as long as she made sure he knew that his opinion has no value since he hasn't been to design school.

Install Technician or I can earn $5 if I replace my own cable modem!

I just received an interesting email from AT&T Broadband. They are going to replace the modem I purchased almost three years ago with a new one, free of charge, and give me a $5 credit on my bill if I do the installation myself. If I run into trouble I can contact Motorola's customer suport for assistance.

In case anyone is wondering, the most expensive way to service a customer is by putting someone in a vehicle and sending them onsite. The second most expensive is having a call center taking your calls. The cheapest, up until now, is using a web based or automated phone system to provide that customer interface. Welcome to the dawn of a new age where they credit money to your account to do the work for them! The least they could do is put $5 in the box with the new modem! I guess the final stage will be us paying them for the technical training we receive as they allow us to service our own system.

Four Eyes or What's that code mean on my license anyway?

Ever since I've had a license I've had the code on it that alerted anyone in the know about such things that I need to be wearing glasses or contacts. I had to renew my license yesterday since mine expires in a week on my 40th bday. The person at the DMV asked if I was wearing contacts and I informed him that I had laser surgery and didn't need to wear glasses or contacts anymore.

I went today for my 3 month checkup at the place that did the surgery, Clear Advantage Laser, that is right across the street from Portsmouth Hospital. I have 20/15 vision in both eyes and my close up vision hasn't suffered at all. I rarely have dry eyes anymore which was one of the immediate side effects of the surgery. Old habits die hard though as I still reach to take off my glasses after reading in bed.

The Good Old Days or You'll recognize who's who in state government depending on how long you were employed at Cabletron/Enterasys.

I heard on NPR today and had it confirmed in the Manchester Union Leader that Joseph D’Allesandro was nominated for the position of director of the state Division of Personnel. Some other government official was on NPR saying that he had never heard of D'Allesandro before yesterday until he got his resume. He mentioned that there was going to be a problem since D'Allesandro mentioned what amounted to union busting as one of his skills under the HR experience part of his resume. I wonder how many voted for Benson just so they could watch the post election show for the next two years.

Say that again?

Beautiful Wife was sputtering about someone this morning.

Beautiful Wife tells me that someone "has their elbow up their ass." I asked her what she said to be sure I heard right and she just thought I was trying to catch her cussing in front of our Angelic Kids. I clarified by asking if she meant "head up their ass" or if they "didn't know their ass from their elbow."

Beautiful Wife solved it all by saying she meant to say it that way. The look that went with it intimated that I wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer.

Another Day or Boy, is this guy boring or what?

Got home last night and found out that Middle Daughter was doing much better. In fact, today she made it to school though she whined a bit this morning. Hopefully, we've earned a respite from sickness and nobody else will come down with anything.

I watched 7th Heaven and decided that it was something we should watch as a family. The kids act up but then they are always so sorry, apologize maturely, and then sweetly try to make things up...talk about heaven!

Later that evening I went to karate class with Son. We warmed up with Sanchin kata and then moved on to the basics and how they would apply. Son and I were partners and things went well. One person would throw a punch to the stomach, the other person would parry, block, and then counter. Son and I worked on improving our form and speed. The style we study is from Okinawa and is called Isshinryu Karate. We're part of the Angi Uezu lineage.

Being Average Pays Off

At least it appears that way according to the eFittness Joe Average website. One of the prizes in the contest is dinner with a Miami Dolphins Cheerleader. Can you imagine explaining THAT one to your spouse or significant other?

Buffy Update or Tight Pants and a Lesbian Friend Doth a Slayer Make.

Kind of a creepy episode with Willow becoming Warren after being hexed by Amy and having a smooching moment with Kennedy, a potential slayer. Characters in Buffy may die but that doesn't mean you'll never see them again. The good news is that Giles is real and isn't The First, which we were all starting to worry about. I'd love to know how he avoided having his head lopped off when that eyeless dude came after him. The bad news is that Spike's chip has gone bad and Buffy gets to decide whether they repair it or take it out completely. Is a soul enough to make Spike behave?

At the Office or Out of sight, out of mind so far as the Kids are concerned.

Working from home is a great benefit unless there is a sick Kid (see prior entries) or after 3:10 when the Kids come home. Nobody loves Sponge Bob more than me but I can't do much concentrating with that inane laugh of his in the background. I'm drawn to it like a moth to the flame and the next thing you know I'm daydreaming about going jellyfishing!

Working from home or Daddy, can you get me a drink/something to eat/pillow/etc.

Yep, Middle Daughter is still home from school with strep throat. When she wakes up I'll be sure to give her the next round of antibiotics. One thing to be grateful for is that all of the Kids are old enough to swallow pills. Those liquid antibiotics tasted nasty and made a big, sticky mess each time they were given. This particul prescription requires you to take two pills the first day and then one pill for the next four days after that. That is way more convenient than 1 pill three times a day. But in terms of convenience, I wonder if we'll ever see the patch for antibiotics.

I was reading the news over at Everyday News and her comment about the bathroom made me think of one of my pet peeves: men who brink drinks into the bathroom and set them on the back of the urinal! My mind can't even begin to imagine how anyone can think that is ok.

I bought this port on the way home from the Wine Epxo on Sunday and tried some last night. Actually, Beautiful Wife and Son joined me in about an ounce of this incredibly fine port. It was very smooth and I could definitely taste the raisin and coffee in it. I tried it with a cookie and that gave it a little bit of a zing too. I would recommend this to anyone since it scored 91 on Wine Spectator, costs only $11.99, and I could find it in two liquor stores and the local wine shop that's part of a grocery store in Durham, NH.

Weekend Stuff or Is a short title, sans length, a title just the same?

We drove down together with our Good Friends and started the day with breakfast at Harvey's Bakery, easily our cheapest meal of the weekend.

We had a great time at the Boston Wine Expo with our Good Friends. We sampled around 60 wines and had a great time doing it. My Beautiful Wife met Associate Winemaker Richard Sowalsky who is responsible for one of her favorite wines the 1998 Robert Mondavi Winery Cabernet Sauvignon. He signed an empty bottle for her that we barely got past the ever-vigilant security at the show.

I thought it was cool to meet Alain Junguenet, an importer for the Chateauneuf-du-Pape properties. I only tried three of the wines since it was early in the show and I wanted to pace myself. No matter the price ($8, $25, $50) they were absolutely wonderful and a delight to drink. I thought the $25 bottle best, but will have to go through the literature we gathered to find out which one it was.

We ate dinner at the hotel and didn't have any wine with our meal since we were pretty much "wined out" at that point. My Beautiful Wife and I had to convince our Good Friends, who are a decade younger, to continue the evening with dessert at Finale in Boston. We've found that having four kids and only occasionally spending a night away from them (last time was 5 years ago) is a powerful inducement to do as much as you can when you get the opportunity. Our Good Friends were "good" at humoring us and joined us for some memorable desserts. I had a green-apple mousse with the suggested pairing of Selaks Premium Selection Ice Wine 2001. It took two good tastes and made them magical.

Now we're back home and at work. Middle Daughter's fever continued through the weekend with the addition of her entire body being covered in a rash. I had her at the doctor's first thing this morning and she has strep. Youngest Daughter needed one more day at home before being ready for school. The middle school office person said that 100 kids were out today! Son and Oldest Daughter made it to school but I feel like it is just a matter of time until they need to stay home too.