My wife and I recently attended a restaurant wine dinner. Five courses paired with five wines, a luscious spread. The menu provided the most entertainment, specifically the wine descriptions. Here are just a few…
Almost black with reddish hues. The nose is both complex and intense, of black plum, china ink, blood orange and hints of pencil lead. A very fresh and vibrant wine… Hmmm, “pencil lead”?
Bursting with aromas of passion fruit, melon, and wild nettle... Yum, wild nettle! Actually, wild nettle has some fans - http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/04/would-you-eat-stinging-nettle.html - “...a bright green note that makes you sit up and pay attention, with a peppery zing.” Who knew?
Our favorite of the night was “garrigue.” Our sommelier was at a loss, but ever trusty Google provided this…
Garrigue refers to the low-growing vegetation on the limestone hills of the Mediterranean coast, not the limestone itself. There are a bunch of bushy, fragrant plants that grow wild there, such as juniper, thyme, rosemary and lavender, and garrigue refers to the sum of them. Think herbes de Provence, or a mix of fresh minty-herbal notes with more pungent, floral fragrances.
I have to admit, if I had to describe that bottle of Sauvignon I could not have done better.
Decapping and extracting honey with my brother-in-law. After a short demonstration he offered to let me spin the extractor - the old Tom Sawyer trick and I fell for it! Loved every minute.
My computer semi-literate stepmother recently discovered YouTube and wryly commented, "Now I can go foxhunting in Ireland every morning!"
On that note there was an abundance of live music this weekend, and I could only attend one. Fortunately I can enjoy the other two through my stepmother's same Internet magic.
Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Lockn' Festival, Arrington, Virginia...
This couldn’t be right. As I looked at the theatre chart only eleven seats were sold. Perhaps I misread the color coding. Nope. A 560 seat capacity and only eleven tickets. I had never seen Logan Brill nor heard of her before spotting her show on the events calendar, so I checked it out. Hmmm… three appearances at the Grand Ole Opry, accolades from Billboard and CMT, and the iTunes previews sounded really good. Jeanne was away and my other three friends turned me down, so I pressed purchase for a solo ticket.
Ten minutes before show time I appeared at Will Call and gave them my name. I spelled it out, “M-A-Y-O.” The attendant laughed. Sitting on the counter I saw the one and only ticket envelope, and she passed it through.
“Am I the only one here tonight?” I asked.
“Nope. The others already arrived,” she replied. And by “others” she meant the other eleven people. This would be interesting.
Right on time Logan and her band walked on stage. With a laugh and a smile she said, “I see everyone gets a front row seat tonight!”
And then they played as if the theatre were full. A beautiful collection of original songs mixed with a few fun and melodic covers.
At the start of the second set, she set a more personal tone, “Since we have a ‘listening room’ audience, Brian and I are going to do a collection of acoustic duets. We don’t get to do this much, so we’ll just play what we feel.” It was brilliant. Later the band returned and resumed their electric energy. They closed with a rocking cover of Folsom Prison Blues. Enough said. Add me to her fan list.
