Aged Rioja

Keith Edwards organized a stellar tasting of old Spanish Riojas. The event was held at the Bull & Bear restaurant at the Waldof Astoria. Attendees included Keith and his wife Parlo, Russell Edghill, Ron and Bev Siegel, Linda and I, plus industry guests Dhane Chesson from Vibrant Rioja, and Master Sommelier Andrew MacNamara.

Keith is quite the scholar, and he prepared an amazing booklet to accompany the event, with notes on Rioja and pictures of the wine labels. The wines came from Keith, Ron’s cellar, and I contributed the oldest wine, a 1925 Marques de Riscal.

Andrew moderated his event, and poured the wines in reverse chronological order, an approach that I have also been gravitating to of late.

This was an eye-opening tasting, because Rioja wasn’t really on my radar, and I was shocked to find that after 20 years or so it has much in common with our old favorite, BV Georges de la Tour Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon, a wine that was only interesting prior to the 1980 vintage. This is curious, since Rioja is mostly Tempranillo, but it is probably due to the American oak barrels and a certain amount of oxidation.

What a great discovery, because it now means we have a whole new category of interesting, old, and fairly affordable wines to look for!

Tasting

The Rioja was poured in three flights. Linda observed that, unlike in other areas, there seemed to be no relation between price and quality.

The first two flights were interesting, but the third flight was stellar! I believe my rankings were almost identical to Ron’s ad there was surprising consensus amongst the group.

My notes:

Flight 1:

2001 Vina Ardanza $50?

Stewed vegetables, dill (the result of the oak), spices, 88 points

1999 CVNE Imperial $50.97

Stewed, dill, 89 pts

1997 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 $49.98

Extreme dill pickle, pepper, 90 pts

1991 Lopez de Heredia Tondonia Gran Reserva 79.50

Balanced, wood, higher acid than the 1981, but similar BV style, 94 pts

1985 Bodegas Montecillo Vina Monty Gran Reserva $50

Corked

1982 Muga Gran Reserva Rioja $159

Oak, figs, gravel, 89 pts

1981 Bodegas Montecillo Vina Monty Gran Reserva $50

Very reminiscent of BV, slightly light on fruit, 92 pts

Flight 2:

1978 Marques de Caceres Rioja Gran Reserva (Ron) $50

Sweet, balanced, woody finish, almost too clean, 100% French oak, 89 pts

1978 Castillo Ygay $214.20

Caramel, raisins, volatile acidity, 87 pts

1976 Lopez de Heredia Vino Bosconia (Ron) $120

Big mint, graphite, 91 pts

1973 la Rioja Alta Gran Reserva Cuvee Centenario (Ron) $125

sweet, balanced, coffee, 92 pts

1976 Muga Gran Reserva $199.99

Dust, raisins, coffee, 89 pts

1970 Lopez de Heredia Vino Tondonia $191.22

Good acid but rough wood, 87 pts

1970 Faustino I Gran Reserva $104.54

Dates, 90 pts

Flight 3:

1968 Vina Valoria Rioja (Ron) $100

Chocolate, cherry, candy, caramel, mint, very balanced, 95pts

1968 Lopez de Heredia Vino Bosconia $416.49

Smoked meat, oak, gun oil, mint, floral, oak, 97pts

1964 Faustino I Rioja Gran Reserva $168

Smoke, sweet, creamy, chocolate, 94pts

1964 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 $257

Sweet, smoke, balanced, dust, cooking spices, 95pts

1961 Lopez de Heredia Vino Tondonia (Ron) $150

Tart cherry, vanilla, perfume, outclassed, 89pts

1925 Marques de Riscal (Steve) $252

Perfect color, youthful, great fruit, waxy, balanced, chocolate covered brandy marinated cherries, charcuterie meats, smoke, dust, balsamic, candy finish, held up in the glass for 3 hours, a remarkable wine, 99pts

For a detailed analysis of the wines, visit Keith Edward’s blog.

Dinner

Following the formal tasting, a terrific dinner was served by Arnaud, including:

Steak Tartare

Best version I’ve ever had, served with an herbal sauce, and minced perfectly, with a wonderful crunchy/salty component as well. A new invention of the restaurant, and a great dish.

Corn Soup

With caviar and truffle. Creamy and wonderfully complex.

Escargot and Mushroom Gnocchi

Served in a rich and delicious buttery flan. I don’t even like gnocchi, and this was great.

Steak and Filet of Sole

This was actually the weakest course! The steak had that gamey, stringy texture from dry aging that I don’t like, and the fish was extremely salty, probably the result of a mistake.

Dessert

A nice assortment of cheesecake, creme brulee, and a couple others.

Other Wines

Of course 20 Riojas was just the formal tasting. Then there were the wines passed at dinner!

Jacques Sellose Champagne (Ron)

Superb as always, toasty, perfect, 96pts

Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne 2002 (Keith)

Creamy, citrus, crisp, 94pts

2009 Adobe Road Sauvignon Blanc (Steve)

Served blind, and caused quite a discussion. Unidentifiable as SB, but great. 95pts

1999 Domaine Francois Raveneau Butteaux, Chablis Premier Cru (Ron)

Sublime Chablis, creamy and smooth, complex, toasty, 98pts

1995 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904 (Dhane)

From magnum. Tart, off balance, high acid, salty, musty, 86pts

1978 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou, Médoc (Russell)

Superb Bordeaux at its peak, like driving down a dusty road in a bell pepper field, 95pts

1959 Nuits St. Georges, Naudin (Ron)

A superb old Burgundy that I wish had been served before dinner, as it got a bit lost in the shuffle. Burnt orange rinds. 95pts

Pommard Les Rugiens, Montille (Keith)

Potentially a great bottle, and the nose was good, but sadly undrinkable.

1999 Barolo, Rinaldi (Keith)

Caramel, spice, sweet chocolate, floral, cigar, nuts, 92pts

2000 Domaine du Pegau Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvee da Capo (Ron)

100 point Parker wine. Smoke, meat, cherries, 95pts

2004 Grange (Keith)

Another wine that sadly got lost in the shuffle. I wish this had been served with the meat, but it came after dinner and was immediately faced with sweet wines. Tarry, figs, tannic, drinking very young but more accessible than most young Grange, 94pts

1971 Bodegas Toro Albala Don PX Pedro Ximenez Gran Reserva (Andrew)

A remarkable dessert wine, with huge acid to offset its sweetness, and wonderful complexity. Drinking very young. Grape jam, figs, raisins, very balanced, 97pts

1999 Domaine des Baumard Quarts de Chaume, France, Loire (Andres)

A Sauternes-like wine from the Loire. Great botrytis and apricot nose, but off balance, 89pts

1927 Alvear Solera (Steve)

Rather simple and cloying after the 1971 PX, 89pts

1989 Angelus (Ron)

A massive wine, not within 20 years of being drinkable. Inky, chewy, tar and tannins. Impossible to score at this point.

Wow, what a great evening! Thanks to Keith for setting it up, and to everyone for their thoughtful comments throughout the tasting.

Amaros

Amaros are Italian digestifs that are an herbal combination of bitter and sweet. They are made by adding herbs and sugar to grappa, a rather nasty spirit distilled from the dregs of Italian wine-making. I first encountered them at The Stained Glass in Evanston, and have since had them in a few other restaurants, including a flight at Marea in New York. They are flavored with different herbs, including cardamom and rhubarb. Each producer has their own unique recipe.

In the picture above, they are arranged , more or less, from bitterest to sweetest, with the one on the right more like a liqueur. My favorite is still the first one I ever tasted, Amaro Nonino.

The one on the extreme left is too bitter for me to drink, but the rest are all interesting and good. Since they are simultaneously bitter and sweet, most work either before or after a meal.

The Table

The Table is a unique restaurant in the Dellagio complex on Sandlake Road. The Table offers up to 18 guests seating at a single table, similar to a dinner party. The experience begins at 7:00 p.m. with wine and passed hors d’oeuvres. That’s followed by a five course dinner with wine pairings. The cost is $100 per person, including tax and gratuity.

The table is owned and operated by Loren and Tyler Brassil, chefs who are also culinary instructors. You eat whatever they decide to serve. They claim to never prepare the same dish twice, and they use almost exclusively local foods. In fact, they almost never order food. Instead, local providers deliver organic produce and proteins and they work with what is available. For example, a local farm delivers a box of greens, a local dairy provides heavy cream with twice the fat content of normal heavy cream, and so on.

The Table is normally only open Friday and Saturday nights, but Martin and I attended a special event on Tuesday, hosted by Foxen Winery, a top-end producer from Santa Maria Valley, one of my favorite wine areas.

The meal was quite spectacular. You can read the menu in the picture of dessert.

The food perfectly matched an impressive array of wines, presented by Winery owner Jenny Dore. The top end Foxen wines are in such short supply that the leftover bottles were sold at the end of the meal (Martin and I bought the rest of the Bien Nacido Pinot Noir), and I asked to be put on the waiting list for Foxen’s Anchor Club.

Lange Estate Winery and Vineyards at Everglades

The Vine and Dine events at the Rosen Centre Hotel are always fun. We enjoy the home grown atmosphere, and Chef Fred Vlachos rises to the challenge with some interesting dishes that I suspect are a stretch for him, but almost always delight.

Lange is a highly regarded Oregon Winery, and the winemaker, Jesse Lange was a cheerful host. The wines were sound, and matched the food for the most part (although pinot noir does not go with chocolate). It was a bit weird to have a wine dinner where three of fice wines were pinot noir. And I have to say that after drinking some great Burgundies, Oregon wines are… well, boring.

Still, a lovely evening, and a great bargain at $65.

Welcome Reception
Lange Pinot Gris ‘Reserve’ 2010
grapefruit, lime zest 87

First Course
Roasted Onion Soup with Smoked Rainbow Trout Sausage
Lange Three Hills Cuvee Chardonnay 2009
Lime, flint, butter, ash, long 92

Second Course
Grilled Coho Salmon
Rye Berry and Artichoke Ragout served with whole grain mustard sauce
Wow! The rye berries were the highlight of the dinner!
Lange Pinot Noir “Willamette Valley” 2009
Spritsy, burnt wood, leather, berries, cola, licorice, old world Pinot 89

Third Course
Cranberry and Port Sorbet

Fourth Course
Herb-Crusted Bison Strip Loin
Roasted Root Vegetables and Madeira Foie Gras sauce
Lange Pinot Noir “reserve” 2009
Baking spices, Fairly big and tannic, smoke, tannic, new world Pinot 90

Fifth Course
Chocolate Mousse and Ganache Tart
Port Soaked Figs
Lange Three Hills Cuvee Pinot Noir 2006
Fairly big, chocolatey, blackberry, earthy, black pepper 90

Adobe Road at Luma

Luma and Adobe Road put on what was perhaps the best food and wine pairing dinner I’ve ever attended. It was held in the private room in the basement, which had been cleared out to accommodate more than 30 guests at a single, large table (a collection of smaller tables “Tetrissed” together, according to our waiter).

The event was hosted by the very personable Kevin Buckler, a race car driver (and now manager of a racing company with 23 drivers). I had assumed Kevin just owned the winery as a trophy, but he’s actually very involved in all aspects of the operation, and determines the styles of the wines. He has some opinions about styles that are not in sync with the mainstream, but I completely agree with him. For example, he uses year old Chardonnay barrels on his Sauvignon Blanc, which produces a wine much more like an elegant white Bordeaux (think Laville Haut Brion) but with some new world fruit including citrus and pear.

We were stunned by how good the food was. It was like Luma had turned into a completely different restaurant. Apparently Chef Bernard devised the menu, but wasn’t there to prepare it. Whoever did it was very talented. And I’ve never had better food and wine matches, especially the first two courses. Martin and I brought some old Adobe Road from our sellers, which Kevin and those seated near us enjoyed comparing to the new vintages.

Great winery, great restaurant, and a great event for $140 a head, that’s for sure!

Stone Crab

2009 Adobe Road Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc
Pear, citrus, 1 year old chardonnay barrels, vanilla, Ash, like a tropical Laville Haut Brion blanc, 92 pts

Rabbit Sausage

2008 Adobe Road Sonoma Chardonnay
Spice, vanilla, perfect balance, buttered toast, longest Chardonnay I’ve ever had, 95 pts

Smoked Salmon

2007 Adobe Road Sonoma Pinot Noir
Dust, dried cherries, black fruits 89 pts

Duck Confit

NV Adobe Road Red Line
Zin and Cab blend, bright berry fruit, hint of cinammon 85 pts

Braised Short-Rib Ravioli

2007 Adobe Road Knights Valley Babarian Lion Cabernet Sauvignon
Slight hint of geranium (sorbate), Great melted mint chocolate finish 91

2003 Adobe Road Cabernet Sauvignon (brought by Steve)
Meaty, mint, meat, terrific structure 95

2004 Adobe Road Cabernet Sauvignon (Martin)
Road tar, less tannic than 2003, Bordeaux like, gamy 93

Chocolate Mint Ganache

2007 Adobe Road Dry Creek Kemp Vineyard Syrah
Vanilla, game, berries, cinammon 90 pts

2008 Adobe Road Beckstoffer Cabernet Sauvignon
Balanced, peppery, vanilla, spices, surprisingly light and drinkable 90 pts

Scott Joseph’s Supper Club at Taps Wine, Beer and Eatery

Scott Joseph’s Supper Club is a group that meets at different restaurants around town. It’s usually a fairly upscale wine and dine experience, so I was a bit surprised when this event was posted at a wine and beer bar. But the intriguing thing was the format: five courses, each paired with a wine and beer. I thought it would be interesting to see which matched each course best, and indeed it was.

Most wine events start out with everyone attentive, and then devolve into chaos, where the participants can’t hear the moderators over the chatter in the room. This didn’t happen at Taps, due to the fact that the room was already in chaos at the start of the event! Fortunately, the servers were able to clue us in to what we were eating and drinking, because otherwise we would have had no idea! Still, it was a fun and entertaining event, and we enjoyed Chet and Loren and Martin’s company. I think this was the first event like this that Chet had been to, and he was a good sport about some new dining experiences.

The wines, beers and courses were:

Paco & Lola Albarino
Blue Point Toasted Lager
Bruschetta trio

Kendall Jackson Avant Chardonnay
Radeberger Pilsner
Tuna tartare

La Crema Pinot Noir
Xingu Black Beer
Cheese Quesadilla

Marques de Casa Concha Cabernet Sauvignon
Tommyknocker Maple Brown Beer
Italian sausage slider

Frontera Moscato
Magic Hat #9
Apricot Bread Pudding

The wines and beers were all good products, except for the Moscato, which was too low in acid to bother with. In each case I preferred the wine, but didn’t think it was well-selected to match the food. So all five times I found myself drinking the beer with the food. The last course was a particularly challenging match, and although I didn’t like the beer by itself, the match was masterful.

Several of us liked the black beer the best, although I would have liked something even closer to stout. Surprisingly, Linda–who isn’t a beer drinker at all–liked the yellow beers, particularly the first lager.

All in all, an interesting and fun (if noisy) experience.

2012 Central Florida Scottish Highland Games

Linda and I volunteered to help out at the 2012 Central Florida Scottish Highland Games. This was my second year, Linda’s first. Last year I staffed the will call table and scanned pre-printed online tickets. This year we worked the ticket booth at the lower gate, both selling tickets and scanning those who had purchased online.

It was a brisk morning, only 45 degrees when we started, but the kilted participants didn’t seem to mind. After a while Emilio joined us, but there wasn’t really enough for two people to do, let alone three. Traffic arrived in waves, with most participants on site by 10 am; then things slowed down until we went off shift at noon.

Linda and I strolled around the grounds of the festival, which is mostly about clan tents, bag-pipe marching, and a live performance stage. There’s a tent that sells beer, and the clan tents usually have whiskey, so sobriety is not a feature, although at noon everyone still seemed sober.

The games mostly consist of throwing heavy objects. Some, such as hurling, seem particularly dangerous, since there’s nothing preventing an errant hurl into the crowd. We gave it a wide berth, and went to find some lunch. There were a broad selection of traditional Scottish foods, such as haggis, gyros and tacos. We settled on chicken-on-a-stick, which was good last year, but a bit undercooked this year, perhaps due to the cold.

Then we headed home to warm up!

Lemony Hummus

This recipe comes from Scott Joesph’s blog.

Make 2 cups

15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoon paprika, plus more for garnish
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth, scraping sides of bowl.

Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. Cover and refrigerate up to a week.

The Battle of Epoisses

Epoisses is a stinky French cheese that people either love or hate. We love it. A few years ago, in France, I had the opportunity to try two types side by side. One was much better than the other. But which was which? I couldn’t remember.

This month I saw both brands at Whole Foods, and bought them so we could settle it once and for all.

The Berthaut is the better one. It has a less pungent nose, and a rich creamy taste. Its consistency is a bit sticky, though.

The Germain has a more ammonia-like nose, and a bitter finish. However it has a nice soft butter consistency.

Epoisses should be served at room temperature, although its runny nature can make it a challenge to keep it on a plate. In the US they cost over $25, but in France they were only a few Euros. Also, the US version has, by law, been cold stored for several months, which definitely doesn’t improve it.

Berns Burgs

Last night we explored some old Burgundies at Berns Steakhouse in Tampa, with our friends Ron and Bev Siegel.

Our tasting began before we even arrived. Our driver Angelica picked us up at 4:45 pm and we met up with Ron and Bev at Champion’s Gate, where we transferred to Caesar’s van for the trip to Tampa.

On the way we enjoyed a Krug Champagne from Ron’s cellar. It was toasty, and seemed food friendly, but not nearly as complex as the “wine of the night 1996 Krug we had a couple of weeks ago.

We arrived at Berns at 6:30, just as Drew–Ron & Bev’s favorite server–came on. Drew kept us well stocked in all the Berns staples throughout the evening, as we dined on caviar, soup samplers, Caesar salad, and steak (or in my case big eye tuna).

Brad Dixon acted as sommelier throughout the evening. The night was a bit more challenging than usual, as in early December David Laxer, owner of Berns, had raised the price of many of the old Burgundies, in a lot of cases doubling them. So it took some hunting to find the best prospects on the list.

We began with 2005 Chablis Grand Cru Les Preuses Clotilde Davenne. It offered lemon, minerals, and butter, but at $130 I didn’t feel it was as good a value as Les Clos. 92 points.

1961 Echezeaux Pierre Ponnelle was a beautiful garnet, drinking very young, with a nose of meat, iron, smoke, and fat; sweet cherry on the palate, finishing with Asian spices, mushrooms, soy sauce, curry, and a lingering herbal character. At $400, it proved to be the wine of the night (a bit unfortunate since it was the first red, and we could never top it!) 97 points.

1953 Corton Clos du Roo Domaine Ponnelle should have been the best wine of the evening, but it struggled to overcome a closed nose. Garnet brown, its nose was iron, minerals, and earth, somewhat herbal, with some red fruit on the palate and a chocolate caramel finish. Probably not worth $600. 93 points.

1961 Vosne Romanee Les Beaumonts Charles Noellat was a lovely youthful wine, but it nose of leather, mint, bacon, and cinnamon, and its sour cherry mouth didn’t come close to the complexity of the other two Burgs. Still, a good deal at $230. 91 points.

We also opened a 1918 Vougeot and a 1964 Drouhin that were not drinkable, and were rejected by Brad on nose alone. Too bad about the 1918, which eventually developed a very intriguing nose, but was mysteriously turbid, top to bottom.

1953 was a great year in Burgundy, but 1961 was not the stellar year that it was in Bordeaux, so I had experienced few of these wines before, but I think I will return to this vintage, as the wines were very youthful.

With the main course we shifted from Burgundy to Bordeaux when Ron spotted a 1945 Ch Grand Puy Lacoste on the list for about $600. This was the year of the century in Bordeaux, and the bottle was in pristine condition. Lacoste is a Pauillac, and sometimes drinks like Lafite. This one was deep dark ruby, tannic on the palate, with a traditional dusty nose. There were also meat and vegetables, and the characteristic candle wax. A lovely wine, not a first growth, but very food friendly. 92 points.

After dinner we adjourned to the upstairs dessert rooms for some Madieras from the early 19th century. I particularly enjoyed my 1839 Verdelho, which was served from a brand new bottle. Verdelho is off-dry, so you want to drink it before, not with dessert. I’d never had a Madiera at Berns from a freshly opened bottle, and the fresh citrus in the nose was lovely. This is pricey at $44 a half ounce, but through a mix up my pour was about three times that, making it a deal.

As usual, Ron and Bev closed the place, and we found ourselves alone in the lobby at 1:30 am. Having brought pillows, we dozed on the drive back, arriving home at 3am on the dot. Quite an excursion to celebrate the end of 2011!

1996 Champagne at Vintage Vino

Ron arranged this tasting and dinner at Vintage Vino in Kissimmee, and provided nine Champagnes from the classic 1996 vintage. Our group of eight included Ron, Bev, Keith, Parlo, Andres, Paula, Linda and me.

We began with sushi, a cheese plate (delicious lemon Stilton), and caviar on blinis. The warm up wines were 2003 Ch Carbonnieux (Ron) and 2003 Smith Haut Lafite blanc (Steve). The Smith Haut Lafite was drinking much younger.

Then it was on to the Champagnes.

Flight one:

1996 Pol Roger Cuvee Sir William Churchill Brut (WA 95, IWC 95 )
Toast, cream, lemon, gardenia, candy, green apple, fruitiest of the three, 97

1996 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne ( WA 96 JG 97+)
Super toasty, crisp, butter pecan, caramel green apple, roasted buttered corn, earthy, 96

1996 Philipponnat Clos des Goisses (WA 96, IWC 95, BH 97)
Green, plastic, very tart, oxidized, ripe apple cider, 93

Flight two:

1996 Dom Ruinart Brut Rose Grand Cru (WA 93, IWC 94+)
Soft, restrained, watermelon, bubble gum, quite dry, simple, 89

1996 Deutz Cuvee William Rose ( WS 94 )
Vanilla, bread, yeast, rhubarb, oxidative, roses, 93

1996 Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon Rose ( WA 97, IWC 95)
Very Dry, dusty finish, armpit, grainy, 91

Flight three:

1996 Moet & Chandon Dom Perignon ( WA 98, IWC 94, BH 97)
Vanilla, Creme brûlée, green, roasted smoky nuts, 97

1996 Louis Roederer Cristal (WA 96, IWC 94+)
Green, creamy, tart, slight oxidation, 92

1996 Krug Brut (WA 98, IWC 99+ )
bread dough, toast, tart, high acid, steel, walnut, Asian dices, bone marrow, really improved as it warmed up, 99

Dinner was prepared by Chef Josh from The Ravenous Pig.

Roasted Tomato Soup with basil oil and buttery parmesan croutons

Warm Red Leaf Lettuce and Bacon Salad with hot bacon vinaigrette, tomatoes, and gorgonzola

Low Country Pickled Shrimp with lemon and pickling spices (this was a terrific course, served in a jar)

Mac and Cheese with shaved prosciutto

Butter Poached Lobster served with truffle parmesan grits and grilled tomatoes.

Tiramisu

Quite a few wines accompanied dinner:

1996 Corton-Charlemagne (Keith)
Cinammon, brown butter, vanilla, Balanced, 94

1959 Nuits les Vaucrains Misserey & Freres (Ron)
Tight, tarry, mushroom 94

1964 Clos Vougeot Musigni (Steve)
Bacon, smoke, spicy finish, oatmeal cookie, 96

1961 Gruard Larose (Keith)
Cigar box, tar, minerals, brush, 97

1964 Ducru Beaucaillou (Steve)
Woodsy (corked), metallic, fruity, 89

1978 Castillo Ygay Rioja (Keith)
Cherry, pipe tabacco, youthful, 92

2000 Ch Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape (Ron)
Meat, herbs, cherry, vanilla, brambles, cigar box, mint, 99

1991 Dominus (Keith)
Tarry, coffee, gravel, Bordeaux like, chocolate, black fruit, jalapeños, 98

2000 Cote Rotie (Andres)
Meat, metal, earthy, cigar box, 92

2007 Bacio Divino (pair at the next table, purchased from the shop)
Big fruit and alcohol, mint
92

2004 Domaine Pegau Chateaneuf du Pape (Terrence, at the next table)
Soft, fruity, 90

It was interesting to taste so many great Champagnes side by side. I was surprised by how uninteresting the Blanc de Noir flight was compared to the others, because usually I have the opposite impression. Some of the Champagnes would probably have been much better with food, and it was a shame that more glassware wasn’t available, so that we could have saved some of them. To me, the standout wines were at the very beginning and end, the Pol Roger and the Krug.

Keith’s 61 Gruard Larose was a particularly impressive example of that wine, and his 91 Dominus amazed, as always.

I’m also particularly glad that I have more of that 64 Burgundy.

My Wine of the Night was, surprisingly, Ron’s 2000 Ch Rayas. Thanks to Ron for setting it up, and providing some amazing Champagnes.

Thanksgiving in Los Angeles

For Thanksgiving Linda and I flew to Los Angeles from Orlando, and Dani flew in from Chicago. Linda and I were lucky, and my medalion status (from credit card miles, I guess) got us upgraded to first class.

Once again we stayed at L’Ermitage in Beverly Hills, one of the homiest hotels I know. Their “linger longer” deal that gets you a free day makes it quite attractive.

We took advantage of our time in LA to visit quite a few restaurants, some new, some old.

Of course we had to start at El Cholo, where we had lunch with Linda’s mom. It’s just a few blocks from her house. El Cholo doesn’t really serve food that’s like any other Mexican or Tex Mex cuisine, but they’ve been doing the same thing since 1927, and we’ve been going for almost 50 years.

For dinner we tried the two Michelin star restaurant Providence. We liked the quiet atmosphere, and the service was terrific, but there didn’t seem to be enough home runs to justify the stars. We were tired (still on East coast time) so we stuck with the shorter 5-course tasting menu. The matching wines were just okay.

As with last year, we had the Thanksgiving buffet at L’Ermitage. It’s nice to just go downstairs and graze for lunch, in preparation for the real Thanksgiving meal in the evening. Perhaps we were earlier this year, but it didn’t seem as well-attended, and some items we liked had been eliminated, but it was tasty.

Thanksgiving dinner was a Saddle Peak Lodge, a restaurant Linda and I discovered over 25 years ago, when it first opened. The rustic building, tucked into the canyons above Malibu, used to be a hunting lodge, speakeasy, and a bordello (not all at once). There were eight of us for dinner, including Linda’s mom, cousins Adele and Vikki, Vikki’s son Matt, and his wife Lauren. This was a great choice for Thanksgiving. The relatively small table made it easy to converse, and the food was delicious; half the table had the elk, which was probably the best entree I’ve had there. Service was good, especially considering how busy the place was. The wine pairing was stingy and very overpriced, though.

No visit to LA is complete without Smoke House garlic bread, the best in the world. Who cares what the rest of the food is like! There were almost no other customers at lunch; probably they were all at the mall on Black Friday.

For Friday dinner we tried a place recommended by my sales manager, Tommy. Vibrato is a jazz club high up Beverly Glen canyon, designed by herb Alpert. The acoustics were amazing, as were the live jazz piano and bass. The tables are arranged in a small amphitheater, and the room is really magical. The biggest surprise was that the food was great, too. We all loved the place!

Saturday Linda and Dani and I drove to Santa Monica and had sushi overlooking Ocean Avenue and the Pacific. We’d been to Sushi Roku in Las Vegas and really liked it, but this one wasn’t as good, and very expensive.

Saturday dinner was at Patina, another Michelin starred restaurant, this one in the new Disney Concert Hall downtown. We had the tasting menu with matching wine pairings, and all of us thought the food was excellent–in fact better than I was expecting. The service, however, was extremely incompetent. I had to remind them to pour almost every wine flight, and request every refill of water. The wine pairing was the highest quality I’ve had though, and a great bargain considering the number of wines, top producers and generous pours.

In retrospect, we agreed that of the four dinner places, two with Michelin stars, the ones we will return to are the ones without the stars!

One of Dani’s projects is to have her picture taken with Flat Doctor (think Flat Stanley, but for premed students) in as many spots as possible before the new year. Here she is on a particularly clear day in LA, as viewed from the rooftop of our hotel.

Sunday we got to the airport early and avoided the anticipated travel hassles, and were back in Orlando by 6:30pm. No first class upgrade this time, though. It was a quick trip to LA, but we squeezed in a lot.

Three Bean Chili

I know there’s a big disagreement over whether chili should have beans in it, but to me it’s all about the beans, and to heck with the meat. This is a new recipe Linda got from a co-worker at a pot luck lunch. It uses cocoa powder, cumin and oregano to add a rich Indian-like character to the chili powder base. Delicious!

Ingredients

1 can beef broth
1 pound lean ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp seasoning salt
4 tsp ground cocoa powder
2 tbsp ground cumin
4 tbsp ground chile powder
2 tsp ground oregano
1 large can tomato sauce
1 small can tomato paste
1 can pinto beans, drained
1 can black beans, drained
2 cans kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
flour (optional)

Preparation

Brown beef and drain. Saute onion and garlic. Combine all ingredients. Simmer 30-40 minutes. Thicken with a little flour if desired. Or puree 1/4 of mixture and add back in.

Garnish with chopped cilantro, onions, shredded cheddar cheese.

Barcelona, Spain

Disembarkation in Barcelona is amazingly easy. We simply strolled down the gangway, pointed out our bags to a porter, and were ushered to a taxis. No immigration, no customs. By 10 am we were at the Hotel Condes de Barcelona.

The hotel is actually two building across the street from each other, both on the Gracia, the high end shopping boulevard. Happily, our room was ready. It’s spacious and ultra-modern, with remote controlled drapes and even a Nespresso machine. It’s on the second floor, facing into the courtyard that forms the center of most city blocks in Barcelona. That makes it nice and quiet, because there is almost no street noise. I booked it directly on line, prepaying 219 Euros a night, which is a third of what the cruise line wanted for the same hotel, and a third of the price of the other hotels on the street, such as the Mandarin. Best of all, there’s a two-star Michelin restaurant, La Sarte, downstairs.

For lunch we walked up the Gracia, admiring the Gaudi architecture. Our destination was Botafumeira, a seafood restaurant recommended by Ron. Everything is on a later schedule in Barcelona, with restaurants not opening until 1pm for lunch, and 8:30 for dinner. We waited a bit in the front, admiring the huge tanks and refrigerators filled with every kind of shellfish, from tiny barnacles to huge lobsters. Then we were ushered deep into the building, to a lovely dining room, one of many, done in light woods and nautical decor.

The meal began with Champagne cocktails. I was a bit alarmed when they were poured from a bottle of Pommery, but when the bill came they were just 10 Euros. We also had a delightful Catalonian chardonnay by Jean Leon. The highlight of the meal was an enormous platter of grilled seafood, with multiple kinds of lobster, shrimp, crayfish, clams and other shellfish, accompanied by many mysterious implements.

By the time we left, well after 3pm, the place was packed, and the area in front around the seafood bar was deafening, so it was definitely a good thing we had a reservation.

After lunch we strolled back down the Gracia, stopping to buy some gifts and stocking stuffers, and then settled into a long siesta in preparation for dinner.

Dinner was at La Sarte, the two star Michelin restaurant in the other half of the hotel. There were many beautiful dishes, but none was really a home run, taste-wise, except for the first dessert, which was a frozen sorbet of gin, lemon juice and a basil drizzle that I’d like to try to reproduce. Pricing was very reasonable, though, even on the wines, and it was nice to simply cross the street to be back in our room by midnight. (The restaurant was still more than half full at that hour, as some arrived for dinner at almost 11pm).

Sunday we slept in, enjoying the hour time change (which is a week earlier than in the US), and then walked down La Rambla, the wide tourist boulevard that connects to the southern end of the Gracia. We arrived early for our 3pm lunch reservation at L’Olive, a place near our hotel suggested by American Express, and enjoyed a leisurely three-hour lunch and a nice bottle of Priorat, Veuve Cliquot Champagne, and a very generous pour of 1982 Armagnac. Wine prices were very reasonable.

Then it was siesta time, in preparation for our final day of travel.

Aix-en-Provence, France

Our final shore excursion of the cruise took us from the dock in Marseilles into Provence. Our first stop was in the Luberon region, at the Val Joanis winery. We toured their award winning gardens and the cellar (a 200,000 bottle operation annually) and then had a tasting and lunch. They use mostly syrah, but must blend it according to AOC rules. Their best wine actually doesn’t carry an AOC designation, because it is 100% viognier. I also liked their 2003 mostly grenache blend. Lunch was excellent, simple provence style food, not too heavy, with a vegetable flan, lamb stew, and a fruit dessert.

Then we spent two hours in Aix-en-Provence (pronounced “X in Provence”), a beautiful town of 135,000 that is about 1/3 college students. We strolled through the medieval section, which is all trendy (and expensive) shops, and then sat at a sidewalk cafe, where we discovered that a Champagne cocktail can be something completely different.

The seas were high after we left port, with a 40 mile per hour gale, and there were quite a few green guests, but not us, as we headed for a farewell steak dinner in Polo. We’ll miss the ship, its great crew, and our nice cabin, which came to feel like home.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

I’m never sure whether to call this place the city of Monte Carlo or the country of Monaco, because they’re almost the same thing. The city nearly completely fills the valley that is this country. In fact, from our cabin I’m pretty sure we can see houses in France and Italy on either side.

At 12:30pm we took a tender to the luxury yacht-packed harbor and climbed the hill to the casino and hotel for our lunch at Alain Ducasse’s Louis XV restaurant. The ornate dining room, originally the tea room, is little changed from its appearance upon opening in 1864. Lunch was a prix fixe multi-course affair that came with our choice of wine, and the red provincial blend of cabernet and syrah was delicious.

The main course of chicken was a bit disappointing for a three-star Michelin restaurant, not nearly as good as the one we had two weeks ago at his bistro in New York. The stand out courses were the bread (so many to choose from!) cheeses (a real stinky cheese cart, with the best Epoisses I’ve tasted) and the foie gras terrine.

After lunch we strolled around up on the hill for a while and then returned to the ship. On the way we passed through a carnival set up for Halloween weekend, I suppose. It was busy with children and teenagers. We were struck by how the attractions on the midway were so similar to the Florida State Fair, except the barkers were all speaking French. Linda couldn’t resist the tug of the claw machines, and after a few tries won an adorable pink hedgehog. It was much more fun and more rewarding than a visit to the casino, I’m sure!

Livorno, Italy

Two quiet days recuperating on the ship, with not too much to look at, since Livorno was heavily damaged during WWII and hasn’t been rebuilt with anything but functionality in mind.

The first day was raining all day, so our cancelled wine trip might have been pretty soggy. Linda mailed the payment off to the guide in cash anyway, so he should be surprised and happy.

We’ve never spent days onboard when in port, and it was interesting to see how much crew activity there is, with a blackout test one day that herded remaining guests into the Horizons lounge while the power was off for an hour, and emergency lifeboat drills for the crew on the other day.

Civitavecchia, Italy

Well, Rome’s port isn’t the most attractive place in the world. It’s also not particularly close to Rome, almost 2 hours away in traffic.

As it turned out, it didn’t matter, because I got sick and had to get some strong antibiotics from the ship’s doctor, and Linda was unwilling to leave me alone to go on the private tour of the coliseum that she had spent months planning. I feel really bad about that. We also canceled tomorrow’s private tour to Tuscan wine country, so I basically cost us the two highlights of the trip. Sigh.

Amalfi, Italy

Today we arrived in Amalfi, a picturesque city on the Italian coast that shares its name. Contrary to reports, the shops were almost all open, even though it was Sunday, a last chance for the shopkeepers before the season ends. The narrow main street seems like it is for pedestrians, but cars and motorcycles also squeeze up and down.

Particularly impressive are the lemons from the region, used to make Limoncello, a desert liqueur. My photo compares them to normal lemons.

We had lunch in the hard to find Trattoria Teatro off an obscure alleyway. It is so named because it was once a children’s theater. Lunch probably wasn’t as good as claimed by Fodors, but it was fresh. Perhaps not as fresh as the drinking fountain in front of the cathedral, though.

Taormina, Sicily

We spent a pleasant couple of hours in Taormina, a medieval city converted to a pedestrian tourist shopping street, on top of a hill in Sicily. The weather has warmed up to 71, and we had an alfresco lunch at a trattoria on a secluded street. The town is very busy, with cars an motor scooters dodging tourists, so it’s easy to see why they made part of it a pedestrian street.

Unfortunately clouds obscured Mount Etna, which we’re told towers over the coast here.

At Sea

Friday was a relaxing day at sea, our only one on this itinerary. Our butler, Miroslav, brought us breakfast in our cabin along with some complementary Perrier Jouet Champagne.

Linda did needlepoint in the Horizons Lounge for a while and then we went to a very entertaining cooking demonstration put on by the executive chef and the head chef from Toscano. We learned three things: Moules Mariniere tastes much better without garlic; adding some of the water you boiled the pasta in to your sauce will thicken it, because of the starch; Italians don’t put cream in their pasta sauces, using only some of the water and grated cheese, but on the ship they do use cream, because Americans are used to creamier sauces. . We also learned how to make gnocchi, although I can’t imagine why we’d want to.

In the evening we had caviar in the room.

Then we went to the other specialty restaurant, Polo, which is a steakhouse.

Santorini, Greece

Today we visited one of the most scenic places I’ve ever encountered, the Greek Island of Santorini. We arose at sunrise to discover the ship sailing into the caldera of a giant volcano.

We were tendered to a remote spot near the southern end, the only place tour buses can get down from the top of the cliffs to sea level.

Our guide, Vangelis, was the best tour guide ever. He kept us laughing the whole day, while dispensing an incredible amount of information about just about every facet of Santorini.

We spent the morning shopping and sightseeing in Oia-Ia at the Northern tip of the island, and then drove back to the Southern part of the island for a tour, tasting and lunch at the Boutari Winery. The grapes on Santorini are primarily a white variety called Assyrtiko, which is not vinifera, but tastes a bit like Chardonnay. Because the island only gets 7 inches of rain a year, the grapes absorb much of their moisture from the air. And because some of the root stock is 700 years old(!) the roots can go down 25-40 feet. Strong winds mean that the grapes grow low to the ground, and are trained into a sort of basket shape.

We were quite impressed with the winery’s barrel fermented reserve bottling (14 Euros) and especially a dessert wine called Vinsanto made by air drying the grapes before pressing (16 Euros a half bottle).

After lunch we drove to the largest town, Fira, where we descended to the old dock via the cable car, a fairly exhilarating trip.

Vangelis’ parting advice: “If you are afraid of heights, when going down in the cable car, face away from the ocean. It will all be over in three minutes. Five seconds if something breaks.”

Patmos, Greece

Patmos is a small Greek island in the Southeastern Aegean. It wasn’t on our itinerary, but because of a strike in Rhodes to protest the Greek financial situation, that port was inaccessible, and Patmos was substituted. I don’t know what Rhodes has to offer, but Patmos was great. And the weather warmed up to the high 60s, making the day delightful.

With a population of only 6000, Patmos is pretty tiny, and since the season was over, we got the impression they reopened the shops and restaurants just for us. The town is spotlessly clean, with fresh paint on everything. The stores are definitely mostly tourist shops, but nicely kept, and they even have price stickers (although everything remains negotiable, of course).

We had lunch in an outdoor cafe called Mermaids, and enjoyed the house red and white wines, a delicious assortment of vegetarian appetizers that was assembled for us, and some delicious pork and fish. Several cats gathered around our table for handouts. I patiently picked all the bones out of my snapper before surreptitiously slipping them some, and then was surprised when the waiter put the leftovers–bones and all–across the street for them to finish.

Patmos was an unexpected delight, and a great way to spend a relaxing day.

Kusadasi and Ephesus, Turkey

The port in Kusadasi was certainly busier than the last time we were here, when we were the only ship. Either things are quieter in the Middle East or people have just gotten used to it. No circling gunboats this time, and a relaxed atmosphere throughout the busy town.

In any event, the contrast between Greece and Turkey is striking. Where Greece seemed completely shut down, Turkey is booming. Kusadasi is vibrant, with shops, restaurants, construction and lots and lots of tourists. The Turkish people are very friendly (albeit insistent shopkeepers, which takes some getting used to), and well aware that tourism is Kusadasi’s number one industry (followed by textiles and agriculture).

The main reason is Ephesus, about a 20 minute drive from the port. 2000 years ago it was the most sophisticated city in the world, other than Rome. It’s population was a quarter of a million. Its homes featured running water, toilets, heated floors and beds, and many other innovations that wouldn’t be rediscovered for more than a millennium.

Ephesus was physically destroyed by earthquakes and a landslide, and economically destroyed when its canal to the sea disappeared. Almost completely buried, it wasn’t rediscovered until the 20th century. The site has now been 14% excavated, and attempts have been made to reconstruct some of the structures, much like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

Our day couldn’t have been more different than yesterday. Not only was the archaeology 100 times superior, the weather was, too, with clear skies and a temperature of 60.

Since we’d been to Ephesus before, we opted for a more detailed tour this time, with a working archaeologist, Erjon, as our guide. (Our tour director also was an archaeologist, although she has been directing tours for 11 years, since it pays better.)

We began by taking a coach to an off-site museum where Erjon guided us through all the best finds from Ephesus. (Some of the pieces have been copied so that a duplicate remains at the site, subject to the elements.) Then we traveled to what is essentially Ephesus’ back door, so that we could work our way down the rather steep main street.

The best part of our tour was a visit to the villas. This new excavation, beneath a protective cover, exposes seven adjoining homes, each up to 7000 square feet. The first one had an 1800 square foot dining room. The high rent district, indeed! The way they’ve done this excavation is spectacular, with glass walkways that allow visitors to walk through the entire space and see everything below them.

After the villas, we posed in front of the facade of the library, which looks like a two-story building, but wasn’t. One of its more interesting features was a tunnel to the bordello, making a visit to the librarian pretty exciting indeed.

In the afternoon we traveled to Restaurant Sizguzar for a delicious Turkish meal of grilled vegetables and minced lamb kebabs, then returned to the port to walk through the bazaar and tell very polite but insistent shopkeepers that we didn’t want a rug. Or a jacket. Or jewelry. Or a statue of Priapus that was six inches tall and six inches long, if you know what I mean.

Filippi and Kavala, Greece

The ship was rockin’ and rollin’ last night, I guess still feeling the effects of a cyclone over the Black Sea. It was still raining when we docked a bit late in Kavala, a hillside community in Macedonia (Northern Greece). But shortly after we joined our 9:30 tour, the rain stopped, although temperatures remained in the 40s and it was windy.

Our tour was to Filippi, a ruin located about ten miles from Kavala. I should capitalize RUIN. What was a major city in 200 AD is, after a few earthquakes and a millennium of maintenance by The Three Stooges, now a field full of rocks. It’s certainly nothing like Ephesus or even Carthage in terms of its intactness.

Filippi is where Casius and Brutus, murderers of Julius Caesar, were defeated, and it’s where the apostle Paul first converted a European to Christianity. Fortunately there were no shops selling pieces of Paul.

We returned to the ship by 2pm, and had lunch in the dining room, where it felt good to warm up.

Tonight was the Captain’s Gala dinner, although we already had reservations at Toscana, one of two specialty restaurants on board. That might have been a strategic mistake, as they had caviar as an appetizer and lobster as an entree in the main dining room. But our dinner at Toscano was lovely. We had a wonderful table under the sloped glass at the stern, a great bottle of 2008 Gaja Magari, and watched the sun set under the cloud layer as we sailed into the Aegean.

Linda has a new black cocktail dress with a halter top, and she was rather self-conscious about wearing it. I think she felt better about it after four random people around the ship told her how fantastic she looked.

Before dinner we enjoyed a very sincere welcome by the Captain and the very funny crew’s introductions in the Insignia lounge, and after dinner we returned there for a Broadway revue, with four singers and a 8-member orchestra. They did quite a good job, even pulling off “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. A very nice end to the day.

Istanbul

This is our first time on Oceania, although they are owned by Regent, a high end line Dani and I once took for an enjoyable Mediterranean cruise. The Insignia is a beautiful ship, with by far the nicest finish work of any I’ve sailed on. Unlike the Princess, Royal Caribbean and NCL ships, there is no tacky chrome and glass, or garish colors. It’s all detailed woodwork, leather, and brass. Every public space, even just little out of the way corners, is furnished with ritzy, comfortable living room furniture like you’d find in someone’s home. Oddly, they are retiring this ship; it’s not in next year’s catalog, as the plan to lease it to a German company. That’s surprising, considering it seems in perfect repair, but I guess they need larger ships. This one is small compared to almost all that I’ve been on, accommodating only 684 passengers, rather than the thousands we’re used to. Still, it has several lounges, and four different dining experiences.

For our first night aboard we ate in the main dining room, and certainly enjoyed the best meal I’ve had on a cruise ship. This is not Royal Caribbean food, where a cheese plate comes with saltines and Kraft slices!

The wine list isn’t high-end, and the prices might be low for a fine restaurant, but they’re a bit high for a cruise ship. However they offer a package that provides a 30% discount if you preorder bottles, so that’s quite a good deal.

Water, coffee (even cappuccino and so on) and soft drinks are free on this ship, a benefit worth many hundreds of dollars over two weeks. Liquor is also a pretty good deal.

Sunday we were up early (very early, given the 7-hour time change) but we had a good night’s sleep, and were ready for our 7:45am departure for The Best of Istanbul tour. We opted for a small tour group, with only eight people, which made it very easy to stay with the group and to hear our guide.

Unfortunately, it was rainy, although that didn’t affect our plans. What did affect our plans was that today was the annual Euro-Asia marathon, with 250,000 entrants, so the streets were closed and the city was impassible for most of the day. It’s the only marathon that covers two continents, and–not coincidentally–Istanbul is the only city that spans two continents.

Our van dropped us off in the old city, not far from the ship, and our day was spent on foot.

Our first brief stop was at the first needle stolen from Egypt by the Romans. They could only manage to move the top two thirds of it, and once they got it to Byzantium (aka Constantinople, aka Istanbul) it took more than half a century for them to figure out how to stand it back up.

Nearby we visited the Blue Mosque, the largest mosque in a city filled with them. It is unusual in that non-muslims are allowed to visit in between the five daily prayer sessions. We learned that Turkey is a unique muslim country, because even though it is 99.9% muslim, it is secular. In fact, the government dictates what is allowed in the sermons, to prevent religious uprisings such as those that have toppled other governments. It is also technically illegal to cover your face, although we saw one Iraqi woman at the airport wearing a burka.

A short distance from the Blue Mosque is the Topkapi Palace, where the Sultans ruled for 700 years. The palace is actually a sprawling complex of courtyards and single story buildings that have been converted to museums. There was a textile museum that displayed various sultans’ garments of considerable age, and a holy artifact museum that displayed possessions and bits and pieces claimed to come from various prophets. Most impressive was the treasury, which displayed jewelry, swords and boxes studded or filled with many, many enormous diamonds, emeralds and other precious gems.

Outside Linda posed in the rain for a picture on the balcony overlooking the strait. Behind her, on the left, is Europe, and on the right is Asia. Only 3% of Turkey is in Europe, though, making it a long shot for membership in the EU.

Another short walk brought us to Saint Sophia, the most impressive stop of the day. Built in the early 6th century as the first domed basilica, it remained the largest building on Earth for over 1000 years! It is still the fourth largest basilica in the world. The size of the unsupported dome is rather amazing, especially for its age, and particularly because it was constructed in five years. (There’s a cathedral in Koln that took the better part of a millennium to build!)

Another short stroll brought us to the lovely Four Seasons Hotel Istanbul, where we had a marvelous buffet brunch of sushi, sashimi, salads, and omelets, all included in our tour. Best tour lunch ever.

Unfortunately, the marathon road closures made it impossible to get to our final destination, the spice market, so we spent a couple hours relaxing in the hotel, and then headed back to the ship for the ever-popular lifeboat drill.

Then we bid rainy Istanbul goodbye, and headed out into rough seas for Greece.

New York to Istanbul

With a lull in Linda’s projects for Disney, she was able to get away, so for her birthday we booked a cruise in the Mediterranean. When Delta changed their flight schedule, our connection through JFK became dangerously short, so we decided to fly into New York a day a day before our international flight and celebrate her birthday a couple of days early, with dinner at Daniel and a night at the Hotel Athenee. Booking through Amex got us some nice benefits, including an upgrade to one of only two balcony rooms. Although it was rainy (with an impressive thunderstorm in the middle of the night) we were lucky during our walks around the city, and never needed an umbrella.

Dinner was nice, if not quite at the level of Eleven Madison Park or Jean Georges. The dining room is beautiful, and there were an astonishing number of wait staff. The service was extremely professional, but neither stiff nor friendly, just sort of a frenetic attempt to make everything perfect. It was, at times, a bit exhausting to watch. That’s very different from Eleven Madison Park, where the perfection feels effortless.

We had the six course tasting menu with matching wine pairing. There were two choices for each course, and I let Linda pick first, then took all the alternatives. As it turned out, I think I got the better choices. Of the wines, a 2009 Copain Pinot Noir from Alexander Valley really impressed us with its earthy/fruity complexity.

The next day we ate at Linda’s favorite lunch restaurant, Alain Ducasse’s Benoit, where we had her two favorite courses, the Charcuterie and the Roasted Chicken. Both are really, really French, and the pommes frites that accompany the chicken are the best anywhere.

On our walk back to the hotel we passed the Apple Store, where a tribute to Steve Jobs had been set up by fans. It happened to be iPhone 4s launch day, and there were hundreds of people in line outside.

Our 5:15pm flight to Istanbul was delayed when a bird was sucked into one of the engines on arrival at JFK, and eventually Delta ended up replacing the plane, recatering it, and we finally took off close to three hours late. Fortunately we had nothing to do on arrival. We were both able to get four or five hours of sleep on the way, and felt fairly refreshed as we watched the comedy team of baggage handlers try to round up 69 passengers and their bags at the Istanbul airport. Then it was off to meet our ship.

Thai Beef Salad

This is my favorite salad recipe. We originally got it from Standolyn Robertson, Jamie Robertson’s wife. She served it at a dinner that was memorable because it was the night, twenty years ago, that a micro burst blew down our screen room. It was originally a recipe for Thai Papaya Shrimp Salad, so as you can see, it’s gone through a few revisions since we got it!

Meat

6-8 ounces rare filet mignon, chilled, cut into thin strips

Salad

5-8 ounces of spinach
8 ounces diced cantaloupe
½ hothouse cucumber, diced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 handful of cilantro, minced

Dressing

3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons finely minced ginger
2 tablespoons thai fish sauce
1 teaspoon vietnamese hot sauce
1 green onion, finely minced

Mix dressing ingredients in a cruet, shake. Toss salad ingredients with most of dressing, layer beef on top, and drizzle remaining dressing over the top. Add some cracked pepper and serve.

Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as a side

Rocco’s Italian Grille

Roccos1 — Bev, Bandit, Rocco and Ron (sounds like a polka band)

It had been a while since we’d been to Rocco’s. The food is always great, but we’d had some disastrous wine service during a Wine Syndicate event, and hadn’t been back. Saturday Ron and Bev invited us to join them, and Rocco pulled out all the stops, serving an eleven-course dinner. I brought a couple of 1961 Bordeaux reds, still my favorite vintage. The stars of the night were the 61 Grauad Larose, 93 Haut Brion Blanc, and, funnily enough, a Cardamaro bitter digestif that I poured at the end.

George Gardet Rose Champagne (Ron)
Dry, dried floral arrangement 90

2010 Mudbrick Reserve Chardonnay NZ (Steve)
Ash, tropical fruit 90

1993 Haut Brion Blanc (Ron)
wax, cumin, green veggies, limestone, lime, caramel 98

1961 Talbot (Steve)
Medium brown, low fill, curry, Georges de La Tour style maderized nose 91

1959 Talbot (Ron)
Murky, pronounced iron nose, sweet, plums, blueberry pie ala mode 89

1961 Gruaud Larose (Steve)
Garnet, youthful despite low fill, sawdust, meat, smoked sausage 95

1959 Corton Charles Vienot (Ron)
Young, rich, velvety, almost gritty, bacon, smoke, chocolate coated raisins, 93

1957 Louis M. Martini Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve (Steve)
Redwood nose, black berry finish, 91

1979 Castello di Neive Barbaresco Santo Stefano (Steve)
Bright garnet, peppers, spices 90

1990 Gaja Barolo Sperss (Ron)
Chocolate coated mushrooms, vanilla, wood, 93

1982 Bodegas Toro Albala Montilla-Moriles Don PX Gran Reserva (Steve)
Super ripe raisins, citrus, 90

Cardamaro Amaro (Steve)
cinnamon, bitters 92

Roccos4 — Some of the most interesting wines

Not wanting to drive home in the weekend-long deluge, Linda and I had booked a room at the Best Western Mount Vernon Inn–not exactly the Ritz, but it was only a couple hundred feet from the restaurant. As we curled up in bed five minutes after leaving the tasting, this seemed like a really good move.

Coogee

Although it was an early morning, our plane flight from Aukland to Sydney was otherwise painless, and, taking advantage of the two hour time shift, we were in Coogee by 11am. this is the town where Pamela grew up, so I had a strong impression of it from reading her book, but of course it has changed a bit since then,, and we are staying at a beach front resort, the Crowne Plaza. We walked down along the beach enjoying the dramatic waves breaking on the rocks and also the topless bathers, out for one of the first really sunny beach days of the year. At the end of the beach we climbed the rocks and looked down on the next cove, but decided against making the long trek father north to famous Bondi Beach.

Back at the beach we walked up Coogee Bay Road looking for lunch. There were many cafes, but all seemed to fall into two camps: crammed or empty. Figuring there was a reason for both, but not wanting to squeeze into one of the popular ones, we instead ate in the outdoor patio of the Coogee Bay Hotel, where we shared a good Caesar Salad and a fairly awful Cheeseburger.

Then we walked down to the beach, took off our shoes and socks and (having been warned by Bill Bryson’s book, watching carefully for box jelly fish, great white sharks and poisonous cone shells) stepped into the water so that we could say we’d been in the Tasman Sea (or whatever it is here).

That was enough outdoor adventure for one day, and we retreated to our room for a quiet afternoon fiddling with photos and blogs.

For dinner we walked across the street and had Trout and Barramundi on the balcony at Ceviche, overlooking Coogee Beach.

We ended our trip watching the moon rise over the bay.

The next morning we had quite a view from the plane window as we began the 24-hour trek back home.

My final Australia album ended up with 160 favorite photos out of 1400 that we took.

A couple of other trip-related notes:

I signed up for data plans on the iPad and iPhones, The iPhone plan gave us 275MB per month, so we had about 200 for the trip. Neither of us used close to this, but that was because we were really careful. It would have been easy to go over if we’d made more use of maps or the web. I also signed up for 800MB on the iPad. That trend out to be way too much, because I didn’t end up using it for maps, web or blogging. It wouldn’t had been enough for blogging my photos, and its WordPress App is cumbersome, so I ended up buying Internet at most hotels. Hotel internet is expensive, slow, and often data limited, but there’s not much you can do, as free wifi is very rare here.

Dani made a list of “best of” on her blog, and I completely agree, so I’m stealing it to post here, too:

Highlights

Lunch with Janis and Adriaan on their veranda
Lunch with Pamela’s family
Jenolan Caves
Feeding Kangaroos
Lunch at Kerry’s dairy farm
Ozzy’s mussel boat in Marlborough Sound
The drive into Milford Sound
The Kiwi Bird Park
T.S.S. Earnslaw’s engine room

Food

Best Breakfast: The Langham
Best Included Meal: toss up between the dairy farm and Kiwi Bird Park
Best Hotel Dinner: The Langham’s 8 buffet stations
Best Asian: Chat Thai
Best High-Brow Dinner: Tetsuya’s
Best Low-Brow Dinner: Fergburger
Best Chai-Tea Latte: Relax Cafe!!!!!!!!!

Accommodations

Best Hotel: The Four Seasons in Sydney
Best Hotel Room: The Copthorn in Wellington
Best View: Queenstown