Showing posts with label Cabernet Sauvignon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cabernet Sauvignon. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Make That Change (Rosé)

Are you interested in what Dr. King said and thought during his short yet influential lifetime? The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Volume III: Birth of a New Age, December 1955-December 1956 will intrigue. (you can buy it from the Amazon link on the right). I was reminded about this book during Michael Jackson’s memorial where I heard one of the passages:
Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. Even if it does not fall in the category of one of the so-called big professions, do it well. As one college president said, A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better. If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, like Shakespeare wrote poetry, like Beethoven composed music; sweep streets so well that all the host of Heaven and Earth will have no pause and say, Here lived a great street sweeper, who swept his job well.
I hadn’t intended on watching the memorial but I grew up on MJs music and his service brought back memories. As were billions of other viewers, I was urged to look at the person in the mirror and ask her to change her ways. The memorial spoke some powerful message to me. One was Don’t Hesitate. Create!

Have done some photographing and harvesting flowers, took care of a flat tire, spoke with a client, collected driftwood for a fire meditation, harvested an abundance of herbs, made some marketing pieces, and am preparing to finish a batch of limoncello and make some canned pineapple jam. Don't Hesitate.

A couple'a quick n easies:

Dehydrated potatoes with homemade compound butter (sundried tomatoes, garden herbs)
Garden lettuce and mint leaf salad with homemade apricot vinaigrette

Marinated chicken (in the pot, left; ready to eat right) cooked in herb-infused olive oil and a lot of dried garden mint, fresh rosemary, ground pepper
(The uncooked marinade was just some soy sauce, sugar, and powdered ginger. The chicken marinated for half a day. Simmered in a small wok)


**The astringent nature of the Dante Reserve 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon went REALLY well with this meal**



Pasta (cooked)
Sauce: saute together pesto diluted with water, herb-infused olive oil, thinly sliced smoked sausage, grape tomatoes, ground pepper, salt, chopped baby asparagus, chopped mushrooms (in the pot, left; ready to eat, right)

 **I had a glass of Paradiso del Sol's Rose Rosé Paradiso with this. It was alright but this hearty pasta could have used a mild-bodied red**

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Confucius Says (Cabernet Sauvignon)

“What the superior man seeks in himself; what the small man seeks in others” – Confucius

This afternoon as I was driving down the highway I knew that I did it again. I jammed a log in the gears of a conversation with somebody close to me because I expected them to do something that I, in my own way, wasn't doing. Wisdom of many traditions offers warnings and guidance as to the boogaboos of Expectations and Attachments. Until I reach the utopia where my own house is spic n span I’m better to keep my broom a sweepin’. Follow me while I sweep on over to one of my freshly uncovered treasures, Dante Reserve 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon. You're gonna like this!

Found for $6.99 at the local wine merchant from Michael Pozzan Winery. When I connect with a wine at this price with a glowing write-up I'm checking it out. To me this wine smells of dark fruit, is mildly astringent (14.9% alcohol content), and finishes with cedar and a spicy flavor. Some tasting notes indicated I wasn’t at home base (I never am!) but was definitely on the field. I drank this pretty, dark red Cab solo and also with a hearty mushroom Swiss bacon burger. I can imagine hooking it up with a multitude of culinary sins and think it'd be a killer choice for a party -- you'll score with your friends and it won’t empty your purse.

Since it’ll go swell with summer Q I’m offering another uncooked marinade recipe for you to try: 2 cups soy sauce, 1 cup pineapple juice, ½ cherry, 1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar, 1 clove crushed garlic, ½ teaspoon ginger.

Confucius says Salute! and keep your eyes on your own glass.