The poster child for what you DON'T want your kitchen to look like.

'Oh, we'll just knock out this wall', says I. 'And move this over here, and that over there!'. Idiot.

I'm glad I was that naive, as if I knew what I was getting myself [and many close family and friends] into, I likely wouldn't have tackled such a reno.

But now, my kitchen is taking shape. Countertops were installed today. You never realize how important something like that is until you don't have one. My pot rack and its contents appeared. Plumbing appeared to our shower, so that we can actually practice standard hygiene. Tomorrow.

I have challenges still, such as not possessing a kitchen sink, nor its plumbing. But soon that will be solved. The bigger challenge is what to do with 5-10 times the gardening space. How to tweak my lovely new kitchen. How to get as much as I can done before a big family wedding this week, followed by 3 weeks of traveling with family through France.

So soon: back to food. Herbs from the garden have been appearing in our daily diet - which is tremendously inspiring. And little veggies are sprouting in some newly dug dirt in my back yard. Perhaps they will jolt me from my construction site diet of prepared deli food, donuts and coffee, and bottled water. See why I haven't been blogging?

I am not dead

I'm just sore. And tired. Renovations are energy-consuming, so unfortunately, my blog is collecting dust. In the world I'm living in, that'd be gyprock dust.

"Tasting Notes, Meet Database."

I’ve embarked upon a new era of wine geekness.

My tasting notes have been removed from my blog, and the onerous word-doc-format has been replaced by a quick-and-easy-to-use database. Makes it a little tougher to share, but a whole lot easier for me to use. It was so tedious to update the previous format that I'd have paper tasting notes piling up everywhere - and I eventually just gave up. Not now. Now I'm collecting them at warp-speed again. And if I want to know which wines I scored over 90 points, I can now have a report in a jiffy. Want to know which wines had celery or barnyard notes? Can find out in a flash. Very handy. I’ve also got a new QPR score aside the usual score. And yes, I built the database in Access, having reviewed a few on the market. I KNEW there was a reason they taught us this stuff at University.

I know there were some that used my notes from time to time, so I’m going to have to think of some other way to share my wine tasting adventures. I'll think of something.

Bacon

I have Michael Ruhlman to thank for getting me making bacon at home. I will forever be indebted. I also must thank Gracianne, Maryann, and Yen for prodding me to post about it. It's been a long time coming. Yen had wanted to get his hands dirty and learn how I did it, so with Ruhlman's recipe in hand for dry cure and a date to smoke it here before a wine tasting, he set about acquiring pork belly, pink salt, and cured him some pig. This process takes about a week.

THE CURE. First challenge. Find pork belly. Asian meat markets have been our best source. Second challenge: find pink salt. It's cheap, lasts forever as you use it in small quantities, but you may have to talk to a butcher or specialty food store to find it. Ask. There are too many cured products in our world for pink salt to hide from you for too long. I'd share Ruhlman's dry cure recipe, but will not for two reasons. First, as punishment for you not having the book: 'Charcuterie'. Second, because all of my wordly belongings are in boxes in someone's garage between moves, so my copy is buried. Yen, ever the culinary adventurer, took the belly down 4 roads: maple, bay, black pepper, and plain [which we double smoked]. The cure and aromatic elements are rubbed in, the belly's tossed in a Ziploc to do its thing for about a week - quick and easy. The night before smoking, take the belly out of the bags, which will be wet from released moisture from the belly, and set on racks to dry - to form a pellicle. I did not invent that word.

THE SMOKE. How you smoke is limited only by your resourcefulness, so tackle it how you'd like. My approach: bought an old baking pan for $5 that fit the dimensions of my bbq. Remove propane tank [for safety], remove grills, and set pan on bottom of bbq. Start a fire [I assume no liability]. I've been using sage bush prunings, which I'm sure makes my [former] neighbors think we were smoking piles of weed. I set a rack on top of the fire, and put hardwood charcoal [source: local bbq specialty shop] on top to light up. Add wood of your choice [check hardward or hunting stores if you need to buy it]. We used hickory and cherry. IMO, the bigger the chips, the better.

Smoking meat is a laid-back, don't sweat the small stuff kind-of-affair in my world. Providing you cured properly to not die of botulism, that is. How long do you smoke it? Until it looks good. The time varies on the heat of your coals, the ambient temperature, the amount of smoke you're getting, the thickness of the meat. All I can offer is that I've found longer and slower is indeed better. Keep the heat cool, keep the smoke steady, and give it an hour or two. Refrigerating overnight definitely gets the texture where it needs to be for cutting, and lets the smoke penetrate. It freezes extremely well, and is even pretty easy to cut when it's frozen solid.

Make your own bacon. Your friends and relatives will thank you.

400 bottles of Wine on the Wall

I had the pleasure of tasting some dynamic and intriguing wines from the Alsace this evening alongside a nice meal with family. Life is good.

I’m quickly approaching the 1-year mark of collecting tasting notes on wine – and estimate about 400 or so wines tasted in the past 12 months. I can’t believe how much I’ve learned. Such as:

- I have yet to meet a good-quality red that couldn’t benefit from at least an hour or two of decanting
- I’m a melody guy, more than a lyric guy when it comes to music. I’m a bouquet guy, more than a palate guy, when it comes to wine
- Some reds have a quality I like to call the ‘great intangible’ that makes me fall in love with them, and that it is those wines that I should buy
- When I find wines I love, I have to buy them asap, while they’re available. They have a way of becoming 'unavailable'.
- When I find wines I love, I should buy a case, not 2 bottles [see the previous point]
- Those wines I don’t love, should more often than not remain on the shelf

- I tend to not like heavily extracted, heavily oaked, super-ripe, new-world, heavy reds
- I generally like a zippy, grippy white over a sweet, fruity one
- I like more tannins in a young Bordeaux than most
- Everyone seems to appreciate or not appreciate different things in wine
- I prefer wines that pair well with food
- Wines that are better as ‘social sippers’, I will generally leave on the shelf [let’s face it, when am I NOT eating]
- There’s a time and a place for most styles of wines
- My bias is undeniably France, but I don’t underestimate Italy’s ability to impress
- I don’t currently have the capability of properly storing and aging wine. [But I will soon]
- My palate is very similar to some, and very opposite to others
- A bottle of red and I’m okay. A bottle of white and I feel like I drank a 2L of syrupy pop.

This is by no means a comprehensive list. As Gary Vaynerchuk says - taste lots of wine, have an open mind, and trust your palate.

Some particularly nice Elk Tenderloin and Bacon

My mourning of my last PC has passed, and its replacement has arrived. New computers feel fresh and clean and fast and a bit like taking a tylenol when you have a bit of a headache.

The photo: Monday night's dinner after a day of yawns-ville seminars. Some pan-roasted marinated cow elk tenderloin with some made-yesterday black pepper smoked bacon on the last of the garden potatoes and some in-season asparagus. I make this kind of food a lot, as you likely know, but this execution turned out particularly well. Cooking the tenderloin whole helps a great deal, the marinade didn't hurt [garlic, scrap bacon skin, red wine vinegar, red wine, black peppercorns], and the bacon was crispy for some textural contrast.

Didn't hurt that it was paired with a 2004 Chateau Fonbadet, I suppose. Which was followed by a 2005 Torbreck Woodcutter's Shiraz. Which, fortunately, was NOT followed by a headache through the next day of yawns-ville seminars. Must be the new computer.

ps - I'm working on a post about the bacon making. Finally documented the process for some bacon-blog-action.

4 Wines & A Plate - March 2008

This time, I was looking for varietals and regions that typically fly a bit under the radar in the roughly $18 price point. Looking for value, as always. We certainly found more character at this pricepoint than at $13. No superstars, but some solid wines, the best of which pleased enough that a few of us will be buying some. The plate? Calf moose tenderloin wrapped in bacon Yen and I smoked the day of, on cottage cheese mashed potatoes with roasted mushroom, onion confit, and horseradish.

2004 Delas Crozes-Hermitage Les Launes [syrah]
Superstore $18.73
Leather, apple peel, potato bin, tobacco, bad fruit, greed veg, fruitcake. SO weird.
Soft, elegant, supple mouthfeel, long finish. REALLY unusual.
Wine B, Group Score 39, 1st place

2005 Frescobaldi Campo Ai Sassi Rosso di Montalcino [sangiovese grosso]
Superstore $18.20
Gamey, cheery kool aid. Herbaceous, pepper, anise, licorice, spice.
Light happy fruit vibe. Later showing raisin and prune vibes. Reminded me of a CDR.
Wine G, Group Score 34, 2nd place

2003 Il Falcone Castel del Monte [70% Nero di Troia, 30% Montepulciano]
Superstore $18.52
Battery, metalic, rich fruit, really solid nose. Caramel, mineral, jam, ozone, chocolate, plum.
Good mid palate, weak finish. Honey. Grippy – really dry.
Wine C, Group Score 33, 3rd place

2003 Chateau Mayne-Vieil Fronsac [Merlot, Cabernet Franc]
Superstore $18.94
Deep dark fruit, cooked apple, strawberry. Wet dog, smoke, roses, almond, green apple.
Tannic, light, little mid palate and finish. Cherry, juicy. Improved with time.
Wine A, Group Score 25, 4th place

2006 Babich Marlborough Pinot Noir
DeVine $17.99
Nothing. Delicate plum. Lemongrass. Light citrus.
Under articulated, briny, acidic finish. This one opened up nicely the next day.
Wine F, Group Score 22, 5th place

2001 Quinta da Garrida DAO [tinta roriz, touriga nacional]
DeVine $14.49
Old person closet, grandpa and grandma’s coldroom, flat, dungeon, greenhouse.
Dirt, stubble, blackberry, like the mouthfeel.
Wine D, Group Score 19, tied for 6/7 place

2005 Altos de la Hoya Monastrell [Jumilla: Monastrell, 10% Grenache]
DeVine $17.99
Planty vibe, heavy bread yeast, band aid/hospital. Ether, cedar, plastic, then plummy.
Grip, acidic, with a yucky finish. Dark fruit.
Wine H, Group Score 19, tied for 6/7 place with D

2003 Torres Gran Coronas Cabernet Sauvignon [Penedes: 15% Tempranillo]
Superstore $16.52
Tobacco, citrus, asphalt. Too oaked, too burned, celery.
Nice mouthfeel, over the top, aggressive hard flavors. Way too much, too hard. Okay maybe with a cigar. Wine E, Group Score 5, by far last place