Here’s how we handle it, this winter/recession thing.
Beans, rice and Italian sausages (all natural pork made by New Leaf).
Add a big glass of Bonny Doon Vineyard‘s excellent Sangiovese, a few candles (yes, David, we still dine by candlelight every night), and voila!
Jeff Emery’s splendid Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard wines just continue to find traction, most lately with the judges of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. Emery’s robust Graciano 2007 bearing his Quinta Cruz label, took Best of Class & Judges’ Choice awards in the “Other Red Varietals†category. The big, spicy Graciano — often blended with Tempranillo in distinguished Spanish wines — offers complexity, rounded dark berry notes and plenty of grip. At $28 it makes a confident partner for game meats and spicy pastas. Available at the winery, 334-A Ingalls St., on the Westside,  as well as your favorite stores.
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Katherine Stern has worked expert magic on the menu at La Posta. Since the richly resuméd chef came on board a few months ago, things have gotten very interesting at the chic Seabright dining room.
Contemporary Italian cooking. Deeply burnished flavors. Uncluttered presentation.
E.g. an intensely tangy Meyer lemon crostata, with mascarpone.
La Posta – open for dinner Tues-Sun – at 538 Seabright Avenue.
We learn many things from the new Sherlock Holmes film starring the very pretty Jude Law as Dr. Watson, and the always appealing Robert Downey Jr. as the eccentric fictional sleuth, Sherlock Holmes.
We learn for example that Madonna was right to ditch Guy Ritchie, a man whose directorial credentials reside in his ability to write big checks.
We learn that Robert Downey Jr. is easily the most watchable actor on the screen. Yet that isn’t enough. Even he—gasp—is beginning to rely on self-parody and schtick. He had to. There was neither script, nor story nor director available.
We learn, once and for all, that despite his visual appeal, Jude Law cannot act.
We learn that misogyny is afoot and evident in the casting of two woefully awkward and untrained ingenues to play the female bits in the new Sherlock Holmes flick. One is a poor girl so loaded with collagen that she can barely say her lines. The other is a terrific looking actress (I use the term with abandon here), Rachel McAdams, whom we are to believe is not only a cunning vixen, a brilliant sleuth in her own right but the once and only love interest of the great Holmes himself. Yet when McAdams opens her mouth, the entire facade crumbles. Her squeaky valley girl delivery makes a mockery of what might have been a delicious foil for the utterly chewable Downey…..to be continued….
The prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition has showered the winemakers of Soquel Vineyards — Jon Morgan, Peter & Paul Bargetto, with gold (and not the kind advertised on those TV infomercials either).
Three opulent Pinot Noirs, a Sangiovese and a Cabernet Sauvignon made at the small Santa Cruz mountains winery, took Gold Medals — with a double gold going to the cab!
This could be the excuse you’ve needed to get out to the beautiful tasting room located in the hills above Soquel to sample all of the award-winners. Or you could check out your favorite wine store (e.g. New Leaf, Shoppers, VinoCruz) and pick up one of these tasty tipples. Three of Soquel Vineyards’ award-winning pinots come from Lester Family Vineyard, where ace viticulturist Prudy Foxx tends the vines.
Kudos!
A book of sensory adventure: The rituals, passions and discoveries of an engaged life.