Limonata On Ice, Very Nice

I've learned a few things about blogging in my feeble attempts to get started. First of all, it takes a lot more discipline that I ever imagined to sit down and write when there is only a very fluid, self-imposed deadline! That deadline has become considerably more fluid as time has gone on. It's harder still when you spend most of the day writing at work. There is this intense ennui (deep sigh) I feel when I open my wife's laptop at home after a long day staring at my work computer. And, you know what, whenever I go to write I find myself delving into areas that I am ambivalent (to say the least) to put into this very public domain. But I'll get over it. It's a deal I made with myself and today's the day I get back on the horse I fell!

I've been on the wagon since New Years. No alcohol since the debauchery of New Years Eve. (My staff can attest- the recycle bin was very heavy after that party) And no, I didn't make some lame resolution to stop drinking. I am in the wine business. How long would that last! It just so happens, I am taking some strong antibiotics to eliminate some H Pylori bacteria from my stomach as stomach cancer runs in the family and this stuff seems to be a marker.

Being off alcohol for 10 days has taught me a few things I didn't know about myself. The first is that I am not an alcoholic. Whew. I wasn't sure. Let's put it this way.....that also runs in my family and I've always been very conscious to make sure my decades-long love affair with wine never crossed over into a need for alcohol. It's been a long time since I've taken any significant break from it. After eight days straight without, I think I'm OK. I do crave a glass of wine with dinner, particularly if its Western food, but I have successfully convinced myself it's more a social thing than a physical one. One just completes the other.

I've also learned that I really like San Pellegrino Limonata. I've never been a big soft drink guy but this is bright, refreshing and not at all sweet. Limonata on ice: very nice. Aranciata (San Pellgrino's orange flavor)...not so much. Is it going to replace Fiano di Avellino at my dinner table? Maybe.....sometimes. I hope more frequently.

Also confirmed in my mind was the notion that the schnoz is more important than the pie-hole when it comes to evaluating wine. I managed to fall hopelessly in love with the Pflender Pinot Noir from Sonoma Mountain in a 'smelling' (my colleagues tasted plenty, don't worry on that score) yesterday. Simply wonderful. It was a wine I could sniff all day! Once Brandon and Frank confirmed my suppositions about the mouthfeel and taste of the wine, the deal was struck! Coming soon to an e-mail near you! Smelling but not tasting is not a habit I wish to get into, mind you, but it has been an interesting experiment. Alas, smelling but not tasting is ultimately like kissing a girl through the mail: Ultimately unsatisfying.

Peer pressure has been tough! I am surrounded by wine drinkers all day and by night, well, Anne was with me every step of the way. That is until I made pork chops the other evening. The 2005 Chateau Le Pape Pessac I opened for her sure smelled good out of that Riedel glass. But I resisted. And,of course, what was guaranteed to happen, did happen. We bumped into customer/friend Mike Appleton and his family at Dopo in Oakland Thursday evening. After running an uncomfortable errand (not for this blog...I told you some stuff is best left unwritten) and getting into a silly fender bender on Piedmont Ave ten minutes earlier, Anne and I were a little tense. And when Mike sent over a healthy glassful of 1997 Rockford Cabernet, my first thought was how much a glass of that wonderful Aussie rarity might help soothe over the rough edges of a very surreal day. And Anne loved it. But for me: that familiar refrain: Limonata on ice, very nice!

I'm interested in what crawling back off the wagon is going to be like. Next Monday night I am going to a dinner in San Francisco with Bobby Kacher, the famed wine importer and also have a lunch with Joe Bastianich and Shelley at A-16 next week. I suppose there is no better way to 'break fast' as it were, with some of Bobby's incredible southern French beauties. And if I whine loud enough, maybe he'll pop a Dugat to go with one of Shelley's wonderful pizzas! And though I promise to use more than my nose after Monday, I am going to go back into this whole wine drinking thing with a bit of circumspection. My doctor would be happier if I lost 15 pounds and I'm anxious to see if ten days without wine has helped the cause.

In the meantime, tonight I am roasting a nice piece of salmon, procured from Berkeley Bowl, slathered in Meyer lemons from our tree and a bit of jalapeno-cilantro chutney. We're sauteing some wild mushrooms, making a mizuna salad and some brown rice. Sounds like a bottle of ........well, never mind.
Looks like Limonata on ice again.
Very nice.