Panic solved...Mimosa

We got a email this morning imploring for an answer to "how to make a mimosa - a morning brunch type drink with champagne and orange juice". 

We thought this to be a nifty idea for a Sunday brunch so we responded with the picture left and the YouTube video below.

A friend of ours who flew Delta all the time from Atlanta to Europe reported that when then sat down in first class (envious) for the trip, Mimosas appeared instantly and when they asked why this particular drink, the response from the Cabin Attendants was that it was very easy to make and they had the ingredients at the ready PLUS it was light on alcohol and made the rest of the trip a lot easier on them.  He also reported that with coaxing they could make it with a bit of grenadine and make it blush.

Anyway, by popular request, here it is in action. Good luck with your impromptu brunch.

Kitchen Cooking

Sometimes our customers come in and ask us what wine is best to serve with some dish that goes on the table that evening - you know - the old meat/red and fish/white thing.  Take today at our Saturday 3-6p tasting (132 Front Street/Greenport), we are sure to get the question in reverse, which is what food would go well with this wine.  We want to think globally and here is our chance.

We were watching Jacques Pepin this morning on Create TV and he made an interesting observation about cooking.  The meal isn't just on the plate on the table but it starts when the stove turns on and the first onion is chopped and goes until the dishes are cleared. Dinner is or perhaps should for most of us, a time to share the kitchen, to talk through the day, and to concentrate on each other and the ritual of an evening meal turned into a time to connect.  We don't want to sound preachy about this but what wine to serve for dinner should be rephrased as "what wine to enjoy during the dinner process"; what do we open up that is both a prelude to the meal and what we take to the table.

A glass of wine while preparing and talking, chatting, unwinding is not a bad thing and we recommend it.  Think of today's tasting as just figuring out what to bring home to make the dinner hour(s) special. 

Here is some music to set the mood.

Gaudeamus igitur

You have to be careful when our little brains start to whirl.  Perhaps we should put a sign outside the door that says "beware, scattered thinking inside, enter with caution".

One of our friends popped in yesterday near closing and we talked for a minute about what was on tap (did we just make a pun?) for this Saturday's tasting (3-6p) as yet undecided. We are going to give it some thought this morning.

During our conversation, as he never just pops in silently, it was agreed that a wine tasting wasn't so much about the wine, but in learning about wine. Certainly some go to tastings for the bon vivant but others go because wine is discussed and what qualities one likes or seeks comes in sharper focus. People learn - and that is the point.

We learn something new every day because it is thrust on us.  Sometimes out of curiosity we seek out stuff and now that the Internet is as much a part of our brain's life, well you get our point. Wine tastings are about curiosity.

Our friend, upon the discussion of 'learning' at the tastings was all enthusiastic and he wrote us later to note that he got in his car to drive home and flipped in a CD and this piece by Brahms came up during his drive. Out of curiosity, we found the label and the music - but you have to wait until the end to figure out the title of this thread.

Letter from our far flung friends

We sent this message out to some of our friends the other day: "This Saturday we'll be pouring Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay and Andezon Cotes du Rhone.  3 to 6 snow or shine.  And we are beginning our WINTER WHITE (wine) SALE" on selected whites, and while readying the shop for the tasting, our little e-M "pinger" went off and a friend of ours, who cannot attended, wrote a response.

We like our friend a lot because he visits us often, not so much to buy but to spread hello's and fair thee wells. In fact he came by the other day and made a point of searching us out in the back just to say hello.  That is something that we can only wish on everyone.  We asked ourselves how many times is it that you just "drop by" to say hello and smile a little.  He reminds us that we should do more of this.  Anyway, our friend wrote:

"So sorry I can't visit with you today as I had a business trip who's return was messed up by the weather and travel delays. Please put aside some White's for me - at the sale price of course!!   A friend here lent me the use of a cabin as the motel selection was between thin and none so I spent the night in the country.  I managed to find bird feed for the feeder you see here and was greeted by a bunch of cardinals first thing and they looked magnificent against the snow.  This cabin has a radio and no TV and after a bit, in front of the fire with take out Chinese and a nice white Bordeaux it was almost like being back there, albeit the same wind sounds. 

It would do me well to do this solitary overnight every once in a while...probably do everyone well who needs to "decloud" a brain and lower blood pressure.  It brings to mind a theory that has no scientific fact for a basis  but could explain why we all have BP problems now and then - I don't have to complete the sentences - but a night with just a radio and a fireplace in the middle of no-where gives some insight.

Hope your tasting is as successful as always. I see on the Internet weather that you are getting the snow and if I follow the clearing weather line, I should arrive back to the Village about the time your tasting is about to end so forgive me for not making it.  How lucky you will be to have folks who go out and stomp feet and come see you and feel proud for braving the elements, chat with you and your folks flashing genuine smiles in return.

TTYL"

Feet up, good book, glass of wine and thou

Remember that old saying, "All I need is a loaf of bread, a glass of wine and thou and pretty soon I'll be overweight, tipsy and saying something I shouldn't".

A friend of ours told us about that today as he remembers it from a Mad Magazine (Alfred E. Neuman) from the 1950s.  He remembers these little tidbits from half a century ago and is quick to point out that where he leaves his car keys is always a mystery.

We enjoy his visits because he is full of life and good will.  His complaints are with a wry smile and few and far between. He laughs a lot and others who come into our store are always included in a conversation like it or not.  We imagine now, that the sun is setting, that he has hustled up a fire, sat for few minutes book in hand and wine glass on the table next to him, some music and perhaps a knosh.

We sold him his wine. We are glad we could contribute to his day.

Friends, Jokes and Stories

One of the better aspects of running a shoppe like ours is that we have friends who stop in, rain or shine, hot or cold.  It is of great comfort to us that this happens not only for the commercial aspect of things but just seeing a smiling face, hearing a good story during a long afternoon or having a chance to catch up on something, even if just for a second.

We become, in effect, something of the post office, barber shop, and soda fountain where stories are exchanged and retold, passed on and on, and a pretty much endless game of "telephone" takes place.  We enjoy this a lot, particularly since we have such good story tellers and rarely does anyone step foot in here with a "mean" spirited remark.  That is very nice.

As we ready ourselves for a wine tastings of some rather good and interesting "reds" from nearby and far away, we hope that you indulge us with a story when you drop in. It is cold out and a good afternoon for a glass of Merlot, warm fire, and  some bon homme among family and loved ones.

Think of a joke though...we like jokes....tell us one when you come in.

We've been thinkin'

Our little wheels have been grinding away this morning. It seems like spring.  Really.  Too many Seinfeld reruns we think.

Listening to a Chicago radio station on the Internet this morning we were treated to news that some of the plants at the botanical gardens were springing to life some 8 weeks early.  Chicago, usually under a foot of ice and snow at this time, is behaving like it was on the Gulf. 

Actually pedestrian traffic is very good for this time of year - we see that outside our windows and we are glad for that - and we owe that partially to the weather.

So what is going on? Global warming? A fluke of nature? What? and we have been rattling our brains about it some.  Kids are still ice skating across the way so we have the perfect set of worlds...50 in January and ice skating; no snow and no rain.

I'm all in. Stop in. Visit. Talk about the weather.

if you have champagne or sparkling wine left over...

Part of our never ending effort for relevance in your life (just kidding)

A little nip perhaps?

A year or so ago we were suffering through a pretty big storm. Wind, ice, and cold.  We noted then that because of all the other terrible parts to being outside, the cold was just one of many and didn't seem to "stick out" so much.  This morning is bright and sunny, wind has reduced itself to manageable but the cold is - well, how can we put this - cold.

As we are in the spirits business, the expression "take a little nip" is something we hear pretty often.  Because we like to know little things, we looked it up and "nip" seems to be a pretty old word as as words go. The Dutch had the word nipen for a "small amount of something", as did the Germans with "knipen"  or even "knebti" in Lithuanian.  These words are a thousand years old at least and we find them interesting at least.  So when someone says there is a "nip" in the air that means there is a small amount of "cold" in the air...not all over cold...just a nip of it. Jack Frost nipping at your nose.."...just tweaking you a little bit.

Join us for a nip Saturday at our tasting 3-6pm 132 Front Street in Greenport. We can discuss the cold.

Razzamatazz

Pavane pour une infante défunte

We will, of course, be the first to say that this isn't a very typical posting for a Wines and Spirits store but we have just come off New Year's Eve and we and our friends are full of memories of parties and dances (some dating way way back in time).  One of our patrons this morning (yes we are open and yes this is a holiday or sorts - and we want you to prolong this weekend through dinner tonight in front of endless football games, raise a glass of good cheer and welcome the new year now here to stay)...was speaking of dances as he and his wife got to dance a danceable dance to danceable music at midnight Saturday as they have for decades and his recount brought a tear to our eyes - sentimentalists as we are.

They went home and watched Shakespeare in Love until they fell asleep and he talked about the dancing/entertainment in the movie.  The "pavane" scene in particular as he thought Pavanes seemed to be  interesting things.  They started out as a processional type dance and dates back 500 or so years. Done in pairs and in long lines (think conga line dancing in pairs - side by side) but really slow and in 2/4 time like a march.  We suppose our 50s dance "the stroll" is kinda like it...where the partners meet up and then "stroll" down the center.  If the stroll and the conga line are outside your experience, think of the hesitation step used for processions (pavanes) down the aisle at weddings...you know...step together step....

On occasion societies and artist communities go through a renaissance revival thing and dances and dance forms populate the output. France had one at the turn of the last century and a look back at classic forms was afoot and taken as inspiration.

Ravel wrote Pavane pour une infante défunte (a pavane for a dead princess or a processional not a funeral procession but a processional dance for princesses long remembered or forgotten and therefore dead who were possibly part of it one upon a time) in 1899.  He was a student then of Gabriel Faure who also wrote a Pavane about the same time.  Here they are and are very peaceful and nostalgic bits of music. You might note, if you listen to each, that there is a lot alike even though they were the products of two very different minds.

Things don't have to be complex to be of interest.