Got cultchah??

Alex, one of our face book friends, liked our little writing on all things Tuscan the other day that she sent on this picture of snow in the Tuscan hills. VERY nice and we thank her for the picture and the note - actually several notes; all very kind.  Our brains immediately started swirling to what it is we are thinking in relation to Tuscany and our friends in the store at the time decided for us that wines are our immediate culture (pronounced "cultchah" - long "long island" a at the end). Seriously. Not the snobby hoity/toity nose in the air stuff but something that is timeless and enduring. Things that surround us and we let surround us.

Our families have "culture" and over time the "cultchah" becomes us - it is the house we grew up in, the values, the breaking of bread, Sunday afternoon rituals - how things smell, the feel of the air and the noise from the kitchen.

This little move toward a Tuscan week is a little like that. We are surrounding ourselves with things that make up our own very personal cultchah. We are happily bringing out some really nice wines, again, not to be snobby but because Tuscan wine is a treat and we want the best for our friends; the incredible artists at Blue Duck Bakery are sending over some delicious rustic breads, hopefully including some very simple but ultimately glorious Tuscan bread to balance out the wine. That is what we mean by cultchah (culture)...a lovely landscape forwarded by a new, good friend, bottles of "guest" good wine, unbelievably good artisan breads, and most important, our friends. 3-6pm, 132 Front in Greenport. 


Bring your smile. Nothing is too good for our guests. Dress snappy.

This is Pretty Swell

We were talking with a friend yesterday who visited us with the good news that we were just a month away from Spring and that what with Lent about to start and a bright late winter day, well things were looking pretty swell indeed. 

Our friend likes to rattle on about little things that catches his eye, not the least of which was that when spring hits, we get, according to his calculations, about 12 hours and 10 minutes of sun and at 41 degrees north lattitude, that was what we could expect - just about exactly half a day. In fact, Front Street, where we are located, if you ran west you would run into that place in Pennsylvania that does the Ground Hog Day thing and if you went East, across the Atlantic, you would find yourself crossing Spain and running smack dab into Italy near Florence and Rome and in southern Tuscany or thereabouts. Close enough.

We like the "chick-flick" and book, Under the Tuscan Sun and he remarked that it was the same "sun" that we get here give or take a little and we rather liked that, so we are now in a Tuscan mood that will spill over (bad pun for a wine and spirit store) to the tasting this week - all Tuscan, and perhaps some recipes, and whatnot.  At least we it gives us a chance to put up a picture of the dome of that famous Florence cathedral and imagine ourselves there.

Too bad our Front Street doesn't extend a "little further" to the east. Anyway, we are glad our visitor knew about 41 degrees north and the nearly perfect 12 hour day that is coming to us in a month and, importantly, filling our noggins with images that make us smile.  Tuscan week. How swell can this be!