The Evil Empire

No, it's not the NY Yankees nor Goldman Sachs.  It's the warehouse we all can't seem to hate - Costco.  What is it about Costco that some of us are so enamored with, that we willingly hand over our retirement savings and our first born?  Is it the 'treasure hunting' experience, the perceived deep discounts, or is it the fact that it's CEO, Jim Sinegal, is such a breath of fresh air in the world full of greedy CEOs? 

There's no such thing as 'bringing a shopping list and buying only what's on it' when you go to Costco.  You're lucky if you even remember to buy what you had planned to buy.  Costco draws you in, and you briefly lose all sense of sanity and control for the next half hour while you're in there.  Case in point, we went to Costco yesterday to get some doggy treats and some beef for stew, and ended up walking out with 3 bottles of wine (luckily, we remembered to pick up the doggy treats and the beef this time).  Once outside the warehouse, the 'spell' lifts:


Me {looking at the receipt}: How did we spend so much for a bag of doggy treats and beef?
J: Wine.
Me {muttering}: Aw crap.

You can argue, "Just don't go."  Well, you have obviously never tried telling a 3-pack-a-day smoker, "Just don't smoke."  Signs of Costco withdrawals are not pretty.

One of the wines was the 2005 B Cellars 24 blend.  We had tried this in San Diego last year and have had a hard time finding this particular wine here in AZ; and when we did finally find it at Total Wine, we weren't quite ecstatic about the price point.  However, we managed to get this at Costco yesterday for much much less...

As for the 'treasure hunting' experience, we got to see a $350 bottle of Lafite Rothschild displayed in a locked case, up close and personal.  Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you see it, we weren't insane enough to actually buy that bottle of wine.  However, we'll never know if we'll be able to exact such self discipline the next time around...

'Tis The Season

When the rattle snakes start making their appearances.  While heading to the bedroom, I saw Truffalo staring down something outside the sliding glass door in the living room.  I thought, "Now what?"  He's always going crazy over everything - rabbits, crickets, birds, lizards, javelinas, bobcats.  Then I noticed he was acting differently.  He wasn't barking and prancing around like his usual loony self; he was growling with trepidation.

Dog meets rattler for the first time, luckily with a door in between .

Sinister looking thing...

J was in the shower at the time, I'm out in the living room semi-freaking out, Truffalo's mesmerized, and Mocha couldn't care less.  As soon as J finished showering, he grabbed a shovel, and long story short, killed the rattlesnake.  As we were deciding where to dispose the snake, J briefly suggested that we put it on the grill. 

No snake here.  This was the chicken we had the day before.

Paired with BV 2006 Cab.  On the nose: 甜酒灢 (sweetened, fermented rice wine), I'll bet no other wine critic will ever come up with that one.

But I digress.  I later found out that we could have called 911, had the fire department come capture the snake, and release it into the wild.  Now I feel guilty that we killed a 'harmless' snake.  I'm starting to wonder if there's a den around our house because this is the second snake to die in our hands.  The first rattler perished in dad's hands a year and a half ago.

Survived Memorial Day

The kids' aunt V survived Memorial Day by being blessed with a light shift at the hospital.  One of her friends survived through a week confined on a boat (read: cruise) with his family, and I lived through the indignity of turning 37 today.  

The day started with dad calling at 7AM wishing me a happy birthday.  They normally don't even remember my birthday, but on the rare occasion they remembered, they called bright and early.  So much for sleeping in.  

I spent the rest of the morning looking forward to lunch...

One pound of USDA Prime rib eye, cooked medium rare.

Paired with:

J says this is one of the best wines he's had.  I thought it was a little spicy, but very smooth.  We got this from WTSO, and for some strange reason we can't find much information on line about this wine.  Perhaps it's due to the fact that they only produced 500 cases, and that the drink date is after 2011.  No worries, J got 4 of these so we'll try it out again next year.  For those of you who want to try it, you'll just have to come down here.

The wine definitely helped a great deal in letting me briefly forget that I'm 37, as I passed out for 4 hours after lunch.  Missed a few birthday well-wishers' calls, but ultimately didn't escape dad reminding me that I am almost 40 (Whoa. Not. So. Fast.), and that I should pay better attention to my diet.  Looks like it's time for another bottle...

Sonoita Winery

Who said you can't have wineries in the middle of the desert.  Sonoita, located an hour south east of Tucson, proves that you can (though the wines leave much to be desired).

Yes, these are grape vines.

We got a chance to check out 2 wineries for some wine tasting (only 2 because we had to drive back to Tucson).  The first one was Dos Cabezas located right off route 83.  They charged $7 per person for wine tasting plus the wine glass, which you can take with you to the other wineries for tasting.  The fee came as a surprise as I didn't think wineries would charge you for tasting, and according to J they didn't in Napa Valley back in the late 90s when he went.  Most of the wines were red blends and tasted too spicy/acidic for me, and I was surprised that each bottle was going for $20-28 (and that there were takers).  I would have pegged the wines to be around $7.99.  Cafayate wines are 10 times better and only cost a fraction of the price.

Out of all the wine glasses we saw other people get from the other wineries, Dos Cabeza had the nicest ones.

Kief-Joshua was the next one we hit.

Fancier building, but the wines were just as mediocre (or it could just be that I don't like any other grapes aside from cabernet sauvignon).  This place only cost us $3 each since we already had the wine glasses from Dos Cabezas.  J asked what kind of grapes they were growing, and the owner listed a bunch of them (e.g., tempranillo, mourvedre, petit verdot) because apparently they're still trying to figure out which grapes are best for their particular terroir.

The interior

So what were the highlights of the trip?  The experience itself, lunch at Canela, and the baby lamb.

Canela is located next door to Dos Cabezas.

Cozy outdoor seating

Yummy eggs benedict

A reminder never to eat unwrapped anything.

Finally, a 6-day old lamb we saw at Kief-Joshua.

Baby lamb in action...

Partial Credit

So I still haven't completely given up on the idea of cooking for J.  It just takes time and baby steps.  Yesterday, I (we) made sushi.  It took me an hour to cut the cucumber into strips (luckily no one was starving at the time), and things were going well until I started working the unripened avocado (note to self - buy ripened avocados).  Then J took over the prepping.

I did all the wrapping and rolling...

J cut it into pieces.  Not the prettiest bunch of sushi, as you can see the uneven amounts of tuna in each piece.  I personally would not pay money to eat this.

Paired with the Luigi Bosca 2007 Pinot Noir we got at Costco.  I was able to detect hints of chocolate on the nose, and I was actually right.  Maybe my sense of smell is improving.  As for on the palate, you can't go wrong guessing cherry (9 times out of 10 it's cherry).  This Pinot Noir actually went well with the sushi.

{After the meal}

Me: So would you count this as a meal I cooked?

J: You helped.

Me: I helped?!  Why isn't it the other way around?

J: OK, fine.

So, I get partial credit.  Like I said, baby steps.

Re-thinking Wine

Heard this piece on NPR during my drive home - Chilean Wine Wins Blind Taste Test.  A recent blind tasting in NYC involving 70+ critics pitted some Chilean wines against well-known French and California wines (all 2006 vintage).  The results were surprising to say the least.  

The Errazuriz Kai from Chile (retails for $80) beat out everyone else.

Including Opus One ($150),

and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild ($600)

So what does this mean?  Keep drinking that cheap wine that we love because we're all none the wiser.  If Robert Parker, the leading US wine critic specializing in Bordeaux, couldn't differentiate left bank from right bank wines, how can the rest of us tell the difference between an $80-bottle wine and a $600-bottle wine.  Just imagine you're drinking Lafite the next time you're sipping out of that $15-bottle wine that you picked up at Costco.  It's all good...especially after you've had that 2nd or 3rd glass.

Cooking

The thing with running for 2-3 hours straight is that you have all the time in the world to think.  It's you and your mind, and they can potentially drive each other nuts during that time.  Last week, it was the rumination that I may actually be a Republican that drove me to run faster and faster; as if I were trying to run away from myself.  This week, it was the thought that I may in fact not be the perfect wife.  How so?

{Yesterday noon}

J: I'm always cooking, sometimes I wish someone would cook for me for a change.

Me: You know my cooking.  I'm not sure you'd want to eat it.

J: That's true.

Now there's a really good reason why I don't cook.  It's too abstract...

{Last night while preparing the dry rub for today's barbeque}

Me: So how many tablespoons of the each of the condiments?

J: It's 'equal part' salt, pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, and a fourth of the oregano, cayenne, cumin, and paprika.

Me: What's equal part?  That's so vague.  

J: Just go by taste.

Me: I need exact instructions.

After much debate and anguish during my 18-mile run this morning, I realized that I didn't want to be on my death bed regretting that I had never cooked for J at least once during our marriage.  So I decided that I will try to cook dinner on Fridays now that I have half days off on Fridays.  I will consult the 'How To Cook Everything' cook book since every thing is all laid out for you in 'cups', 'teaspoons', 'tablespoons', and the occasional 'to taste' (I'll make sure to avoid recipes containing the words 'to taste').

The reason for the barbeque is because the local supermarket had a "Buy 1 Get 2 free" on the ribs.  Nineteen to 20 lbs of ribs for $26.  Unless you're vegetarian, how can you pass up on that?

J's special dry rub...

On the ribs...

All wrapped up and ready to go...

Slowly grilled for at least 3 hours on our trusted (and rusted) Walmart grill...

Voila!

Paired with the Brookdale 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon that we got at Wines Til Sold Out (on the nose: alcohol; on the palate: not sure, but definitely alcohol; extremely smooth and better than the Courtney Benham).

Mmmmm...life is good!

Pima County Fair

Went to the Pima county fair for the first time in 4 years we've been living here. Personally I have better ways to spend my sunday afternoon (e.g., taking a 2-hour nap, watching k-drama, surfing the net), but I obliged to venture out.

You get your usual unhealthy fair food...

Hot dog on a stick...

Cotton candy...

and ones you don't normally find at other fairs...

I would have had tons of fun had I been 30 years younger...

Of course you find your share of scams...

We determined that this was nearly impossible to achieve because of the placement of the toe holds.

After about an hour I was done; but we ended up staying for 3 hours due to circumstances beyond my control.  The whole time I was there, I avoided eating and drinking any of the fair foods because I knew I was coming home to real food - steak and wine.

2007 Courtney Benham cabernet, my new favorite cab...

Happy Early Valentine's

Valentine's Day is for people who are just starting to date.  Flowers and chocolate are for those gullible enough to fall for this commercialized day.  For the rest of us jaded couples, it's an opportunity to pig out.  J and I decided to 'celebrate' 2 days early just because we didn't want to wait until Sunday.  Plus, Sunday is Chinese New Year, another great opportunity to stuff our face.  A week ago we decided to have steak and wine, so today I had a bagel and coffee for breakfast, skipped lunch, and went for a 6.8 mile run this afternoon to get my stomach ready for a yummy feast.

What can be more romantic than steak and wine?  In my opinion, J's steak is even better than Angelo & Maxi's and Smith & Wollensky's.

The Heitz Cellar we picked up at Costco the other weekend.

After dinner dessert.

The is what one of the other cake looked like before Truffalo ate half of it when we were in the other room...

Happy Valentine's Mocha!  No Happy Valentine's to Truffalo since you ate half of my cake!

Honey, you're the best!  Happy Valentine's!