It's Been Too Long!

Oh, Blog, how I've missed you! Life and work and sleep get in the way so easily of the things you love to do. So much to write about!

I've visited Hong Kong and Japan since I last posted.

I've had so many fantastic wines.

I built a 2' flagstone retaining wall around an unsightly mound of dirt in the backyard.

Winter has come to the low desert.

We've had a couple of freezing nights this week, and I spent the morning cleaning up the frost damage to my summer vegetables, especially the peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. See you next year, fellas... ;(

Some of the vegetables are in raised beds, others are in Earthboxes. I'm a huge fan of the Earthbox. I felt compelled to write after noticing that the Poblano pepper plant I was cleaning up, which had been growing in the Earthbox, actually grew into the grapefruit tree above it. I was harvesting Poblanos 10 feet in the air! The pepper plant was enormous - I wish I had a picture of it before the frost got to it. Here's a picture of the harvest, again, from a single plant (poblanos on left, a few bells on the right)...

I am such a fan of the Earthbox because it is easy to use. No weeds, low maintenance - especially if you have the watering refill done via drip irrigation. The Earthbox is what is known as a self-watering container. There's a reservoir of water on the bottom, and the plants can drink as much as they like. There's also an air hole, allowing the roots to get oxygenated. It also incorporates slow-relesase fertilizer, allowing the plants to feed themselves as much as they wish. It's an ideal, water and space efficient growing system. The plants do great inside them.

This pepper plant, I gotta tell you, was a tree!

See http://www.earthbox.com for more information. I've ordered some earthboxes, and had others loaned to me by friends. They're also available on Amazon here.

I need a few posts to even begin to open up how inspiring the gardens of Japan were. A few pictures of what I saw...

Koi Pond

Walkway at Fujiya Hotel in Hakone

Zen Garden at Silver Temple, Kyoto

Golden Temple in Kyoto

Grounds of the Silver Temple in Kyoto.

I went to a wine tasting recently featuring Argentinian wines. Argentinian reds are primarily Malbec, Bonarda, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Several wines were featured by winemaker Dante Robino, whose wines I was extremely impressed with.

The Bonarda grape is thought to be originally from the Piemonte region of Italy. There is some uncertainty about which precisely which old world "Bonarda" grape is planted in Argentina, but genetic testing points to Italian Charbono, aka French Corbeau.

A description of the wine from argentinawineguide.com:

"Bonarda wines can be lighter-bodied and fruity, full of cherry and plum flavours, with light tannins and moderate acidity. However with concentrated fruit from older vines, and especially when oak aged, Bonardas can also be big, fruity, dense and tannic wines with deep colour and fig and raisin characteristics."

The wine I am trying is the Dante Robino 2008 Bonarda.

Color: Deep Magneta / Purple

Aroma: Mineral notes. Some blueberry and plum. Not too strong on the nose.

Mouthfeel: Medium to heavy-bodied.

Initial Flavor: Cranberry and raisin. Strong but balanced acidity.

Finish: Long, lingering, nice acidity and tannins.

Overall Impression: Good Wine. Solid B.

(Again, scale is [Crap=F, Okay=C, Good=B, Good-Good=B+, Outstanding=A, Nectar of Bacchus=A+])