Concrete Countertop and An Outstanding Value On A Delicious Petite Sirah

I had the impulse after a long yoga class to do a petite sirah tasting at home. Part of it was the impetus to return to this blog, and have something to inspire me to do so. The two weeks leading up to September 1st were very intense at home and at work, and I've spent the last week feeling a bit hung over from the exertion.

I can't share the fruits of the work work, but the home work was an enormous facelift on our guest house, including new floors and a new kitchen.

(I've been interested in metalwork, stone, and concrete lately. So I decided to try a concrete countertop. Here's some photos...)

Laydown of leftover cabinets, plywood, and wonderboard

Concrete (sand mix, w/ brown powdered colorant added) was added to a form, leveled, and allowed to cure for 24 hrs

The finished kitchen!

I found the following book to be enormously helpful: Decorative Concrete by Sunset Magazine.

So on to the Petite Sirah...

Petite Sirah is an interesting grape. It began in the 1880's at the University of Montpellier, in the Rhone region of France, when Syrah vines pollenated Peloursin vines. The botanist who discovered this was named Francois Durif, and the plant is sometimes referred to as Durif. The resultant vines are highly resistant to Downy Mildew, and the grapes were traditionally used to add body to inferior wines. In California, it is still sometimes used that way today.

The wines made from Petite Sirah tend to be dark, acidic, with herbal and peppery notes, and with flavors of blue fruit, like plums and blueberries.

One of the wines from my Petite Sirah tasting was the 2008 McManis Petite Sirah.

Color: Inky purple.

Aroma: Blue fruit.

Initial Flavor: Strong blueberries, chocolate, and subtle smoke.

Finish: Fruit, Tannin. Paired well with creamy rich pasta sauce. Drops off quickly, typical of petite sirah, but some lingering chocolate.

Overall Impression: Good-Good wine.

Again, scale is [Crap, Okay, Good, Good-Good, Outstanding, Nectar of Bacchus].

I purchased it for $11.55 from my local wine retailer. Outstanding value.

Two Moths Fucking and a Shiraz-Viognier

I saw these two little lovers outside our front door this morning. Isn't the green amazing? It really stood out against the brick. I tried to identify them, but no luck.

I tried a Shiraz-Viognier blend last night. So for me, each wine variety has a personality. Shiraz is a serious, big, bold wine, with an undercurrent of fruit and fun. So is Zinfandel, if made well, even juicier, a little less bold. Cabernet Sauvignon is also big and bold, but with less of a fun side. Pinot Noir is serious, but with a subtler side, refined, sexy. Angelina Jolie. Cabernet is maybe a little more like Condoleeza Rice. I respect it, but wouldn't necessarily want to sleep with it.

I like Shiraz quite a bit, and can't come up with a movie star to describe it. The Marilyn Merlot thing is very wrong. She's not a Merlot. Maybe she's a Shiraz. Or Christina Hendricks / Joan Harris from Mad Men. She's a Shiraz. When I think of Merlot, I think of Rosie O'Donnell. There's more to say here. Maybe more on this later. Comments welcome.

So when you take a Shiraz and blend it with Viognier, what's that do to the personality of the wine? Here's what we tried:

Terlato-Chapoutier Shiraz/Viognier

http://www.terlatowines.com/wines/australia/domaine_tc/product.asp?Id=625

I have to say, I did quite enjoy what the Viogner did. The nose was fruitier, the flavors a little softer, maybe a little diluted from a typical Shiraz, more softly fruity, more apricot than black cherry. I still love the full-strength Shiraz, but this was a nice departure. Stood up to red meat just fine.

Color: Ruby red.

Aroma: Light Fruit / Apricot

Initial Flavor: Balanced mouthfeel.

Finish: Lingering, Gentle Tannin. Nice.

Overall Impression: Good-Good wine.

Again, scale is [Crap, Okay, Good, Good-Good, Outstanding, Nectar of Bacchus].

Explosions

There's pressure built up from the heat and dryness, and it's released with a good, blessed, drenching rain. It's been nice the last few days.

Color Explosion!

The rain has caused the Texas Rangers (Leucophyllum frutescens) to explode in color. Look at the blossoms littering the ground below the shrub! They look like this all over the city. I've had these shrubs at the last two places I've lived, and they're beautiful and really well suited to the climate here.

The other explosion that's been happening in the garden is the dreaded Silverleaf Whitefly. They started showing up around mid to late May, and now they're really thick on the squashes, collards, kale, and to a lesser extent, the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. These are some of the toughest pests to deal with.

How do you know you have them?

1) The veins on your squash plants take on a silvery color, which soon takes over the leaves. Stems also become lighter, eventually becoming almost white. This is the signature of silverleaf whiteflies.

Severe Silverleaf Whitefly Damage On Squash Plant

2) When you brush the leaves of your plants, a cloud of white insects flutters around

3) Inspection of the underside of leaves shows the larval stage. These guys are immobile, and are the ones that cause the real damage by sucking plant juices and excreting the silvering toxin.

Whitefly larva on underside of eggplant leaf

Zoom In Showing Whitefly (Bottom Right Center) And Larvae

I've been exploring ways to control them - lately, I've been using a mix of pyrethrins and neem oil, coupled in with some liquid seaweed extract for the health of the plants. This is an organic approach, and requires spraying frequently - weekly, even - but I haven't been able to keep up lately. I read recently that sprays of mild dish soap and water are effective. I've been exploring systemics (oh, no - the dreaded word for organic gardeners!) but I'm not sure I want to go there yet. Yellow insect traps (whiteflies love yellow) are another option. I'm also thinking about just letting the garden go dormant for the summer, maybe Mid May - Late August. Any thoughts out there?

Thunderstorms and Gomphrena

It rained hard here last night. Thunder sounded like bombs going off near the house. Water dripped in through the AC vents in the roof, towels thrown down in the middle of the night. Rivers of pine needles are everywhere, and this morning is hot and wet.

The plants and the people here needed the rain badly. I could hear an irritation in the voices of friends and co-workers, anxious for the final arrival of the monsoon after weeks of teaser showers.

There are two summers here. A hot, dry one, and a hot, wet one. Hot and dry goes from May to June, hot and wet goes from July to August.

Finding annual plants that can take the heat is a challenge. Vincas are a great standby, they are waxy and tough, and almost seem to enjoy the heat. I interplanted them with the tomatoes, which I typically wouldn't do -- so disorganized!!! ;) -- and they look fantastic together, spreading on the ground amidst the tomato sprouts.

I also tried planting Gomphrena this year, also known as Globe Amaranth or Bachelor Button. It's been an outstanding performer, and I love the purple color of the cultivar I chose.

I've also started learning about welding. Here's a welder I found on Amazon, people seem to be raving about it. It says it's a MIG welder, but I suppose you need to purchase a separate tank for the gas. Perhaps getting started with self-shielded flux core (no gas required) is the way to go, especially if it's better for working outdoors.

Sparks

Seems to me like the best blogs have a few characteristics:

1) They're VISUAL. They have lots of interesting and beautiful pictures.
2) They have a POINT OF VIEW. They're inspired by beauty, or wonder, or love. They have passion.
3) They're INTERESTING. They find elements - home remodeling, space, art - that are of particular interest, but with their observations, ...
4) They're BRIEF. They get to the point, and aren't too self-serving.
5) They have an ATTITUDE. (Not all of them, but some of the ones I like!)

I'm going to yoga in about an hour...

One of the rules for this blog is that it's okay to be HONEST here. This is a space where it's okay to be afraid, frustrated, angry, overjoyed. Maybe some of the things society doesn't expect us to ever be. Maybe even BOLD.

I've been thinking about making art lately. We're redoing the cabinets in the laundry room, and I cut a piece of metal bracket with my angle grinder. I loved the sparks and the smell of the metal being worked. I'd like to learn how to weld, make some welded art pieces for the wall. BOLD ones, of course... ;)

Reflections on Big Sur

We spent three days total in Big Sur, staying at the Big Sur Getaway. Really nice hosts, beautiful view. Would recommend it for sure.

Enjoyed our time relaxing on the beaches of Big Sur, enjoying the food, beer and people watching at the Maiden Publick House.

One thing we took away from Big Sur was a bottle of Pepper Plant pepper sauce. We haven't been able to stop eating it. I found some available for order on Amazon. Ooooh, it's so good on eggs. Someone else recommended it on steak. It's just the right balance of tanginess and heat.

I'd like to talk a little bit about Blogging in general. Why do we do it? What's the point? What are the best Blogs, and why? What are the worst Blogs, and why? What purpose do they serve? Are they just lonely egos yelling out into the cybervoid? Hoping someone will hear them, and listen, and follow, and validate them? I'm going to look at a blog of note and think about this...

Back From California, Mercury Rising

Friday, June 19th: Travel from Arizona to San Jose. Stayed with my friend Mike, and his girlfriend Donna, at their place in Los Gatos. Donna's a wonderful cook - homemade cake, lasagne, cupcakes for dinner. Delicious. Mike introduced me to Charlie the Unicorn. He has a series of Charlie the Unicorn shirts. Too funny.

Saturday, June 20th: Breakfast at the Los Gatos cafe. Everything was quick and delicious - especially loved the herbed potatoes. Hiked the Summit Rock Loop. Visited the Thomas Fogarty Winery. Stunning views. Enjoyed the wines, especially the Pinots, but the prices were a little high, and the wines we liked definitely required aging from the point at which we tasted them. After that, stopped at the Cinnabar Winery tasting room. Fantastic wines, comfortable atmosphere. I had the thought to send them a little bit of Cinnabar quartz from Arizona for the tasting room...

My honey and I especially enjoyed the Mercury Rising.

Had dinner at Dio Deka, which was divine. Top marks for their Spanakotiropita "... Oven-baked, crispy phyllo pastries, filled with baby spinach, scallions, leeks, Greek sheep and goat milk cheeses" Little towers of crispy, spinachy, cheesy goodness. The Haloumi cheese, grilled, served atop an heirloom tomato slice was also excellent - salty, oily cheese atop a fresh, tart tomato slice, with just the right amount of olive oil and balsamic.

Sunday, June 21st: Awoke and went to Great Bear Coffee. Stopped back home, then left for the second leg of our trip, but not without a final stop at a winery - Testarossa. Especially loved the Syrah made here, and the pinot we tried was also excellent. I had the humbling moment of trying to swirl the glass of wine hard enough for it to "open" that I spilled red wine all over my shirt. Oh, yeah, there it is - the flush of total embarassment!!! Luckily, I had a change of shirt available. The folks at this winery were very nice and accomodating, and I would visit them for the friendly, authentic atmosphere as well as the quality wines. The history of the winery is also interesting - check it out on the link. I asked the winemaker for advice he had for an aspiring winemaker. He said, "The most important thing to have is patience. Work hard in the field, and go easy in the winery. Let the wine make itself. That, and don't quit your day job." ;)

More on Big Sur and the tasting notes on Mercury Rising soon.