La Dolce Vita

Busy, Not Lazy

2008-09-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

We have been very, very busy lately, partly vacationing and that was good fun. Two weeks ago we were here: Here would be the beautiful waters at Kailua, Hawaii where we spent a week with cousins Michelle and Rod. We ate lots of pineapple, drank lots of wine and saw the entire island of Oahu except for the dirt road that connects the west coast with the north shore. We came home late last Tuesday and Wednesday we were harvesting our Cabernet Franc grapes due to the extremely warm weather before we left. Here I am, running the crusher/de-stemmer for all 200 pounds of fruit. The Cabernet Sauvignon's are not ready yet, but soon. The wine is now fermenting in the chamber, which in other seasons is used as a powder room. Tomorrow we will attend a canning and preserving class at VIVA, The Culinary Institute of Florence in Sebastopol. Friday, if we are lucky, Daisy (Greyhair's mommy) will be visiting for a few days.

Busy, busy, busy.

Saturday Rituals

2008-08-10T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here at La Dolce Vita we have a Saturday routine and cookfest that takes up much of the day. Every Saturday, unless we are out of town, we have a ritual that we both eagerly anticipate so much you wouldn't know we are retired and can do whatever we want to on any given day.

Close to 10:00 am, we load our bags into the car and head for Starbucks to grab a coffee, then to the Farmer's Market, rain or shine. Living in places of agricultural abundance (first Visalia, then Santa Rosa) has taught us that we can always find fresh seasonal produce at the Farmer's Market. En route, we start our NPR-a-thon with Car Talk.

After we've trolled the F.M. and come away with fresh eggs, tomatoes, corn, berries, garlic, cucumbers, nectarines, grapes, onions, pork and green beans (this week) we drive through the historic district of town and on to other errands unless the weather is too hot. Whilst doing all this we are listening to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" also on NPR and usually answering the questions correctly because it is a current events/news quiz and we are paying attention to same.

Finally, we go to Oliver's an independent market and competitor to Whole Foods, but locally owned. There we pick up whatever we didn't get at the F.M. and head for home listening to "This American Life," also on NPR. While I put the groceries away I continue to listen to TAL, my favorite program on radio or TV of all time and then its time for lunch and a nap.

This particular Saturday, we bought 15 pounds of pickling cucumbers and 2 boxes of pint jars for same. Why pickle, when so many companies make delicious dill pickles? White vinegar. Made from corn, a no-no in Greyhair's diet these days. Plus, no telling how many other additives that are not advisable to eat So, pickle we did. His Greyness has been checking out recipes online and comparing them to his Dad's recipe that we fondly call "Bill's Dills." Since we've opted to water bath process the pickles, we needed some tips and we found them online in droves. First, we got the cucumbers soaking in an ice bath for 2 hours to increase crispness. Perfect--nap time. When we got up, I skinned 6 heads of garlic (so fresh it would hardly peel) and then helped with the slicing. In one hour start to finish we had 24 jars of dill pickles. Last time we made these, our boys Scott and Daniel called them "Cu-ples" and we had to hide them in order to get some for ourselves.

Then we did our dinner prep so we could relax outside for a couple of hours. Green salad with homegrown Romaine lettuce, Caprese salad, Calamari steak and rice noodles with homemade pesto.

Good dinner and good times with my best friend......

Yo!

2008-07-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yep, we're still kickin' hear in ladolcevita.

It's summer. And an unusually busy one at that. Jan is going off in 10 different directions for various duties and I'm ..... well frankly ..... I'm just feeling lazy. We've had a good spell of weather that is just about to be destroyed by 95'+ heat. The fires still burn and we still have smokey days. We had a few clear days and it was a pleasure to not see the air. But now with high pressure settling in again it looks like it's going to be hot and smokey ...... again ..... still. I know a lot of people have a lot worse. But that won't stop me from complaining.

The hobbies continue apace. I'm going to be bottling the 2007 harvest in the next week or two. Still waiting for a bunch of pig meat from my friends at Black Sheep Farms while the grapes out in the back forty continue to plumpin (ask msjan). I know it's early yet, but it sure feels like the dog days of summer to me.

Gasping For Breath

2008-06-26T15:55:00.001-07:00

The sky continues to be as murky as an overcast January day and the breathing ain't easy. You can see why when you look at this satellite photo from Earth Observatory at the NASA website.

The site has several mailing lists you can subscribe to for weekly updates and photos, as well as a huge archive of satellite photos. I don't know about you, but I love looking at our Big Blue Marble from space.

As most readers know, we are located just north of San Francisco, and every day is a "Spare the Air Day" this week, even though the powers-that-be have not declared them as such.

Update: The 5 o'clock news on ABC 7 says that there are now 1000 fires burning in California and the levels of particulate matter in the air is higher than recorded in years.

Testing To Not Wheeze

2008-06-25T18:01:00.001-07:00

One of the things you have to do in la dolce vita is make sure that your hobby's don't kill you. Whether it's using the proper bacteria to make cheese, using the proper salt content to prevent botulism in cured meats, or using sulfites in wine.

Unfortunately, testing of sulfites in wine is tricky. Many of the less expensive methods on the market are frankly useless. The home wine maker is left with essentially two options. One is to send wine samples out to a lab. The other is to purchase lab equipment that can do the test properly. Sending out samples is a hassle, expensive, and time consuming (and that's for someone who lives in wine country).

So guess what I finally did:

The above picture shows the Frankenstein's lab-type equipment that must be used to do a proper test.

To do the test, air is injected into a soup of wine and phosphoric acid (left, red solution) which releases sulfur dioxide into a diluted hydrogen peroxide/indicator solution (right, purple). After 15 minutes, you then drip sodium hydroxide into the purple solution until the color changes from purple to red. Whatever the amount dripped is then multipled by 16 to give the amount of "free sulfites".

During the wine making process, potassium metabisulfite is added to the wine to increase the amount of sulfites. The sulfites preserve the wine ... the color and flavor. It's very powerful stuff and easily misdosed. For example, a 1/4 teaspoon in 5 gallons will usually equal 50 parts per million. Usually. So why not just weigh it out and use the right amount? Because when you add sulfite, "some" is immediately "used up" doing it's job, killing bad guys and removing oxidation from the wine. So the bottom line is you never really know how much "free sulfite" (an amount available to do it's job later on) will be in the wine without a test.

Why else do I care about sulfites (and why should you)? Because I'm allergic to sulfur, as are many people. I want the absolute minimum amount of the stuff in my wine .... enough to do the job and not so much that I suffer from an asthma attack. Thirty parts per million is considered the ideal amount. At these levels, if you open a bottle of wine and let it sit open for a half hour or so, most of the remaining sulfites will "blow off" into the atmosphere, leaving pure wine (which is what you should do whenever you open wine .... the so-called "breathing of wine). However, if you have up to 200 parts per million the blow off time is much much longer. And if you go beyond 200 parts per million, your wine will have a definite yucky sulfur taste.

So I test. I just hope that my club hands can handle all that glass carefully everytime I have to set up shop. Otherwise the whole magilla might get expensive.

All Fired Up

2008-06-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

Weather problems abound in the world these days, and we are getting our share in Northern California these days. Right now, it seems like half of NorCal is on fire following last week's heat wave and dry lightening strikes. And this on top of another dry spring with more lightning predicted for this weekend.

Oy vey.

The photo above is the view from our deck on Monday.

Here is our normal view, across the valley to the coastal range that separates us from the Pacific Ocean.

I took this picture because the sun was shining under a cloud layer and illuminating the valley floor in an unusual way.

The air is horrible and smells like fire and smoke at all times. The weather guessers say that a warm-up is coming over the weekend.

Oh boy, can't wait.

Gratuitious Yard Pics

2008-06-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

Been really busy, not a lot of blogging time. More to come. In the meantime, a few pics:

Charcuterie

2008-06-17T16:52:00.000-07:00

It's meat time again!

My first batch of cured coppa is finally ready. The pics below show the results (seriously, click to enlarge to get the full effect):

The casing has a very nice and very thick covering of mold. The mold has a quite mild, almost creamy milk-like taste (probably because it's a lactic bacteria). The meat was dry enough to cut, but probably could have used another couple of weeks. This particular cut is a pork butt taken from one of those pig!

Mmmmmmm!

A bresaola and the salami's were all ready as well. I got out the handy slicer and went to work, cutting it all up into thin deli slices, vacuum packed and put in the deep freeze for later consumption. The bresaola is very prosciutto-like, but nearly void of any fat because it's made from a well trimmed beef eye-of-round.

Since I now have room in the curing chamber, it's time for more. I've started two more pork butts to be made into coppa's. One is the usual dry rub cure, the other is a dry rub made from the same spices used to make Gallo Salami, which is a "San Francisco" style salami. I've also made another batch of salami using the gallo recipe. Still waiting for the delivery of a pork belly, pork loin and another pork butt from my friends at Black Sheep Farms.

More to come!

It Must Be Something in the Water

2008-06-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

The young ones left the nest a week ago, so we have an empty nest once again.....but not for long!

I was watering my Meyer lemon tree (next to the Eureka lemon that was home to nest #2) and out flies a parental unit from a brand new nest with four more eggs!

This is our 3rd nest of the season, all in the area of our deck that is protected from dog invasion. As ever, the mama or papa bird was giving me six kinds of hell from afar. You'd think they would know by now that I'm more of a guardian than a danger. The best part about this nest is that I can take pictures without disturbing any of the plants that surround the nest, so I may do a day-by-day journal.

At left, you can see parental bird on top of ornamental bird.

More later......

Something To Crow About

2008-06-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

As promised, we went to the California Gold country to see Sheryl Crow. She was appearing at the Ironstone Winery amphitheater, a venue we had never seen before. Here's the best image I could find to give you a sense of the set up:

Ironstone is located in the middle of nowhere in a town (Murphys) with a population much less than the number of folks that fit in the amphitheater (6500). It was hot during the day, but the night cooled nicely and the venue was spaciously laid out, and quite well managed.

We arrived early, having purchased the "platinum" package that included dinner. We were introduced to the winery tasting room for wine and hors d'eouvres. The wines were pretty good, particularly if you like the more fruit forward type of wine. At dinnertime, we entered a large banquet area where we were fed salad, shrimp appetizers, filet mignon and desert. The food was "ok", and the company was terrific. We met quite a few folks from the Sacramento area who were fun concert goers of every strip.

At showtime, we were ushered out to our seats ... fourth row (thanks MsJan!). The opening act was Los Lonely Boys who were quite good.

Their feature musician, guitarist Henry Garza, was awesome. I would describe his style as something that merges Stevie Ray Vaughn with Carlos Santana. The "Boys" as they are known, kicked butt and would get a look-see from me again any ole' time.

Right at the time the sun went down, Sheryl et. al. came on stage and began their show. I'll not give a blow by blow, but it was awesome. MsJan and I both stood and danced through most of the show. I was hoarse the next day from singing. I took some pics. Pictures were not supposed to be taken, but the picture police ultimately gave up because everyone had a camera of some sort and was shooting. I was courteous enough to not use flash, thus the pictures are not all that hot. Here are a few of the best (as usual, click to enlarge):

My hero, Peter Stroud on lead guitar ....

Our vantage point. Left to right Ken Button (in back on bass) Peter Stroud (guitar), , back up singers, Sheryl Crow (guitar), Tim Smith (guitar) and Mike Rowe (keyboards) ...

Artsy fartsy shot of Peter Stroud in a typical facial expression ...

Another shot from our view ....

Henry Garza of Los Lonely Boys ....

We ran into one of our dinner mates on the way out of the concert. I asked her how she liked the concert. She said it was great, but she thought Sheryl would sing "slow songs".

Ahhhh.

No.

You go to see Sheryl Crow because you want rock n' roll played beautifully and flawlessly. They put on the best, most professional, show I've ever seen. We're considering seeing her August where she'll be at the South Lake Tahoe Harvey's amphitheater.

MsJan adds: To get a sense of what we experienced, get the "C'mon America Tour" on DVD from Netflix. This is the concert we saw in 2003. Close the windows and turn up the volume.
It was the best birthday present I've ever had the pleasure of receiving.

Killer Tomatoes

2008-06-11T14:21:00.001-07:00

Speaking of which, here's ours mounting an attack on this under ripe lemon (or is it disguising itself to avoid attack)?

Ooops

2008-06-11T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was in the kitchen cutting up meat (a later post). MsJan was upstairs, getting ready to come down for the night with her computer when I heard a crash.

A big crash.

And a lot of cuss words and proclamations.

I looked up in time to see MsJan's laptop computer bouncing, yes bouncing, end over end down our fourteen stairs.

All the way to the bottom.

I was expecting to see this:

Well, it didn't look like that. Upon close examination, the hard drive enclosure was slightly out of whack and a few other screws were loose. I put the hard drive back in place, tightened things down and asked MsJan to try and boot it up.

The whole time I'm thinking .... absolutely no way.

It booted. It's working just fine.

If you're in the market for a laptop. And if you are wondering about durability. Might I suggest Compaq?

Look Out!

2008-06-10T21:51:00.000-07:00

I know I shouldn't make fun but I can't help it.

Be scared, be very scared, and don't eat those tomatoes. Or the Floridian tomatoes at any rate. After seeing the pictures of the not-even-ripe fruits on the news tonight, I was ready to give up tomatoes for good. Then I remembered the hothouse tomatoes that we get from Fulton, an intersection in the road about five miles from my house.

We have a platter of them in the kitchen and have been eating them all week and will continue to do so until the folks from Winters, CA (just over the hill in the upper Sacramento Valley) appear at the Farmers' Market just after the Fourth of July.

Yep, we eat them raw in salads, sandwiches and Insalata Caprese, and we love them.

Luckily, we live in a place where we can be mainly locavores, primarily with the exception of the wheat alternatives we use for Greyhair's breads. We are incredibly lucky to have a year-round Farmers' Market where we can get local eggs, vegetables, pork, lamb and seafood and often chickens.

Because we try to avoid imported produce, we sometimes get tired of whatever is in season at any given time, but it also makes us so happy when something comes in season.

Recommended reading:
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver

Buon Apetito!

Gratuitous Dog Pictures

2008-06-10T11:38:00.001-07:00

Or, the real rulers of the roost at La Dolce Vita. I present:

Annabel Lee Andrews also more commonly known as Gator, Gate, or the Gate.

How did such a sweet dog with such a sweet name get such a moniker? Long ago, in 1999 when she was a new arrival on the scene, our dear son Scott came over and announced that it was his job to teach her how to jump on the furniture. He then pulled a cushion off the chair for her to use as a step-stool and commenced the lessons. She learned willingly, but got in a few licks of her own (more on that later). Teething as she was, Scott got used as a chewbone during the lessons and he started calling her "The Annigator" (think Terminator) and Annabel Lector (Silence of the Lambs). Well it stuck and she was Annabel and Annie no more. The Gate is now 9 years old and still spry and still the boss. She is our 2nd million-dollar-dog having had 3 surgeries for bladder stones in addition to the usual spaying. Let's don't forget the great pancreatitis attack of '06 either. Oh, and the licking thing. Just ask any family member or friend who has overnighted at our house--she's at the ready to lick your teeth as soon as you wake up! Yummy!

Ace Andrews also known as Pally (think film noir) or Pee Pi Pally (lifts his leg anywhere).

Pally entered our lives in 2000 when Gator was 18 months old and she was not pleased with our choice. She chased poor Pally into hiding between the two cement yard schnauzers in the patio! She was so mad that she didn't speak to us for days!! Ace is the consummate lover, but we also call him our little pet slut. He will flop down for a good pet anywhere, anytime and will hound us until we submit. When Ace first went leash-walking, we had to literally drag him around the block, because he was bucking like a bronco. Now he could drag us up the hill in front of the house! No wonder the poor guy has a bum knee. Ace also has a reputation for being a bit "nervous in the service" and has had attacks of flinching and panic when the smoke alarms chirp with low batteries. Nevertheless, he is fearless in his pursuit of phantoms that appear outside at night--things like mosquitoes, flies and other things that go bump in the night in our semi-rural backyard. Did I mention that he's a bit barky?

They may not be large, but they are in charge!

Greyhair chimes in: MsJan took these pictures which perfectly capture each of their personalities.

Jammin'

2008-06-09T15:13:00.001-07:00

Bright and early this morning, I got out Greyhair's 30 year old French canner and cooked up the huge bag of apricots we got at the Farmers' Market on Saturday. The fruit was nicer in quality that the batch I made 2 weeks ago and the result is 7 half pints of luscious apricot jam. Pure apricot jam.

One of the things we had to adjust when Greyhair was diagnosed with damn near every food allergy known to humankind was jams and jellies. Why, you say? Jams are just fruit and sugar, right? Not exactly. Most contain added pectin (contains dextrose, made from cornstarch) and many use our old friend high fructose corn syrup as the mode of sweetening.

Back in the day, I used to make jam and jelly, especially for my Dad who loved spiced peach jam and pomegranate jelly, but I hadn't for years. I got a new Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and a rack for the canner and away I went. In February, I took the Meyer lemon crop and made Meyer Lemon Marmalade with vanilla bean and it was delish. Last month, I made two different batches of strawberry jam because it is Greyhair's favorite, so we should be set until next year when the Meyer lemons are ready again. Of course, I could be tempted by the blueberries and boysenberries that are just coming in.....

So, as my former sister-in-law, who taught me how to make preserves once said, "Just like the old days, a cup of fruit to a cup of sugar and cook it all day." Not quite, but close. Fresh fruit and pure cane sugar (C & H of course) and a few hours over the stove.

Now to make some toast!

Gas O' Lean

2008-06-09T14:23:00.001-07:00

Appropriate for the times, and for our upcoming concert at Ironstone Winery:

Bra Salami!

2008-06-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, the big day arrived.

The salami feels "done". It's been hanging about one month at 60'F and ~70% humidity. I took the smallest one and cut into it (as usual, click to enlarge):

By the way, that cheese is "Santa Rosa Jack Cheese" made by yours truly (more on that another time). The salami's a bit wet still, probably needs another week or two. But boy is it good. The first sensation on your palate is spicy, cinnamon sweetness that is then followed with a slight amount of heat. It's one of the best spiced salami's I've had:

A little story about the name. MsJan and I recently took a class on charcuterie provided by a local cooking school, Viva!
Viva was started as a collaborative exchange with an Italian cooking school. The result is that in little ole' Sebastopol, we get classes put on by world class Italian chefs!

Our particular class was taught by two chefs from Santi, a really good Italian restaurant in Geyserville. Chefs Dino and Franco make all their own cured meats that are used in the restaurant, as well as distributing to various wineries and other restaurants. Needless to say, their stuff is fabulous.

(Dino hanging meat)

During the class, Franco told a story of "bra spice". Turns out there was an old Italian guy in Geyserville who made the most wonderful salami. Franco would visit and pester the guy for the recipe, but the old Italian would refuse to give it up. Finally after quite long number of requests the old Italian's wife said, "he's an American and he'll pester you until you give it to him .... so give it to him!" Franco was good enough to share it with us in the class and I used it in this salami. I can see why the old Italian didn't want to share. He could have made a gazillion bucks on it!

Pics Of The Day

2008-06-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Wine grapes are growing. Last year's wine is aging. Meat for charcuterie is curing. Gardens are growing. Kind of a slow time for stuff.

So here's another pic:

One of our other ladolcevita residents. I thought this was really cool, getting the illusion of a fish flying over the deck. Here's the larger context:

MsJan and I were sitting out with a glass of the pharmaceutical the other day playing camera. These last few pics are the results. I have a few more to put up and will do so interspersed with posts of more substance (hopefully).

Windy

2008-06-04T10:35:00.001-07:00

It's been a bit windy in la dolce vita (click to enlarge):

We All Love Volunteers

2008-06-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

And this one is a doozy!

I kept my beautiful pumpkins in the house until after Christmas because I loved them so. One was green, one white and one was a beautiful reddish orange. Once I composted them in January, I thought done was done.

Apparently, one of the seeds found its way into the side of the compost pile that is quietly working without being disturbed, and because it has the most fertile soil in the yard, just went crazy. This plant has tripled in size during the last week and has many blooms. Since we won't turn over the pile until early fall, we've decided to let it go and see what happens.

This picture of my container garden was taken from the same spot as the compost picture, the upper deck of the house looking down and across the Santa Rosa Valley. The pots contain: Back row L-R: tomatoes & lettuce, snap peas, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes. Front row, L-R: lettuce & spinach, Kentucky wonder green beans, eggplant & red bell peppers and cucumbers. The boxes at the bottom of the frame have elephant garlic and lettuce leaf basil.

Yummy times ahead!

"...this is the chosen spot of all this earth as far as Nature is concerned."

~ Luther Burbank, horticulturist, about his new home of Santa Rosa, California

Vineyard Views

2008-05-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd take me and my handy camera into the vineyard for a few pics. First up, a few baby Cab Franc's. They've just finished blooming and are forming itsy bitsy tiny grapes:

Here's a cluster a little further along:

And of course, no vineyard would be complete without .....

To Merlot, Or Not To Merlot

2008-05-28T09:36:00.001-07:00

I had previously mentioned that I would tell the Merlot story, so here it goes .....

So ... I make wine. Last year I order 200 lbs. of Merlot grapes from the Rutherford bench of Napa Valley. These particular grapes were harvested, fully ripe, just before a series of rain storms hit northern California and assaulted wine grape quality. In other words, these grapes came in virtually perfect. And as luck would have it, the wine maker (me) actually did a good job fermenting them. The young wine was full of fruit, had a deep crimson color, and was most tasty.

One of the final steps in wine making is to "rack" the wine. In racking, wine is moved from one container to another, leaving behind any "lees" or sediments thus helping clear the wine. Racking the wine is done several times, but the final racking is especially important to set the final chemistry of the wine. So MsJan and I were getting ready to rack and I tasted the merlot, expecting a luscious, deliciously aging wine. What I got was .... vinegar. Thinking I was being overly critical I gave a swig to MsJan and she smelled .... vinegar!

There are a lot of reasons why this could happen and I won't go into the details just now. Let's just say that the reasons all have to do with lousy wine making technique. I immediately hit the wine with a whopping dose of sultfite (a sterilizing element used to preserve wines), but that's a little like closing the proverbial barn door. After grumping around the house for a few hours, I moved the 4 gallons of soon to be high quality vinegar to the vinegar making area (do you know how much vinegar 4 gallons is?).

The next day, MsJan and I racked all the other wines which were tasting fine, but not nearly as rich as the merlot. We finished, cleaned all the equipment, and were ready to go to lunch. I was positioning the aforementioned ~~wine~~ vinegar to start it's fermentation when I decided to give it a taste ... one. more. time.

Low and behold, the wine gods bestowed a wonder on my poor wine making! It had returned to it's previous wonderful state. I immediately tested it to be sure the sulfites weren't so high as to sterilize any drinker, and the sulfites were fine (without getting into a lot of chemistry, the sulfite had "done it's job" and bound with the acetic acid, neutralizing it and leaving very little free sulfite). I must have caught the acetic acid fermentation in very early stages. I added a bit more sulfite to the proper levels, and put it back with it's other wine buddies.

In July we bottle. We're keeping our fingers crossed that Mr. Merlot stays ok and makes it to the final step, which will be my mouth in about 18 months!

I Lied

2008-05-26T16:49:00.001-07:00

I promised I wouldn't do it, but I did.

I couldn't help it, Greyhair bought me a new camera and I was playing around with it yesterday. Here are the two-day-old babies, and they are looking hungry! They remind me of how my kids acted when I'd get home from work and they wanted their dinner. Now!

If you look closely at the left picture, you can see Mama or Papa watching me from behind the other lemon tree. She/He kept flitting from deck rail to chair and back while I was watching the babes.

Meanwhile, I think we may have another nest in the Night Blooming Jasmine, as I saw a bird jumping from the jasmine to the compost heap and back. If so, it isn't a very smart bird, because the dogs have access to that area. They are firmly locked out of the lower deck area where my garden and the other nests have been.

Nest Building

2008-05-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Greyhair and I have always described ourselves as "Nest Builders" in that we love our home, not in a prideful way, but as a place where we express ourselves and snuggle in. There are few places we'd rather be than in our home, wherever that may be.

We love to cook, we keep a pretty clean home and we love our yard and gardens. Sadly, both of us were married previously to people who did not share our passion for home and hearth. Luckily, we found each other and the connection we made on that level was almost instantaneous. (We cooked dinner together on our third date, but I digress)

This random stream of consciousness was brought on by the fact that Greyhair found another bird's nest in our potted lemon tree yesterday. We'd seen on of the species of bird that parented our previous nest in April, (Oregon Junco, I think) loitering about, but I couldn't find the nest when I looked. Well, find it we did with another 4 eggs, just like the last one and they hatched yesterday. Boy are they naked! I was afraid I'd killed them because I watered the tree not knowing about the nest, but all are fine. Here's a picture of Momma Bird, having a cow because I was checking on the kids. Now that I have a picture of my second batch of bird-babies, I'll leave her alone.

Know Your Pigs

2008-05-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Mmmmm.

Just ordered up a pork belly, pork butt and pork loin to cure. The belly will go for pancetta and bacon, the butt will be a coppa and the loin will become a lonza.

And I didn't just order up any ole' pig. I got a forest foraging Ossabaw which was bred by the Spanish specifically for cured meats.

Glad I don't have to catch the sucker ......

Meanwhile, I'm still planning a bit more about the vineyard and the story of the Merlot rescued from the vinegar pile.

LaDolceVita ... Back Quarter

2008-05-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today I was trying to take some photo's of our new babies in "the Vineyard", but alas MsJan's camera just isn't quite up to the task. This was the best of the bunch:

After a seminar last weekend on vineyard management techniques, all the vines got a serious haircut. Now the clusters are all bathing in the beautiful Sonoma County sunlight, ready to develop the extraordinary deep purplish-red color I expect from a Cabernet Franc. Last years was noticeable pale, and like humans, grapes need sun exposure to develop a nice tan!

BTW, the little gate is up to keep the Gate from attacking MsJan's vegetable garden.

More Charcuterie

2008-05-16T17:27:00.000-07:00

Before jumping in, a note. The directions and processes given here are a quick overview. For more details, check the web, books or simply email me and I can provide more on recipes and details.

One of the motivations for curing my own meat, aside from the pure enjoyment, is that ~~many~~ most of the meats you buy in the stores contain dextrose. Dextrose is a corn derivative and causes the greyness to itch. So given my carnivore tendencies and propensity to itch with a good store bought salami or lunch meat, it's time to make my own. By the way, there are some brands sold commercially that are safe and I use them as fill-in occasionally, but I also like to make artisan products that I can adjust to my taste, including using local, organic meats from unusual animal breeds that in most cases is exceptionally good and not generally available.

I've made salami off and on for some time. But it wasn't until I learned of Jason Molinari and his efforts that I really dove into it. The greatest discovery was that there are a whole lot of meats that you can cure without any grinding. These are the so-called "whole muscle" meats like bresaola, coppa and lonza. I've also now cured and prepared my own bacon and pancetta, both of which are extremely simple and even easier to do. What I found is that virtually any cut of meat can be cured and flavored. For the most part, all of these require very little special equipment, particularly if you cure during the winter.

This is a picture of a bresaola in the early stages of curing. You simply trim an eye of round of fat and silver skin, rub it down with salt and spices, and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of weeks. Some folks use sodium nitrate as a preservative. I have learned that in whole muscle meats the nitrates aren't necessary (as opposed to ground cured meats like salami).

After the curing period, the meat is put into casings readily available here, tied and hung until it loses approximately 30% of it's weight. You can spray the outside of the meat with a curing mold, or let nature take it's course.

This would be my curing chamber which consists of a cheap wine cellar ($175, any enclosure with a modest refridgeration unit will work), humidfier ($50), and a temperature controller ($28). The bresaola is the smallish piece of meat without any mold in the left/center of the pic. To the right is "bra spice" salami and the left is the below referenced coppa.

This is a pretty deluxe setup. As I said earlier, if you do curing in the winter you can simply hang the meat somewhere in a cool spot with an pan of water underneath (for humidity).

Finally comes the good part. You slice it and eat it (h/t Jason Molinari, here one of his drizzled with olive oil, lemon and herbs). I'd put a picture of the finished products of the greyster, but it seems to disappear a bit too quickly to get the camera out .....

The entire process takes about 6-8 weeks, or longer if you choose. The cure time affects the taste with less time equaling a milder flavor and more time adding more punch. The bresaola's I've made thus far have had minimal hang time resulting in a very delicate meat that it hardly distinguishable from a good proscuitto .... and a whole lot cheaper btw.

That's a quick overview. Perhaps as meats come to maturity I'll post more pics and tasting notes.

Not Our Friends

2008-05-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Pacific Gas and Electric.

For the last few days in La Dolce Vita, and the greater San Francisco Bay area for that matter, we have been enduring record high temperatures.

Our new plants are wilting. Our dogs are panting. We are cranky and hot.

Yesterday at 7:30 pm, we'd just settled in to watch some Savage Planet on PBS and the power went off. We've lived in our home since it was brand new, and as one of the first dozen homes on a hillside with over 100 homes, we experienced numerous outages over the years as the newer homes down the hill were being built. For some odd reason, the computer panel for our double ovens blows every time the power goes off and surges back on. We've had to replace it about 4 times, but that's another story.

It was still 85 F inside and 89 F outside when the power went off and since we were enjoying the 2 fans we have in the bedroom rather than air conditioning, we were doing OK. We wait, we wait, we wait, and no sign of electricity, so we take our battery operated radio outside and listen to news-talk for a couple of hours and voila--the power returns, only to die again 15 minutes later.

Long story made short, everyone down the hill got their power back by 10:30, but we didn't. We could hear the utility trucks cruising the 'hood and opening the electric vaults in the ground, but no joy for us. Power wasn't restored until 7:30 this morning.

I tried not to feel bitchy and deprived because there are many, many people in this world who have no fans, ice or fresh water to cool them. Americans are incredibly spoiled, and perhaps a few blackouts will remind us how lucky we are. Worked for me.

Guess who didn't sleep much last night? Guess who took a looooong nap?

Happy Birthday to US!

2008-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

One of the nice things about having birthdays very close to each other is being able to celebrate together a bit. His Greyness recently celebrated his 54th on May 13, and I will be 56 on June 14th. Not to mention that his birthday is always close to Mother's Day and mine is close to Father's Day, and since we have no children in common and also we are not each others' mother or father, the whole thing just seems to complicated to sort out.

My dear friend Kathy B. planted a suggestion that our favorite performer, Sheryl Crow would be performing in June at Ironstone Vineyard in Murphys, California. She is....on June 13th.

Guess who's going?

I know, it's only Rock 'n Roll (But I LIKE It)
Mick Jagger/Keith Richards (1973)

Eeeeewwww

2008-05-13T10:07:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. Let's talk charcuterie

The ugly mass of stuff is called a bresaola.
A bresaola is a cured meat made from the beef eye of round. I had never heard of it before the last month or two, but I'm glad I found it (with a little help from MsJan, always on the lookout for new stuff). Essentially, you take an eye of round, strip it of all fat, cure it (more later) and let it hang until it has dried. The white stuff is good mold that enhances flavor .... like the mold on good salami. When completed, you cut the bresaola paper thin like proscuitto and eat it much like you would proscuitto, i.e. with melon. We eat it sliced thin with a drizzle of specialty olive oil, fresh herbs sprinkled on it, and a spritz of lemon. Trust me. It's to die for. And, unlike much of charcuterie, it's very very low in fat.

Later, more pics and explanations of the process from beginning to end (rather than in the middle like this one).

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

It's Mother's Day, and while my Mom is gone, my beloved Mother-in-Law isn't and she's coming to visit this afternoon for a few days so we can celebrate the birthday of someone special.

Here she is, way back when, smooching on His Greyness.

Vis-a-vis the object in the mystery photo:

Even though the photography left a bit to be desired, it is clearly a needle. I'm at a loss to explain how it migrated to this location, far from where I sew, but I have my suspicions......

Gator. That's right, Gator. Further photographic evidence reveals that she is jealous of me, her primary competition. Clearly, she planted it to get me in trouble.
Mystery solved.

Case closed.

I was framed.

Pop Quiz

2008-05-09T14:49:00.000-07:00

I took this picture earlier today. I apologize that the image is less than clear .... didn't want to get out the better camera. But then again, it adds to the challenge.

So the question is, what is it?

Bonus Questions for extra points: where was the picture taken?

This contest is particularly aimed at those who may be regulars MsJan's blog. Double extra points if you get the right answer and you're not from MsJan's.

Why?

2008-05-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, as my lovely wife mentioned, we have a number of self-indulgences that keep us busy. Many of them are culinary. Now mind you, neither Jan or I have ever been ones to miss a meal. But I think we've managed to cross over into the land of "foodieism".

I know for me (and I am pretty sure for Jan as well although I'll let her comment), quality food and food prep has been a part of my entire life. Whether it was experiences like my Oakie/Arkie roots including the ubiquitous taters, beeesquits, and graaavey, my mom's awakening via Adelle Davis (telling my dad "you can't have biscuits and gravy), or my dad's pickle and olive making, I've grown up with an interest in making good food.

My interest in quality food prep has been further motivated by the recent discovery that I'm allergic to everything. Well, not everything, just wheat, corn, soy, walnuts, sesame to name a few (what doesn't have corn in it?). I'll write more on this whole experience later. Needless to say, since virtually eliminating these allergens, my life has improved dramatically! But alas, no more olive loaf sandwiches or store bought cured meat (most have corn in them). So I've recently increased a lingering interest in charcuterie. To make your own really isn't that difficult and we have access to some very high quality ingredients, so off I'm running.

Next up, some charcuterie stuff in the works ....

Another Country Heard From

2008-05-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

He may be first, but my post is on top....

This is our place to talk about our life, home, dogs, winemaking, gardening, cheesemaking, charcuterie, kids and grandkids and all the other stuff that isn't political or quilt related.

As His Greyness said, we are two fifty-somethings, luckily retired in the best place to live on the planet, Sonoma County California. We are a blended family with daughters Kate and Sarah, age 30, who introduced us many years ago, son Scott, 29 and son Daniel, 27. Our extended family includes Kate's children Benjamin, 3 and Alex, 1 and our absurdly spoiled miniature schnauzers, Gator (formerly known as Annabel) and Ace.

We have many interests between us and we never cease to wonder how we found time to work! The photo of us was taken two weeks ago while we celebrated our girls' 30th birthdays in San Francisco.

That's it for now,

ms. jan

I'm First

2008-05-08T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry Jan.

I'm doing the first post.

Welcome to our own personal guidebook to how 50 something retired folks manage to explore many areas of self-induglence. They're be little if any politics. For that rant, go to Tangled Webs for the nastier side to the greyster. Here, it's nothing but fun and how-to.

In the meantime, Jan and I will argue about the blog description.

Enjoy!