entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

Wednesday evening, i caught up with old Macromedia friends at Mars and, god, we had a blast.  I missed those people a lot.  I picked up a bottle of Cooper-Garrod 2002 Cabernet Franc (C-G's cab franc is one of my standards) at K&L for $22 plus tax, and i ended up splitting that with Brian, which ameliorated our booze bill (and Ivan picked up the corkage fee, ha ha).  After that, the remaining few of us went to the Mission for late night vittles at Pancho Villa.

Thursday evening, Centavo lost a heartbreaker against KOSOC, 6-5, in our final Session 70 game.  It was a really tight game, and the game was tied until about a minute left when a KOSOC player uncorked a shot from outside; i was partly screened, but i was already moving to my right, and i got a hand on the ball as i dove, but it wasn't enough.  I had a pretty solid game; the few times my defense let me down cost us, but overall the whole team played well.  We almost tied in the end but a tap-in shot was shanked.  I'll miss our first game of Session 71 while i'm in Bengalūru, unfortunately.  I'm leaving in less than four hours... ack.  Off to pack.

I opened two of the three wines that rbarclay sent me recently.  We opened the Stift Klosterneuburg when we went out to eat with Kim's dad while he was visiting; the wine was subtle and deep, and paired marvelously with just about anything we threw at it.  We opened the Schilcher at home for salmon.  Fantastic pairing, and the wine was great on its own; it would easily the best rosé i've ever had, except it isn't actually a rosé.  To close the Austrian theme, i had a bottle of Wild Horse's `03 Blaufränkisch [PDF] (this varietal is called Lemberger in Austria and Germany).  All i remember now about it is really liking it; i might have to open up the `04 to refresh my memory... nah, i'll let it sit.

Other recent wines include: d'Arenberg `03 The Laughing Magpie Shiraz-Viognier, a beautiful wine which seemed to completely coat my tongue with its flavor; Pezzi King `01 Dry Creek Old Vine Zinfandel, which was on sale for $10 at Lunardi's (and as a big fan of Dry Creek wines and old vine zins, i had to buy it), which was a total steal for what we got; and tonight we opened Burrell School `02 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, which took about 30 minutes to open up.  Really tasty, good fruit, easy tannins.

I also must mention attending the Charbonofest at Nonno's last weekend, where i sampled charbono from at least a dozen wineries (and we met harunoame for the first time!).  Having all the variety really cemented its status as my favorite varietal (despite Bonny Doon still having no idea what to do with it).  I came home with a bottle of Dunnewood 1996 Charbono Port [PDF], which was completely irresistible.

After i gave him a hand with shipping him some computer parts near my locality, rbarclay took it upon himself to thank me by sending me some Austrian wine.  It arrived earlier this week:

• Freie Weingärtner Wachau 2003 Grüner Veltliner Smaragd Selection
• Erzherzog Johann 2005 Schilcher
• Stift Klosterneuburg 2002 St. Laurent Tattendorf Thermenregion

(Apropos, it seems that some people in New Zealand are considering St. Laurent as an alternative to Pinot Noir.)

Today, i received my Hidden Music shirt, along with a handwritten note on behalf of covertmusic, fanf and lusercop wishing me and Kim a happy anniversary.  Thanks, guys!

(and don't i look oh-so-smarmy in my new icon?)

On Thursday, after a short interview at EDD to make sure my unemployement benefits were all kosher, my mother-in-law and i went to weed our grapevines at her property in San Martin.  They were fraught with unwanted vegetation, but we eradicated a significant portion and reduced the rest after a few hours of work.  Photographic evidence: a young grape cluster; a maturing grapevine; a young charbono grapevine amidst a forest of weeds

On Friday, eqe and i met for the first time over Amici's.  We talked about mutual acquaintances, the Net and its culture (he wore an RTFM T-shirt, i wore my OSI 9-layer model T-shirt), and our professional milieux.  And he paid for lunch!  What a guy.  Thanks, man.

On Saturday, Kim and i dropped by her mom's and we bottled our grape wine.  I don't intend to open our limited supply until at least Hmas, but we tasted it at bottling and, well, it's quite good.

Today, we went to Thai Pepper in Campbell for their Mother's Day buffet brunch.  I ate a lot of shrimp.  We had a bottle of Weingut Köfererhof `04 Kerner which allannah gifted us, which she had during her dinner at the French Laundry.  It was really good on its own, with a complexity that's rare in a white wine, and it accompanied the Thai food well.  I shall repay her gift by getting a hold of some Txomin Etxaniz `04 Txakoli.

Somehow, jkcohen detected yesterday that i was feeling depressed and he let me know that i would soon be receiving a gift.  That afternoon, i received Andrea Echeverri (of Aterciopelados)'s solo album.  Half the songs are written to her lover, and half to her child.  You can watch videos for the first track, "Amortiguador" ("Shock Absorber"), on her MySpace, and the third one, "A Eme O" on Calabash Music.

Today, i caught up with anotherdave over Indian food.  We talked about our intermediate future and conversation turned to wine.  We stopped at The Wine Rack in Cupertino, where i picked up a bottle of Ridge 2000 carignane.  Ridge was out of it when we were out there during one of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winery Association Passport weekends a few years ago, so i couldn't pass up the chance at picking it up.  Then we went back to Dave's, where he gifted me a bottle of Hug Cellars 2001 Encantada dessert wine.  Thanks, guys!  You two rock.

Kim and i dropped by dr_strych9 and G's house to meet the very new Leopold.  He is a child that makes the most delightful grunting noises.  G made fabulous food, of which the chicken tamales were the most noteworthy in my estimation.  Much wine was opened, including a `96 Barolo that was very, very good.  We donated a Wild Horse `02 cabernet sauvignon to the cause, which was serviceable but paled in comparison to the Barolo.  A copy of Jeff Vogel's "The Poo Bomb" was prominently displayed.  We saw memepunk and earthlien, haineux showed up later, and vanmojo (who greeted us at the door with chocolate cigars) and his Better Half came up from the Dread Pit of Southern California.  I wholly neglected to take any pictures, unfortunately.  Long live the prince!

Kim and i met sambushell and Juls at Hunan Taste for dinner tonight, after which we headed to their (temporary) house to meet their new doggy, May.  We then went for walkies, all the way to Japantown where dessert (some layered poundcake thing with chocolate sauce) was acquired, then back to their new house, which is currently undergoing some renovation.  There we admired their Speed Queen industrial-strength washer/dryer unit (jsam declared, "You could fit a family of five in there!").  Juls had a half-bottle of deLorimier 2002 Lace, which was magnificent, especially with some Colombian dark chocolate.  The honeyed pear smell of botrytised semillon and sauvignon blanc is the hallmark of Sauternes and this wine delivered it well.  Then we walked back, said hello to Juls's dad and two of the cats, drank water, ate the poundcake and some oranges.  Now i'm sleepy.  Bye bye!

Tonight Kim cooked some smoked pork chops, and made some pesto to go with some angel hair pasta and asparagus from our garden, plus salad that contained fennel, broccoli and lettuce from our garden (and green onions from someone else's garden).  It was all fantastic, and i opened a bottle of Norman 2002 Mephistopheles zinfandel (PDF).  It's dark, rich, complex, obviously tannic for a zin but not too much so, and hot (œnospeak for "high in alcohol").  Kim then whipped up a batch of Mrs. Donnelly's Brownie Mix, which cost $20 (!), but, hey, the samples at the store were unbelievable.  And the brownies do rock, and pair very well with the wine.  I also have a Norman `02 old vine zin waiting in the rack... mmm.

... but i'll take `em anyway.  OH ZING

Kim has already written about yesterday's feast, but, as always, she has left me one meager but prestigious task: writing about the wine (i note that taking care of beverages for our wedding was also my lone duty as groom — what can i say, it's good to be the king).  So what did we have, you ask?

First off, my mother-in-law brought a half-full bottle of `03 J. Lohr Seven Oaks cabernet sauvignon (which i did not get to taste).  I opened the last bottle of our `02 rosé (floral notes, a hint of watermelon) and a bottle of our `05 Prune Nouveau (that's my joke name for our plum wine, because i'm reacting against the beaujolais nouveau fad [not that i'm saying that BN is a fad — i know the tradition has been around for a while, i'm just saying that its current wave of popularity is a fad] — definitely plummy, but good character, high acid, it's gonna be really good after a couple of years of rest).  I also opened a bottle of `03 Txomin Etxaniz (a slightly fizzy Basque white wine, a favorite of ours), `02 Bouchaine pinot noir (a delicious, rich, full-bodied pinot noir), and `02 RH Phillips merlot (very merloty; i got this mostly because of its screw cap design at Trader Joe's).  I had chilled a bottle of Charles Krug zinfandel port, but i forgot to open it, so i'll have to enjoy it some other time.

Of course, the hottentots drank my beer (which i never got to taste so i'll have to buy another six-pack of the stuff) and went to buy more beer, leaving behind only an old bottle of Sierra Nevada pale ale and a bottle of their Gordon stinkin' Biersch märzen.  Not that i should complain, really, if they don't want to drink my wine, more for me, right?

OK, so matrushkaka isn't really a midget, and it wasn't just my dinner because 2wanda was there, too.  BUT ANYWAY.

Kim and i drove up to K's on Saturday night and we departed on foot towards Limón.  When we got there, there was a big wait and we didn't feel like gambling on someone missing their reservation.  So i made an executive decision and backtracked us a bit towards Amira.  The ladies shared some eggplant salad thing and the three of us shared a bottle of Amazir Beni M'tir (a Moroccan blend of carignan, cinsaut, and alicante-bouschet; a little spicy, medium-bodied, and perfect with the food) and the Amira's Feast.  The music (oud, dumbek, tambourine) was slow and subdued, until it was time for the bellydancer, Aliena.  She was really good, and she showed a fine control of muscles that i presume i have somewhere on my body and might someday find the time to make an acquaintance.  After our meal was complete, we walked down to Bombay Ice Cream, where Kim had cardamom rose (tasty!), K had masala tea, and i had boring ol' mint chocolate chip.  Then we walked back to K's, where she gifted us a 200 ml bottle of Peller Estates 2002 cabernet franc icewine.  YES.  Thanks, K, for the wine and a good time!