Friday, January 02, 2009

The 2nd of January, 2009

My Duck's B-Day! Whoopee! She being now 64 wanted the Beatle's "When I'm 64" to play so I found it on Youtube...of course...as part of the Yellow Submarine movie and played it several times for her. The cats purred along with it. Then we read the paper and off to Hurley's, my favorite restaurant, in Yountville. We've been many times, t'ain't cheap but the food...the food! Terrific by any measure. Certainly among the top 10 in the Bay Area and gives Bouchon virtually next door in Yountville a run for it's money. Today we got a table next to the fireplace sans fire...it was lined instead with 10 small candles...kinda funny but...ok. The service is impeckable and soon with our water came the menu's including a 2 course lunch prix fix at $18 US. Kelly took the salmon w/ mashed potatoes and the bread salad and I the Chicken Florentine w/wild mushroom risotto and the very delicious squash and pear soup. Each meal was wonderful and enhanced by the two glasses of wine we chose. Not a bottle as we had to drive both to Napa and then on to home some 25 miles distant. We DO NOT drink and drive while in the US. A good rule to follow. Always have a designated driver at hand or be one yourself and either don't drink or stop very early. Lunch was $58 US and I left a 10 dollar tip so 68 for both of us. Not bad given the quality of the experience. Afterwards we were off to Napa to find the new indoor market that everyone is talking about. After a not so encouraging roam about downtown Napa we gave up and returned to the car top search once again by the river. We found it soon thereafter. A big hall like those in many villages in France with a wide variety of small businesses dealing with either wine or food. No real bargains exist as this is Napa afterall. Nonetheless it was a nice place to while away some time and we will at sometime go there to buy cheeses and the occassional beautiful beef available. All in all a very nice day with my Ducky on her 64th.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Quiet Before 2009

After Christmas...what? Currently the scene in the US is everyone has quit buying anything but food and gas to get to work. Christmas sales were a bust according to the newspapers and CNN and the Black Friday of two days ago came and went similarly.
The average American has no where to go but up now, as we live in DOWN. Kelly and I are working on the little house, putting it back to a decent condition in order to rent it again. We were going to move in it but that was nixed by our ever thoughful Audrey who said to us "How will you fit?" She was right of course, it has about 1000 sq, ft maximum and we live almost within the confines here in The Swamphouse of 2500 sq. ft. with furniture to match. What with storage fees for the excess and stuff we won't/can't/shouldn't sell there's no payoff that's positive that she could see and she's right. Thus we are hard at work scraping off layers of paint, patching nail holes and caulking tub and showers and sinks. Next comes painting of the woodwork and the walls to suit her...yes...Audrey wants to live in it! How the heck did this come about?! I dunno but that's the way it looks today. I think she'd really like it too, she'd be surrounded by our friends Jane and Wayne, Bob and Marsha and the denizen's of the Olde Town area such as they are. The date? 1 February, a bit over a month off. Meanwhile...work goes on.
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My bread was a hit wherever it found itself, people really liked the nuttiness and crunch of Lute's Nut and Whole Wheat Bread. I delivered 5 loaves on Christmas Eve and heard nothing but praise afterwards. Amazingly simple this bread for something that tastes so complex. Today I made an Oat Bread for our neighbors across the street and for Jane. The second one is in the bread machine now on dough cycle. It takes a couple of hours to go thruogh 2 rises and the kneading it requires before I can turn it out, shape it and pop it lovingly in a 5X9 tin for baking. It is good bread. I've ordered some high gluten bread flour online and will have that to experiment with someday real-soon-now.