And how are we ushering in 2006? Here, it's oyster stew and ham biscuits at cocktail hour, then a late supper of dry-aged rib steaks, black-eyed peas and haricots verts. Then cookies.

2002 Baumard Savennieres "Clos du Papillon"
1995 Chateau Sociando-Mallet Haut-Medoc
1995 Jaboulet Hermitage la Chapelle
1986 Dow's Quinta do Bomfim
1996 Egly-Ouriet Champagne

...and a generously gifted-to-me bottle of Comte Georges de Vogue marc de bourgogne.

Happy New Year!!!!

We had a Sunnyside skirt steak, baked yukon gold potatoes and salad.

I'm sipping a Gruet demi-sec and waiting for my Cheesetique sheep's brie to come up to temp....

Jennifer

I had lasagne made by the cooking challenged wife of a good friend. At least my salad and hot chocolate and the prosecco were good.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy new year everyone! I'll be dreaming of the prime rib that I will braise in butter to eat with a 2002 Paraduxx tomorrow.

Bonne cuisine dans 2006!

2003 Primitivo di Salento "Sharazad" Milleuna (almost Amarone-like: rich, spicy, luscious, thick)
2003 Rosso di Montalcino Collimattoni (Incredibly huge rosso, late harvest overtones, lush, spicy, full)
2003 Barbera d'Alba Hillberg
2004 Gewurztraminer "Nussbaumer" Cantina di Tramin, Alto Adige
2000 Gravner Ribolla Gialla
2002 "Primofiore" Quintarelli (Valpolicella blend)
1999 Brunello di Montalcino Poggio di Sotto (plummy, spicy, rich, very smooth, in the bloom of youth, one of the 3 best 99 Brunello I have tasted)
1997 Barolo "Ginnestra" Paolo Conterno (huge, coffe and spice nose, violets, roses, ripe purple and black fruit, early mature)
1999 Amarone "Pergole Vece" Le Salette (smooth, rich, huge, spicy, lush)
Note, we were pouring 2 wine flights so we had an incredible array of wines open last night)
Dinner: Crostini of cured Foie Gras, house cured duck breast, foie gras with blackberry sauce, lobster & guanciale pasta, rib eye with erborinati (cave aged blue) . Johnny outdid himself!

Thanks to those here and all our friends and customers who made 2005 such an exciting year. We hope you have a great, happy and healthy 2006!

How was the Gravner?

On its own, a little rough and sharp. We had it with the foie gras crostini as well as a baccala crostini. The richness of the foie and the salty sharpness of tthe baccala brought out different aspects of the wine but both dishes took away the sharpness. With the foie, it was softer with more of a muscatty overtone. With the bacala, it was all spice and a little buttery/yeasty. All in all, Gravner remains one of my true wine heros. His wines stand apart!

I'd love to see what Josko would do with chenin from a good site.

Last night we celebrated the end of a very rough (for us) year with a little bubbly and some nice crustaceans:

Inflorescence Champagne Blanc De Noirs Brut

Steamed live Dungeness Crabs (from the Great Wall)
Steamed artichokes
(together fondly referred to as the drawn butter course)
Garlic Naan

Chablis Grand Cru Les Clos 1999

Another glass of the 1971er Forster Jesuitengarten TBA

Here's to a very happy 2006 for all of us!

Happy New Year, dr family! It's been a great year. [btw, I've been catching up on the last few days' posting. It seems there a lot going on--breasts, rant, deleted posting, threats, cancellations, yikes!]

I'm on a roll! My extended family came to my house for the New Year meal. These people must really love me, since my house is only partially renovated and they've been hanging out here more than 24 hours! Here's what I prepared:

New Year's Day Dinner

pork tenderloin
black-eyed peas and rice
greens
candied sweet potatoes
corn bread
crab legs
etc

Breakfast (Today)

apple cinnamon pancakes
homemade sausage (delicious!)
scrambled eggs