Week in Wine

Southern Hemisphere

Whites

2005 Jacob’s Creek South Eastern Australia Chardonnay ($9)

2005 McWilliam’s Hanwood Estate South Eastern Australia Riesling ($10)

2005 Stonehaven South Eastern Australia Riesling ($8)

2005 Wyndham Estate Bin 222 South Eastern Australia Chardonnay ($9)

Reds

2004 Andeluna Winemaker’s Selection Mendoza Malbec ($13)

2004 Rosemount Estate Diamond Label South Eastern Australia Shiraz-Cabernet ($12)

2003 Stonehaven South Eastern Australia Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon ($8)

2004 Stonehaven South Eastern Australia Shiraz ($8)

2005 Vina Chocalan Maipo Carmenere ($10)

2004 Vina Chocalan Maipo Syrah ($10)

Day in Wine Country

Royal Class Limousine

Gloria Ferrer

Domaine Carneros – Simply Sparkling tour

Kunde Caves Tour and tasting

Benziger Tour by Tram and tasting

St Francis Winery Food and Wine pairing

Week in Wine

Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc

2004 DeLoach OFS Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($20)

2004 Dry Creek Vineyards DCV3 Dry Creek Valley Fume Blanc ($25)

2005 Gann Family Cellars Spring Hill Vineyard Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($18)

2005 Gary Farrell Redwood Ranch Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($25)

2005 Hanna Slusser Road Vineyard Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($17)

2005 Huntington Earthquake Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($14)

2005 Kunde Estate Magnolia Lane Sonoma Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($16)

2005 Lake Sonoma Winery Dry Creek Valley Fume Blanc ($18)

2005 Passalacqua Alexander Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($16)

2005 Praxis Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($14)

2005 Rochioli Russian River Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($29)

2005 Rodney Strong Charlotte’s Home Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($14)

2005 Roshambo The Obvious Sonoma County Sauvignon Blanc ($15) T

2005 Trentadue Dry Creek Valley Sauvignon Blanc ($14)

Theatre Londontown

Avenue Q (Noel Coward)

Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace)

Cabaret (Lyric, Shaftsbury)

Caroline, or Change (National Theatre, Lyttleon)

Chicago (Cambridge)

DOnkeys’ Years (Comedy theatre)

Evita (Adelphi)

FOol for love (Apollo)

Guys and Dolls (Piccaddilly)

Les Miserables (Queen’s)

Life of Galileo (National)

Lion King (Lyceum)

Sound of music (Palladium)

Tom and Viv (Almeida)

Wicked (Apollo)

Dirty Dancing, Aldwych

Amazing Albarino

Albarino is the primary grape used to make dry white wine in the lower inlets (Rias Baixes) section of the Galicia region of Northwestern Spain. It is known in Portugal as Alvarinho and often used as a component of Vinho Verde. It is Spain’s premium quality white wine. The terroir is cool, windy and rainy and thus vines must be trained high and open to permit winds to dry them out and avoid the ongoing threat of rotm mildew and other fungi. Grapes develop thick skins and thus intense aroma usually of almond or almond paste, apple, peach, citrus and flowers or grass. There is a spritzy taste in the mouth. They are suited for seafood because of razor sharp acidity and their tartness should be appreciated early. They do not age well and noticeably fade within months of bottling. Very few acres are planted in California with three acres in Carneros since 1996.

Albarino tends to be fresh and vibrant tasting, often with a spritzy taste in the mouth. Tasters compared it to a combination of sauvignon blanc and a very dry Riesling. The fruit tends to be peaches, apricot, melon and citrus. Some recommendations:
• 2001 Morgadio Albarino at $18.99
• 2001 Valminor Albarino at $15.99
• 2001 Varanda do Conde Vino Verde (Alvarinho) at $10.99
• 2001 Antonin Rodet Chablis at $14.99
• 1999 Trapiche Malbec at $10
• 2000 Santa Julia Malbec Reserva at $10

 

 

Week in Wine

Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir

2005 Hayman & Hill Reserve Selection No. 41 Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir ($14)

2004 Manzoni Family Estate Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir ($23)

2004 Tamayo Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir ($28)

Wine with Chinese Takeaway

Whites

2005 Banrock Station South Eastern Australia Riesling ($6)

2005 Banrock Station South Eastern Australia Semillon Chardonnay ($6)

2005 Kenwood Vineyards Sonoma County Gewurztraminer ($11)

2005 Oroya Vino de la Tierra de Castilla ($8)

2004 Polka Dot Pfalz Riesling ($10)

Pinks and Reds

2006 Angove’s Nine Vines South Australia Grenache Shiraz Rosé ($11)

2005 J. Lohr Wildflower Monterey County Valdiguie ($8.50)

NV Marquis de la Tour France Rosé Sparkling Wine ($8)

2005 Paul Jaboulet Aine Parallele “45″ Cotes du Rhone Rosé ($11)

NV Pink by Yellowglen Australia Sparkling Wine ($12)

Trailer Park

The Departed

Jesse James

John Tucker Must Die

The Grudge 2

We are Marshall

Flyboys

Dreamgirls

School for Scoundrels

Sleeping Dogs Lie

Illusionist

Transformers

Babel

Jet Li is Fearless

Snakes on a Plane

My First Wedding

Say Uncle

American Hard Core

Ghostrider

The Ground Truth

Happy Feet

Night at the Museum

Infamous 

The Science of Sleep

Crank

The Reaping

The Quiet

Children of Men

Zoom

The Prestige

The Guardian

Once in a Lifetime

The Covenant

Renaissance

Avocado Ravioli

Super thin slices of just ripe avocado. Quennele of potatoes cooked with shallots and garam masala; my variation of bubble and squeak). Upper slice of avocado seasoned with lime, orange zest, sea salt and almond oil. Easy peasy. In the future, I should remember to serve this in a Chinese soup spoon – this was pretty challenging for some lovely friends to get off the plate.

Insalata Caprese

So lovely. So simple. Bocconcini. Cherry tomatoes. Basil. Olive Oil. Sea salt. Come on now.

Roasted Pineapple

Preheat oven to 300F. Chop pineapple but save leaves (wait for it). Stand pineapple slices and add vanilla bean to pan after slicing lengthwise. Roast for 40 minutes or until tender. Baste pineapple with pan oils and juices. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

Combine 0.25C water, 1 C sugar and 1tsp light corn syrup. Simmer over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Caramelize. 10 minutes. Whisk in 0.5C passion fruit juice and 2tbs butter (caramel splatters so take care). Sieve. Chill for up to two days. Stir in pulp from 2 ripe passion fruits (including the seeds) into the caramel before serving.

Combine 1/C sugar and 2tbs water and heat on low until sugar melts. Heat until golden. Remove and add 2.5 tbs butter, whisking until incirporated. Pour into baking sheet lined with silicon mat. Let cool and harden. Break half the caramel into small pieces and grind to powder.

Plating – spoon passion fruit caramel into center of plate. Place pineapple chop on caramel. Place cream on pineapple and top with pineapple leaf (they are edible). Sprinkle dust around.

Image from A La Cuisine, inarguably the best website for practical food styling and photography. Inspirational.

Recipe from The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern (Claudia Fleming) and TFL Cookbook (Thomas Keller)

Apple Gelee

Use 1 quart of apple cider. Keep aside 1 C cider to bloom 4 envelopes of powdered gelatin over this. Boil remainder of cider in saucepan with pinch of saffron, chopped ginger and cinnamon stick. Add bloomed gelatin and let liquid steep with heat off. Strain into a dish so gelee only 2 inches deep. Chill until set. Top with quenelle of cream cheese (I use herbed) and some lovely rocket.

Sea Foam

Asparagus Espuma

Boil 2 lbs peeled white asparagus in salt water with sugar and a slice of lemon until done. SAVE THE WATER. Puree asparagus with 300 mL of the salt water juices in a mixer and pass through a fine sieve. Season with salt and sugar to taste. Soak 5 sheets of gelatin in cold water. Heat 100 mL of the puree to 140 degrees and stir in the pressed out gelatin, then add the remainder of the puree. Let cool thoroughly and stir in 100mL of heavy cream (33% consistency). Pour into the ISI and let cool to room temperature. Should be firm and creamy. I prefer white asparagus but to make it green, replace it with usual asparagus and blanched pureed spinach.

Serve in Japanese tea cups.

Cooked Cream

Panna Cotta

Pour 2tbs water into  a small bowl. Sprinkle 1.25 tsp unflavored gelatin over water and let stand 15 minutes to soften. Meanwhile, whisk 1C whipping cream, 1.25C plain goat’s milk (or yoghurt), and 0.5C sugar in small saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and cream simmers. Remover from heat. Add gelatin mixture, stirring to dissolve. Mix hot cream-gelatin mixture into yoghurt mixture in bowl. Lick remaining yoghurt. Divide mixture among 6 ramekins, using 0.5C for each. Refrigerate uncovered until cold, then cover and chill overnight.

Toss hulled thinkly slices strawberries (1 1-pint baskets), 3tbs balsamic vinegar, 1 tbs sugar and 1/2 tsp black pepper in large bowl. Let stand 30 minutes, tossing occasionally. Puree. Chill. Top to serve.

Heaven in a shot glass bottomed with strawberry Jello.

Prosecco Soup

Toss 3 cups chopped strawberries with 1C Prosecco, 2 tsp fresh chopped tarragon, 3/4 tbs sea salt and 2 tbs sugar. Let macerate, chilled and covered for one hour.

Puree in blender until smooth and then set aside 1C puree. Blend remainder with 3/4C vanilla yoghurt. Serve soup drizzled with reserved puree. Divide into 4 coffee glasses.

Deconstructed Wine

White Wine Gelée:
- 2 lbs seedless white grapes, stemmed
- ¾ cup water
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp powdered gelatin

- 30 pink peppercorns
- 6 small mint leaves
- 3 seedless white grapes, halved lengthwise
- 3 tsps peeled, cored, and finely diced Granny Smith apple
- 3 tsps lemon zest
- 3 tsps orange zest
- 3 tsps peeled, cored, and finely diced pineapple
- 1 ½ tsps balsamic vinegar
- 1 ½ tsps crushed cloves
- 1 ½ tsps single blossom San Ramon honey
- 1 ½ tsps grated nutmeg (Williams-Sonoma sells a grater but I use a zester)
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds only

Place grapes in freezer overnight or until frozen. I do not have the time to peel my grapes because the last time this ended with an accident. Let us just say a capillary (or bunch of them) was involved. I always have frozen grapes ready just in case of emergency.
Puree frozen grapes, water and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Transfer to a cheesecloth and squeeze out liquid into a strainer sitting on a bowl. Discard grape solids. You should have about 2 – 2 ½ cups of liquid. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight to ferment.
Soften gelatin with a small amount of water. Over a double boiler (or a bowl over a pot of simmering water) combine gelatin with 1 cup grape juice and stir until dissolved. Pour mixture through a strainer into remaining grape juice and let cool slightly. Place 6 small dishes on a level surface in the refrigerator and divide grape juice equally amongst the dishes. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or until set.
Mentally divide each dish into 12 zones (like the hours on the face of a clock on a breast: thinking mammogram here, so return your mind to the gutter) and place 1/6th of each ingredient in each zone. Repeat for remaining dishes and serve immediately in six shallow soup bowls. Pairs well with Navarro Gewurtztraminer grape juice (not alcoholic) from Alexander Valley. Do not serve with wine: defeats purpose.

Week in Wine

California Pinot Grigio

NV Barefoot California Pinot Grigio ($6)

2005 Benessere Carneros Pinot Grigio ($24)

2005 Boeger Winery El Dorado Pinot Gris ($15)

2005 Castoro Cellars Oakenshield Wineworks Paso Robles Pinot Grigio ($19)

2005 Cosentino Winery Kirshenmann Vineyard Lodi Pinot Grigio ($18)

2005 Cosentino Winery Stewart Vineyards Solano County Pinot Grigio ($18)

2005 Etude Carneros Pinot Gris ($24)

2005 Fetzer Vineyards Valley Oaks California Pinot Grigio ($9)

2005 Gallo Family Vineyards Sonoma Reserve Sonoma County Pinot Grigio ($13)

2005 Meridian California Pinot Grigio ($10)

2005 Navarro Vineyards Anderson Valley Pinot Gris ($18)

2005 Robert Sinskey Los Carneros Pinot Gris ($24)

2005 Taz Santa Barbara County Pinot Gris ($15)

White

NV Barefoot Cellars California Pinot Grigio ($6)

2005 3 Blind Moose California Pinot Grigio ($10)

2005 Francis Coppola Bianco California Pinot Grigio ($10)

2004 Guenoc California Chardonnay ($12)

2005 Talus Collection Lodi Chardonnay ($8)

Red

2003 Bocce California Zinfandel ($10)

2004 BV Century Cellars California Merlot ($8)

2003 Cellar No. 8 California Zinfandel ($10)

2005 Meridian Central Coast Pinot Noir ($10)

2003 Two Tone Farm California Cabernet Sauvignon ($10)

Buildings Chicago

Sometimes you can just walk about the city and enjoy the buildings. Everyone must immediately plan to go and look at these landmarks:

1. The Rookery, 1888, 209 S. La Salle St. 11 stories tall. Rusticated granite of the base to the vaguely castle-like summit. 2-story sky-lit lobby was redesigned in 1907 by Frank Lloyd Wright. The picture below does it no justice.
   
2. Marquette Building, 1895, 140 S. Dearborn St. Brown terra cotta block defines the Chicago School of architecture: The structure is on clear display, and the frame allows for wide windows that let in air and light. Revolving doors have lion-head handles, and a round foyer decorated with tile mosaics.
3. Reliance Building, 1895, 32 N. State St. Gaunt and glassy, slender and steep, this was designed by Charles Atwood of Burnham and Root. Modern.
4. 135 S. La Salle, 1934. Art Deco towers: gray limestone, tall entrance and stocky-yet-soaring armchair shape. Inside, its world of finance turns jazzy, with sleek fixtures and gleaming catwalks that slice across a 27-foot-high arcade.
5. Chicago Federal Center, 1959-1974, 219 S. Dearborn St. Mies van der Rohe, known for such aphorisms as “less is more.” Dark balance of glass and steel and the plaza flowing around the three buildings which houses Alexander Calder’s lithe orange “Flamingo”
6. Inland Steel Building, 1958, 30 W. Monroe St. In sunlight the stainless steel frame takes on a rippling bluish sheen.
7. Marina Center, 1964, 300 N. State St. Unique pair of 60-story concrete towers with pie-shaped units radiating out from a round core, each one with a semicircular balcony. They’re known locally as “the corncobs”.
8. 181 W. Madison, 1990 : This 50-story skyscraper by Cesar Pelli is among the best — partly for the elegant oomph of its design (modeled on Eliel Saarinen’s 1922 proposal for the Tribune Tower), partly for the Frank Stella murals in the lobby.
9. (and 10) 71 S. Wacker and 111 S. Wacker, 2005 — Suave glass towers form a new western gateway to the tough old Loop. 71 S. Wacker is shaped like a ship’s prow, while 111 S. Wacker was the first office tower to receive a gold rating for sustainable design from the United States Green Building Council. And the curving lobby roof is shaped by what it hides: the ramp to a concealed parking garage.
   

Lodging ideas

Hotel Burnham, 1 W. Washington St. (312) 782-1111. This Kimpton Hotel is an inspired transformation of the venerated Reliance Building.

Hard Rock Hotel, 230 N. Michigan Ave. (312) 345-1000; Another classic transformed into a hip boutique hostelry. This Jazz Age knockout by Daniel Burnham’s son, the Carbide and Carbon Building, is jet-black with a 39-story tower that pierces the skyline.

Hotel Allegro, 171 W. Randolph St. (800) 643-1500 or (312) 236-0123;. Formerly the Bismarck Hotel, longtime haunt of powerful politicians.

Shopping ideas

Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave. (312) 922-3432. Walking tours and guidebooks

Prairie Avenue Books, 418 S, Wabash Ave. (800) 474-2724. A mezzanine of second-hand finds

Macy’s, 111 N. State St. (312) 781-1000. Goods arranged around two ornate atriums, one topped by a Tiffany glass-mosaic dome. Seventh-floor Walnut Room, which has offered a civilized oasis from the big-city swirl since 1907.

Dining ideas Frontera Grill, 445 N. Clark St. (312) 661-1434. Nuevo Mexicano

Weber Grill, 539 N. State St. (312) 467-9696. Eight enormous Smokey Joes churning out platters of meat that could feed a baseball team.