Blog meet up: Guess who's coming to visit??

In fact they're already here, right across the bay in San Francisco! And I'm sure they can feel me waving wildly from my office window in Berkeley. Two of my favorite bloggers, Lisagh (known in my house by Sophie as Crafty McDafty) and Kerry are in tearing up San Francisco as I type (or they might be finishing breakfast). Kerry is here on business, and Lisagh decided that it was time for a little vacation to parts not so chilly as Winnipeg. Since I'm not much of a city girl and my knowledge of San Francisco rivals that of the average person from Lincoln, Nebraska (I used to do a great city tour when I lived in Washington, DC—in the summer I would take people on a wading tour of all the great fountains. I don't know what's happened to me) and I can only take a single day off work (they fly out Saturday morning), I've opted to let them tour the city today and take them up to Sonoma for a little wine tasting tomorrow. 

I'll pick them up in the city bright and early (not too), and they have gamely agreed to let us swing by here on our way up.

I'm not letting anyone leave my fair part of the state without seeing some of these.

Don't tell them that I've got a couple redwoods on the side of my house. They're on a steep slope, and it will be much easier to get a picture of Lisagh hugging a tree here.

Then, in the name of recovery, we'll tool on up to herefor a little of this.

And then venture on north to here

and here

and here.


But it will not look like this


because it is supposed to RAIN, godamnit!! Can you believe it? We are having a DROUGHT. And so whereas we generally greet rain with much enthusiasm, I am cross that my parade will be rained on. Not that this will stop us. But cancel the cute outfit and nice shoes! I am also canceling (unless I am awaken by streaming sunlight) the picnic I had planned. It just wouldn't be the same eaten in my car. A good hostesses does not serve lunch in her car, does she? 


And anyway, I do not think I can compete with this.

See you tomorrow, girls!

We like hard work—when it involves wine

Saturday for the Figs was all work, no play. But when the work involves our homemade wine, we do not mind! Husband and I belong to a small wine-making group that is a spin-off of a larger group we belonged to a couple of years ago.

We pick grapes from the vineyard of someone we became friends with through our old group. We pay him for first crop; he lets us pick second crop for free and generously allows us the use of his de-stemmer and crusher. The day we pick is one of my favorite of the year. I love knowing when we open a bottle of our wine that we have been through the whole process: picking, crushing, pressing, racking, and bottling, plus all the watching, waiting, and adjusting to happens along the way. Because of a late frost, we picked second crop late this year, and we were out of town on our Cayucos trip when our group picked. We missed not only the hard work but also the fabulous picnic and camaraderie we all share. But we're still in for a share and had the opportunity to contribute some labor Saturday morning as we pressed our 2008 Zinfandel.

The crushed grapes start out in one of our high-tech fermenters, also known as a plastic garbage can.

Next, they go into the presser.

Blocks get stacked on top and screwed down to press out the juice.

Near the end, it helps to have a little extra weight to hold things down while someone cranks (proof that I didn't just stand around and chat).

At the end it's hard to believe that 950 pounds of grapes, three trashcans of crushed juice and skins, compacts to less than half a can of skins, which will make great compost for our host.

The wine will stay in the barrel for about two years.

Looks peaceful, doesn't it? It's resting. And at some point we will be as well.

In which the Figs attend a luncheon

The Figs are not fancy folk. We don't get out a lot. This weekend is a typical one. I went to the gym, went to the produce market, pottered around the house, and cooked leisurely dinners.

But last weekend we did something very exciting. We went to a luncheon. Not a lunch, mind you, a luncheon. And it involved wine. Does it get any better than that?

We belong to to several wine subscription clubs (Husband, not being much of a joiner, has no problem at all joining wine clubs). Hendry distinguishes themselves every year by inviting all members to a luncheon and tasting event at the winery.

The food is fabulous and all, but we're also happy for the chance to check out what's on the vines, since the winemaking group Husband belongs to picks their grapes from these vineyards every fall.

George Hendry is the most amazing source on grapes and wine. Any time we have the opportunity to listen to him, we're grateful. Our winemaking group was originally a collective of retired physicists (Husband was brought into the group through a friend, we think because he is relatively young, strong, and has a big truck). George, also a physicist, has converted the ranch property he grew up on to all vineyards. We knew George before he received his commercial license, when he sold most of his grapes to larger neighboring wineries and his own small winemaking operation took place in an old barn. With the commercial license came professional success, financing, and a beautiful winemaking facility.

George approaches winemaking with the same scientific precision he approached building medical cyclotrons. Old habit die hard though: He still builds cyclotrons on the side in the old barn where he used to make wine.

We were greeted on arrival by one of the staff, who exclaimed "Why, here's Cindy and [Husband] from Berkeley!" What gives? Do these people sit around quizzing themselves with flashcards featuring our faces on one side and names on the other? However they do it, I'm impressed. It's not like we spend thousands of dollars on their wine.

The event starts off with tasty appetizers. My favorites were these chips, which were topped with a mixture of shrimp, halibut, and scallops. Amazing!

Then it's tour and tasting time. Tables are set with bottles to taste (the Pinot table, the Zin table, etc.), with guests free to pour their own.

All tables are staffed with someone to explain the selections. Husband, of course, spent most of his time at George's table.

Everyone is also handed an order form to record selections. Husband always swears not to buy a lot of wine and then always buys . . . well, quite a lot of wine.


I'm all for tasting, but I also like wandering around, breathing in the cool damp rich air. It is seriously the best smell in the world to me. When I was a kid, I used to like to lie on our patio and lick the cement to get that earthy, wet cement smell. This smell is sort of like that. I behave myself though and don't lick anything.

Husband finally nails down his purchases,

and it's time for lunch!

Here's my neighbor's plate. I had already eaten half of mine before I came to my senses and realized a photograph was in order.

I am in hot pursuit of their eggplant recipe. The manager said the caterer would be happy to share it. I'm still waiting and hope I don't have to resort of a campaign of terror to get it. It was the best eggplant I've ever had in my life, and I will die without the recipe.

We'll be back in a month or so to pick grapes, although we're still unsure of what we'll be picking. A hard frost that hit this spring did considerable damage, and George will need all the first crop he can get for his market. Whatever we pick will have to be seconds, which means a long, hard, slow pick. Instead of fat clumps of grapes, it's little clumps of three grapes here, six grapes there. But we always make the best of it, with a potluck picnic, a visit with George, a look at the latest cyclotron, and a pat on the head of the vineyard dog, Buki.

Vin de Peche: Something to make

One of my favorite food books is this one by Georgeanne Brennan. She lives half the year in Provence and half the year on a small farm in northern California and is the author of the classic The Glass Pantry: Preserving Seasonal Flavors.


I was lucky enough to take a class from her at Sur la Table on preserving seasonal flavors. I had been pickling and preserving for years, but what she really turned me on to was making infused wines using seasonal ingredients. My Vin d'Orange—made from orange peels roasted until caramelized and then soaked in a mixture of red wine, vodka, sugar, and vanilla bean— has been a hit in our house for years, but I had yet to try any of her springtime recipes.

Her Vin de Peche, made with young peach leaves, sounded divine. Finding said leaves proved difficult. A call to my co-workers turned up an address for a tree near my house, only to find from the owners of the house that it was an apricot tree. I was in an experimental mode and unsure of whether I would find peach leaves, so I decided to use the apricot leaves in the Vin de Peche recipe. I used a dry Riesling, adding vodka, a vanilla bean, and a cinnamon stick. It will be ready to strain and bottle when we return from our Montana trip in late July.


In the meantime, my co-worker (extremely apologetic for missteering me) located what he was sure this time was a peach tree. Sophie and I retrieved leaves this afternoon, and they are now soaking in a Sauvignon Blanc. This batch will be ready for bottling in August.

Here are the two batches, running about a month apart. It will be fun to taste them side by side at the end of summer. And it will be even more fun to open a bottle in the middle of winter to savor a taste of summer past.


If you have a peach tree with fruit not yet ripened, give it a try. Here's the recipe.

VIN DE PECHE

6 cups young peach leaves, picked in early summer before any fruit has ripened, carefully rinsed and dried

5 bottles dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc or a French-style rose

1/2 quart vodka

2 cups granulated sugar

Combine all ingredients in a clean, dry glass jar. Cover and store in a cool, dark place for 45 days, stirring every day for the first week to ten days or until the sugar has dissolved. At the end of the 45 days, strain using a fine-mesh sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Discard the leaves. Bottle and seal. [I like to use sparkling lemonade bottles with a ceramic caged top.]

Store bottles in a cool, dark place. The wine is ready to drink immediately but will keep for a year.

Serve slightly chilled or with ice cubes.

"Are you drunk again?!"

I can't believe I was asked this question at work at 10:00 in the morning, but then I guess there was reason:


Husband belongs to several wine clubs, where he is sent a section of several bottles several times a year, with an option to order more at a discounted price. Except for around the holidays, we usually don't order more, but it's a good chance to taste different things and accumulate a nice little collection of wine. Delivery services are getting very fussy these days about leaving alcohol without signature from a sober adult, so we have it delivered to my office. Husband says he does not want people in his office to think he's a big lush. In my office that's already a well-known fact.

What I really can't believe is that I was asked this question by someone who looks like this:

Sunday dinner: Barbecued rack of lamb

My mother-in-law has had a tough week, suffering what we think are a few TIAs (small strokes), followed by multiple doctor appointments. She always loves joining us for Sunday dinner, but she especially loves this menu:

Barbecued frenched rack of lamb (I am rarely a fan of preseasoned meats—why not just season my own?—but Trader Joe's has a really exceptional rack of lamb, seasoned just perfectly.)

Greek lemon roasted potatoes (thank you, Martha)

buttered baby green peas

homemade mint apple jelly

green salad with balsamic vinaigrette

a wonderful bottle of pinot noir made by husband's wine group—a great pairing with the lamb

Tomorrow is the MLK Jr. birthday weekend. Husband has to work, but Sophie and I are off, so we're headed to the mountains for what we call a "single day assault" on Sugarbowl.


We'll leave at 5:45 a.m., arriving at the parking lot at 9:00, just in time for opening of the lifts. It's a long day, to be sure, but it should be a good one given that there's four to six inches of snow predicted up there for tonight, with snow showers for tomorrow. It's also predicted to be cold, which we're hoping will scare a few people off the mountain. Report on Day 8 of our ski season forthcoming!