Terrific

Last night I brought a bottle of Pintoresco Tempranillo de Espana 2003 (yeah, I know the picture is of a 2002) over to some friend's place for dinner. It was great! It totally reminded me of all those bottles of wine I had in Spain or even France or Italy. It reminded me of the house wines or table wines we would get in Europe. Dirt cheap and really good. This wine was on the lighter side for a red, with some fruits and an easy finish. I really enjoyed it, and I plan on going back to Astor Wines and picking up a few more bottles to keep in the wine fridge for everyday drinking. Nice.

NP: I Walk The Line, Johnny Cash

MOTHERF@CK%R

Today, I went left my apartment building to go to the store. When I walked outside, I looked at my car which is parked directly in front of my building. It was fine when I left. When I came back, some little c@ck sucker keyed the side of my car. Son of a bitch!
I have some weird feeling that it was the bastards who park the cars for the parking garage a couple of buildings away. They tend to take up all of the spots on the block with cars that are supposed to be in the garage to be able to fit more cars and make more money. Where I'm parked is somewhere that they really like to use. (I wonder if the people who are paying them to put their cars in a garage know that they often end up on the street?) Anyway, they sit outside all freaking day and when I asked them if they saw anyone, they said no. Then they all ran inside. It's just a suspicion, but they are a bunch of ass holes, so I just assume it's them. F&ckers.

NP: Revolution Is My Name, Pantera

The Streak

Last night Derek Jeter's 25 game hitting streak came to an end. I was hoping that he would have gotten that last at bat in the ninth inning, but it wasn't to be. It's too bad too, because during that streak, Jeter's been awesome. Unfortunately we dropped three out of four to the Red Sox this weekend and prolonged the clinching of the American League East. Hopefully we'll do it over the next few games in Toronto.
As for Jeter, those who do not watch him on a regular basis may not understand, but he's a clear cut choice for MVP.

NP: Desire, U2

Merde

If you get the chance, you should read these two books by Stephen Clarke: A Year In The Merde and In The Merde For Love. Both books follow Paul West, a Londoner who has to move to Paris for business. After having recently visited France for the first time, I thought the first book might be a fun read. I wasn't disappointed. In fact, I went right back to the New York Public Library and grabbed the sequel, which came out just recently. Both were great quick reads (although I think I enjoyed the original book best).

NP: Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Devil Rays, YES Network

Remembering...

Today is the 5th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the United States. I still remember how sad, strange, scary and vulnerable the city felt that day. I also remember how we all came together to help each other as well. In the end, I think it may have helped to make us stronger. Today is a day for remembering. It's just too bad we had to experience it at all.

The Rabbit Comes Through Again

Yesterday we had my wife's baby shower, which turned out to be one of those men & women affairs. Anyway, it all worked out pretty well. Among my missions for this party was the wine. The space that we decided to have it didn't allow any glass in case something broke - so I needed to get wine in a box. I've been trying a lot of different boxed wines over the past couple of months because of this. After my various tastings, I decided to go with the French Rabbit label of boxed wines. I've written about the Chardonnay before on this blog. Out of all the boxes I've tried, I enjoyed that one the most, so I got a few boxes of that to bring. For a red, I was kind of stuck, not really enjoying any of the ones I had tried. I decided that since I thought the French Rabbit Chardonnay was good, I would just get some boxes of the French Rabbit Pinot Noir Vin de Pays D'OC 2004. The woman in the wine store told me that it was definately a good wine for what it tries to be. I was very happy upon tasting it. It definately had some body, wasn't harsh at all and was extremely drinkable. It's nothing like an New World Pinot Noir, but I guess it does have some qualities of a French Pinot (Burgandy). It has some nice fruits and a good acidity that went very well with lunch. I ended up with a box and a half left after the party and will enjoy finishing them all off.

NP: She Was My Girl, Jerry Cantrell

The Block

Recently, I decided it was time to try another wine in a box. This time, I got the Wine Block Chardonnay 2005 (91% chardonnay, 7% sauvignon blanc, 2% semillon). I had read that these particular wines in a box came from Kendall Jackson Vineyards however on the wine's website, it states that the winemaker is Lise Skaanild who is making these on her own. I'm assuming the wine's website is telling the truth. Either way, it's not going to affect my thoughts on the wine.
I bought this wine the other day - it's like 2 bottles of wine in one box - for $9.99 in NYC. For the relative price (~ $5.00 a bottle) it's not so bad. It's definately a drinkable chardonnay with no aspects of oakiness for those who don't like okay chardonnays (although on the website, it says it's aged in oak barrels). Overall, I found there tobe a little too much sweetness in this wine for me. It has a lot of fruit in it (mostly winter fruits) and a lot of sugar. The box is sitting in the fride and will probably remain there for those nights I don't feel like opening an entire bottle of wine and just want a glass to go with dinner. However, it's not a box I'm likely to get again.

NP: I Don't Believe In Love, Queensryche

More Cheese Please

Ever watch the show Miami Ink? We were watching it last night and this woman was there to get a tatoo of the Grilled Cheese Virgin Mary. This woman was making a grilled cheese sandwich one day, and when she went to bite into it she saw the face of the Virgin Mary staring back up at her. That was 10 years ago - she's kept it ever since. I guess she needed some money, so she recently sold the sandwich to GoldenPalace.com for a cool $28,000. Since she was getting rid of the grilled cheese, she went in to Miami Ink to get it tatooed on her boob so she would always have it with her. She actually said, "Giving up the Grilled Cheese Virgin Mary was the hardest thing I've ever had to do." Now that's a sentence I never thought I would hear uttered.

Magic Numbers

The Yankees' magic number is now 17. I wasn't really keeping track of things like this, but today in the New York Post, they had it plastered there for all to see. So, any combination of Yankees wins and Red Sox losses that totals 17 means the Yankees win the American League Eastern Division. Hopefully this time we'll win it all.

NP: Doesn't Remind Me, Audioslave

Rosa Mexicano

You know, I don't have a lot of great things to say about my experience there the other night. We had to be by Lincoln Center for some "preparing for baby" issues, and it got late, so we wanted to get dinner before we came home. We thought about our options and figured Rosa Mexicano would be a decent choice. It was probably more money than we wanted to spend on a spur of the moment dinner, but it was right there and it's been getting difficult for my wife to walk even shorter distances lately.
It's too bad that she couldn't walk, because I thought my food was only "ok." I had short ribs, and they were probably the worst short ribs I've ever ordered in a restaurant. The service was just okay, and the place itself looked shabby and run down to me. I've been to this particular Rosa Mexicano before and loved it, so maybe it was an off night. Who knows? I just know I'll think twice before going back there again.

Wading Through The Gavi

Over the past few months, I've been trying a bunch of wines. Out of the whites, I've become particularly fond of the Gavi variety from Italy. A while back, I wrote about another Gavi I had tried, which was terrific. I was in the mood to have that bottle again, so I went down to Astor Wines, where I had purchased the first one. When I got there, I saw they had a couple other Gavi labels as well. Recently, I tried one while eating dinner at Lupa and thought that one was great too. So, I figured I would branch out once more and try another. I decided upon the Gavi "White Label", La Scolca 2004, Italy. Overall, this was a very nice wine. It's a sweeter wine, with some bits of honey and flowers. There is also a bit of citrus as well. I liked it, but didn't enjoy it as much as the other two Gavi's I've had. Next time, I'll either go back to the Villa Sparina Gavi di Gavi 2002, or spend up and try the Gavi "Black Label", La Scolca 2004.