15
Jun

How much would you pay?

categories Life, Vacations, Wine     Comments (8)         

How much are two nights at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, one 6 course and one 7 course dinner at Charlie Palmers Aureole restaurant, and three midday food preparation demonstrations, all accompanied by no less than 69 French, California and Washington wines worth?

I have to admit when I first received the email describing this event, I was skeptical. There was no way to know how big this event was going to be, nor were there specific description of the dinners, or wines that would be served, to really make an informed decision about the event.

Still, after considering the package included 2 nights at the Mandalay Bay, and 2 dinners at Aureole restaurant I didn’t think we could go too wrong by attending. Plus it just sounded like a good excuse to get out of town for the weekend.

So we decided to go, and headed out early Friday morning, as the first event, a pate preparation demonstration, was scheduled for 2:30 PM.

Well the only thing I can say is the event was definitely worth the price. In fact it was probably worth twice the price. Of course we might not have attended if it cost twice as much, but it still would have been worth it.

There were only 29 attendees at the event, making all the demonstrations and dinners very intimate, allowing everyone an opportunity to ask questions, and actually learn something. It was also great interacting with the chefs, the sommeliers and the entire restaurant staff, who were as friendly as anyone could ever expect.

And then there was the food and the wine, all of which were spectacular.

It would be hard to describe the food as other than near perfect, although Friday’s 7 course Lyonnaise inspired dinner was slightly better than Saturday’s American inspired dinner, but that would be expected as chef Vincent Pouessel is French. Still both dinners were excellent, and we got to taste everything from crayfish to bison.

And the wines. All I can say is WOW! They were way beyond anything I expected or could have even imagined. Some examples of the wines we tasted were

Just to name a few.

And contrary to what I have come to expect after tasting wines brought to parties by friends, that weren’t nearly as old as the wines we had this past weekend, these wines were all good. Some of these wines may have been past their prime, but despite that, they all had enough fruit and all of the character and balance you would expect from a quality, older wine, but just having the opportunity to taste these wines was an experience I will not soon forget.

In my opinion this was a once in a lifetime event, and Charlie Palmer’s Aureole restaurant will have a hard time topping it, but I plan on attending the next event, regardless of the price, that is assuming it is within reason.

12
Jun

I don’t know what it is

categories Life     Comments (2)         

Ever since screwing up the transmission in the Camry, getting back from Grand Turk, and learning Becky was going to be off work for [up to] two months, I seem to have succumb to a general feeling of malaise.

And those aren’t the only things.

Over the past month, I’ve managed to lose 7 pounds.  That has helped my climbing prowess on the bike, but has resulted in a loss of speed on flat ground, so now I don’t know if I should continue to my goal of 145 pounds (another 6 pounds), or just maintain this weight, but train harder.

Then of course, there’s the switch to ‘real’ caffeinated green tea which may be having an effect. Now while I haven’t been experiencing any of the heart palpitations I was concerned about, I do think I am drinking a lot more of it, and maybe the caffeine is having some other side effect I can’t quantify.

And finally there are the changes that are just inevitable, that come because time doesn’t stop, people move on, for any number of reasons, and new people take their places. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes it isn’t, but regardless it’s change, and when you get to a certain point in life, most change is unwelcome.

Now I understand why advertisers focus on the 18 to 49 year old group.

Oh well, hopefully a weekend of over indulgence in Vegas [at the Mandalay Bay Aureole Wine Weekend] will help put a different perspective on things.

6
Jun

The green tea phenomenon – Part II

categories General Health, My MCL     Comments (0)         

I’ve started writing 3 different posts on 3 different subjects this past week, but haven’t finished any of them. I just don’t seem to have any drive to inform the world of what is going on in my life.  And who really cares anywaze?

So instead today, while I sip a bit of green tea this morning, I thought I would discuss some of the things I’ve learned, during this past week or so, about drinking the good stuff, i.e “real” green tea, not the stuff from Trader Joe’s or Fresh and Easy, but the loose leaf variety, that actually looks green after brewing.

The best thing I’ve discovered so far is the extra caffeine, I’ve been getting, hasn’t resulted in any heart palpitations, and I’ve drank over 40 cups this week.

But more importantly I think I’ve finally come up with the perfect brewing technique to optimize flavor and EGCG intake.

Ok, hopefully that was informative for everyone.

Now I can go have breakfast, and start gettiing ready for my morning bike ride, confident in the knowledge I have performed my self imposed requirement to post at least weekly to my blog, no matter how benign the post may be.

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