Guess Hu's coming to dinner

Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao had dinner on Tuesday nigth with Bill & Melinda Gates at their Medina home.

I wonder what Hu ended up choosing from this menu?

Thembi's AIDS Diary

There was a very moving segment on All Things Considered yesterday evening: an audio diary from a young South African woman who has AIDS.

Read about it and listen to the segment here.
Read an interview with her here.
Thembi will be travelling around the USA between now and May 4th. (Sadly Seattle is not on her tour list)

Pittsburgh visit

Here's a little bit about our trip a few weekends ago to Pittsburgh. {A} has already written a bit on her blog about "Operation Snow My Mum", in which we deceived her mom in a most sneaky way and got her on a plane to Pittsburgh without her knowing where she was going. (OK, she probably knew once she saw the tickets... But she didn't know for sure what was up until then.) Even when we pulled up at the airport she was still not sure whether we had meant to go there for dessert - our excuse for driving so far south after dinner at Firenze. The flight was a red-eye,connecting through Detroit. I had not fully appreciated why these things are called "red-eyes" until this trip - you definitely feel crusty and not too fresh when you step off a plane at 7:30am after 6 hours of travelling. Detroit airport is quite cool, by the way - defintely a nice option to transfer through. We were met at the airport by {J}, got our rental car, and headed out with him directing. (It's so nice having someone that knows their way around directing you - makes driving a snap, although I can't take any credit there since {A} did all the driving for this trip, and did a brilliant job!) The airport is about an hour outside of downtown Pittsburgh (I'll call it Pgh for short), and we drove through a mixture of rolling green hills, some with forests of spindly trees (no evergreens here). We passed a mixture of urban and suburban buildings right next to the highway, some of the houses abandoned and rather sad looking. {J} said you could snap one up for $15k!

The final approach to Pgh was a tunnel through Mount Washington (really more like a big hill, heh). You pop out the other side of the tunnel, and BOOM - there's Pittsburgh! Pretty cool... (There area LOT of bridges in Pgh - it makes Portland Oregon look tame) The rest of the morning is a bit of a blur - I remember walking around downtown and getting our first look at the Cathedral of Learning. This is a very cool-looking gothic building, and despite its church-like appearance, it was in fact built originally for academic use by the University of Pittsburgh. The inside is very grand (picture Hogwarts from Hatt Potter), and has a huge open commons room in the center of the ground floor. There are also the 27 Nationality Rooms - classrooms decorated to evoke various nations, such as Japan, England, etc. The rooms were closed when we were there, but we got a small look at them via peepholes :) We also stopped outside the museum of natural history and got this cool picture of the dinosaur statue outside. (We came back to the museum too close to closing the following day, so we never got to see the interior - something to definitely do next time!)


We grabbed some much-needed breakfast and caffeine at a nice diner close to the university. (I gorgot the name - {J} will have to refresh my memory). Despite the caffeine, by this point we were all almost falling asleep where we sat, so we headed off to {J}'s apartment for a snooze. {J} lives in a cute old brick apartment building. (In fact, most of the buildings in Pgh are brick - very different to the west coast). We walked up a few blocks to a little commercial area and had afternoon tea at a cute little place called Te Tea. Very friendly owners ({J} and his friends are regulars here, so we were treated like royalty...) {A} and I realized we don't know of a comparable tea place in Seattle (which is sad), so if anyone knows good tea places, let me know. (The criterion are (a) a nice, relaxed atmosphere and (b) a good selection of tea, including good black teas.)
http://www.teamap.com/states/state_WA_Distance.html has an impressive list of places for us to try...

Anyway, back to Pittsburgh... We joined {J} and his Economics colleagues for a barbeque party that night, which was great fun - one of his friends is Jamaican and made some amazing-looking Jerk chicken. Our band of merry vegetarians headed off to a nearby Giant Eagle to buy some goodies, and I was really impressed with the store. ({J} says it used to be pretty sad, but was recently overhauled to compete with a Whole Foods that opened nearby.) The quality and selection of cold meat, fresh meat and fish was incredible - better than the Whole Foods we have near us...

The following day we headed down to The Strip - a district dominated by a long road full of cafes, delis, gift shops, street vendors, restaurants, ... The atmosphere was very lively and there were tons of people milling around enjoying the sunshine. A great little deli provided some breakfast, La Prima provided a great cappuccino. (You know you're in an area with a lot of Italians when you ehar the customers in the coffee bar speaking Italian and there are notices from the local consulate/embassy on the walls.) The most amazing place for me was definitely the Italian grocery store we visited: Pennsylvania Macaroni Company.

A sprawling layout of rooms with old beat-up wooden floors, each room filled with an incredibly array of goodies from Italy and elsewhere. A whole room was dedicated to cheese and cold meat, another room had huge vats of olive oil waiting to be tapped-off into your own bottle (or you could buy a cheap bottle there). Tons of great bread, pasta, sauces and convenience foods. The only thing missing was a selection of Italian wine. Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania, it turns out, are even more strict/weird about alcohol sales than Washington state is. You can only buy wine and spirits in state liquour stores - no grocery is allowed to sell them. Some specialized beer stores are allowed to sell beer, but not wine of spirits. (There was one store we went into on the Strip that sold their own wine brands, but you had to buy $50 or more, and wait at least a few days for delivery).

The Italian grocery store did have one beverage that I ended up buying: Chinotto from San Peligrino. The bottle caught my eye for some reason, and I immediately thought of China Martini, an Italian amaro liqeuer that my uncle first introduced us to in South Africa. On the off-chance that this had a similar taste, I bought some. Indeed, this was amaro-flavoured soda! Yum! Now I just need to find some in Seattle. I'll check the Italian deli store in Pike Place - they are likely to be the best bet. (Anyone know of a larger, less snooty Italian grocery store in Seattle? Something more like Penn. Macaroni Company?)

Our return hike to the car took us past the Church Bew Works, so we had a late lunch here. As the name implies, this is a brewery inside an old church. They've kept the exterior unchanged, and made minimal changes to the interior too, so you sit at booths made from the old pews. The altar is now devoted (rightly, IMHO) to the production of beer, with huge shiny kettles serving as the focal point.

A great stained-glass window high in the opposite wall cast a colourful image onto the glass shielding the kettles... Their beers are yummy too, so if you like beer I'd definitely recommend coming here. (Nice food too...)
Sunday was mostly spent inside the Fipps Conservatory - a huge conservatory (that's a glass building with plants in it, fer dummies like me). They have an amazing collection of orchids, lillies, tropical fruit trees, a japanese garden with several bonsai, and a butterfly room. (The butterflies will mostly still about to hatch from their pupae). Really nice - it's a pity we left our camera in the car, but you can get a sense from these pics. (I hope they don't mind the link).

All too soon, we had to head back to the airport for our return trip. Pittsburgh was great fun, and much prettier than I had anticipated. It has a very different feel to other cities in the US I've been to (mostly on the west coast), and you definitely can see and feel the history all around you.

More pics here. (Note: You need to login as a friend/family to see all of them...)

The gospel of Judas

Judas: This is what really happened from the Mail & Guardian is interesting. The National Geographic Society unveiled the leather-bound Gospel of Judas Iscariot, supposedly written in AD 300.

I always thought it strange that Judas was villified by most Christians and that his name has been synonymous with neing a traitor, when he was supposedly helping with God's "great plan" for the salvation of mankind. It seems someone had to turn Jesus in, and Judas was the lucky one to get to do it. (I wonder why God didn't just have the Roman soldiers find Jesus by accident, or have Jesus hand himself over? hmm...)

I've recently gotten re-interested in the Gnostic gospels after reading some interesting quotes from the Gospel of Thomas in a great little book of aphorisms. (The World in a Phrase, by James Geary) There are some real gems in this book, and it gives a really interesting sampling of various philosophies over the ages, with little biographies and anecdotes about the various philosphers, authors, and wits that created the selected aphorisms.

As a result of reading this book, I have a few books about the Gnostic bible from the local library waiting for me to read them...

PS: The Dead Sea Scrolls will be in Seattle later this year. Does one go despite the high liklihood of encountering freaky religious nuts? Hopefully the freaky history nuts will outnumber them... :)

Update: 4/10: Slate has a story on the manuscript's history:

After it was found—the official story is that this happened in the 1970s, but it was probably much earlier—shadowy figures in the black-market antiquities trade took the text to Europe and kept it out of public view. The reason for their secrecy was not theology, but greed. The sorry tale is a narrative of venal irresponsibility.

Decoding the cherry nose

Reading and decoding wine reviews can be tricky or just downright amusing. Take some of these for example:

• This is a sultry, sensual wine with a huge palate presence of smoked meat and spice. Velvety red fruits literally spill from its sides.
• ...thick with flavour yet chocked with interest, the plummy, meaty, peppery drive aided by gorgeous flourishes of tar, sap, violets and reduced pan juices. The tannin make-up is exemplary, as is the cedary, suave, quality oak. Is it bitter on the finish? Yes, but in a sophisticated way.

This audio segment from NPR's Weekend Edition tackles this topic:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4604068

http://www.stratsplace.com/hawkins/winetaste.html has what looks like a comprehensive glossary of wine-tasting terminology. Now to write a review that would put Parker to shame! :)

Indian Recipe: Spinach and mixed vegetable curry

So, I was a little confused when I wrote a few days ago about the new wine blogging event. Of course, only the host gets to decide what the food/recipe is, and everyone else is meant to then make the recipe and suggest wine pairings.
The first event is live here...

But, I'm going to stick to my guns and post an Indian recipe and then post later about the wines we drink on Sunday... Here's a recipe from Ramola Parbhoo's Indian Cookery for South Africa:

Bhaji Nu Sakh : Spinach and mixed vegetable curry
400 g spinach, washed & finely chopped (fresh is better than frozen)
2 large onions, chopped finely
250 ml (1 cup) frozen mixed veggies (I like a mix with some frozen lima or soy beans in it)
4 potatoes, diced (waxy ones work best)
15 ml (1 T) dhunia-jeero (corriander-cumin powder)
2 ml (1/2 t) salt
10 ml (2 t) sugar
5 ml (1 t) green masala (green chili, ginger, oil and salt blended together)
For the Vagaar:
125 ml oil
5 ml (1 t) jeero (cumin seeds)
2 ml (1/2 t) rai (mustard seeds)

Preparation:
In a large dish, mix the chopped spinach, onions, mixed veggies, potatoes, salt, sugar, and spices. Toss well.
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the cumin and mustard seeds and brown for 10 seconds. Add the vegegtable mixture. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes on low heat or until the vegetables are cooked.

The Wine for Men that enjoy being Men

Ready for some wine that'll put hair on your chest and strip the grease off your intake valves? Ray's Station has started a wine advertising campaign targeting men explicitly. Gems from the BBC news story:

• No white wines - they're for the ladies only, apparently. (I guess that goes for rosé too)
• No pinot noir - it's too light and delicate.

The BBC story mentions wines from other countries that use "silly names" to attract customers, including "Goats do Roam" from South Africa. An earlier news story talked about how wine that uses animals on the label sell better than wines without.

My prediction is that soon we'll see techy geek wines and anime-themed wines to appeal to Microsofties. How about some Chardonnay Champloo or Parity Error Pinotage?

New wine blogging event

Andrew Barrow over at Spittoon has suggested a monthly blogging event to complement events like Wine Blogging Wednesday. Briefly, his idea is to get people to try combining food and wine and blog about the results. More info in his post here.

The idea sounds like a fun way to explore new food recipes and possibly new wine, or just be more adventurous about pairing wine and food. Seeing as I'm doing an Indian food & movie nigh next weekend, I think I'll take the opportunity to try doing a post about pairing Indian food with wine. I have a few off-dry wines in mind, I'll let you know it goes in a few weeks.

I'll post a recipe from my South African Indian recipe book on the 4th...

Robert Parker on SA Wine

It's not very often that Robert Parker waxes lyrical about South African wine, so this comment from him on a bulletin board was cool to see:

"Fabulous South African wine-ANWILKA
Funny to me commenting on this wine after tasting 225+ rather astonishing 2005 Bordeaux this week,but this is the finest red wine I have ever had from South Africa.... a partnership of Bruno Prats,Hubert de Bouard,and the Klein Constantia folks.This debut release, the 2005,a blend of 37% syrah and the balance cabernet sauvignon, is world class stuff....as one might expect from the people behind it.... the first release... there are 42,000 bottles from their vineyards in Stellenbosch,and it is priced to sell for about $40-45 in the USA...release is imminent.... exceptional wine...."

It's interesting that only 10% will be sold in South Africa (for around $30 a bottle, compared to around $40 in the US). The 90% destined for the international market is being sold via the Bordeaux negociants - that must add a bit to the cost? (Does that mean the wine also gets shipped via France?)

Oh yeah... Take that Jeremy Clarkson! :P

Garagiste are offering this wine, and I'm tempted to try some, but will have to wait a while since I already have a heavily overloaded wine fridge. If you try some, let me know how it is.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Everyone's Irish today! Some Slate pics...
Which makes me think of Irish Coffee. It turns out there's a small controversy over where it originated. Maybe not in Ireland as this Wikipedia page states lore would have it, but in America at the Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco.

Wherever it was invented, it's yummy. I remember my folks making them at home for guests at dinner parties in the late 70's and early 80's, but they seem to have gone out of fashion a little. When was the last time you saw an Irish coffee on a restaurant menu? And for that matter, why is there a dearth of Dom Pedro's on American menus? :)

Slainte!

Fun with Pandora

Thanks to Carrie, I've discovered Pandora - a fun way to discover new music. It tries to learn what sorts of music you like based on artists and songs you add your "radio station". You can then vote for similar songs that Pandora picks, and it will include your feedback in future music.

It reminds me a bit of MusicPlasma (now LivePlasma), except that Pandora streams the music to you for free, instead of just showing you related bands and letting you browse for albums. Both have slick UI designs, with Pandora's being a nice alternative to the standard web page/tab sheets/popups design - very appealing and easy to use. Vista's new Start menu uses a similar approach, but is not as fluid.

If you want to listen to some of the stuff I like, here's a station I've built. (Click to listen in your browser)

Happy Pi Day!

Today is 3.14, so of course it's also International Pi Day! How often do you get to celebrate something that is both transcendental and irrational? "What's pi?" you ask?

PS: In the USA today is also National Potato Chip Day!

Some South African wine news

The good: South African wine estate Vergelegen wins the "New World Winery of the Year" accolade from Wine Enthusiast Magazine.

The bad: Recent power outages in the Western Cape have jeopardized the production of wine this year, especially white wines that need careful temperature control. (Stormhoek mention the power outages here too.)

The ugly: Many people don't like SA wine, especially the home-grown varietal Pinotage, saying they taste green and unripe. Stormhoek claim to have made some "world-class Pinotage" that doesn't have this problem, so I'll have to see if/when it is available here.

25/$25 Dinner @ Brasa

Dinner here on Sunday was good, but not stellar. It was clear that the portion for the 25/$25 promotion are scaled-down from their regular menu - generally I don't mind, as long as I feel I'm still getting good value. At time, Brasa felt like they were pushing their luck...

Inside, Brasa is warmly decorated with booths along the outside wall, an open kitchen, and lots of dark colours. The overall ambience is fairly posh, but inviting and intimidating. For some reason our table had no table-cloth, which I thought was a bit tacky. Some tables are wood, and lookd OK without a cloth; ours wasn't wood.

Service generally was excellent. SLightly irritating was that they left 4 or 5 empty wine glasses on the table until quite late in the meal. I was even served a glass of wine which was put down right next to an empty glass for my setting... A waiter brought out appetizers and gave them to the wrong diner, which is not something you expect in a fancy place like this...

Food-wise, everything I tasted was good to very good. We were served really nice crunchy bread with very fruity olive oil to use for dipping. The 25/$25 menu works like this: you get to pick any starter and main course on the main menu that is marked (with a cute piggy icon). So the choice is very good compared to the average 25/$25 restaurant which usually offer 3 options for each course.

I had the Mediterranean mussels, and then poached black cod. The mussels were very small, and I think I had all of 8 in my bowl, but they were very tasty! Alyssum had a really interesting tomato and orange soup, followed by good wild mushroom risotto. (The presentation for her risotto was a bit sad). Others had the strip steak (which looked very good and was the most generous portion served at our table). One of us ordered the carpaccio for a starter, and finished it in 3 bites, again a victim of the tiny portions.

For dessert I was disappointed to see there were only 2 options for 25/$25 diners, both quite similar: a mascarpone cheesecake with pistacchio crust, or frozen lemon mousse. Waah! No cheese option. (There is an impressive-looking cheese selection when you walk into the restaurant - reserved for higher-paying guests, no doubt).

I had a great glass of white wine: billed on the wine list as Big House White 2003 Ca' Del Solo. I thought this might be Spanish, but Googling it now I see it actually Boony Doon Ca' del Solo from California. (2004 vintage info here). The 2003 was nice and refreshing, with a mineral tang, good acids and a firm but smooth finish. The wine list is very good, with a nice wine-by-the-glass selection, some interesting Spanish wines, and a "Cliff Notes" section with several wines around $30.

Overall, this was worth the money and I'd recommend trying Brasa during the 25/$25 promotion. Assuming the portions are normal-size when you pay full price, they're worth checking out outside the promotion too, although this is on the more expensive end ($15-ish for starters, $30 for mains, $10 for dessert)

"The greatest match ever played"

Normally, 300+ runs in a limited-overs cricket match is a decent score. A score in the high 300's would be unasssailable...

Before Sunday, no side had ever scored more than 400 in a one-day international, but Australia managed to hit 434 / 4. South Africa still managed to beat them, though! With one ball to spare, SA hit 438 / 9.

Unfortunately I didn't get to watch this match, although it looks like they'l be making a DVD of it. IOL have a nice summary of the match here.

Jeremy Clarkson on South African wine

You know him - he's on Top Gear. He's sometimes irrititating, but always entertaining.
Well, he was lucky enough to be invited to South Africa on Jaguar's tab.
http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12529-2068235_1,00.html has his impressions on the country, the wine, and the Jaguar XK. (Read the article, it's fun)

Now Stormhoek has an open invitiation for him to visit their winery, so that they can show him some smaller stainless steel tanks and explain the difference between pressure guages and temperature guages.

Perhaps they can get the Stig to drive a fully-laden minibus around the Top Gear racetrack in return?

New music releases

There have been some interesting new CDs released in the past few weeks:

• William Orbit - "Hello Waveforms" - his first album in 5 years or so. After a few listenings, I quite like it but find it a little too spaced-out and mellow. It's follows in the same veign as "Pieces in a Modern Style", although there are some vocal tracks. I still prefer Strange Cargo 3 and Hinterland. Good news is that he is supposedly releasinganother album later this year.
• Beth Orton - "Comfort of Strangers". I love her voice, but it took some getting used to. No review of the album yet - I need to listen to it more.
• Bic Runga - "Birds". An incredible singer/songwriter from NZ. Instead of an Amazon link, the link on the left is to the HMV site in Aus, where you can order a special edition which includes 5 live tracks. Neil Finn plays piano on the live songs and plays on the album. I've just ordered this, so no review yet.

25/$25 Dinner @ Yarrow Bay Grill

Worth $25? Hells yeah!

Yum! This place is consistently excellent - this was our 2nd visit for dinner during the Twenty-Five for $25 promotion, and as before, everything was superb.

The restaurant has a great location, right on Lake Washington with a wonderful view. It's definitely a posh place, normally too expensive for me to visit except for special occasions. The Beach Cafe downstairs is a nice choice if you want a less formal meal. The service was very good, right from the moment we walked in. The maitre d' made welcomed us promptly, offered to take our coats and ushered us to our table. Our waitress was great - friendly and prompt, but not intrusive or trying too hard to be friendly.

(At one place that shall remain nameless the waitress thinks it's a good idea to grab your shoulder or praise you for each order as if you're in kindergarten and just ate all your peas!)

I had:

• Seven-spice calamari. Served with a scallion aioli and spicy soy dipping sauce.
• Sole fillets with broccolini, mashed potatoes and crispy fried onions.
• Cheese platter (Penazul, St. Andre, La Leyenda)

Alyssum had:

• Bibb lettuce salad
• Jalapeno and cilantro ravioli
• Meyer lemon meringue

All the food was delicious. My calamari was crispy on the outside, not oily, and tender on the inside. The aioli was minimally spread under the calamari, but added a nice rich flavour, and the dipping sauce was the perfect counterpoint. The sole fillets were nice and thick, firm and tasty. Excellent mash and broccolini, and the crunchy onions not only made a nice garnish, they tasted good too. The cheese plate was incredibly good - the three cheeses were at the perfect stage of ripeness, just the right temperature, and served with a yummy dried fruit preserve and almonds. My only small peeve was that the waitress didn't clue me in to which cheese was which.

For future referrence:

• Penazul: Spanish blue cheese. Buttery, sharp and tangy.
• St. Andre: French triple-creme soft cheese. Rich, mild, but more flavour than brie or camembert.
• La Leyenda: Firm Spanish sheep's mild cheese aged for one year (rubbed with oil and herbs) and then soaked in solera brandy for 4-5 days. Nutty and crumbly.

Alyssum was also very happy with her food. (She usually gets stuck with no real option at these dinners, being a vegeterian). Her salad was very simple, just really fresh good lettuce, good blue cheese crumbled on top, and a nice dressing. Still, getting something this simple right is an art. Her ravioli was very tasty - a nice creamy sauce and good flavour from the peppers without the heat. Her dessert was very good - meringue that was crunchy on the oustide but not overdone and powdery inside, nice lemon curd, and an interesting pastry with poppy seeds top. The cream was a little unneccessary, but that's a small niggle.

Tsotsi is a winner!

Woohoo! Tsotsi won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar last night! (My previous post on the movie is here.) Congrats to the director, actors, crew and all involved!

Jurgen Fauth & Marcy Demansky make a valid point:

"The award is well-deserved, but we're disappointed with the Academy for seriously shortchanging the category.The nominated world films--Paradise Now, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, Joyeux Noel, Don't Tell, in addition to the winner--were listed with a notable lack of enthusiasm by Will Smith without so much as a clip of the films while their posters scrolled by in the background. Even animated shorts and sound editing got a montage--and Sophie Scholl's Julia Jentsch flew in from Berlin without getting shown in the broadcast once."

Anyway, I hope this means that Tsotsi will now be shown by a Seattle cinema or two.

Term-o-the-day: Conspicuous Consumption

Since I finished reading "The Undercover Economist", I've moved on to "A History Of The World In Six Glasses". So far it is excellent, and it introduced me to new term: conspicuous consumption. I love it! I perfectly describes so many things you see in modern life... From designed clothes, flashy cars, palatial homes, to snobby wine collectors and Whole Foods addicts. (Myself included)

If it's new to you too, Wikipedia has a good overview of the term here, and a related topic: Veblen goods.

Speaking of wine, I encountered term in the chapter of "Six Glasses" dealing with this drink. I didn't really appreciate how much ancient Greek and Roman attitudes to wine have influenced our modern views - very interesting!

Wine snobbery abounds nowadays... And since reading the two books above, I'm beginning to feel that I need to push back.

I've been on a"rare wine" mailing list for a while now, and have bought a fair amount from them. Their wine blurbs often make amusing reading, being laden with "wine speak", pretentious descriptions, insider references to other snooty wines (e.g. "the poor man’s Clos de Pape or a more rugged Vieux Donjon"), and frequent spelling mistakes (that ruin the snooty image they're trying to create!)

There are obviously many factors in determining wine prices, e.g. prices for California wines. Supply and demand, cost of production, etc. But it seems a large part is also the perceived snob value of the wine - People think: "If it is expensive, then it must be better, and it also will impress people more, so I'll buy it." In most cases I'm sure people wouldn't be able to tell their $100+ wine from a $15 or cheaper one.