She Who Must Be Obeyed was gifted with a bottle of Flora Springs Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon – 2005. A business visitor had purchased it for himself while in the Cleveland area but was unable to take it home with him on a return airline flight. It was a very nice bottle! I've not been a big fan of Cabs but this one had good fruit, was light on the tannin, and had a very smooth finish. We both enjoyed it. A very nice gift!
Note to self: it's available at Trader Joe's.
Aubrey's recent reference to the work of painter Maxfield Parrish triggered a memory of another artist's work. It must be something to do with the way they handle light –softly warm– that made my mind put Parrish and South African painter Tertia du Toit together. Otherwise their paintings differ greatly, especially in the dynamics of posing human figures. Anyway, the only way I knew du Toit's work was through, of all things, wine labels!
The Cleveland Auto Show was pretty much a waste for us. We are doing some early looking to try and find an affordable car with exceptional gasoline mileage. So we trudged around the show (it cost $10 a head after $2 discount coupon) and looked at cars and their window stickers. There seemed to be an absence of progress in fuel economy across the board, domestic and off-shore brands alike. Conventional engines seem to max out at between 24 and 33 miles per gallon for a practical small car. The hybrid Toyota Prius and the hybrid Ford Escape SUV delivered the best mileage we saw in their respective classes but at about $30,000 each (much more for the Escape) the term "sticker shock" regained its original meaning. Of course they're not going to display their base models at a glitzy auto show, but it's really off-putting to see a $30,000 price tag on the few non-luxury cars in which you have interest. In general American car makers seem to think 24 MPG is great. Well, both our 1997 and 2002 Honda Civics routinely deliver 30+ MPG so we are totally unimpressed. Honda should be ashamed as well because we have seen little to no improvement in conventional engine fuel economy since '97. Not much innovation, either, unless you count optional instrumentation that includes build-in music players and GPS. Ho-hum – that's stuff you can get at Best Buy these days and carry around in your pocket. We're holding out hope for Honda's re-introduction of the redesigned Insight this spring –targeted to be the lowest-priced hybrid on the market– but were surprised to find it conspicuously absent from Cleveland's auto show. We left the show discouraged on several levels. Lunch at Taco Bell was pretty good.
The day was damp in the morning and cloudy, if warm, all day. The first Observatory Open Night of the year was scheduled for tonight but the clouds have hung on along with a promise of possibly heavy rain. I canceled it and rescheduled for next weekend. I hope there's something entertaining on TV tonight — time to coccoon.
A little more wine, please! {Monkey Business merlot}
We are fortunate to have found, in our favorite grocery store(s), a wonderful locally-baked fresh bread. Miller's Multi-Grain is produced by The Stone Oven Bakery & Café headquartered in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. We haven't visited their bakery but find it hard to purchase anything but their Miller's Multi-Grain. The nine-grain bread is created and par-baked at The Stone Oven. Then it is shipped to the retailer –in our case, Heinen's– where the staff of the in-store bakery finish the job. The result, if our timing is just right, is a delicacy still warm (hot, sometimes) that has a beautiful deep brown and crisp crust on the outside; the inside is tender, grainy, and sweet. It's hard not to sit right down and eat half a loaf when it's that good! Forget the pastries, gimme this bread! The good folks at Heinen's even have the sense to offer a ventilated take-home bag for the crusty delights when they are asked to machine slice the loafs.
I love shopping the wine aisles. Not that I pick up expensive bottles to stock an ever-growing cellar. Nope. I enjoy finding very good wines in the $10 to $15 range and we never have much around the house — certainly no collection. A current favorite is Monkey Business wines at about $12 a bottle. No, what I really enjoy is the art, tradition, and humor expressed upon the wine labels. Monkey Business is one good example. Recently I ran across another doozy… Mommy's Time Out. Okay, so the label art is very simple, but the name, well it's precious! I haven't tried them but the wines are said to be enjoyable, with good fruit; excellent with cheese and crackers. Most people pick up a bottle for, yes, the label. Maybe a good gift idea for Mother's Day! Or for a mom who could use a little rest.
As I noted in an earlier entry, this was an exhausting week. Fortunately there were no incidents at work that demanded my attention either Friday or today. I got a decent night's sleep –a fairly solid six hours– leaving me wanting for a bit more but feeling like I'm recovering. Today She Who Must Be Obeyed took her car in for service and we took off for a McDonald's breakfast followed by Saturday shopping at Target, Kohl's, lunch at Bruegger's Bagels and provisioning at Mustard Seed Market. The atmosphere was foggy all morning and the sky gray all day but there was no rain or snow falling. It was great to be out and about without the weight of any crisis or deadline. Just palling around with "She" for the day. The car needed little service and the mechanic was very pleasant to deal with — a positive experience. There was supposed to be an Observatory open night tonight but the solid overcast and expected snow caused me to cancel the event. {Ma Nature stepped in to slow me down a bit more.} So tonight we try out a veggie version of a Rachael Ray recipe, enjoy (I hope) a little local wine –"Redemption" from the Wolf Creek winery (beautiful location, okay wine), and kick back for a restful evening. Ahhhh…. time off!
Wine note: Yes, it's a "red table wine," and those tend to be mellow and sweet. Redemption has those characteristics plus a strong cherry flavor and ruby red color. Not a fine wine but it should go well with our "meat" loaf dinner! And isn't that what a "table wine" is about?
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