Huah!!

Two inches of seared on the outside, red/purple on the inside rib-eye! Melt in your mouth goodness. To borrow the colloquialism, it doesn't get any better than that!
It has been a busy cooking week for us, starting with the fourth of July holiday weekend. We grilled a rack of pork ribs one day, smoked and pulled a Boston butt the next, and twice, grilled tremendous rib-eye steaks! I made coleslaw, beans, curly fries, garlic bread and barbecue sauce. I grilled Zucchini. I boiled corn on the cob and other forgotten vegetables. I am.... Tired!! (Forgot to mention the Margharitas, made with 1800 silver tequila.)

Setting is Paramount

I have made an important discovery. Setting, surroundings and state of mind, make a large difference in whether I will truly enjoy a cigar experience or not.
I recently got a sampler pack of cigars from Thompson Cigar Co. which included a cigar that I had tried previously and disliked enough that I remembered through months of smoking other premium cigars my distaste for it. However, I decided that I must smoke this cigar rather than let it go to waste. So I lit up and surprisingly and remarkably, it was not as I remembered it at all. I know it is the same cigar. I cannot remember where I smoked the previous one, or what my state of mind may have been. On this recent occasion I was tired and needed to relax and I was outside of the house on a cool summer night, so the setting was good. I was in good company and had a glass of Cab. Sav.
I will continue to monitor my surroundings as I smoke more premium cigars and see whether this theory holds up under scrutiny.
Until later my friends, I am off to mix up some sangria and enjoy this beautiful afternoon!
Stay thirsty,
                   C.R.

Better Together.

  Rodney Strong Estate Vineyards 2009 Pinot Noir + Perdomo Habano Corojo= An easy summer evening to remember! Russian River Valley, Sonoma County mixed with premium Nicaragua in smooth and gentle ecstasy!
  Truly a night to be repeated as often as possible!
Stay thirsty my friends~
                                    C.R.

A Hobby That Is Lucrative?

  Yes, it sounds a little too good to be true. The story told always about a friend of a friend, never first hand. An urban myth, even. The idea of having a hobby, something you like to do, that brings revenue beyond time and expenses. I have always been skeptical of claims of this nature, thinking them a beautiful dream and nothing more.
  I have a relatively new hobby, wine-making, that I wonder, could it fill this elusive role? I have made only one batch, but it was well received by those who tried it, so, why not? I could turn this hobby into a small boutique winery with little capital investment and a tasty back-up plan in case of inability to move product. The biggest downside or most difficult part of this idea seems to be in the need to spend time sitting at farmers markets trying to sell wine here in the heartland. Homemade wine, to boot.
I will be starting a new batch soon and contemplating as I go through the process and I'll keep you posted!

An Inelegant Interest... Or Not!

I had the privilege of watching the final game of the premiere league season for my beloved Red Devils (Manchester United; English Soccer League- for you unenlightened ones.) It got me to thinking about sports and other pursuits that we humans indulge in. It would seem on the face of things that a sport that consists of running and sweating and hard work would be anything but elegant, however, watching soccer, especially the English variety, always impresses me with it's grace and symmetry. So that, though the participants are sweating and sliding in the grass and mud and even bloodying each other on occasion, the game as a whole comes out to be a smooth and even sensually elegant pageant of color and movement swirling over the canvas of green turf.
The directors of this parade of unexpected elegance strut smugly up and down the sidelines showing off the latest offerings of Savile Row or wherever and add the fine touch of classy tailoring to the carnival of excitement that surrounds this record breaking nineteenth championship win.

Busy and Bored?

      On first examination one would think that these two concepts were at complete odds with one another. I find from recent personal experience that that is not the case at all. I have been so busy, with work, spring house maintenance and other inelegant chores, and yet none of these really has the power to capture my full mental attention. They have only enough to distract to a level that makes deep thought and concentration difficult, hence the aforementioned boredom.
     I want to do and try so many things. For instance, I attended the first lecture of a free online class on economics and will take time to work through the entire semester. This is a great benefit of the internet. There are many free online classes, I've found. You don't, of course, receive a degree, however if you are curious and would like to learn something, there is value in the knowing. Don't think that being free the classes are lower quality, either. The one I started was from U.C. Berkeley.
     The other shining exemption from boredom if not busyness is that I have taken up weight training. While extremely inelegant (it is difficult to sweat elegantly) I find it extremely satisfying as well as challenging. There is more to it than one would suspect from the outside looking in. There is, obviously, the workout itself and the time that takes. There is also the studying and formulating the workout routine to meet current goals and fit in the available time. Overall I have found it to be surprisingly enjoyable and plan to continue.
     I am off for now, dear reader. I will try not to let so much time slip by before my next post!
          Jusqu'à notre prochaine rencontre,
                                                            C.R.

    

Reformat and an Excellent Meal!

      I have been reading back through some of my previous posts, and I find myself bored by them, frankly underwhelmed. While factually accurate I think they lack personality and are too dry and so I shall endeavor to be more conversational and "bloggy." Never fear, however, I will not sink into using text or chat "speak" but will only seek to be more personal and less technical. I will appreciate any comment or feedback on either this new or the old format. Thank you, dear reader!
     
      The other night we had an amazing dinner of salmon grilled (with charcoal) on fresh cedar planks! I was surprised how much the cedar flavor soaked into the fish. It is definitely now my favorite way to eat salmon. It was easy and quick to prepare and versatile as well. It would go with a variety of side dishes and an endless combination of flavors could be basted onto the fish to make a new and fresh taste experience each time. We paired the cedar flavor with a good quality Sauvignon Blanc, Kim Crawford 2009 (now my favorite white wine), an excellent choice.

Oliva Cain "F" Straight Ligero

This cigar was very acid, so acid at first that I thought I would not like it at all. However, the contrast with the smooth center made me realize the genius of the tobacconist in using the acid beginning to accentuate the excellence of the rest of the cigar. I found it a high quality, well made smoke that burned evenly, was easy to draw, had a flawless wrapper and lightly oily smoke. It was slightly darker than other Habano's I have had. While not destined to be my favorite cigar I would smoke another and enjoy it!
~C.R.

Marques de Casa Concha 2005 Merlot

I splurged a little over the holiday season on this excellent Merlot. At $23 this Chilean red deserved its 90 rating and was a great wine for my wife and I. It was sweet enough for her and dry enough for me and at five years old it had mellowed out to an exquisite smoothness. This wine was a pleasure from the sophisticated label and complex bouquet to the way it clung to the glass and slid smoothly across the palate, all as a quality wine should! I wish I had a cellar full, enough said!

Cusano Habano LXI Sun grown

I found this a less than spectacular smoke. I would not have rated it at 91 had it been up to me. I found it a little bitter. Mine had slight issues with loose wrapper from the middle down and burned unevenly from the end to the middle even going out three times. It required active smoking throughout to keep it burning. I also found it difficult to draw. All in all it was hard to enjoy the experience of smoking this cigar, it was too much work and not relaxing. Perhaps I will try another one day to make certain that these problems are no fluke.

Alec Bradley Trilogy Exotic Maduro.

      

 Wow! I really liked this high quality smoke! I keep coming back to the Alec Bradley's. They are so hard to beat. This is my first trilogy and I would put it second only to the Special Cabinet Reserve, though I have yet to try all of them. Rated at 88 it still fit my tastes very well. The heavy, oily smoke coated my mouth very nicely and the nutty flavor was divine, smoothing to butter toward the end and even the aftertaste was pleasant, a rare feat in my opinion. Technical information can of course be found elsewhere online. I am only writing of my own taste here.

Elegance, Class and Style.

            Elegance is sadly lacking in our world today. Class merely a way to divide between rich and poor. Style set by some clueless Hollywood types.

            I think rather that elegance is available to all no matter our economic strata, and class a way of behaving rather than an accident of birth. Style set by confident people everywhere with no need for pushing outlandish boundaries, but which instead never goes out of fashion. Everywhere we look we are constantly slapped in the face with tastelessness. Rudeness and crudeness abound all out of place.