The Others Wait in Casablanca....and Wait...and Wait...

This is why my wife is the best woman in the world and simply perfect for me. She came to me awhile back to plan my birthday party. She gave me two choices, Casablanca Night or 50's Cocktail Party. How awesome is that? Well, you can guess by the title of this post that I picked Casablanca. It turned out to be the best birthday party yet.

While Rock's Cafe Americain was a notorious gin joint, we ended up serving more wine than anything else. We started off with a 2005 Juan Gil Monastrell from Jumilla. Ever since I tried the Finca Casa Castillo at Tastings, I have been in love with Monastrell. It's typically used for blending with other reds, but much like Malbec, it's finding it's own little niche as a straight varietal. Next up was a 2005 Ridge Three Valleys Zinfandel from Sonoma County. My favorite aspect of Ridge's Zins is how they'll use a bout three-quarters Zin and blend in other grapes like Carignane, Petite Sirah, and Grenache. Adding these other varietal adds a lot of complexity to the wine but also takes some of that edge off the Zinfandel. I picked this bottle up in California last August, and that extra year in our cellar really paid off. Finally I opened a 2005 Patricia Green Estate Etzel Block Pinot Noir from Ribbon Ridge in Oregon. 2005 was one of the first years Oregon wineries started labeling with the new AVAs inside of the Willamette Valley. While Katie found this wine a bit tomato-ey, and Amanda thought it was fuzzy, Amy and I adored it. It was so earthy yet light, and felt like a Burgundy.

Of course my friends always make the party special. Almost all my gifts were wine or beer. The list of wine that I received is simply fantastic, Segehesio Zinfandel, David Bruce Pinot Noir, Cristom Pinot Noir, Bryce Vineyards Pinot Noir, and the '06 Jonathan Edwards Merlot. I recently talked to an employee at Jonathan Edwards and he gave me the insider tip that the '06 is going to be dynamite, so needless to say I'm thrilled to have a bottle. Of course the beer I got was fantastic as well, Magic Hats "Participation/Get Out the Vote" twelve pack, 2 22s of Berkshire Brewing Company, and a sixer of Shipyard's Pumpkinhead Ale. And I can't leave out that Rob and his new dog, Astird...I mean Kylar, got me two science fiction novels. My friends know me too well, wine, beer, and science fiction make for a happy birthday boy.

Did I mention some of us dressed the part for Casablanca night? I had the honor of trying to be as suave as Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart's character for those of you not in the know). Katie had a beautiful dress from her grandmother she was going to wear, but of course the dry cleaner didn't have it ready on time (I yelled at them). Instead she pulled out an older dressed and looked gorgeous as always. Amanda and Amy went the Elsa route and both look fabulous. My sister did her hair up with flowers and a new dress that fit perfectly with the period. Kevin matched a fedora and suit jacket in a creative attempt to fit in. While Phil rolled in with an Indiana Jones fedora. In the end, a terrific evening! Till next time..."I remember every detail. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue."--Rick Blaine

Check out Amy's blog for some more photos.

Great Food+Great Wine+Great Friends=Terrific Times!

Is there any better way to start off your week than with a thrilling dinner party on a Sunday night? Of course not, that's why the week got off to a thrilling beginning last night. Amanda and Kevin were kind enough to have Katie and I as well as Noe and Amy over.

We started the night with some delicious appetizers. Katie made some homemade hummus and baba ganoush. Amy brought a baked brie with some sweet onion jelly and pastry. And Amanda made her amazing artichoke and spinach dip. But in all honesty, it's really just a spinach dip ;). Actually it's fantastic and may be it's own food group. Batting lead off for wine was Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough in New Zealand.

For the main course we had grilled pork with green beans and bleu cheese mashed potatoes. The potatoes were a hit, and so rich. I'm not typically big on mashed potato variations, but these were delicious and would also pair really well a nice juicy steak. For our second wine, Amy also brought Conundrum to follow the Nobilo. Conundrum is a proprietary blend white wine that never reveals its exact composition each vintage. This vintage had an intriguing spice to it, and as Kevin will tell you, mineral notes with a soft texture.

Desert was amazing home made lava cakes with Michael's Dairy ice cream. A terrific way to end the meal, and make a mess of my shirt. We also drank the Domaine Houchart Cotes de Provence Rose that we found at Thames River the other week. We also tasted the XYZin 10 year old vines. XYZin makes three Zinfandels from different age vines, 10, 50, and 100 year variations. The 10 year was very light bodied for a Zin but showed some terrific flavor.

Overall it was a fantastic evening, even with Guitar Hero substituting for Cranium. For another run down of the kick ass dinner party check out Amanda's Blog! Till next time..."Sounds like a case of the Mondays."--???