Drink Eat Love

To Love What You Do...

Yesterday was a very difficult day for me. Today has not been a cake walk, but I'm trying to come to peace with what my body is going through. I am a VERY lucky person. I work in an industry where I am able to taste wine from all over the world, travel to different parts of the world, eat at amazing restaurants and, above all, meet really amazing people.

I Do Wanna Be A Masta, But My Body Don't!

This is post is very hard to write today. After all the studying and telling friends, "No I cannot go out because I gotta study" or telling my wife, "Sorry honey I've got to study." Since my return from San Diego I've been studying like a madman. This morning I woke up, did a meditation Yoga DVD to try to relax and had a nice shower. Then I decided to stretch out my back, POP! I fell to the ground in agonizing pain. Something had gone wrong in my lower back. I could not stand nor walk. I finally mustered the strength to stand and make it to our bedroom. I spent the majority of the day in bed with all my wine books around me trying to study. I took some meds that made me sleepy dozed off in between trying to remember all the villages throughout the German wine regions.

I Still Wanna Be A Masta!

Well I am finally home after a long and grueling weekend! Was it worth it? Yes! I am tired? You bet! My three days in what Jesse and I termed, "Wine Boot Camp" was a success. We packed my head of more fun facts such as:

• The 3 soil types of Sancerre: Silex, Terre Blanche and Caillots

• As of earlier this year there are now 4 more villages able to append their name to the Cote du Rhone AC: Massif d' Uchaux, Plande Dieue, Puymeuas and Signages.

• The soil in Priorat is called Licorella, which is a blend of dark brown slate and quartz.

Welcome, New Readers & Old

In our six months of operation, we have been getting a steadily increasing readership, and I want to say welcome and provide a little roadmap.

As you can tell from our About page, this is a collaborative blog by Jeff and me. Jeff is studying for his MS, and has been posting quite a bit about that, and I'm in the process of moving to Spain with my wife, Amberly. Posts from me might be less frequent as we are getting ready to go, and in transition, but here are some of my favorites, for you to get caught up on:

Snack Break
Old Books, Wine Trends
Wine For Your Ears
And a continuing Wine Primer, to which I need to add installments.

These may not be your favorites, so take a look around, write a comment, and keep in touch!   

Wanna Be A Masta! (Part III)

So I made it through a whole service on my own! Jesse "let me loose" on a section of the restaurant last night. I worked with 4 tables last night, two of which allowed me to pair every course of their meal. Addison has an "A La Carte" menu as well as a Pris Fixe menu. Two of the tables I served chose the Pris Fix menu and two chose "A La Carte" selections. Here is the Menu Degustation/Chef's Menu:

I Wanna Be A Master (Part II)

I made it to San Diego! Yesterday, my good friend Jesse Rodriguez (one of Wine & Spirits 2007 best new Sommeliers) picked me up and is hosting me at his restaurant Addison. Why did I fly down to San Diego to study for my exam? First, I am only here for the weekend and secondly, Jesse's restaurant is extremely formal and the service portion of the exam is all about formal service.

I Wanna Be A Masta! Master Sommelier, That Is!

I know it has been a REALLY long time since I last posted and I apologize to all. In the past month since I  posted I have gotten married and am in full time mode of studying for the Advanced portion of the Court of Master Sommelier's exam. My duty of the next two weeks is to briefly post what I'm doing in preparation for the exam and possibly and how I feel about it!

Practice Makes Perfect

We just couldn't wait to get to Spain to try our second paella. This one is vegetarian, modifying slightly Mark Bittman's recipe (registration required) in the NY Times last week. Good, simple, fast. Gotta love the taste of pimenton. I better, 'cause there's a lot more where that came from! We had it with a bottle of El Coto Rioja Crianza 2003. It did the job, but even at $11, I wouldn't buy it again.

Love (Why The Cylons Don't Get It)

We're late arrivals to the Battlestar Galactica bandwagon, and we've been making up for lost time over the last few weeks, obsessively watching the DVDs through Netflix between our numerous social engagements and work wrappings-up. The pace has quickened somewhat over the last few days, as Amberly has been convalescing from her surgery on Wednesday — recovering well, thank you very much — even going so far as buying a few episodes on iTunes when Netflix wasn't fast enough.

Wine Is Art

With less than four weeks to go before we move, time is getting more precious, and the blogging portion thereof more scarce. I'll let Jeff step in with longer posts at this point (Jeff — care to blog your MS exam prep?), and spend my time on quicker missives.

Tonight, one brief thought, pilfered from one of Jeff's own rants a few years back, and put up for discussion here: Wine is the only art form that engages your sense of taste. What do you think? Is wine art? How so? How isn't it? How does that compare to food? Feel free to post your thoughts on the matter — educated or not, no worry — and let's start a dialogue.