How To Use Your Cast Iron Teapot For Dobin Mushi

WEEK #4 CULINARY FUNDAMENTALS CLASS:
On the agenda: soups! We made an easy Broccoli Cheddar Soup and a tasty French Onion Soup. I learned a lesson this week--be careful when putting anything in the salamander as the handle is spring-loaded and when released, it will send the food shooting up towards the flame. Instead of nicely toasting my bread and Gruyere topping, I left the French onion soup in too long (it only takes seconds to broil in the salamander) and my bread was black. It was especially sad because I'd taken care to caramelize my onions to a perfect, even dark brown.
Incidently, I discovered why the exposed white bread on my French onion soup instantly went from nicely browning to burnt, by reading the second book of the behemoth 2,438 page (six volume) Modernist Cuisine. The radiant heat from the salamander is reflected by the color white. As soon as the white turns to brown, the radiant heat is quickly absorbed and will turn to black in a blink of an eye. One lesson learned--cover the bread entirely with Gruyere so none is vulnerable to burning!

I've only read book 2 thus far, on Techniques and Equipment and have already been surprised by a number of things that have been proven via scientific testing. For example, did you already know the answers to these questions?
1. Why oven walls should be shiny and reflective and not black.
2. Why the amount of food loaded into an oven is inversely related to cooking time--in other words, it actually takes less time to cook food when the oven is full versus when it has just a small portion of food loaded into it.
3. Why you can never raise the grill high enough in your outdoor barbeque to change the cooking time (hint: controlling the oxygen flow is the only way to control the heat of the barbeque)
4. Why used cooking oil will cook food better than fresh, unused oil.
5. How to make powdered soup that will melt in your mouth?
Alas, I was only able to borrow the one book from the series--which costs $625 for the set, but will be looking to see if I can find another friendly loan to read the rest. It's not hyperbole when the website says:

"In Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet—scientists, inven­tors, and accom­plished cooks in their own right—have cre­ated a six-volume 2,400-page set that reveals science-inspired tech­niques for prepar­ing food that ranges from the oth­er­worldly to the sub­lime. The authors—and their 20-person team at The Cooking Lab—have achieved astound­ing new fla­vors and tex­tures by using tools such as water baths, homog­e­niz­ers, cen­trifuges, and ingre­di­ents such as hydro­col­loids, emul­si­fiers, and enzymes. It is a work des­tined to rein­vent cooking."

Here's the New Yorker article on Modernist Cuisine.

The best thing I had to eat this week was Dobin Mushi that I made with black cod and Matsutake mushrooms. My father was an Issei--first generation Japanese-American--and closely involved with the small Japanese community in Colorado from the 1950s on. Matsutake mushrooms grow only on the fallen limbs of Ponderosa pine trees and pockets of them can be found throughout the Rocky Mountains. Each Japanese-American family had their prime harvesting area, kept ultra secret from everyone else. Our was in the Red Feather lakes region and we would come back with a sackful of fragrant Matsutake after a lovely day picnicking and foraging. These days Matsutake cost upwards of $49 a pound. They are highly fragrant with pine and a touch of cinnamon.

The dried Matsutake are nothing like the fresh, but are affordable and give a smaller scent of pine to dishes plus the good umami flavor (the savory taste). Black cod is plentiful this time of year off the California coast and has a delicate texture and buttery oiliness to it. As a result, this delicate soup has a sheen of oil that is very delectable. Serve with Japanese white rice and a very dry, minerally French Chablis. We paired the Dobin Mushi with the 2009 Domaine William Fevre Chablis. We enjoyed sipping this light-bodied, crisp, citrusy white Burgundy while watching the sun set over the Pacific, then with our meal.

Do you have a cast iron tea pot? You may not know this--but it is used for steaming Dobin Mushi. Find a large steamer where the cast iron tea pot will fit inside, with the lid on. My cast iron tea pot fits 4 cups and is perfect for a serving of Dobin Mushi for two:

DOBIN MUSHI--STEAMED MATSUTAKE SOUP:
1 tsp. instant dash powder *feel free to make your own dash from scratch!
4 cups water
1 4" piece of konbu kelp, washed
1/4 cup dried Matsutake (or use 1/2 cup fresh and add with the fish at the end)
1" ginger root, peeled and sliced into quarters
1 Tbsp. approximate Mirin (Japanese cooking sake)
1 Tbsp. approximate soy sauce
1 tsp. approximate salt
1 carrot (can cut decoratively)
1/2 lb. black cod, skin on, cut into 2" strips
Slices of yuzu or lemon
In a saucepan, boil the water and add the dried Matsutake. Turn off the heat and add the dashi powder, konbu and ginger root. Let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the ginger root pieces from the soup and add the Mirin, soy sauce and salt. Stir and taste. Then add a bit more of the Mirin, soy sauce or salt, only if needed, to find a balance between saltiness, sweetness and the seafood taste of the dashi. Fill the steamer with water only to the bottom of the interior steamer (in other words, so water level does not come up to the cast iron pot). Ladle the soup into the cast iron pot and add the carrot. Put pot into the steamer, cover and turn the heat to medium. When the water starts to steam, time the cooking for seven minutes. Turn off the heat and remove the cast iron pot. Add the fish and let sit for two minutes before serving. Serve with yuzu or lemon to squeeze on the fish. See wine pairing notes above.

All Burners Firing -- Sautéing: Week #3 Culinary Fundamentals

Chef Frederick is remarkable--the first teacher I've had who knows everything that is going on in his kitchen at all times without ever seeming like he's looking. Nothing escapes him. There can be 20 students busy cooking, but he knows what each is doing--and will call to the person in the back row that the angle of their knife against their steel is wrong, or warn someone at the end stove that their fry pan is starting to smoke--or in my case, he saw that I'd put my leftover Kalamata olive in the food waste bin instead of taking the time to search for the original bottle. I feel ashamed about that error, since I try to "reduce, reuse, recycle" at every opportunity and was more concerned with my workspace being neat than in being industrious enough to find the bottle after a cursory look for it. His keen observation is part of his being a great teacher--the other part is that he is clear, precise and practical about everything he says and does to teach us. He peppers his demonstrations with pragmatic hints on cooking technique from his years of being a chef. For example, have you ever had food stick to your sauté pan when it normally doesn't? It's all about having the pan hot enough before the food hits it. "If it's not sizzling, it's not sautéing."

A recipe from Chef Frederick's Culinary Fundamentals class:

Chicken Tapenade
1 airline breast (boneless breast with wing, up to first joint)
1/2 small zucchini
1 Idaho potato
around 1 cup vegetable oil (we used mix olive oil and canola)
1 Tbsp. butter
*4 garlic cloves, peeled
*1 roma tomato
*1/2 roasted red pepper
*2 Tbsp. capers
*3 Tbsp. Kalamata olives
*3 Tbsp. sundried tomatoes
*2 Tbsp. grated Manchego
*about 1/2 cup chicken stock
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
*the proportions are roughly 1:1 between the tomato and pepper, then 4:1 between the tomato and the other ingredients, you can adjust as you like. I like capers less, so added less capers.
**cut the top and bottom off

Prep and Mise en place:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large bowl with ice and water for a ice bath. Have a baking sheet lined with parchment paper ready for the potatoes. Put a small pot of water on the stove to boil. Have two fry pans ready--both need to be safe to go into the oven.
Cooking:
Garlic: Heat a saucepan with about an inch of oil in it to just below the smoke point and place the garlic inside. The garlic should bubble around the edges as moisture releases--keep an eye on it so that it doesn't burn. It should get carmelized to a golden brown color on the outside and be soft all the way through when it is cooked. Remove and set aside. Keep the oil for cooking later.
Potatoes: Cut the potato into wedges and put into a large mixing bowl. In a fry pan, pour some of the garlic oil, add the butter and melt. Pour over the potato wedges, sprinkle with salt and pepper and toss until the wedges are coated on all sides. Place neatly on the baking tray and put into the oven. Bake about 10 minutes, then flip them over. They are done when a paring knife inserted into them meets no resistance.
Chicken: Pour some fresh oil into one of the fry pans to coat the bottom, then heat it until just before the smoke point--you will see the oil thin out and it will make a wave pattern when you tilt the pan. Add the chicken breast skin down and cook until the skin is nicely carmelized and golden brown (about a minute). Flip and cook for a minute on the other side, then put the it into the oven. Take it out when cooked through--about 3 minutes. Remove to a plate and let sit at least two minutes, to redistribute the juices inside, before slicing. Save the fry pan for deglazing later.
Tapenade: Roast the red pepper over a flame until well charred. Put into a container and cover so the steam will help release the skin from the flesh. When cool, rub the charred skin off. "Head and tail"**, slit open and remove the pith and seeds. Mince finely and put into a small mixing bowl.  Cut the stem end of the tomato out and make an "X" slit at the other end of the tomato. Pop the tomato into the boiling water just long enough for the peel to start to detach from the flesh of the tomato. Put the tomato into the ice bath to stop the cooking, when cool, it will be easy to peel the skin off from the top edges of the X. Cut into fourths and cut away the interior part with the seeds, leaving only the flesh of the outer tomato. Mince the tomato and add to the bowl. Mince the capers, olives, and sundried tomatoes, add to the bowl and mix. Taste and adjust, if it needs salt, add more olives. Put the fry pan that cooked the chicken back on the stove and add enough chicken stock to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook over low heat, scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan and stirring them into the stock. Add the tapenade mixture and cook, adding enough stock to keep it juicy. When the tapenade is heated through, scoop a mound onto your serving plate. Top with the chicken. Add a bit more stock to the fry pan and reduce by at least half.
Slice the half zucchini into rounds. In a second fry pan, add a bit of the garlic oil and fry on both sides until golden brown. Mound a bit of the cheese on each and put briefly into the oven to melt it. Place the zucchini rounds on your serving plate. Drizzle the reduced sauce on top of the chicken. Garnish with potato wedges.

Wine Pairing: If it had been home instead of class, I would have enjoyed it with a glass of the Terredora Falanghina we had on our wine tour in Naples.

Culinary Fundamentals--Week #2--Roast Chicken

Luckily, I showed up early for Culinary class this week as the other eager students had the same idea--to get a spot at the front table where we can see Chef Charles Fredericks' demos up close! In fact, someone had taken my left corner spot, so I ended up directly in front of his prep area so I could snag a few shots of the chef in action. We paired up in teams of two and made yummy roast chicken au jus. I've roasted many a fine chicken, but will never make pan gravy again with flour after having the richly flavored au jus made from stock and mirepoix--which is diced onion, carrot and celery in a 2:1:1 ratio. Here's the procedure:

ROAST CHICKEN WITH AU JUS:
1 roasting chicken
rock salt
pepper
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
several stalks of fresh marjoram
1 lemon
3 cloves garlic
bit of cooking twine
about 2 cups chicken stock, or more
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Trim the excess fat off the chicken. Cut the wings mid-joint, leaving the meaty part of the wing drummette still attached. Set the trimmed off wing ends aside. (The breasts will become what is termed airline breasts after roasting--(watch the middle part of this video to understand where to cut the wings and how the breast will be separated after roasting to make an airline breast). Salt and pepper the inside of the bird. Make the mirepoix: cut half onion, celery and carrot into a large dice of equal size and combine in a ratio of 50% onion, 25% celery and 25% carrot. Mound at the bottom of a roasting pan, place the wing trimmings on top.
Slice the lemon into 1/4" slices. Mince the garlic. Slice the other half of the onion as thinly as possible. Combine these three ingredients with the fresh marjoram and stuff into the cavity of the bird. Tie the legs together. Salt and pepper the outside of the chicken. Place the chicken on the bed of mirepoix on a roasting pan and pour enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables. Place in oven and roast for 18-20 minutes per pound until cooked through and the juices run clear. If the mirepoix starts to dry out, add more stock. Set the chicken on a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Strain the mirepoix, putting the broth into a saucepan. Simmer until reduced at least by half. Cut the legs off the chicken, then cut the breast off by running a sharp knife along the breast bone. Then, slice the breast carefully and transfer to your serving plate intact, pour some of the au jus onto the plate. We had our chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans--simple, but excellent!

Culinary Fundamentals--Week #1

I dusted off my chef's whites and dug out my checkered pants to start fall semester's Culinary Fundamentals at SBCC's School of Culinary Arts. I'm working my way backwards! I started with the most advanced class: Modern Food: Design, Style, Theory with Chef Vincent Van Hecke and am working now on the introductory classes, including this one taught by Chef Charles Fredricks. It's going to be a fun, educational class--last week we spent mostly working on our basic knife skills--cutting carrots into julienne strips and brunoise (here's a link to basic knife cuts) and learning a bit about Chef Fredericks and our fellow students. Chef Fredericks has an interesting story: he spent the first three years out of high school as a ski bum, then was spurred to attend college by his parents. He chose the Culinary Institute of America and after graduating, flew to Europe with $900 and his knife kit. He ended up working all over Europe for 18 months--a great encouragement to the new students who can see by his example one can make a living and travel the world with skill in the kitchen. He worked at Luxe in New York,  Auberge du Soleil in Napa and helped open Bouchon in Santa Barbara. He was also selected to be a dinner chef at the James Beard Foundation. As a chef, he worked on every continent, both as an ambassador for California cuisine and as a personal chef aboard a yacht. But, after his children were born, he wanted to find a way to spend more time with them, so turned to teaching and running a restaurant consulting business. Fortunate for us!

Had a wonderful stay and dinner at the Cliff House in Ventura. Here is my shaky iphone video of the tremendous view of the Pacific which pounds the breakwater less than forty yards from the inn and restaurant. My battery went out, so I have no photo of the seared ahi and wakame salad or Caesar with grilled shrimp, but they were lovely.

First Wine Themed Crossword

Ok, one of the highlights of my week is getting my hands on Will Shortz's Sunday crossword. So, I decided to try my hand at creating my own crossword--wine themed, of course! It's not so easy to fill in the blanks at the end, so I had to get creative by using some rather esoteric terms. In fact, in one clue I basically give you the answer. Sorry if it's too difficult to solve--but please try your hand at this and let me know what you think!

 

You can download a PDF version of the puzzle or download a PDF for the solution on this page.

Solve this in AcrossLite.

Wine Pairing Luncheon -- Brys Estate and Rodney Strong

The highlight of our Touring & Tasting Mediterranean cruise was our Tuscan Grille wine pairing luncheon with Brys Estate and Rodney Strong single vineyard and Reserve wines. The appetizer choice of Chilled Tian of Shrimp, Mango and Avocado with Passionfruit Vinaigrette was paired with the Brys Estate Bubbly--a Rose' sparkling wine. The Brie Fondue was paired with the 2009 Rodney Strong Chalk Hill Chardonnay.

The roasted fig and arugula salad garnished with goat cheese and toasted pine nuts was paired with the 2010 Brys Estate "Naked" Chardonnay and 2008 Rodney Strong Reserve Russian River Chardonnay.

A cherry and champagne sorbet cleansed our palate before the entree of either Sea Bass On A Potato and Truffle Puree paired with the 2008 Brys Estate Pinot Noir and the 2009 Rodney Strong Reserve Russian River Pinot Noir, or the Fillet Mignon with Foie Gras and porcini risotto paired with the 2007 Brys Estate Cabernet Franc or the 2008 Rodney Strong Single Vineyard "Alexander's Crown" Cabernet Sauvignon.

Dessert was either a warm chocolate lava cake with Frangelico Gelato paired with the 2007 Brys Estate Signature Red or the 2007 Rodney Strong Symmetry Meritage (one of my favorite wines) or the selection of bite-sized desserts paired with the 2007 Rodney Strong Reserve Port and the absolutely ethereal 2008 Brys Estate "Dry Ice" Ice Wine. This was our last event as a Touring and Tasting group aboard the Celebrity Solstice--a delicious way to end a wonderful trip with a terrific group of wine afficionados!

Eileen and Walter Brys of Brys Estate Winery and Paul Arganbright, President of Touring & Tasting

Wine From Montenegro

Kotor, Montenegro is at the end of one of the most beautiful inland passages in the world--a long, snaking fjord that takes 45 minutes to navigate. In the blue misty morning light, the surrounding mountains took on an ethereal beauty (my photo is inadequate) and the water was a palette of pastel colors. National Geographic named Montenegro as one of the "50 Places of a Lifetime" due to its historic architecture from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, pristine beaches and rugged mountains. It's becoming a tourism hot spot due to the natural beauty, the friendly people and low cost relative to other resorts on the Adriatic and Mediterranean.

We took a bus tour to the largest wine producer in the Balkans, Plantaže Winery, who also has the largest contiguous vineyard in Europe (with 11 million vines). Plantaže grows the indigenous grapes Vranac and Krstač which have been cultivated in the area for thousands of years. Vranac makes powerful red wines (the name means "black stallion") with a bright purple color, jammy fruit and plenty of tannins. Krstač yields a dry white wine with ample acidity and round pear flavors. The geology of Montenegro is karst--eroded limestone and dolomite--with extensive natural caves. I'm a bit fuzzy on the history of this area , but during a recent war with Serbia, caves were expanded and used to store aircraft since the technology at the time could not detect them when stored in rock. The Plantaže Winery is housed inside an extensive cave system which provides the perfect constant temperature for winemaking and wine storage. They prepared us a gourmet meal to accompany their wines, which though normally vegetarian, I did eat. The starter was paper thin dried beef (like beef jerky but not as chewy) in a salad with olives and two kinds of hard (cheddar style) cheese. There were three types of fluffy, warm breads, then the main course of tender pot roast, dumpling and roasted cherry tomatoes. As all the produce we sampled in Montenegro, the tomatoes and the salad were fantastic. The growing conditions in the valley where Plantaže Winery is located is ideal, with ample sun and water but a cooling influence from the sea and Montenegro's largest lake. The combination of limestone soil, ideal climate and unique varietals creates wonderful wines!

Wine shop, Montenegro

On the return trip, we visited another wine shop built into a cave and stopped at an overlook to view one of the many scenic beaches. I would love to return to Montenegro and Croatia--they were modern, clean, populated with friendly residents and the food and cuisine were excellent. Dubrovnik, Croatia was another cruise stop for us. One word of advice: explore the Old Town early in the morning! We arrived early and the main plaza was nearly empty. By the time we had circumnavigated the ancient stone wall which runs around the city, it was noon and the square was impassable due to all the thousands of tourists--it was literally wall-to-wall people packed like sardines in a can. Our Celebrity Solstice housed nearly 3,000 passengers, so imagine how many tourists were in this small town with four cruise ships in port!

The Grand Entrance Into Venice, Italy

Yesterday we entered Venice like a princess at the Ambassador's Ball sweeping down the grand staircase in her billowing ball gown. It was a sensation unlike any other to be 14 floors up--150 feet in the air--gliding down the waterway, being able to see all angles of the city from the towering height and seeing the tourists lining the canals turn to look and wave. Later, we were in St. Mark's Square when the Princess cruise ship passed by and it was a remarkable sight to see such an monstrous, modern floating hotel pass the ancient colonnaded buildings of Venezia.

We went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum with modern art from the 20's-50's yesterday and ate dinner at La Sempione--the same restaurant that wowed us with their lasagna four years ago. Unfortunately, the meal was ungodly expensive and not at all tasty, but we had the most beautiful table overlooking a window box of flowers, a arch framed with a grape arbor, and an open window overlooking the canal where gondoliers were plying their trade. We also rode the elevator up one of the towers in St. Mark's just as the last golden light was slanting across the city, providing a breathtaking vista.

This morning, we had front row seats in the ferry. We sat in the bow and watched as the Grand Canal opened up before us, the majestic old residences revealing glimpses of rich interiors, gondoliers polishing their boats in preparation for a busy day, myriad boats of all sizes laden with goods to replenish the stores and restaurants along the water and a postman with his boat full of mail.

We marveled at room after room of monumental Renaissance and 16th and 17th century paintings in the Academy Gallery, then reluctantly turned back for the boat. I half wanted to miss the boat and be forced to stay in Venice a few days longer, but no, we are onboard, passing the outlying islands on our way back to the blue Mediterranean and Kotor, Montenegro.

Terredora Winery In Campagnia, Italy

Woke up to the sunrise over Naples, pink and pearly blue.

Saturday we enjoyed a wonderful day with a private visit to the Terredora Winery about 1 1/2 hours outside of Naples. One of the private events included in our Touring and Tasting Mediterranean wine cruise was to see this acclaimed winery--a special treat in Italy because they do not have tasting rooms like we have in the USA. Wineries are usually family run and wholesale only--one can't just show up at the door and ask to taste wine. Through Vias Imports, an international wine distributor, Touring and Tasting was able to arrange an exclusive visit. Terradora went out of their way with a beautiful set-up, including a delicious lunch of fresh baked pizza and sandwiches.

The wine region of Campagnia is one of the oldest viticultural areas in the world, with a history that stretches back to the Greeks who occupied the land from 800 B.C. The rich volcanic soils of Mt. Vesuvius, the cool climate from the elevation of the hills, plus ample sunshine provides the perfect terroir for growing tremendous wine grapes. The same varietals have been growing here for 2,800 years: the red grapes Aglianico, and Piederosso and the white Greco di Tufo, Fiano di Avellino Coda di Volpe and Falanghino. The winery is reknown for two red blends: the D.O.C.G. Taurasi which is mostly Aglianico and Lacrima Christi which means "Tears Of Christ". According to our guide, when Christ looked at the "little piece of heaven" that is the Campagnia region and saw how sinful the Napolitanos (residents of Naples) were, he cried tears of blood. Interestingly, Lacrima Christi wine is either red (made from 100% Piederosso grapes) or white (100% Coda di Volpe).

Most Americans have never heard of the wines of Campagnia because during the 1980's and 90's when Italian wines were being "discovered" by American wine critics there were larger wineries in Tuscany, the Piedmont and the Veneto with large enough production to export wine. The poorer southern regions made a lot of wine, but from many tiny wineries who were not set up for exporting. However, in the last decade, Terredora Winery has been receiving 90-95 ratings and a lot of attention recently, including being named as one of the "50 Great Producers In The World" by Wine Spectator (see the video here). With their current production of 1.2 million bottles and distribution through Vias, they will surely start appearing on more wine lists and wine stores because their  hand-picked, estate grapes are crafted into wines of finesse with flavors and aromas unlike anything else I've tasted. There is a pronounced minerality and strong acidity balanced perfectly with rounded, ripe fruit. Unlike other area wineries who own less than 50% of their vineyards, Terredora owns 90% of theirs and they are committed to estate grown, hand-picked, estate bottled wines, many single vineyard designated. Terredora is the largest vineyard owner in Campagnia, with 200 hectares. Their vineyards are: Terre di Dora and CampoRe planted to the Fiano grape (Fiano from the former vineyard winning multiple medals at the prestigious International Wine Competition), Terre deli Angeli, Loggia della Serra and Pioppo del Cappuccino planted to Greco di Tufo,  CampoRe planted to Aglianico, Casalia della Baronia planted to Aglianica and Falanghina (this vineyard produces their Il Principio red blend), and the vineyards Pietrafusi and Venticano planted to Aglianico. Our tasting was of the following Terredora wines:

2010 Falanghina, Irpinia; a D.O.C. wine:
100% Falanghina aged on its lees in stainless steel with no oak for a highly aromatic white wine with bright acidity and intense pineapple, apple and pear flavors. Clean and fresh on the palate, a truly lovely wine.

2010 Greco di Tufo, Loggia Della Serra: a D.O.C.G. wine:
100% Greco di Tufo cool fermented in stainless steel, aged on its lees for a lively, tangy white wine with intense minerality and citrus and apple fruit. Unlike any other varietal I've tasted--I'd love to serve this wine often with creamy sauces and grilled fish.

2010 Fiano Di Avellino, Terre Dora; a D.O.C.G. wine:
100% Fiano cool fermented and aged on its lees for a highly aromatic, dry white wine with a bit of spice finished with honey. This white can be aged 10-15 years. The favorite of many in our group.

2009 Aglianico, Campania; a I.G.T wine:
100% Aglianico macerated on the skins for a week; part aged 6 months in French oak for a complex, powerful red wine bursting with dark cherry, violet, ash, spice, ripe plum and vanilla tannin flavors.

2005 Taurasi, Fatica Contadina; a D.O.C.G. wine:
100% Aglianico macerated on the skins for a week, aged in French oak 18 months, aged in bottle an additional 24 months for an intense, powerful red wine with a full mouth of dark cherry, tobacco, mineral, and smoke with a violet aroma. A structured, complex, distinguished, well-crafted wine on par with a Barolo.

Drove back to the port and our waiting cruise ship through the verdant Campagnia hills, a patchwork quilt with stripes of vineyards, tufted patches of hazelnut groves and the pastel splashes of houses and villas after our wine adventure. We pulled away from the dock and looked back, past the glistening ocean to this enormous anvil-shaped cloud over Mt. Vesuvius. We passed the island of Capri and this morning (Sunday) navigated the narrow strait between the boot of Italy and the island of Sicily. We're on the way to Dubrovnik, Croatia with a "sea day" tomorrow. We'll look forward to the onboard Rodney Strong wine tasting of four of their Reserve and single-vineyard wines.

Tarquinia's Etruscan Tombs and Vino Locale

Day four of our wine cruise: we docked in Civitavecchia, the port for access to Rome, but instead of enduring a 3+ hour roundtrip ride into "la bella cita", we took the local bus to Tarquinia which is a half hour to the north. Tarquinia is a UNESCO World Heritage site with the second most important Etruscan museum in the country and many excavated and restored Etruscan tombs. Hundreds of tomb mounds dot the Monterozzi hill. To protect the restored tombs, "casetas"--little slanted, tile roof buildings--have been built over them. Their walls and ceilings are brightly painted with murals that are 2700 years old. It was amazing to see the intricacy of the Etruscan art--paintings, sculpture, and glass and gold ornaments and to walk the cobbled streets of the medieval section of the little town.

We tried the "vino locale" (local wine) at a cafe--a crisp, aromatic white (70% Chardonnay, 30% Trebbiano) from Tenuta Sant'Isidoro. Tarquinia is in the Lazio region where most wine is white, made from Trebbiano and Malvasia grapes. They contain a lot of potassium from the volcanic soil, so minerality is pronounced. Cool ocean breezes bring an elevated level of acidity.

Lover's Walk -- Cinque Terre, Italy

"Il vino rosso di casa e' locale?" I asked (is the house red wine local?) "Certo" replied the waiter (of course) and went on to explain the wines of Cinque Terre. There are three terms you are likely to see on the label, in ascending order of quality: Cinque Terre Coop. (for cooperative), Cinque Terre Coste and Cinque Terre Forcini Cappellini. All are made from the grapes grown on steep rugged hillsides that fan above the five little villages clinging to the rocky coast north of La Spezia. The rocky terraces have to be built and scaled without machinery, so the local wine tends to be expensive (relative to other Italian wine which is very inexpensive relative to CA wines). The proximity to cooling marine breezes coupled with ample sunshine brings a balanced acidity and fruit to the grapes which are mostly white: the indigenous grapes Vermentino, Bosco and Albarola. Vino bianco frizzante is common--a slightly sparkling white. The red is fresh and fruity with little structure, perfect for a plate of seafood in tomato based sauce like the anchovies and potatoes we enjoyed for lunch. During our cab ride from the port of La Spezia to the train station for Cinque Terre, I asked the driver for restaurant suggestions. The Gambero Rosso in the main square of Vernazza was easy to find and a delightful spot for viewing the harbor and people watching.

When I return home and have unlimited internet access and time, I can flesh out these travel posts with practical information on visiting sights and the good food and wine to sample. In the meantime, I'm posting "tapas style". Just as tapas are little plates of food--just a taste of this and that, my travel postings will be the same--a moment here and there for me to remember particularly good experiences in case I have the good fortune to return again someday.

Mediterranean Wine Cruise

I'm in an enormous chunk of metal plowing at a great rate of speed across an incredibly deep blue expanse of sea. There is just a bit of movement, not enough to throw one's balance, but enough to make my sensitive system feel a bit disoriented. The Celebrity Solstice is enormous with a central open space 10 stories high with glass elevators and a full-sized tree suspended in the center in a triangular metal planter. The floors around the central space are open, so from a glass elevator, one can see the spread of lawn chairs around the large rectangular pool topside, the library, the internet area, and various bars, including one with a counter made from ice. Aft is the immense dining room with a chandelier that must be 60' wide and a 2-story glass wine tower on a lower floor and a buffet restaurant with countless stations offering food nearly round the clock from carved meats to pasta, salads, curry, sushi, desserts to stir fry. Also aboard is a deck covered with real grass for playing bocce or practice putting, a shopping mall full of stores, a disco, a spa and gym, two theaters...it is astonishing.

We're a week into our vacation already; on day two of the Touring & Tasting Mediterranean wine cruise. I can see that finding time to post will be difficult with so much going on. Ports to visit, yoga, reading on our deck, dinners, drinks with the group. I can now see why people love to cruise, it is a hedonistic experience.

Today off to Cinque Terre from the port of La Spezia--hope to post photos later.

Barcelona At Last

This month was a whirlwind of preparation for the Touring and Tasting Mediterranean wine cruise. I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, busy getting my work done in advance so this can be a real vacation. Now, four plane rides, two delays and 36 hours later, we are finally in Barcelona. At first glance, it is not at all what I expected. Viewed from above in the airplane and from to the taxi to the hotel, it really looks like many other cities world wide--same highways, apartment buildings, gleaming glass and steel airport. However, this evening we'll stroll along the Passeig de Gracia, home to many architectural masterpieces by Gaudí, Cadafalch and others--I'll have the opposite opinion later, I'm sure!

However, it is undeniable that the world has shrunk in my lifetime. As a child traveling with my parents to Mexico and Japan, leaving the US was like going to the moon. Everything was different. There were no tacos or enchiladas in the US, no hamburgers in Mexico or Japan. With the spread of multinational corporations and the human population growing astronomically and traveling to all corners of the world, stores and products become ubiquitous. We looked for a quick bite to eat near our hotel in what the locals call a bar (a deli--no alcohol served) and the menu mostly would not been out of place at home: hamburgers, ham sandwiches, pasta. I had a Tortilla de Patatas--a potato omelette and asked  our server for lemonade. "Fanta or Schweppe's?" she asked.

Note for others visiting Barcelona--buy a T10 Metro pass at any of the stations to get around town, but be prepared to do a lot of walking! There is a lot to see--and not always near a station. We bought Barcelona cards at the tourist center right outside the exit of the airport for free transportation inside the city and discounts on admission to museums. But, beware! Each day of the card is for a specific date, not for a full 24 hours from when you start using it. For instance, if you arrive at noon and activate it by taking the bus or train, that day will expire at the end of the day, not at noon the following day.  Also, transportation plus the discount on admission may be less than the price of the card--we paid 55 euros for two people/two days. Here's a link to good info on the T10 card.

From Fire To Flower In Rattlesnake Canyon

On May 5th two years ago, during an unusual heat spell, a small wildfire was lit in the dry hills above Santa Barbara. Fanned by "sundowner winds", it quickly grew to consume 8,733 acres, destroying 80 homes and injuring several of the valiant firefighters who fought to keep the wall of flames from decimating our historic town. There was one terrifying night when the entire town north of State Street was blocked off by the fire department and it looked like they were going to lose the battle. (read about it here) Miraculously, the wind shifted and our town was saved. But, the charred remains of people's lives and our wilderness areas have taken a long time to heal.

Deer Weed

I had the opportunity to see the miracle of Nature's regeneration on a hike with a docent from the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. (calendar) Our docent, Carol, was a physician before retiring; she combined her science background with a passion for plants and volunteers to share her knowledge. As she pointed out the various plants along the hike, reciting both their common and Latin names, I thought to myself that she was a great example of why we should honor older women as the keeper of wisdom. Also in our group was a survivor of the wildfire, Nancy, who lost her home to the Jesusita conflagration and has been living in their barn while planning the rebuilding of their house. Another multi-faceted woman, she rescues wildlife in addition to her career in dental hygiene and was able to give us the human perspective on the impact of the Jesusita fire. She said that though she would never want to go through such a traumatic event again, she found some positives in the process of rebuilding that underscored the recognition that what is important in life are friends and family, not possessions.

Along our route, we could see the blackened branches of trees and shrubs reaching twisted arms to the sky--in the center the green foliage of new growth, a testament to the resilience of the native chaparral. Chaparral is an biome of dwarf trees growing in a drought-prone environment. Carol explained the name chaparral comes from the Spanish word "chaparro" meaning "short and stubby" because the trees and shrubs are lower than a forest. Chaparral plants have small, hard leaves to retain moisture, such as coastal live oak or yucca, or they have tough, water-retaining outer skins, such as cacti, or they have adapted to low moisture conditions by producing smaller leaves with smaller pores so moisture is not lost. It's amazing to see plants, especially flowers, growing out of ground that looks bone dry.

Historic Wagon Road

Among the many things I learned on the hike: Deer Weed changes color when it is fertilized; Rattlesnake Canyon is thus named because its windy shape--not due to a quantity of snakes; the trail was maintained for years by a wealthy New York transplant named Ray Skofield--whose son donated the land for the nearby Skofield Park; part of the trail follows the old wagon road (this photo)--though it's difficult to imagine an old-fashioned wagon making its way up such a steep and rocky course; and that the creek was part of the extensive waterworks developed by Spanish missionaries using conscripted Chumash labor.

Indian Dam

It's difficult to see in this photo (taken with my iphone and overexposed in the sunny area) but this is Indian Dam, built in 1807. You can barely see the rocks of the dam on the left of the waterfall  which is spilling through a gap in the dam. The Spanish built the gravity-propelled aqueduct system to water their crops, vineyards and orchards and supply the Mission with potable water. The creek from Rattlesnake Canyon merged with Mission Canyon and the water was funneled with an aquaduct to storage near the Mission grounds. One can walk around the park adjacent to the old Mission and see the ruins of the aqueduct, a mill, tanning vats, a jail and water storage facilities.

Being an unrepentant foodie, I  shocked the rest of the group by nibbling on elderberries we found along our hike which tasted tannic and not very sweet, the rye grass, sheep sorrel, and Indian lettuce (not recommended due to its fuzziness). I came home and made a beautiful salad with many things from my garden and wanted to share this photo.