Morning Sawdust in Provence

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Hubby works hard, and often long hours.  He certainly gives his pound of flesh.  Thankfully he’s good at what he does, and enjoys it.   He also gets some nice thank yous along the way.  The last one, as a thank you for a few big jobs well done,  was pretty way cool.  DH was taken out to a fancy shmancy dinner with a pretty exciting wine tasting and auction. The whole thing was a charity event for two children’s charities – one for epilepsy and one for disabled kids.  The auction at the end of  it  had all manner of fab things, including a stay in a French chateau, a Kenyan beach house, dog fighting in Hawker Hunter T7 FoxOne fighter jets.

The tasting however is what I was totally jealous(1,000) about. For those of you lucky enough to have been buying en primeur or to have your own fabulous cellar of old world 1er Cru, I salute you. And invite myself over for dinner and wine!   But for those of us who aren’t quite so advantageously situated, these are wines that under normal circumstances wouldn’t make it into my Waitrose shopping trolley.  So I can drool and enjoy vicariously through David, though, when you see his notes it’s really not much help in the imagination department.

This is the list:

1998 Wine Tasting

Chateau Latour, 1er Cru Pauillac

Chateau Lafite, 1er Cru Pauillac

Chateau Margaux, 1er Cru Margaux

Chateau Mouton Rothschild, 1er Cru Pauillac

Chateau Haut Brion, 1er Cru Pessac-Leognan

Chateau Ausone, 1er Grand Cru Classe St Emilion

Chateau Cheval Blanc, 1er Grand Cru Classe St Emilion

Petrus, Pomerol

Le Pin, Pomerol

Viex Chateau Certan, Pomerol

Chateau La Mission Haut Brion, Pessac Leognan

Chateau Cos d’Estournel, 2eme Cru St Estephe

Chateau Ducru Beaucaillou, 2eme Cru St Julien

Chateau Leoville Las Cases, 2eme Cru St Julien

Chateau Leoville Barton, 2eme Cru St Julien

Chateau Pichon Lalande, 2eme Cru Pauillac

Chateau Pichon Baron, 2eme Cru Pauillac

I was pretty excited to see the notes and list, thinking that I could at least imagine what the wines were like.  Sadly, David’s note are mostly illegible. I can make out a few words here and there. Next to Leoville Barton he has noted ‘morning sawdust in Provence’.  Hmmm.  Not sure I want to know what that tastes like, or how my husband happens to know what that tastes like.    The Mouton Rothschild has the word ‘sofa’ written down then crossed out, next to ‘chocolate’.  Then, ‘becomes v. froggy’.   I think he liked the Le Pin because there are three very clear descriptions: ‘tropical fruit bouquet’, ‘very smooth’, and ‘woody’.  Or maybe it was the first one and therefore the writing is the least wine-befuddled.

So I wouldn’t sulk and feel sorry for myself, I went out for a lovely lunch with Tricia & Arianna – to Goodman’s, a US style steakhouse in Mayfair. The steaks are all 150 day aged grain fed beef from Nebraska.

This is the first time a steak I’ve had here has taken me back home to summer bbq’s at my mom’s.  Such a nice feeling. I took a couple bites, and went off into lalaland.  I think I was off  a little while too long as Tricia got all concerned and thought there was something wrong with my fillet!  No no. Perfectly rare.  Very yummy.  Deuce even got to enjoy as both Tricia & I had some left over.  I’ll have to record him someday – when he eats a good beef (like steak, or beef on the bone) he makes these really loud mmm mmmm mmmm noises.  So he enjoys a good old cut of beef as much as the rest of us!

Wandering around Notting Hill yesterday I came across this poster:

I think that is a sign I should go there with Deuce!

PS -  Knit Nation Newsflash: Additional spots are available now on Nancy Bush‘s classes (some previously sold out), and Anne Hanson’s previously sold out Finishing Series &  Advance Lace classes!