Culture Shock: Two Dinners

Friday night Rob and I had our Wine Dinner friends over for a, um, Wine Dinner. This group has enjoyed many bottles of wine together over the years, noting every fragrance, color, texture, and flavor along the way. We even spit it out sometimes, which seems like such a waste, I know. My favorite remarks over the years: "Smells like cheese." "Tastes like jolly-ranchers." and "Tastes like cat wee-wee."

Greg and Anne brought over nine bottles from their robust Mulino wine cellar, including three authentic German reislings, three successive years of pinot noir from the same winery (that's a "vertical" tasting), and three bottles from different wineries who were using the same pinot grape (that's a "horizontal" tasting).

Everyone had their own favorites, but I think we all appreciated that 2001 was an excellent year for Oregon pinot.

Saturday night we went to Scott and Jodi's for Cooper's fifth birthday -- and the first Dutch oven chicken of the year! Dutch oven involves the browning of chicken in a large Dutch oven filled with oil, then the oil is emptied and browned chicken is burried in the hot coals and rocks to cook for an hour. It's the juciest chicken you've ever had.