The Wine Commonsewer™

May You Build a Ladder to the Stars (Happy Birthday Little Son)

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The thing that sticks in my mind most, besides The Boy being blue, was the oppressive heat. At zero dark thirty the RN's marveled at  the quick progression of Mrs TWC's first delivery. At mid-morning the baby was coming at any moment. By noon the anesthesiologist shuffled in and spent the next couple of hours handicapping the second half of the season with Dr Byrne. The significance of his presence was entirely lost on moi.

My own father is old school. He don't wanna know. Pace the waiting room chain smoking unfiltered Pall Malls. Wait for news. Pink or Blue. Girl or Boy. I wouldn't have missed any of this for love nor money, but it was an exhaustive eternity before Jacob plopped into our world and the nurse plugged him into the oxygen. Oh, I'll get emails on that.  What do *you* know about child birth? You think you were exhausted? You didn't have no baby.

Jacob at Calf Creek Falls

He hiked 3.5 miles out of there in bare feet. Got him some points on his Man Card for that.

Jacob shares his special day with Harry Potter's birth mother, Mark Cuban, Wesley Snipes, and Milton Friedman. Milton Friedman's 1980 book, Free to Choose, is perhaps his most important. Not because it dazzles the anointed, but because, in simple everyday language, he conceptualizes (in layman's terms) what it means to be free.

Many decades ago my Bonehead Biology for Non-Majors prof promised us that  one of many consequences of exploding population would be an erosion of our personal liberties. I scoffed at this surfer boy turned academic (who made the girl students swoon) but he seems awfully prescient in retrospect.

Happy birthday son. May you always be free to choose and may you build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every rung.

Got some pictures of the boy here and here.

As Ever,

TWC

Thirsty Thursday at the White House

Good Afternoon Gentle Readers,

TWC thinks Barry O'Blama's brew of choice isn't really Bud Lite. Just in case, though, TWC is sending the POTUS a case of Iron City Beer, which is no longer brewed in the 'Burgh. My old buddy Shepard must be doing flips in his mausoleum over that bit of travesty.

As Always,

TWC

Tip of the glass to J.C.

Garden of the Gods

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, near Pike's Peak, is breathtaking. Particularly so after a monsoon-like summer thunder storm.

Admission is free and includes an extensive system of sidewalks and roadways throughout the park. With permission, you can also climb some of the rock faces.

TWC is not an iron bound rules kind of guy but I figure there's a reason why the sign says don't climb here or stay out of here 'cuz we're rehabbing the hillside. Those who ignore such things are likely to stay out of the park completely if they had to pay five bucks to get in. That's the upside of user fees. Keeps the riff-raff out. If I were king, there'd be a price to get into this park.

[shrugs]

Lots of pictures here or here.

Oh, Hot Tip: Garden of the Gods Campground/RV Park (not affiliated with the park) is on the AVOID LIST. The cabins are filthy, the tent sites are small, the RV sites are way too postage stamp small to accommodate modern motorhomes. Watched some poor schmuck rip his passenger side mirrors off trying to back into one of the spaces.

As Ever,

TWC

Hash Browns at Chimney Rock

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Hash browns cooked on the grill at Kodachrome (which you cannot buy anymore) Basin State Park (formerly Chimney Rock) in Utah.

Bonus:

My old buddy Jim once owned a Nikon camera and he loved to take photographs.

The Politically Incorrect Foreign Pick Up Truck That's Made In America visits Chimney Rock.....

Mrs TWC, The Boy, & The House Blond for perspective.

PHOTO CREDITS: TWC

As Always,

TWC

Two of Seven: Update on the New Cats

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

These are a particularly sweet batch of kitties.

 

Interestingly enough, since the mama disappeared, her brother has taken on the chore of raising these kittens. Cleaning them, playing with them, herding them around. He gets ticked when they try to snuggle in for some snookie milk though. Odd role for him too, because he is tougher than nails. One of those rough cats that's always covered with trail dust and hauling dead things into the house.

What happened to Ma? We don't know but we suspect foul play at about the time the dogs were off down the hill and Wiley and his buddies came lurking in the brush. Poor thing hadn't had a moment's peace for six weeks. She finally catches a break and it turns out to be her last one. I liked that cat.

As Ever,

TWC

Photo Credit: Mrs TWC

Sunday Morning Hash Browns (not to be cooked in bio-diesel)

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The art of making hash browns for breakfast has long been lost in America. McDonald's serves up a deep fried instant potato mush prepared from nuked Pringles. The chains offer breakfast potatoes, made with the dregs of last weekend's uneaten baked potatoes. If one can even find hash browns on the menu at all, they are invariably grilled in restaurant oil, which, aside from leaving a ghastly aftertaste, can easily be used to fuel motor vehicles. Are America's taste buds dulled to the point where we're willing to eat stuff that's cooked in bio diesel? I guess so because even places that claim a breakfast specialty, like the Waffle House and International House of Pancakes, are hard-pressed to slap down a plate of edible hash browns.

Back in the day, short order cooks were typically ex-cons and one condition of gainful employment at the local greasy spoon was the ability to cook hash browns. Today, you pay your money and you take your chances because most hole-in-the-wall places ain't givin' Denny's much of a run for their money.

One bright spot if you're traveling: Cracker Barrel reliably prepares well crafted hash browns (except the one in Colorado Springs). And there is still the occasional independent who can do the job. But pretty much, if you want hash browns done right, you're hired. This is how it's done.

Cooking hash browns isn't difficult but there are a couple of things that make it work right.

SHREDDING THE POTATOES

• Use a large, well made, stainless steel cheese grater not a food processor.
• Don't shred the potatoes until you are ready to cook them or they will turn an unappetizing funky pinkish brown.
• Most people prefer peeled potatoes for hash browns but you can make them with unpeeled potatoes as well.
• Use good quality, fresh potatoes. Traditional  Russets (white  baking potatoes) work best.
• Shred the potatoes onto a pile of paper towels laid on top of a paper plate or two.
• IMPORTANT: Blot the  starchy liquid from the shredded potatoes with paper towels. Don't be shy about it, use a lot of pressure, the potatoes need to be as dry as possible.

COOKING THE POTATOES

• Bring a cast iron frying pan up to cooking temperature.  We talked about this the other day, don't even try cooking hash browns in anything else (you may use a cast iron griddle if you like).
• Test the temperature by dropping a pat of butter into the pan. If the butter burns, the pan is too hot. This is a hard and fast rule. Many people try to cook hash browns in a scalding hot pan. Don't do it, they will not cook right and you'll be disappointed.
• Once you've achieved optimum pan temp add two tablespoons of olive or peanut oil and a half stick of butter. The oil  helps prevent the butter from burning.
• IMPORTANT: It is pointless to use margarine, Crisco, or any other fake substitute. Butter is what gives the hash browns their unique flavor. If you're worried about cooking with butter, you probably shouldn't be eating hash browns anyway.
• Immediately put the potatoes into the pan. You'll need to fluff them as you go because they'll be pressed flat from drying them with paper towels. Layer the potatoes loosely until they are about a half inch thick and fill the skillet.

• While cooking, add more butter to the edges of the pan or griddle as needed.
• Test for crispiness by lifting the edge of the hash browns with a spatula and looking. When the bottom is crispy, flip the hash browns and cook the other side until done.
• If the potatoes are properly crunchy on the bottom they generally will hang together when you flip them. If cooking in a large skillet you may need two spatulas. Wide spatulas designed for cooking fish work well as do large BBQ spatulas.

Enjoy with fried eggs and spicy sausage.

As Ever,

TWC

Doc Holliday's Last Known Address

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

In the first instance, this was tagged onto the post about Tombstone Red. It seemed like a nice segue at the time but TWC peeled it off to stand by itself instead. Mrs TWC thought it was just right the way it was. So did Chuck D.

One of Tombstone's legendary gunfighters was Doc Holliday. Those who've seen the movie know he succumbed to consumption rather than  some desperado's six gun. Doc is buried somewhere in the old cemetery at Glenwood Springs Colorado, though, as it turns out, nobody knows quite where. If memory serves, Doc was buried on the second day the new cemetery was open for business.

It ain't no mean feat hiking the red-mud, overgrown trail to the graveyard in the oxygen depleted mountain air. Sort of gives a bit of perspective to being a pall bearer. Least ways that was what I was thinking until I realized that we were hiking what was once a road and the pall bearin' wouldn't have occurred until the horse drawn hearse had reached the summit. You'd think the city would take better care of the old timer's cemetery but apparently there are more pressing priorities.

 

After he got his breath and such, The Boy was pretty excited.  I asked him if he'd texted his friends with the news de jour, hey, we're at Doc Holliday's grave site. His response surprised me.

Dad, my friends don't know who Doc Holliday is. Most of them don't know about Tombstone or Wyatt Earp either. I think Jared might have seen the movie, though.

Boy, we knew about all those guys. Fought over who got to be which one in our make believe frontier world. Never thought much of Bat Masterson though. Ain't no derringer totin' lawman worth his salt that wears a derby hat. Prolly a dang Canadian, if the truth be known. And, of course, all the greatest cowboys had dark hair, a fact that wasn't lost on the young  towheaded TWC. Didn't realize that was an illusion  common to black and white photos. Should have been obvious given Ma's appearance in her wedding photo as a brunette. Wasted all that angst pining for dark hair until years later when it was revealed that Wyatt Earp was a blond haired, blue eyed gunfghter. Wish somebody'd filled me in. 

The Glenwood Springs Pioneer Cemetery is right out of your favorite horror thriller and we stayed on, absorbing long lost inscripted sorrows, until the spattering rain made its appearance. Chilly rain in late June. Odd enough for us California folk.

Cemetery pics here.

As Ever,

TWC

Tombstone Red, Scorpions on Shrimp Toast, Elgin Makes Wine, Napa Makes Auto Parts

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The Village of Elgin Winery tasting room resides in an unpretentious, tin-roofed, board-and-batten sided, former house of ill repute near the edge of Arizona's up and coming Sonoita wine country. Fortuitously, it is a mere 35 miles from Tombstone and the owners have, in a fit of genius, Incorporated the kitsch of the OK Corral legend into their winemaking. That's just fun.

We picked up a few bottles of Tombstone Red and  some of the other offerings last year after spending a half hour tasting selections that ranged from afternoon-at-the-beach to pretty-decent-with-grilled-steak. The staff is friendly and fun and this place is worth a stopover. 

Tombstone Red winery notes.....

This fine wine goes great with scorpion, tarantula, and rattlesnake meat.

Laugh it up, gentle readers, but Typhoon in Santa Monica offers scorpions on shrimp toast and rattlesnake meat tastes just like chicken (or so I'm told). Tarantula? Reputed to be a delicacy in Cambodia.

This twelve dollar, nondenominational, screw top wine puts you in the mind of a very mellow Chianti, and like Chianti sometimes is, it is a blend of red and white wine. What kind? Well, we don't really know because that's a big secret. One thing is certain, you feel like you ought to be eating Italian on a red checkered table cloth and drinking the wine from short glass tumblers. On the back side? Italian sausage. OK, maybe it's fennel, but definitely mild Italian sausage on the finish. Don't smirk.

Inscribed upon the each tasting glass: Elgin makes wine. Napa makes auto parts.

UPDATE: Several people asked what happened to the rest of this post. After the email version was sent TWC split the post into two sections. An edited version of the second half of this post will go up as a second post later today. Sorry for the inconvenience, TWC decided it was less clumsy this way. Mrs TWC thinks he's nuts.

As Ever,

TWC

One Small Step.....

Good Evening Gentle Readers,

TWC is not entirely convinced that the moon landing forty years ago had quite the same effect on the Boomers as did the Kennedy assassination. Just as everybody alive today clearly remembers exactly what we were doing on 09-11, every single one of us formerly long-haired, drug-crazed, hippie freaks can tell you exactly what we were doing when the news of the Kennedy assasination came.

That said, all the conspiracy nuts have crawled out of the walnut paneling today, waving and raving: We never went to the moon! It was just like that James Brolin movie. Franklin Harris wondered.....

Ever notice how seemingly everyone who believes in the moon hoax also believes in a UFO cover-up? Odd. You'd think we'd have used some of the reverse-engineered alien tech to actually go to the moon.

Said all that to tell a story. Seems as though I remember a man-in-the-street interview back in the days of my misspent and exceptionally vagrant yoot. It was essentially a two character play. There was the sophisticated news guy and the ancient decrepit gray-haired woman with the cane.

NEWS GUY: (thrusts microphone into stranger's face): What do you think of the moon landing?

ANCIENT GRAY HAIRED WOMAN: I don't b'leeve it.

NEWS GUY: Why not?

ANCIENT GRAY HAIRED WOMAN: My TeeVee don't even get Atlanta. How's it gonna get da moon?

Then again, it may just be an ancient urban myth.

Bonus:

Better Bonus:

As Always,

TWC

Obama Birth Certificate Surfaces

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

As Ever,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Mrs Balloon Man