Fishes and Wine (no loaves)...

Another luncheon experience sort of fell my way yesterday; I was attending to some errands around lunch time with a friend who suddenly declared: “I need Sushi!” Since we were in the San Souci vicinity, so as a matter of exigency , we stopped in at Asahi. As alert readers will remember Sushi is not one of the cuisines that I am particularly fond of, mostly through ignorance. Just getting near Wasabi causes my forehead to break out (and a quick check on the location of the bathrooms). But, through osmosis with other people who eat Sushi and enjoy it, I have learned that if I stick to the Sashimi (which, I believe refers to raw seafood), I can pretty much take that. The Maki varieties always just get bigger in my mouth the more I chew them.

So I selected some Nigiri preparation of smoked salmon, tuna, and something else that evades the weakening mind at the moment (which might tell you something). My friend ordered what turned out to be a pot of noodles of some sort, along with some batter coated fried vegetables. We were first served a bowl of traditional Miso soup which is made with a fish stock and wasn’t too bad although there were floating things that I think were seaweed of some sort, put there on purpose. I ended up with three "fingers" of (raw) fish wrapped around (what I learned was) vinegar treated rice with just a touch of the dreaded green paste (which you can find and remove). I avoided certain embarrassment with chop sticks and suffered only mild embarrassment by requesting western utensils. The fish had a rather mild flavor, the smoked was just that, and I dutifully dipped portions in the soy sauce, not mixing in the Wasabi as is the custom, and avoided the pickled ginger.

Turned out to be a nice light lunch, although i am incapable of evaluation. I still need some coaching in the world of Sushi, and of course I don’t have to like what you do, and you don’t have to like what I do. That’s just fine.

And Wine is Also Fine!

Just in time for fall and the Holidays!! Our intrepid friends at Consumer Reports who are always looking for ways to save us a buck and still enjoy a quality product by recommending some obscure model you couldn’t find to save your life have come to the rescue. The December issue has taken the mystery out of this year’s wine purchasing by giving us a list of Best Buy wines for under 15 dollars. Move over Robert Parker and your 3 figure, multi point bottles, we’re saved! Forget that first growth cab, you can go get a bottle of ’08 Concha y Toro Frontera for 4 bucks!! One has to wonder how they can grow grapes, harvest, crush, yadda yadda in Chile and get the bottle to you for 4 bucks. Oh, they do say that the “rough tannins should soften with time”. Yeah, you betcha. The ubiquitous Yellow Tail made the cut, but strangely enough the famous Charles Shaw (Two Buck Chuck) is not to be seen. There might be some value ones in there, I suspect the Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve at $14 might be okay, although I might be surprised if you find their ’06 vintage as given in the list. As for the popular Chards, they only review 3 liter “box” wines (equivalent to about 4 bottles). Their Fish Eye 2007 is only $16 for the box, meaning we’re back in 4/bottle territory. They dialed up the old “winespeak” wheel and came up with “Fruit flavors balanced by butterscotch, vanilla, and woody/buttery notes”. Another plus is that they say the wine keeps for “at least a month” after the box is opened. Yahoo.

To be fair (as I always am) if you consult a the “wine guy” in most reputable stores (like Blue Wind Gourmet here in Lex Park), you can probably find a pretty good bottle for around $15. Mid twenties you start getting some good stuff, and of course the sky is the limit..

Annual guide for thanksgiving beginning to formulate in the brain, stay tuned, but you can be sure you will have to

DFD