Wow !!! Pool of Wine,,,,,,, Look at the picture, haha,,, Wish me can join them in there, but think twice to drink the wine… How the taste of the wine + sweat ? Lolz,,,

Junko Kimura, time.com

Bacchanalia
Visitors taste Beaujolais Nouveau at the open air wine spa in Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan

Wanna taste it, and join them ? Come to Japan guys,,,(^,^)

From Humble Beginnings

After researching homemade bitters for the past few days, we finally made our way to the market to search out some local ingredients and try our hand at a few simple infusions. We bought what is supposed to be gentian root or leaves or something, along with cassia bark and some other “bittering” agents from the herb store, and then went to a few street stalls to pick up fresh ginger, turmeric root and lemongrass stalks. Now we’ve got about five glass jars ready for five different mixtures. Some just for the bitter agents. Some for flavor. Some mixed. Some experimental. There’s no telling what’s going to happen. More later on the different concoctions and recipes and what, if anything, really works.

Ingredients

1. Pork Ribs (1000g)
2. Chardonnay (1 cup)
3. Onion (1)
4. Carrot (1 large)
5. Celery (1 cup chopped)
6. Garlic (8 cloves)
7. Chicken cube (1)
8. Flour
9. Butter
10. Basil
11. Bay leaves

Preparation

1. Start by cutting your carrots into discs, your onion into 8 pieces and your celery into fingernail-sized pieces. Peel the garlic and put it through a garlic press.
2. Lightly sprinkle salt and pepper over your ribs. After a few mintues, dredge them through some flour. The flour makes its easier to seal the meat when you are browning it and it also adds some body to your final sauce.
3. Using a frying pan with a few T of oil, sear your ribs until they are brown on all sides. Set aside the seared ribs in a tall pyrex or casserole dish (see picture).
4.  In the same pan, without washing it, fry your mashed garlic and assorted vegetables with a knob of butter. When the garlic starts to brown, turn up the heat and degalze with a cup of wine. Make some chicken stock using half a cup of hot water and a chicken cube and add that to the pan as well.
5. Continue to simmer until the volume of your braising sauce is reduced by a third. Turn off the heat and finish off the sauce by mixing in 1t of sugar, 1T of chopped basil and 6 bay leaves (see picture).
6. Pour your sauce over the ribs making sure the ribs are fully covered. It’s ok if some of the vegetables stick out. Seal the top of your baking vessel with aluminium foil, securing it around the handles.
7. At 160^oC (320^oF), bake for 2 hours. When it is done, taste the reduced sauce and add pepper and salt as required. If you are into or expecting a herby taste, you can sprinkle on some Fines Herbes at this stage.
8. The ribs should be served with a healthy dose of soft staple food. Rice, rosti (pictured) or mashed potatoes and polenta are the ones I usually serve with these ribs.

Notes

• Using foil instead of a Dutch oven lets the liquid thicken slowly and there should be no need to reduce your braising sauce after baking. You can check out my braised beef rib recipe for my opinon on Dutch ovens.
• Can you use any other wine other than Chardonnay? Yep, but avoid dry (i.e. sour) ones like savigon blanc.
• Why not use a Pork cube? Because Pork cubes are very ‘porky’ and I only use them for heavy dishes like curries.

You will need:

1 shot triple sec
3 shots lemon vodka
1 shot club soda
1 lemon…

Click here to view the full recipe…
http://www.sevafrica.com/HealthWellness/ASunny-DelightRecipe.shtml

There’s More To San Simeon

Than A Castle!

By Rona Edwards

When I was a kid, we’d travel up the coast to Carmel and always stop at Hearst’s Castle in San Simeon. I remember the castle, and its huge towers along with the gorgeous view of the coastline. Mostly, I remember my mom ooing and awing about the furnishings when all I wanted to do was jump into the Grecian pool. But I was a kid then…and now as an adult I ventured on up to San Simeon not only to revisit the castle but to explore the area, which turned out to be much more than a circle of motels and a beach. This time would be different because my traveling companion would be my dog, Bizou, a miniature French poodle who was delighted to be on a road trip with me. I always carry his water bottle and some treats for him, while keeping one of his precious play toys near him for comfort while driving. I had his favorite pillow bed decked out in the backseat for him to lay on for the three and a half hour plus drive.

We made the prerequisite stop in Santa Barbara at La Super Rica Taqueria on Milpas Street. You can spot this unassuming restaurant by the line of people streaming out its doorway; otherwise you might drive right past it. The #7 – tri-tip tacos with onions and peppers along with the tamal de verduras – chayote, potato, corn, zuchini and cheese are my favorites. Afterwards, I took Bizou for a short walk around the block and stopped at the Trader Joes by the freeway to pick up more dog treats (and some human treats) before departing northward.

Driving up the coast is the best way for me to decompress. The ocean waters and blue skies make me forget the stress of Los Angeles. With good music on the mp3, Bizou sleeping in the back seat, and the never-ending views, I felt like I had been away for days and it had only been a few hours.

Our next potty break came at Arroyo Grande just below Pismo Beach. There’s a little park there that Bizou loves to walk in and I get to indulge myself at Doc Bernstein’s Ice Cream Lab located on the main drag of this quaint antique town. Why is it called a Lab? Because on Wednesday nights the public is invited to come, learn how to make ice cream and then concoct their own creation. Whatever flavor wins becomes a flavor in the ice cream parlor for the next week. Some of those flavors include Champagne Confetti Fudge, Marsh Potatoes and Gravy (marshmallow ice cream with chocolate toffee butterscotch chips and caramel cups) and Chai Cherry Blast, etc.

We arrived mid afternoon in San Simeon and stayed at The Morgan right      on the circle before Hearst’s Castle. The Morgan, owned by the Broughton Hotels, a favorite of mine, is dog friendly. They have a wonderful enclosed pool with the roof exposed and it’s only a short walk to the beach. The hotel used to be the Orchid but has been totally remodeled in a “W” sort of way. Named after the architect of Hearst’s Castle and a woman ahead of her time, Julia Morgan, there are blue prints on the walls illustrating her work for the castle. The hotel offers plush bedding (Bizou jumped right up and was very comfortable) plus they provide a continental breakfast, cheese and wine tasting on Friday nights, and even have a spa with massages and facials available. I had one of the most relaxing and best warm stone massages ever so I highly recommend it.

Being so close to the beach, Bizou and I ventured off after unpacking to romp on the beach at sunset. Then I put him to bed and ate at the hotel’s restaurant, El Chorlito, serving delicious traditional style New Mexican food and kickass margaritas. You can also substitute tofu for any meat or seafood dish. I chose to eat in the bar area – dimly lit, brightly colored south of the border charm with wood beams and gas light lamps illuminating the Mexican watering hole. The crab enchilada and chicken taquitos were muy bueno with no filler, and was followed by my favorite New Mexican treat, sopapillias.

After a sumptious night’s sleep of listening to the waves of the night ocean, Bizou and I had our breakfast and then ventured up the coast to Piedras Blancas, home of more than 7,500 elephant seals. During the winter months, you can see the females beached and giving birth while their mates eye next year’s conquest. What a sight to behold and is a must for anyone coming to this area. The docents are very helpful and answer any question you may have about these odd looking mammals. I was told I had just missed two babies being born. As we watched the male seals posturing to gain the attention of the females, one docent told me they are not monogamous creatures.

I took Bizou home from his day with the seals and headed off, solo, to Piedras Blancas Light Station, six miles north of San Simeon. I’ve always loved lighthouses and Piedras Blancas, first illuminated in 1875 and under restoration today, is not only historic but in a beautiful setting and well worth the tour. With no beacon on top and now governed by the United States Department of the Interior, volunteers, dressed in Victorian garb, guide us through the different buildings, explaining the architecture, foilage and details of the lighthouse.

For lunch, it was Lin’s located in Cambria, a quaint artist’s community that has grown by leaps and bounds since I was there last. Lin’s is famous for their meat and vegetarian pot pies which are probably the best I’ve ever had as well as their famous Olallieberry pie. The Linn family moved to the central coast to become farmers in 1976. By 1985, they opened Linn’s Fruit Bin, a real country fruit stand and pie making business. Using the little known Olallieberry, it became the cornerstone of their success. First developed in 1949 by the U. S. Department of Agriculture at Oregon State University by crossing a Loganberry with a Youngberry, the result was called the Olallie, a Native American word – meaning blackberry. Physically the Olallieberry looks like a classic blackberry but genetically it’s two-thirds blackberry, one-third European raspberry.

Near the restaurant is Linn’s Easy As Pie café and Linn’s Farmstore where you can take the pies home, wrapped in newspaper that keeps them frozen up to seven hours. Buzzing with galleries, shops and restaurants, Cambria and its environs is also home to a budding coastal wine industry. My first stop was Moonstone Winery owned by Todd Clift (whose card says Grape Stomper on it) and has only been open since 2007. Located in the heart of Cambria, it offers a nice respite where the tasting is five dollars (seven if you want to keep the glass). Todd worked for four years at the other known winery in the area, Harmony Cellars before venturing out on his own. Moonstone and Harmony Cellars present distinct chardonnays, pinot gris’, zinfandels, sangioveses, syrahs and barberas that could someday rival their neighboring wine consortiums. Plus they’re just plain charming to visit. Bizou came with me and sat very patiently as I tasted at the Harmony Cellars and chatted with fellow wine tasters amidst the gardens and coastal countryside views. At Harmony, you can get six tastings for three dollars (seven if you want to keep the glass). Housed in a country barn like style, with a gazebo and views of the valley, Harmony is located in the town of…yes, you guessed it, Harmony just south of San Simeon. I liked their wine so much I joined their club.

After our sunset walk on the beach, Bizou was exhausted and I headed to Manta Rey on the east side of the hotel circle where seafood is king. Owned by Miguel De Alba, who worked as a bag boy at a local market while starting his restaurant, the food is continental and elegant with a wine list spotlighting the region. The ambiance is one of a seafood shanty and the wine list is definitively Central Coast and Santa Ynez Valley. I ordered the full flavored and very tasty Lobster Crusted Sea Bass whose panko and flour mixed with lobster gave a new take on the old standard breading. The dish has a rich saffron butter sauce but is surprisingly light. For dessert, Miguel wanted me to try the Chocolate Decadence – flourless chocolate cake topped with chocolate ganache and raspberry sauce. But it was the Orange Ice Cream (not sherbet or sorbet) made with real oranges that was the winner. Manta Rey offers early bird dinners as well starting at $11.95.

While I think San Simeon is more than just a castle, I still made a reservation to visit it anyway. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid and it was very interesting to me to see it from an adult’s perspective. I wasn’t disappointed. I noticed things that I wouldn’t have before as a child and because of my background in the movie industry as well as my fascination with the beginnings and history of Hollywood, it felt like I had been there for the first time. I was in awe with the decorative styles and the stories that were told. The ornate fixtures and opulence of an era now forever gone haunted the grounds. One thing that I found fascinating was that the Hearst family gifted the Castle to the state of California but maintain the largest single-source supplier of free-range, all-natural, grass-fed and grass-finished beef, fully sustainable Hearst’s Ranch. While at the castle, order the beef, sauces and dips from the Ranch. Personally, I love their smoked ketchup.

 Another walk on the beach with my boy who enjoyed all the accoutrements of the hotel and surroundings followed by one last night of dining pleasure before heading back down to the hustle bustle of Los Angeles. This last night I chose to eat at Black Cat Bistro in Cambria. Owned by a former film and television producer, Deborah Scarborough, it is described as an American Bistro and Wine Bar and serves up such fare as prime beef filet, cocoa rubbed over roasted rack of elk, stuffed pheasant, pancetta wrapped pork tenderloin, salmon and ahi tuna. The food and produce is seasonal so you never know what the menu might highlight. This is definitely one of the best fine dining restaurants on the central coast.

Sad to leave but feeling fulfilled and yes, restored, Bizou and I packed up, had our breakfast at The Morgan, and stopped one more time at Lin’s to pick up our take home pies where we partook in a final Olallieberry lemonade. We drove through the Paso Robles Countryside, stopped by one more winery, Four Vines, bought a beautiful Syrah, and enjoyed the countryside one last time before heading down the ramp of the 101 towards Hollywood. Both of us had a vacation, yet we learned a lot about San Simeon. Where else can you get elephant seals, lighthouses, wineries, the beach, gorgeous sunsets, charming towns and shops, and award-winning California cuisine? The castle was definitely the icing on this trip but the filling was so much more.

Photography by Rona Edwards. All Rights Reserved. No portion of this article or photos should be used without author’s consent. Copyright 2009 Rona Edwards.

Some students won’t want to follow the tips below.  I know at least one person who is usually grateful for the advice posts I publish, but who’ll look at this post and think, “Are you mad?  My purpose for going out is to get drunk!”

photo by Matt Dinnery

But not everyone enjoys the prospect of going out and getting drunk.  Some want to enjoy themselves and get carried away.  It happens.  Some even think student drinking is a necessary evil.

Drinking alcohol isn’t ‘necessary’.  It doesn’t have to be evil either.

If you do want to have fun (and even a drink or two…or three) without getting slaughtered, read on!  If you’d rather keep getting drunk, enjoying memorable nights that you don’t remember, you can look away now. But there’s no harm in considering it, is there?

• Read one of my previous posts about alcohol, “18 Tips to Tame the Spirits“.
• Sing along to the music.  Dance to it. Let the music take you!
• If you feel happier socialising with a drink in your hands, make it a soft drink.
• Mirror others. If everyone around you is going crazy, go crazy with them!  It doesn’t matter if you’re the only sober one.  Nobody will care or notice by this point.
• Don’t feel guilty by not drinking alcohol.  If you plan to be completely sober, don’t worry about how you’ll look.  Just decline alcohol and any mild attempts to pressure you into having “just one”.  Friends are unlikely to keep on at you all night, so ride it out.
• Have an excuse ready. If you can’t be bothered to argue, say something like you’ve had to take headache tablets so you can’t drink alcohol, or you’ve got important work to do early the next morning.  So long as it’s believable, not subject to question, and not the same excuse you give every time, you’ll probably be fine.
• To be sure it’s alcohol-free, buy the drinks yourself. Alternatively, help get the drinks in when someone else buys a round.  Some people, even friends, can’t resist spiking a drink with more than you asked for.  Bypass that and be in control of your drink from the moment it’s handed over the bar.
• Don’t talk about how much or little you usually drink.  As soon as that line of questioning starts, it’s like a negotiation.  If anyone asks you, politely explain that you aren’t drinking tonight.  If they insist on questioning beyond that, I’d question how good a friend they really are…
• Don’t race.  If you have a drink in your hand, you don’t have to drink it quickly.  Sip it slowly.  You don’t have to accept a drink every time it’s a new round (and you don’t have to be involved in a round of drinks anyway, if that’s easier).  If you’ve still got a drink in your hand, decline another.  You can’t exactly be accused of not drinking! And even if you’re bought another drink against your wishes, you don’t have to drink it…
• Don’t talk about drinking habits (yours or others) while you’re out. The more you bring attention to it, the more it becomes an issue.
• Go for low alcohol. Have a shandy, a non-alcoholic cocktail, or a drink with a very little alcohol content.  You’re taking it slow that night…nothing wrong with that!
• Eat plenty food and drink plenty water before (and during) an outing. Without food and water, you’ll probably get drunk quickly.  So have a proper meal and stay hydrated for the sake of your body, as well as your alcohol levels.
• There are more non-drinking students than you think.  Today, you’re likely to find at least a few teetotalers at uni.  There may be loads.  You’re certainly not on your own if you don’t drink at all.  So don’t sweat it.
• Don’t speak up! Don’t tell people you’re not going to drink.  Don’t tell them you’re not going to drink much.  Don’t tell them anything about how much you may or may not drink.  It’s nothing to do with them and it’s just starting a conversation about it.  Don’t go there.
• Most people don’t care. A certain amount of worry is given to alcohol consumption at uni.  But many people say they don’t really think about how much other people want to drink.  The few people who do like to pile on the pressure give everyone else a bad name.

photo by Matt Dinnery

1. Michael Egnor & the Discovery Institute expose their anti-science bias – I’ve blogged about Egnor before, linking to the blog debate where Steven Novella refuted his every flawed, ridiculous argument in favor of a “soul.” Now he’s jumping on the so-called “ClimateGate” fiasco, where he insists, like so many other denialists, that a whole lot of private, innocuous emails climate scientists is somehow the smoking gun evidence that global warming is false. Of course he doesn’t pinpoint any statements in any of the emails that would lead any rational person to this conclusion. But who needs facts when you’ve got faith? Egnor proves once again how egnorant he can be.

Is that a serious headline?

2. Uganda proposes death penalty to HIV-positive gays – It suddenly becomes very clear why Uganda is known for having the best medical care in the world. Oh wait. No, it doesn’t. The positive news is that this suggests that maybe not all the Neanderthals did die out after all. Though it’s not really fair to blame Uganda. Stupidity this large can only come from one source:  the U.S.’s own THE FAMILY. I’m looking at you Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Bart Stupak and Rep. Joe Pitts. Can we please lock these psychopaths up now?

3. Ray “The Banana Man” Comfort gave a full interview to the Friendly Atheist – You can read the whole thing in all its idiocy in the link above.

4. The first honest homeopathy product? – As you can clearly read on the packaging, homeopaths have developed the first ever non-drowsy sleep aid. May I be the first to congratulate them on this amazing breakthrough. Good job, guys. Good job.

5. The official wine of woo – Age of Autism took some time off from shilling bogus autism treatments for profit to shill some silly wine site called “Wines For Autism.” Now at first the site might seem fine. It’s supporting autism awareness after all. So how bad could it b–oh:

From witnessing my son’s significant progress I have made it my goal to spread awareness of the effectiveness of biomedical interventions while supporting charities that share my beliefs.

In other words, she wishes to promote those who support her particular delusion and no actual scientific organization researching autism will receive a dime. In other words, she’s going to exploit autism pseudoscience to make money.

It’s sort of like my business where I sell used cars and give some of the profits to cancer research (please note:  cancer research means those promoting trepanning as an effective cancer treatment). Actually, now that I think about it, this whole story makes me feel like bludgeoning my skull with a large stick so that all that stupid can seep out of my brain.

6. Iron Jesus! -

Thanksgiving encourages everyone to think about what they are thankful for. Friends. Family. A house and a job. The Common App. Education. A wonderful thanksgiving meal. Millions of dead turkeys. Wait a minute, things don’t look so great from that perspective. Approximately 250 turkeys were raised for the sole purpose of eating them on Thanksgiving. How’s that for a guilt trip. Indeed, thanksgiving gives our friends at PETA just another chance to shake their heads at us. Lucky for us, they offer 10 reasons why we should save these turkeys

It is possible, to feel guilty about every single thing we do these days, or so it seems. How can we be thankful for so many things on thanksgiving when there is so much we are not thankful for and take for granted. Food for thought.

With this on my mind, I embarked with my family to lunch on the day after thanksgiving. We went to a winery owned by a friend of my uncle’s and therefore got a backstage look at the wine business.  You wouldn’t think it, but a lot of nature goes into one bottle of wine.The process looks somewhat like this:

1) Loads of lands must be cleared and stripped of its natural purpose in order to grow the grapes

2)In the meantime, loads of land-mostly in Portugal-are used to grow cork trees. We heard an interesting story to this. Because you can only take the cork off of a cork tree once every ten years or so, about two decades ago the Portugese tried to grow super cork trees that would grow in a third of the time. The cork from this trees was not resistant to all sorts of bacteria and other nasty stuff because of its short grow time and almost killed the wine industry. Interesting that in order to save land, they had to manipulate nature and its genetics. Whichever way you look at it though, they failed.

3)The grapes have to get transported, fermented and turned into wine. I won’t go into detail, but it takes lots of energy and air conditioning and transportation.

4)The grapes need to be in wooden barrels. These need wood grown in very cold temperatures, and trees are grown in cold parts of France, Minnesota, Oregon, Maine and more. The French ones are ideal. They also have the biggest toll in shipping them to wineries in California. Then there is the wood grown just so it can be cut down.

5)The bottles have to come from somewhere. I’m not exactly sure where, but for a winery that has over 12 million galloons of wine in the making at any given time, they need a lot of glass.

6)Shipping it. It goes everywhere. This particular winery sends about 10% of its wine to China. That’s far away, and big steam ships use a lot of gas. Pollution and use of fossil fuels, all at once. In the last couple of years, China has been importing more and more wine. Right now they don’t have the soil for grapes, its a hard industry to start (but not that hard as seen in California) and they are more focused on industrial advances. Nevertheless, their middle class, which is already huge and is growing at an even huger rate wants to drink wine. So its comes from far away California.

Here’s the thing. A knowledgable person can go through and do this for nearly everything. The results will often be depressing. Clearly, we can’t make everything perfect (the best step to completely reverse our dirty trend is for everyone to eat out of their own garden and never drive anywhere), but things need to be better. When simple pleasures like enjoying thanksgiving or a nice bottle of wine can make you guilty of conspiracy to harm to Earth to such a degree, things are a problem. Big time. And how do we clean it up? Do we say, “No, China may not have our wine,” or maybe limit the number of trees that can grow the grapes?

I like the latter solution. Everything has to be in excess these days. Big SUV’s, buy one get one free, and paper starbucks cups every morning, things really need to be scaled down. That will hold the forces of destruction at bay until we can get cleaner energy and fuel. But we are far from being in the clear. Just wait until Christmas.

My pal Tracey and I headed up to the Friday afternoon industry tasting at Cornucopia in Whistler a few weeks back. (Thank Judas there is a mountain getaway wine event in the dreary November rainy season.) We decided to make a quick day trip of it, just to wet our lips at this year’s event… that was, until the snow came and the mountain announced its opening two weeks ahead of schedule; my plans quickly changed. Fresh snow equals staying in the mountains, which was the perfect excuse to also take full advantage of the food and wine festival. My intention was to attend as much as I could, meet more people and soak up the scene (and the wine). It’s the intention that counts, right?

The hill was far too heavenly. I chose bombing down a mountain on a board in new, perfect, buttery snow rather than the former intention. Ah well. Instead of spending a small fortune on all of the festival’s wine and food events, I spent a small fortune après, fireside at the Chateau’s Mallard lobby bar.

Rasoul Salehi, Executive Director of Le Vieux Pin and La Stella (Okanagan), was kind enough to offer me a bottle of his 2007 LaStella Fortissimo to enjoy and I am happy to toss in my notes: This bold but soft Italian-inspired blend is a deep, rich ruby (52% Merlot, 43% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc) with a whole lot of black fruits on the nose and even more on the palate, balanced nicely with hints of chocolate and cedar. Soft and velvety with a decent balance throughout, it’s got some tight tannins and I wanted a tad more on the finish, but this is one that’ll do well with a few years, or why not right now with a juicy hunk o’ meat? I quite enjoyed it, white robe and mountain-side room aside to persuade the mood. ($35 ish)

I did manage to snap off a few pics of the festival and my new mountain “wine fridge”. Sorry Rasoul – a portion of your Fortissimo ended up on the roof of the Chateau. But not before I enjoyed most of it. Not a bad branding tactic perhaps?

This is the part where I link to all the fabulous posts on the event’s site so you can dig for more great info, but it doesn’t seem they have an official blog space, or photos on Flickr?… and doing a quick search I found Degan’s piece on Foodist.ca and Jennifer was covering things for Miss 604 in this post. Let me know if I’ve missed others worth linking to. Here’s a few more pics from “Culinary Fool” on Flickr.