Awesome Christmas Presents - Part Two

[UPDATE 1-24-10: I've since discovered two great uses for the power cap. We lost our power the other night and with the cap I didn't need a flashlight to move around. And the second, which is much more practical in the winery, involves looking into barrels to see where the level of the wine is. You have to do that all the time and now I won't need a flashlight. Very cool.]

I received something called a Panther Power Cap. It looked like a normal baseball hat, but had LED lights built into the brim. To be honest my first impression was what am I ever going to do with this. I included a picture of the hat with the original label - it not only lights up, but does it in three different ways.

So about ten minutes later I had to get behind the stereo system ro reconnect a DVD player. My stereo is of course in a cabinet against a wall and has lots of wires that I'd have to disconnect to pull it out far enough for easy access to the back. So I usually wind up doing the 45 degree tilt, sliding it out a bit, and groping around to connect cables.

The hardest part is reading the tiny text under the connectors that tells you what's what in the back. So I put on the Power Cap and shazam! I could read the text on the connectors without needing a flashlight. Then later in the day I needed to get some wine out of the cellar. I have a light fixture that is intermittant. And now more times than not it just doesn't light. That's why I have a flashlight by the door. I donned the Power Cap, switched it on high, and again could easily read labels and find bottles.

I'm now officially sold. Our circuit breakers are in a room under the stairs with no light at all and I can't wait to use the Cap when something trips.

Awesome Christmas Presents - Part One

One member of the family definitely liked his Christmas present. Charlie, our dog, received a new bed. Here's a picture of him tentatively checking it out then another of him getting comfortable. He's a very happy dog.

One Thing I Won't be Doing for Christmas Next Year

My wife has always wanted to see one of the traveling Chrismas music shows, so we attended the Mannheim Steamroller concert in Portland on the Saturday before Christmas. I think we realized about two songs in that we really wanted to attend the other traveling Chrismas show - the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I had a premonition before the show when I was reading the program and got the instinct impression that Mannheim Steamroller was trying a little too hard to justify their existence.

How many bands consider it necessary to make points about how many hotel room nights they've booked or how many yard of video screen they've hung or how more many records they sold than Springsteen and Bon Jovi? I saw Springsteen in April and he didn't mention anything about the band's history or that he had sold more records than someone - he just played (really well, I might add).

It really hit home when one of the keyboard players introduced himself as the "featured keyboard player" and then introduced the other keyboard player - who happened to be his wife. Is his wife less valuable to the band because she's not "featured"? I can't imagine that going down too well in my house. And who cares who the featured keyboard player is anyway? Very odd.

They are perfectly fine musicians. The women playing recorder was awesome. I think we were just expecting a little more rock-n-roll and a lot less of the medieval vibe. I did check around with some friends a couple of days later who all said that the show we should have seen was the Trans Siberian Orchestra. Now that could wind up being equally lame for a whole set of different reasons, but now we're committed. We're going to have to go see for ourselves next year.

Halfway Around the World and Back Again

Made my semi-annual India/Egypt/UK trip over the last two weeks. I felt a bit guilty walking around Noida, India in a short-sleeve shirt while Carlton had a week of below freezing temps. Did get to see the Nile for the first time. But it was at night and from the middle of downtown Cairo the Nile actually didn't look much different from the Willamette near Portland.

Couple of interesting pictures. First probably only appeals to gadget geeks. The Intercontinental Hotel in Cairo features interesting elevator controls - you put in the floor you want to go to, the control then displays which elevator to get onto, and once you're inside there are no buttons, it just takes you to your floor automatically. While that prevents the kids pressing every button, it also prevents you from changing your mind during the trip. I did get stuck going up and down and in and out trying to find the lobby until I figured out I needed to enter a minus sign before the number to get there. Maybe these are everywhere now, but it's the first time I've seen them.

Second picture was just amazing to me. Seeing a Christmas tree behind an obelisk and the Sphinx was just bizarre. I don't even think they celebrate Christmas, but I forgot to ask about it

Allison Inn: Jory Restaurant - Thumbs Up

Finally made it out to the pretty spectacular Allison Inn in Newberg on the Sunday of Thanksgiving Weekend. I had seen it on a tour before all the drywall was up, so it was great to see the finished product. We had just completed three days of pouring wine and could best be characterized as wiped out. We had heard very good things about Jory (and they even have our 06 Pinot Noir 144 on their list).

The bar area that surrounds part of the kitchen is beautiful (I can't wait to sit there for a late lunch), but we had a group so we sat at a table. They're obviously used to winery people, because they had no problem opening a bunch of bottles of wine that we brought. The rack of lamb was outstanding. I wish I could remember all the appetizers I tried, but I wasn't feeling too much pain by the end of the night (had a designated driver). We had a couple from Seattle join us for us for a while to try some wine - we're a friendly group and love meeting new people.

I do want to thank Tom and the staff there - some restaurants aren't as thrilled about people bringing their own wine.

Thanksgiving 2009 - Fried Turkey and Wine Tasting

I'm always surprised at how many people haven't tried a fried turkey. We started cooking them that way a couple of years ago and we wouldn't ever think of putting one in the oven any more. You can cook a 14-15 pound turkey in about 50 minutes and it comes out moist - what's not to like about that? So here's a picture of the turkey frying and the end product. Looks very tempting even with the bad lighting. We had a very nice 1999 Belle Pente Murto Vineyard Pinot Noir with it.

Day after Thanksgiving we were pouring wine at ADEA Wine Company with four other wineries. $15 tasting fee = 20+ open Pinot Noirs. This is one of the best values and most laid back places to try wine in Willamette Valley. Come see us sometime. Next big open house will be Memorial Day Weekend but we can make ourselves available on most weekends if you call to set up a time. One note - the 2007s are starting to come together - major improvement over how they were showing at the '08 Memorial Day tasting.