The mercury in the thermometer continues to escalate with the long hot summer days beating down on us. All the fans in our home are feverishly circulating the warm air without much cooling provided. Neighborhood children are out playing ball in the street, enjoying their freedom from homework. Our next door neighbor, Alex Keaton (from "Family Ties") is busy with his sister, Mallory, trying to make a buck selling their swamp-smelling lemonade. Everyone tries to avoid passing by that darn lemonade stand, but it is situated in a location that is necessary to travel by in order to enter our homes. So Alex makes money for the Young Republicans and we all suffer from being forced to consume his lemon faux concoction.Our other neighbor, Wilson from "Home Improvement" is obsessively using his power drill all day and night. Poor Wilson is still trying to recover from the time he returned home from work to find a "Dear Wilson" note from his wife, Madge, informing him she had run off with her female kick boxing instructor. This was a complete blow to Wilson, who had been oblivious to the ongoing affair and, on top of that, was a bitter homophobic. So, Madge leaving him for another person - let alone a woman - has kept Wilson furiously drilling away 24/7. We're not sure what exactly he is making in his garage, but every few days I leave a plate of cookies at his front door, just to be a good neighbor and hopefully to calm him down a bit.
With the arrival of Summer, Dr. Alex and I have resumed our ritual of reclining in our classic chaise lounges on our font lawn, where we read our books and sip wine. We inflate Wally and Beaver's wading pool and fill it with water so that White Fang can cool his cute white paws. Dressed in our wide brimmed straw sun hats, petal pushers and Hawaiian cotton shirts, we can now slather on the Coppertone. We then pull out a bottle of wine from our refrigerated wine closet and select our books from the bookcase to begin our long awaited summer reading marathon.
Next, I pour each of us a glass of 2008 Groth Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley. I picked this up for approx. $15.00. My book is "Educating Peter," by Lettie Teague. At this point try to imagine a three hour time lapse has occurred. I have completed both the bottle of wine as well as the book.
With all the conversation about food and wine pairing I think book and wine pairing should be the next big rage. Actually, my wine and book paring was not what I had hoped. "Educating Peter" is written in a very rudimentary style by Lettie Teague (the author and wine aficionado) describing how she taught Peter Travers (movie reviewer for Rolling Stone Magazine) about wine. This was sort of a Professor Higgins meets Eliza Doolittle -only with reversed genders. In this story, the instruction involved understanding varietals, regions, producers, vocabulary in the world of wine. While there were parts that were somewhat enjoyable, but the book is written in such an elemental style that even for the beginning wine student I found it insulting.
When I finishe the book I give it to the Keaton children next door in exchange for a glass of swampy lemonade. This made sense, as I felt this was a book written for children, who could possibly benefit its simplicity. On the other hand, the Groth Sauvignon Blanc was nice and crisp with a touch of creaminess. I found the wine to be refreshing with some melon and citrus. The bottle provides a nice, hot summer day sipper, and much more complexity than the book. My rating for this pairing: Wine - a solid 3 aprons; Book barely 2 aprons.
With the summer heat continuing to blaze away, Dr. Alex woke up from his nap. Wine, heat and a jucy Jason Bourne book get Dr. Alex napping quicker then a sleepy baby at bedtime. He then wheeled out our trusty charcoal Weber for an evening weinie roast. After bringing out all of our favorite condiments, buns, potato salad and kibbles for White Fang, I ran back in the house to retrieve another bottle of vino. While Dr. Alex was busy doing his wonders with Oscar Meyer, I poured our new wine and began reading my next literary selection.
My next book of choice was "The Battle for Wine and Love or How I saved the world from Parkerization, " by Alice Feiring. Ok, many hours have now past. The wonderful weenie roast and accouterments have all been consumed along with the next bottle of wine, as well as he Alice Feiring's book. While Dr. Alex begins to put out the fire on the tiki lamps and pour the water from White Fang's wading pool (that is now attracting mosquitoes), I will summarize my thoughts on my second book and wine.
This time the pairing met my expectations. The wine was Tablas Creek 2006 Mourvedre from Paso Robles , which sells for approximately $35.00. I am very fond of mourvedre and this is a wonderful representation of the varietal. The wine is actually 90% mourvedre and 10% syrah. The nose is roasted meats, plums and spice. The palate is juicy, with plums currant, leather chocolate and coffee. It is a wine you can pair with stews, pork chops and yes, even Dr.Alex's special weinies. As my little friend at Campbell's Soup always sings "mmmm good." (That little girl should know since she has been forced to eat that crappy canned soup for at least 5 decades.)
Now, the book review: I am sure Alice Feiring is brilliant in her knowledge of wine and wine travels. She kindly shares her genuis with us in this book. But, she is so frenetic in her pacing, instructing and out of control fervor for her point of view that the work lacks a sense of stability. (Hey, I know I am just some sitcom housewife, but I was left almost feeling sorry for Alice). It seemed to me she was so narrow in her need for wine purity and desire to prove Parker a fraud that she lost focus of any kind of serene pleasure. Maybe I should introduce her to Wilson next door. He is consumed with his power drill in the same way that Alice is desperately focused in her compulsion for perfection. I give the wine a perfectly tied bow of 4 aprons and Alice's book, a loosely, dangled bow of 3 aprons.
Oh my, what a day. It is time for White Fang to be read "Old Yeller" for the hundredth time. (He actually whimpers throughout the whole book).
I still need to do some tidying up, gett a good night's rest and then time for another celluloid day in the Burbs.
Try and stay cool in this summer heat. Please let me know about any interesting books you've read and of course wines you care to comment on.
Have yourself a great 6 apron weekend.
XXOO
Mrs. Reed
No comments:
Post a Comment