Have you gone Underground?

I am crawling out from under my grapevine and feeling very hip and cool after this past weekend's experience at an "Underground Restaurant." My friend Nanette is a personal chef from New York who moved to the Central Coast about the same time. She has been trying to find the right opportunity to make a living here and may be about to strike gold. She is part of a new trend of chefs who find a space, create a menu, get the word out and see who shows up. Fortunately for us, we did, along with our friends the Tighes who were visiting from Minnesota. Several other winemakers/vintners where there. Some we knew, some we did not but we all had a great evening.

This movement took off as the result of a couple of American chefs who moved to Paris and opened up a speakeasy type of space, avoided the rigors of the French health dept. and were wildly successful. Now you can find underground dining in most of the big cities as well as in San Luis Obispo.

Nanette paired each of the five courses with a local wine. Appetizers were passed as the guests mingled and sipped a lovely Castoro wine called Tango.My favorite were the delicately fried sage leaves in a tempura-like batter. We were called to the elegantly appointed table and had an amazing scallop/grapefruit salad. This was paired with Chardonnay from Tablas Creek. The main event was a beautiful plate of Moroccan Lamb chops, Potato Bliss and veggies from her garden. I think we had a Tablas Creek Grenache but frankly, by this time, I was a bit tipsy and can't quite remember other than it was perfect. Of course we had a delicious dessert and made our way back home feeling so lucky to have had a fun and unique gastricorgasmic experience.

The only part of the evening that was a bit bizarre is the conversation surrounding proper tooth brushing. One of the guests was a LA dentist. A simple question by Victor and Jenny of Vines on the Marycrest asking the best way to teach their 5 year old to brush his teeth - in circles or back and forth or up and down, led to what seemed like a more than should have been acceptable conversation by Dr. Dave. He is passionate about two things - wine and the best way to brush your teeth. It must have had an impact on Dave and me because we each are paying a lot more attention to oral hygiene. BTW, go real slow, focus on the gum line and barely move your hand.


I don't know how often Nanette will be cooking but if you get the chance, be sure to go. It'll be a feast to remember.

The first day of Endless Summer

Today is the first day of the Mid-State Fair. Its theme is Endless Summer which is very appropriate given Paso's beautiful blue skies, warm temperatures and carefree attitudes. That said, I woke up this morning at 5 a.m. to go to my Master's swim class and it was 40 degrees with a major Marine layer that resembled pea soup. It finally lifted and revealed a lovely crisp day. A perfect day to head to the fairgrounds ... but I didn't.

The fair is a big deal around here. It attracts a mass of humanity who come for the unique combination of big name talent (Aerosmith, Keith Urban, Toby Keith, Kenny Loggins), food on a stick, carnie rides, 4-H-ers with their farm animals and of course, judging who makes the best jam, pies and wine. We entered a couple wines and were thrilled to have received Best of Class for the 2009 Per Cazo Cellars Tres Blanc. I have been to state fairs before having hailed from the Midwest, but I don't think I know of any that begin the festivities with an honest-to-God Cattle drive. I really wanted to head into town to witness for myself the streets lined with cowboys and cowgirls leading the herd through the streets of town into the fairgrounds.

Maybe next year I will make it but I stayed here for a wine tasting appointment and it had its own magical moments of endless summer. As you can see in the photo, we had our own wine troubadour serenading us as we sat sipping the award winning wines on a beautiful summer day. John, with the Wine Wrangler, provided a rare performance of a couple of songs for his clients, Chris and Dave from the O.C. and Tim and Becky from Austraila.

Oh, I am sure I will get to the fair and one of these years I will see the cows running down Union Road, but if I could clone this day for my personal endless summer, I would. Wish you could have been here.

Be sure to take time to smell the roses!

Yesterday was a great day. I started the day by literally smelling the roses. Summer has finally arrived so the landscape needs a drink first thing in the morning. While watering I was captured by the beauty of the roses that grace our property. These are the old fashion kind that really smell like roses are supposed to! I was worried because just a few weeks ago, they looked awful. Not known for my green thumb, I took some leaves to a local expert who diagnosed them with rust. Who knew...certainly not me, but Larry our gardener sprayed with a fungicide and they are thriving.

I accomplished a lot around the house, made lunch for our winemaker's family who is moving to a new home, and poured Per Cazo Cellars wine at the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce Mixer at Cool Hand Luke's. Here I am with Jason, the General Manager having just set up for the tasting. At the Mixers, everyone is allotted two tickets for wine. Since it was over 100 degrees, there were a LOT of people who wanted a nice cold glass of Tres Blanc. I poured 11 bottles and could have poured more. It was fun to have the exposure, but I was so busy pouring, I could not really chat with anyone. I handed out a lot of cards for private tasting appointments so I hope people make the arrangements. I love getting to know the locals and make new friends.

Once it was time to pack up and go home, I called Dave who is in Chicago this week for a project. Disappointed he did not answer, I called back to leave a message but this time he did answer saying he had to call me back. There had just been an accident. Everyone was OK but he couldn't talk right now. Of course all kinds of thoughts were swimming in my head. Shortly, he phoned to explain that he was a passenger in a car that had been sandwiched on I-94. A large SUV failed to stop in the halted traffic. This of course rammed them into the other large SUV ahead. The small,

Avis rental car was totaled. Shaken, bruised but nothing more than that, he and the driver were waiting for a ride from other colleagues who would take them back to the hotel.

This morning on my way to the barn to feed the cats, I inhaled the sweetest smelling rose of them all. Anything can happen to spoil your day, ruin your plans or take your life. Be sure to take the time to stop and smell the roses.

I'm back....

I dropped off the blog-o-spere for the last two months. Between Kelley's graduation from Miami, relocating her to L.A., very busy times at Creekside B&B and lots of private tastings for Per Cazo Cellars, I have been too exhausted to keep the blog active. So back by popular demand, I am recommitting myself to try to relay the craziness that has become my life in Paso Robles.

I can't believe we have lived in Paso for over a year now. I finally feel like it is home. I miss Minnesota but it's not home any more in spite of the fact we still have a great house for sale in Edina. I don't know why St. Joseph is taking so long to sell it. Saints are recession-proof. I love running the Bed and Breakfast and feel more confident as an Innkeeper. Fortunately, we have been close to 50% occupancy rate for the last few months. We recently had guests who stayed with us who worked with Dave back in the good old Eli Lilly days. Richard and Liz Davies were joining their friends the Bankstons for bike/wine get away. The Bankstons made all the arrangements so imagine everyone's surprise when we all put 2 + 2 together and realized the connection. It is such a small world!

As far as the wine biz goes, Per Cazo is really on a roll. We have received some great accolades - '09 Tres Blanc received "Best of Class" and gold medals at the Central Coast Wine Competition, Gold medal at the Orange County Wine Society. Epi Telos received Silver at the above competitions and still is Dave's favorite wine. The recent vintages of ZinG and Confluent continue to impress our tasters and is flying off the shelf. We are "Winery of the Month" for the Paso Robles Chamber of Commerce and receiving great visibility at Wine Festivals. We are grateful for all the support and continue to strive for making the best wine we can. We will bottle the next vintage of Epi Telos and Late Harvest in August.

The girls are doing well. As I mentioned above, Kelley has graduated and moved to L.A. She just started her new job as a NBC Page and loves it. Meg is finishing her job at Dramatic English in Hong Kong and is about to return to academia life pursuing her Certificate of Mandarin Translation. She is planning an exotic vacation with her boyfriend Andy to Bali in August. Dave and I hope to visit her later in the year but until then, rely on Skype to keep in touch.

Dave is busy working on his day jobs - consulting for a few different health care companies and loves being back on the road again. He left out of San Luis Obispo this morning at 5 a.m. I don't know how he does it. Maddy, the cats and I hold down the fort and enjoy the beautiful long summer days in Paso. The typical 90+ degree days haven't arrived yet but I know they will. I hope if you are still reading this, you will find a way to come visit. I have the wine chilled and the cheese plate ready!