Friday night the Scurvy Bastards won 9-0 the ref forgot to put a point on the board so the official score was actually 8-0, but with that spread we weren't about to complain.
Scurvy Bastards Dominate
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Wedding page
Now that I am getting married I now have a wedding web page. There isn't much up because I have only been engaged for two weeks, and there is very little done in the way of firm plans. You can go to BridgitandTom.com to see the page, or you can just go to tomcook.net/wedding. They both go to the same place. I am using a cool PHP JavaScript replacement thingy for the nav bar images. Also there are some issues with CSS and IE on Windows. Firefox is the best option, but others will work. I had to sacrafice some of my vision to get it to look right on IE, but I have to design to the lowest common denominator.
Aussie recap
We had some great Australian wines, and here are the tasting notes we came up with (as compiled by Dan)Collected notes from the last tasting (Australian Reds and a surprise Australian Dessert Wine):
d' Arenburg Winery/ “The Footbolt” Shiraz/ McLaren Vale (Barossa Valley)/ 2001
-A nice dark cranberry red hue offering Ink, Tar, Damp Earth and Alcohol on the nose with some green herbs. This wine opened with some damp greeness of moss or fern that gave way to damp dark earth and Morels seasoned with a peppery kick. A bit of firm tannins. The berry fruit hangs out in the background. A big tasty wine.
16.5 points
Penfolds Winery/ “Bin 138″/ Grenache, Shiraz, Mouvedre Blend (G,S,M) / Barossa Valley/ 2002
-Intense dark red. The nose is cherry and red fruit with some green. Fruity with a sharp acidity and medium body. Medium loose tannins and slightly sour. Nice but not very exciting.
12 points
Kaesler/ “Stonehorse”/ G,S,M Blend/ Barossa Valley/ 2003
-Great nose with cedar, cassis and yeast dough. A very good full flavor showing blackberry, black cherry and currant against nice dark earth and black pepper. Fruit and earth with some spice- Yum.
15 points
Peter Lehman/ “The Barossa”/ Shiraz/ Barossa Valley/ 2001
-Earth and cedar came through in the subtle nose of this Shiraz. Black fruits and dark earth. This one is more delicate than “The Footbolt” but offered a really well structured complex wine.
17 points
d'Arenburg Winery/ “The Dead Arm”/ Shiraz/ Barossa/ 2002
-Whoa! Black-red and opaque. Awesome nose. This tight, complex, intense wine slowly unraveled to show off deep berries, cocoa, ink, tar, leather, cherry, prune, cranberry… Gorgeous wine. Smooth, rich balanced and complex. Quite a treat that delivered on its $75 price tag.
19.5 points
Joseph Winery/ “La Magia”/ Botrytis Riesling and Traminer Blend/ ?/ 2002
– A great example of a Botrytis wine at a great price. This unctuous dessert wine had a great honey and spice nose with a nice sharpness from the Botrytis. The wine is like liquid gold with intense honey offset by tart apple flavors. Also on the palette were golden raisin and a sweet spice blend. Spectacular stuff to serve with dessert or as dessert.
Not Rated (personally I give it a 17+)
Italy
This Friday the Wine-O's are doing Italian wines. Should be lots of fun.A recap of our last wine tasting follows at the end. Next Saturday at 7:oopm we'll be exploring the reds of Italy which, to say the least, i a daunting task. Italy grows some 2000 grape varieties for wine-making and the wines are sometimes named after a region (like France), the grape (Like the US and S. America) or both or even by the method in which its made! Whereas every wine-growing country has its quirks Italy is quirks. So I've listed some possibilities below as well as tried to give just a bit bit of information on each. As always I recommend getting to know a good wine monger who can help you pick out something.
If you can find someone who knows their wines and get to know your taste it will be much harder to pick mediocre wine. Also (warning:
shameless plug coming) there are a few good italians at Everyday Wine in Kerrytown and if we don't have what you want we can probably get something for you. In general expect to pay $20+ but there are some bargains out there.
Barbaresco- From the Piedmont in the far North-West and little brother to Barolo
Barolo- Also from Piedmont its the “King of Wines”. Typically awesome, the name refers to the region and is made from the same grape as Barbaresco.
Barbera d' Alba (or Asti)- Also Piedmont, Barbera is the grape and Asti and Alba the regions. Usually Alba is better but not always.
Valpolicella- A blend from Veneto in the North-East this wine is made with a very unique method.
Chianti- Most well know Italian wine from around Tuscany. Primarily one grape.
Brunello di Montalcino- Also from the Tuscany area.
“Super Tuscans”- A blend of certain grapes from the Chianti region. They cannot be called Chianti since they are not the right grapes
according to law. Can quite good.
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo- Grape from Abruzzo in central-Eastern Italy.
So that's just a small sampling to get you started. Please e-mail me or everyone as soon as you know what you're getting so we can avoid overlap.
The tasting will be at Kelli Konkle's in Chelsea. Directions will be sent out later this week.
there are ants…in my canoe
I didn't get a chance to paddle at all in January, I think that this weekend its going to be in the 40's so I might go out in the river where its not frozen over. Not the best time to tip….
Zombies!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a totally cool web site with other cool sites linked to it. They are all zombie simulations that track zombies being let loose in a city, there is a 3D one, a couple where the humans/military fight back, and two that involve the dropping of nukes.
Check it out, have some fun, kill some Zombies and Zambies(well dressed zombies).
good news everyone
As of this past Saturday I am engaged.
read more for the FAQFAQ
Q: Who are you engaged to?
A:I am engaged to Bridgit Rutz, whom I have been dating for over a year.
Q: Is a wedding date set?
A: For some reason this is the first question that everyone asks. There is a tentative plan for December 2005. Most likely between Christmas and New Years. With Bridgit being a teacher we have summer or winter vacations as good options.
Q: How did it happen?
A: Bridgit and I went skiing and I “fell” and asked her to come over and give me a hand. I pulled the ring out and asked her to marry me. Then I pulled a bottle of Muscato 'd Asti out of my backpack which we drank sitting on a log in the woods.
Q: Was/Is there a ring?
A: Yes, an antique ring. Yellow gold band, with a white gold setting. One garnet with four diamonds.
Q: How can I contact you to send congratulations/money/free stuff?
A: I have a tentative wedding email set up wedding at tomcook.net
Q: What can I do to help?
A: You should email us so that we can assign you any duties you are fit for?
Q: Have any injuries taken place as a result of your engagement?
A: Actually, yes. Bridgit's parents are in BC skiing and we sent flowers telling them. Upon reading the news Barb, Bridgit's mother, threw her arms in the air, hitting John in the face and drawing blood.
Q: Will there be a wedding webpage?
A: As the time comes and more information becomes available a webpage will be put in place.
Q: Did she say yes?
Q: Do you think I would put this on my website if she said no?
Mac Mini
So I read a cool article about Apple's new Mac Mini. The article has a full review along with a take apart. Lots of great photos.
iLife '05
So I got my copy of the new iLife yesterday. It's pretty cool. As with most any software there are cool new things, things that are missing, and things that I will never use.
iPhoto 5 is cool, it has more advanced tools to adjust photo balance and a more intuitive interface. It also creates softcover books as well as a variety of sizes now. Garageband 2 now has notation features but you can't print out the sheet music, which is lame. iDVD, which I have only used a couple times, now has more themes. I need to make more DVDs but I don't really have any video that I want to burn anyway. iMovie does HD video now, but who has a HD camcorder? Another program that I rarely use, I don't have a camera so why do I need to edit video.
Things I'm reading
So since I am graduated I get once again to read for fun, not because I am paying to. I just finished Father Joe, a graduation present from Bridgit. It was really good, and contained some good Catholic knowledge. I am already well into For Whom the Bell Tolls which despite being a Metallica Song is also a book by Hemmingway.I love reading Hemmingway. He is a manly man, and his books are about three things: getting laid, getting drunk, and shooting things. I have a hard time getting into his African hunting books, they are really boring to me, I have started two different ones and can't seem to get into them. For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of his war books, which are a bit more lively.