ChangeMe  
Grape Fermenter
Posts: 572
 | | 06-15-2003 07:33 PM |
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Ok, last night I hosted a 1990 themed offline. I'd like to thank all of the attendees for an incredible evening. I provided all of the wines and everyone else provided the food. You really had to attend to understand exactly how good the food really was. Thank you Corkage, Tjaenhingen and Jaimetown. Please thank your wives as well for the an incredible evening. I had planned th event to be held poolside but if you live anywhere near DC you know it has rained for 2 months straight....I had the outdoor setup partially completed when the thunderstorms rolled in. I hastily set up the dinner in the kitchen and it worked out fantastically as we were all able to be in close contact as each couple applied the finishing touches on their dishes. All wine was consumed from Riedel Sommelier stems. We opened and enjoyed the following wines from my cellar:
1990 Taitinger Comtes de Champagne Millesimes x2
1990 Bollinger R.D.
1990 Cos D'Estournel
1990 Cheval Blanc
1990 Rieusec
I am sure others will post comments and notes but the wines were INCREDIBLE as to be expected from that lineup. I decanted the Cos & Cheval at 5:30 PM and they were consumed between maybe 8:00 til 10:30 PM. If no one else does I will post the menu which was to die for.
THANK YOU ALL FOR A GREAT EVENING
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts: 13767
| | 06-15-2003 07:38 PM |
| You beat me to it, JohnnyB!
Here's the reader's digest (I'll post the TN links and menu soon)--
JohnnyB wanted to drink some wine, so he invited Corkage & wife, jaimetown & wife and Mrs. TJ and I over for a 'bring-a-dish' wine dinner where the host JohnnyB provided the impressive wine line-up and the over-the-top setting for the get together at his folks' place in Potomac, MD.
We all brought stuff to eat and our appetites and we laughed, talked, oggled wine cellars, walked the grounds (yes, the place was huge and the outside area even larger), ate, drank and were merry.
Before I stop and make a more formal write up with TN links and the menu, let me tell you this was great evening. Very relaxed and casual (Corkage and I were both sporting our aloha shirts) and plenty of fun.
Thanks, JohnnyB for hosting (oh and the wine!), and thanks to Corkage (the Oh-My-God this food is so good I am going to have to kill you chef himself) & wife and jaimetown (the great bringer of the sushi and that dee-lish miso soup).
We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!
TNs, menu and more to come! | | | www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts: 13767
| | 06-15-2003 07:58 PM |
| The menu--
Sushi Sampler (and home-made Miso Soup!) paired with 1990 Taitinger Comtes de Champage
Jaimetown & his wife brought a tableau of incredible looking sushi (tuna, salmon, shrip, scallop, soft-shell crab (oh crunchily delicious), this nice roll (help me out y'all), and the eel (mmmm). Along with this, they brough along some home made Miso Soup which was perfect. A great way to kick off the meal.
Salad of mesquite smoked jumbo shrimp & chilled avacado, chipotle citrus hollandaise and carrot reduction paired with 1990 Bollinger R.D. Champagne
Corkage and his wife brought this appetizer course that was really a meal unto itself. Corkage has all of the tools of the trade and he's a creative self-taught chef-level cook. This dish was incredible, plus it was fun to watch him assemble it. Nice.
A Classic French Cassoulet paired with 1990 Cos D'Estournel
Mrs. TJ came up with this recipe and we whipped it up together. This dish is essentially glorified baked beans . No seriously, it's some really slow cooked beans with lots of stock, bacon, pork, sausage and duck confit. I must say, it was delish. Plus we only had to heat it up and toast the bread crumb crust when we got there. Yum.
Grilled Ancho Chili-Garlic Tenderlion of Beef, over a jalapeno corn
cake, roasted corn beurre blanc and red wine/black mole demi glace
sauce--1990 Cheval Blanc
Oh my God. This course was a knockout. We were all already getting filled up, but we took the oppurtunity between courses to get up, walk around, play with the four cats (Puff Daddy, Daisy, Whisker Man and Cleo), etc to make room for this course. Everything about this course was unreal. The meat itself was perfectly cooked and the rub was smokily-spiced nice and the corn layers, both of them, were deliciously good -- offering a perfect pairing for the star of this dish -- the SAUCE. Corkage makes his own mole and he threw together this sauce without any apparent effort and I wished I had had more room so I could grab some bread to wipe up that sauce. Holy crap.
Cheese Plate--left over Reds
JohnnyB provided an assortment of cheeses to allow those of us who'd saved a few drops of the last wine or two to match with. Plus, some of usreally squoze the chunks of sediment for the last few drops!! The cheese were Tomme de Savoire, Rachlette Fermier (yum!), Cantal la Giuole (feet!), St. Andre triple cream Brie (ooo-la-la!) and some damn good Stilton (which was it JohnnyB?).
Chocolate Cake with Rasperries served with 1990 Rieussec
JohnnyB provided the dessert. A nice, classic way to cram more food into our overstuffed bodies. De-lish!
Next up? The TN links!  | | | www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts: 13767
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Tim
Barrel Filler
Posts: 1465
| | 06-15-2003 08:57 PM |
| | Great lineup, both food and wine wise, and great write up, you definately had me droolin'! | | | |
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Budman
Philly Suburbs
VinoCellar.com Extraordinaire
Posts: 23633
| | 06-15-2003 09:09 PM |
| DAMN you TJ!!!!!
I just gained 8 pounds reading your notes!!! | | | |
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jaimetown
DC area
Wine Labeler
Posts: 3535
| | 06-16-2003 04:14 PM |
| Guys, thanks for the notes. It was indeed a great evening - the food, wine and company were all excellent! I've never had Bordeaux and Sauturnes with this much bottle age on it, so it was a great learning experience for me. | | | |
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dinwiddie
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2192
| | 06-16-2003 06:05 PM |
| | What a great way to spend a Saturday evening. I am jelious. | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts: 13767
| | 06-16-2003 06:19 PM |
| | There will be more things like this, dw. Trust me. | | | www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts: 572
| | 06-16-2003 06:25 PM |
| | ahh this was just a small attempt to get the DC crowd kick started......It was a great night though. There will be many others DW....all it takes is someone throwing out a date? | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Sorter
Posts: 307
| | 06-16-2003 09:55 PM |
| | let us know next time. i am only 3 1/2 hours from you. that way you can see me drool inperson | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Fermenter
Posts: 572
| | 06-16-2003 11:18 PM |
| | ya know...from the positive response I might have to hold an end of summer bash.....and this time I have experience on my side to make the evening more enjoyable. | | | |
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ChangeMe
Grape Sorter
Posts: 307
| | 06-16-2003 11:24 PM |
| | i'm there, that is if it is open to people outside th dc area | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts: 13767
| | 06-17-2003 01:15 AM |
| An end of summer bash would be great. So would a Columbus Day bash. A Voting Day Bash. Arbor Day, how can we forget an Arbor Day bash?! Or how about a holiday seasonal bash? That bash could be many bashes in one for Christmas, Hanukah (sp?), Kwanzaa and hey, even Festivas (gotta break out the Aluminum Pole sometime, right?).
| | | www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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Corkage
Grape Puncher
Posts: 975
| | 06-17-2003 02:54 PM |
| Wow, what an awesome evening (except for the rain, but we made due). Thanks JohnnyB.
The champagne paired nicely with the sushi. I liked the Bollinger a little better than the Taitinger, but I drank my share of the Taitinger anyways.
TJ and Mrs TJ prepared a wonderfully sublime cassoulet of duck with white beans. What a great dish with the 90 Cos (which was my WOTN). I'll be needing that recipe.
I was a little worried about the red wine/black mole demi glace. Although I've made it before, I used a $7 bottle of merlot and thought that the acid was a little high after the wine reduced. Mrs TJ assured me that the sauce was acceptable, though. Whew. Any Johnny fired-up a turbo charged armor plated gas grill for the filet mignon, with a direct line to the Washington Gas Company, which assured that I had the necessary BTUs (and an extra 40,000 to spare) to properly sear the meat.
Some of the the cheese did stink. I refuse to put anything in my mouth that smells that bad, but the brie was no ordinary brie...it was triple cream brie!
Johnny's wine cellar is quite impressive, we wanted to get sleeping bags and camp down there. There is enough room (but not for long according to Johnny) to sleep at least 8. It was bigger than most of our kitchens. And you know how the display racks show the top bottle (which for many of us would be the best and only bottle of that wine)? Well there was usually a case or so more of the wine below, just like at the wine stores
We are looking forward to another dinner soon. | | | |
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Pool Boy
Laurl, MD (DC suburb)
Master of Wine
Posts: 13767
| | 06-17-2003 05:15 PM |
| | I'll get you the recipe, Corkage. No problemo. | | | www.roguefood.com -- www.cellartracker.com | |
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Corkage
Grape Puncher
Posts: 975
| | 06-18-2003 05:07 PM |
| thanks, and leave no pork part unturned | | | |
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David Niederauer
Los Gatos, CA
Master Sommelier
Posts: 15756
| | 06-18-2003 11:30 PM |
| | It's "leave no pork un-pulled"! | | | |
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ChangeMe
Barrel Sampler
Posts: 2098
| | 06-19-2003 02:22 PM |
| Corkage - One day you and I will have to arrange to be in the same place at the same time, so we can have a cook-off, Iron Chef style! And you don't like stinky cheese! Someone's going to take your Amateur Chef card away from you for that!
Guys - This looks like it was a really wonderful evening! Do it again on 16 August, the same day we're having a bash in Texas. We'll have the Iron Chef of dinner parties!
I took several bottles of some really nice Taitinger to a tailgate party once - it was the last Baltimore Ravens game played in the old Memorial stadium. We had a blast. Three friends and I had two thermoses full of coffee & Cointreau in the stadium. It was out of control. A great time.
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Corkage
Grape Puncher
Posts: 975
| | 06-19-2003 02:39 PM |
| Lilac, anytime you are in town you let us know and we will plan a dinner in your honor. In fact, for this weekend's tasting dinner, I plan on making the grilled monkfish curry broth from the asian pear thread (sans the asian pear, since I don't know if they are still available). It will be making its debut.
I like some stinky cheese but this was truly fetid feet cheese.
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