Thanksgiving

[mrdutton]

I hope everyone of you has a special, significant day today however you celebrate this holiday!

My wife and I went out to dinner to a small intimate place in Portsmouth, VA called Pfeiffer's.

We started with warmed, mulled apple cider and she-crab soup. Next course was a very nice salad of romaine, red onion, cukes and tomatoes lightly coated with a raspberry dressing. The main course consisted of turkey, virginia ham, carrots, baked stuffed tomato (stuffing was broccoli), wild rice pilaf with walnuts, garlic mashers, whole cranberry sauce with mandarin oranges and a very nice Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau. The meal ended with mince-meat pie and coffee.

What a feast!

I asked the owner to reserve a half-case of the Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau. I'll pick it up this coming Monday. I intend on doing a horizontal with this villages, the Maison LaMartine and the Georges Duboeuf. If I stay vertical and sober enough after this horizontal, I'll report the results.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I am sure that each and every one of us has something for which we can give thanks.

[Innkeeper]

Sounds great and many thanks to you too Mike. We did it here with single daughter and one married one with hubby and two kids. Had mixed nuts, spit roasted turkey with cranberry sauce and gravy, wild rice and mushroom stuffing, green beans almandine, mashed Maine potatoes, salad with raspberry-hazelnut vinaigrette, potato braid, and apple pie. Matched this array of flavors with a 1997 Steele, Mendocino, Zinfandel, DuPratt Vineyard, and, for the "others" a 1998 Buehler, California, White Zinfandel.

The Steele Zin was incredible. DuPratt must be the sunniest patch of Mendocino County and/or Mr Steele has the uncanny abliity to pick the grapes at the perfect moment of ripeness without getting to the overripe stage that can push zin over the top. The result is a wine with warm climate, old world characteristics reminiscent of a syrah from the Rhone. Georgeous purple color, plummy and spicy on the nose. A rush of ripe raspberry fruit upfront, earthy complexity and balanced tannin in der middle, and a ringing finish that naturally differed with the various foods. The Buehler White Zin, was fruity and crisp, and very if not completely dry. The folks at Buehler put together just about the best of this genre year in and year out.

Hope all of the rest of you had a great day too.



[This message has been edited by Innkeeper (edited 11-24-2000).]

[winoweenie]

IK and MrD, Now I know why I had all those kids. We were invited to my 3rd oldest daughters home for Eats. Had my Grand-Daughter who attends U of A and her new signoificant other that`s looking pretty serious and Friends of Denny and Rons along with their daughter, son-in-law and their year-old.Denny fixed 2 24lb turkeys, mashed potatoes whipped with cream and Butter, Almond infused green-bean casserole, candied yams, home-made asian noodles (to put over the potatoes),endive and Jicama salad with raspberry vinagerette and for dessert she made chocolate pecan pie, apple pie, lemon chiffon pie, triple fugde-chocolate cake, applesauce-cranberry cake and last but Not Creme Brulee.I took 4 bottles of Nouveau,2 Drouhin, 2 Doubeauf and for MOI a bottle each of 97 and 98 Scherrer Zinfandel, " Shale Terrace and Old and Mature Vines" Was miserable! Ate like it was my last meal. Think last year I swore abstinence from glutteny but didn`t remeber till 2am this morn. I`ll do better next year. Hope all on the board had as much fun as we did. Happy Holidays. winoweenie

[Bucko]

Now for the poor little match girl story. My wife was on call, got slammed, left the house at 8am and dragged in at 10pm. I had a Jack-in-the-Box burger..... but drank a bottle of Chalone Estate Pinot with it.

Bucko

[Innkeeper]

Bucko, hopefully you and yours can do your thing in a not too later time. In the meantime, you can be thankful that the Chalone probably beat down the e-coli in your burger.

[hotwine]

Our T'giving dinner was very conventional: the GD Beaujolais Nouveau was quaffed beforehand, and led into the roasted turkey with herbed dressing, giblet gravy, crescent rolls, brussels sprouts with Belgian bacon, green beans, yams with crumbled pecans & brown sugar topping, accompanied by Schmitt-Sohne's '98 MSR Spatlese, and finished with pumpkin pie and Fonseca Bin 27 port. Manomanoman!

[Thomas]

Bucko, can't you cook?

Mine was a conventional T'day too. Sadly, I am not a fan of most of the day's vittles (cranberry, mashed spuds, sweet spuds and all--do not care much for turkey either) but I got through to the pumpkin pie.

The wines: Zonin Pinot Grigio (fine and fruity), Bogle Sauvignon Blanc (nothing to write home about), Ravenswood Vintner's Blend Zinfandel (a stable, decent wine), Duck Pond Pinot Noir (good fruit, dancingly light body--always a bargain wine of Oregon).

[Bucko]

Oh yeah, love to cook, but not for one. We're having our T-Day dinner tonight -- Standing Rib Roast, a mushroom potato gratin dish, baby green beans, yet to be decided dessert, along with 1989 Grand Mayne and 1989 Baumard Quarts du Chaume....

Bucko

[mrdutton]

Oh YUM. Bucko I am booking a flight right now!