Recycling a Curtain

When I changed to the new curtains this year, I was left with a lot of leftover curtain fabric.
That material wasn't suitable for the garment making, so I decide to make another bag.
I already had a lot of daily use bags, so this time I made a big duffle bag.
The theme was "recycle".

I wanted the bag to be soft and light, so the lining was sewn onto the curtain fabric without the interfacing.
Pocket was another recycle: Paella rice bag.

Sew the zipper to the body, and attach the side to the body.
Wrap the seam allowance with bias tape, and flip over to finish.

Recycled daffle bag.
I used a free hand to draw the pattern (the curved line was drawn with a pot cover) and the outcome was a little bigger than I expected.
I'm happy with this, but if I fill this big bag fully, it might become too heavy to carry...

Sake for...whom?

Fried rice is the dish I cook often.
Not only I'm a great fried rice maker, this menu also helps me to finish up all the leftover vegetables in a fridge.

Even this leftover dish looks nice if it is made into Omelette rice and served with sausage and bright color vegetables.

JC chose Sake (Sequoia Genshu) for this because he wanted to have it with sausage.

Talking about sake, JC recently met Richie Hawtin (a renowned DJ ) who were hooked on sake and became an advocate of it.
He suggests young cloud (not underage) to try sake at a party.
I've never been to DJ kind of party, so I can only imagine the scene of the dark club, loud music, cool young people, and sake... 
This picture is quite fascinating because sake has an image of the drink for older generation in Japan.

Mr. Hawtin said that they enjoyed sake. We just need to shut down our prejudice from time to time.

Onigiri Bento

When I don't have time to make full course Bento for JC, I make quick Onigiri (Japanese rice ball) Bento.
The Bento is simple, but the Bento bag is my special hand made Onigiri bag.

Triangle design to fit the Onigiri shape.

I sprinkled Shiokonbu (salted seaweed) around Onigiri instead of wrapping it with Nori (seaweed).
I didn't want JC to have Nori stuck on his teeth at work.
The side dish was Marinated Eggplant and Sauteed Carrot leaf.
Peanut butter Cookies as dessert.

Everything fits in this bag.

Cheese Club

This month's Solano Cellars Cheese Club:
Alta Langa "Il Nocciolo" (square)
Rudolphe Le Meunier Beurre de Baratte (yellow)
Lord of the Hundreds (triangle)

Il Nocciolo is from Piedmont, Italy.
Cow, goat and sheep's milk cheese.
Very soft and creamy, in texture and flavor.

Beurre de Baratte is actually butter, not cheese, from Loire Valley, France.
Custard cream-like richness and good amount of saltiness.
Bread and this butter is all you need. Yum.

Lord of the Hundreds is a sheep's milk cheese from England.
I had this with Pinot Noir as suggested.
Good pairing.

This cheese club never disappointed me, but this month's selection was especially good!

Quick Cheese Making

JC is picky about yugurt.
He doesn't like the ones with starch or coagulant, i.e. he likes expensive yogurt.
These expensive yogurt is not only delicious, but also comes with a fun project.
Making cheese!

JC's quick cheese is really easy and quick to make: drain the water all day. That's it.

And this is what you see next morning.
JC calls it (fake) Greek Cheese.

The texture is soft, and the flavor is soft, too.
We had this with granola, honey and apple. Healthy breakfast.

This made us feel Greek, so our lunch was Greek, too.
JC made Hummus with different toppings (paprika, dried parsley, nuts, etc.).

Don't mix the Hummus. Just scoop out Hummus with the topping you like.

I felt like drinking something fruity so I had cocktail, but I should have opened white wine, something rustic.

Not so bad Simple Bag

I love fabric.
I make bags so that I can use the fabric which is too much to use for clothes.
However, I also realize that I need simple bags, too, so this time I made a plain black bag.

First, cut the leather and lining.

The lining had to be that colorful? Yes!
Sew a pocket on to the lining, then attach the lining to the leather with glue.

Hand sew handle and zipper.

Sew the side to the body.
This part, I used sewing machine because with the leather needle for hand sewing, I would make a hole on the lining fabric.

I made seam allowance of the leather thinner in advance so that I could use sewing machine.

Make a bias tape with similar color, or contrasting color, and wrap the seam allowance with it.

Flip over, then done!

Simple, black leather bag.

I wasn't excited to make such a simple, even boring bag, but, well, it's not so bad.

Domain Gachot-Monot Cote de Nuits-Villages 2014

I like Chinese food, but when I cook it, I fix the flavor every time I taste it, and eventually it becomes to taste like Japanese food.

This time, JC cooked Chinese food.

Peas and Shrimp with Ginger flavor, and Pork and Green Bell Pepper with Black Pepper and Oyster Sauce.
JC said that he still used less oil and peppers than he was supposed to do, but unlike my Chinese food, it tasted more like real Chinese I have at restaurant.

My task was to choose a wine for this.
I usually open Riesling or other whites with Chinese food, but with Oyster sauce, I figured that light red wine would work better than white.

This is the wine I choose:
Domain Gachot-Monot Cote de Nuits-Villages 2014 
Organic and inorganic mineral was upfront, and fruits and flowers appeared from behind it.
Good wine.
Easy to drink wine which I really have to force myself to stop drinking.

My hard work paid off and I have some wine left to drink next day (right now!), and it's still very good.
 By the way, the pairing of the wine and Chinese food was good, too.
  

Di Majo Norante Ramitello Molise Rosso

The rainy season has begun.
It means that  the farmer's market would have fewer selections for a while, so we indulged in farmer's market shopping one last time for this season.

Among these, there are some vegetables which we don't know exactly what it is. This is the fun part about going to farmers market.

The big pale green color zucchini (probably) is the unknown object. It turned out to become delicious Ratatouille.
The zucchini was sweet, tomatoes gave acidity, and basil added freshness.

For this Steak dinner, I chose the wine which I tried last week at the Central Italian Wine Tasting.
Wine from Molise.
Montepulciano and Aglianico.

Di Majo Norante Ramitello Molise Rosso 2012
$22
There was a combination of fruit, flower and herb.
Well balanced.
It didn't have the deepness of expensive wines, but was very good quality for the wine of this price range.

As for the ratatouille, I had the leftover as sauce for buttered pasta next day.
It was delicious, and the wine was still good, too!

Mamete Prevostini, Alpine Nebbiolo

There was a Mamete Prevostini Alpine Nebbiolo comes to Vintage Berkeley event at Vintage Berkeley.

Mamete Prevostini is a winery in Valtellina, which is a narrow alpine valley in Lombardia, Italy.
The principal grape variety is Nebbiolo.

Mamete Prevostini Botonero. $21.50.
Fresh tart and candied red fruit. Rose water.
Acid was high and tannin was moderate.
It reminded me of Beaujolais.

Mamete Prevostini Sassella Valtellina Superiore. $36.50.
Tart black fruit and dried flower.
Fine medium tannin.
Sassella is the most famous sub-region of Valtellina.

Mamete Prevostini "Sommarovina" Sassella Valtellina Superiore. $66.
Sommarovina is a single vineyard.
Cherry or strawberry compote. Herbs such as mint, camomile and sage.
This vineyard is located at higher altitude then the previous Sassella.

Mamete Prevostini  "Albareda" Sforzato di Valtellina. $75.
Cherry brandy. Fig and raspberry compote. Smoked ham.
Full body and very fluid.
Sforzato is the wine made from partially dried grapes.
All elements in the grapes are concentrated. There is a high level of sugar and they are fermented until it's dry, so the wine is full body, high in alcohol, and flavors are concentrated.

All the wines were good, and probably good to drink now.
Valtellina is a steep area that everything has to be done by hands.
Maybe that's why but it seemed a little bit overpriced for my preference.

Formidable Dragon

How to choose when you want to try new cocktail? The look? The ingredients?
I choose from its name.

JC wanted to make a new cocktail from his beloved Smuggler's Cove Cocktail book, so I chose the one called Formidable Dragon. Why not?

The recipe calls Lemon juice, Lime juice, Honey Syrup, Molasses Syrup, Amaro di Angostura, 3 kinds of Rum, and Seltzer.

We didn't have some of the ingredients, so he substituted Amaro Ciociaro for Amaro di Angostura, and used Kuromitsu (Japanese black honey) instead of Molasses Syrup.

Kuromitsu is usually served with traditional sweets. Although it tastes similar to molasses, it has distinctive flavor. 
I was a little skeptical how it would work as a cocktail ingredient, and sure detected distinctiveness in the cocktail, but it wasn't bad. It actually gave exotic flavor.

It was heavy so I had to mix constantly so that the Kuromitsu wouldn't stay on the bottom of the glass, but otherwise, I surprisingly enjoyed this cocktail. 

La Carraia Orvieto 2015

I usually choose and open wines which coordinate with JC's study, but sometimes food comes first then I choose wine to pair with.

Today, JC cooked Steamed Salmon and Garlic-flavor Mashed Potatoes, and I happened to have a perfect wine for this.

La Carraia Orvieto 2015

Orvieto is the most famous wine from Umbria.

40% Grechetto. 30% Procanico (Trebbiano), 30% Malvasia.

Trebbiano has neutral flavor and adds acidity.

Grechetto gives character.

Fruit and sweet white flower. Orange oil-like richness.
This was the wine I tried at the Italian wine tasting last week.
Very good wine and very good deal.

I thought the pairing was successful.
The acid and rich texture went good with the fatty fish.
Although the pairing was good, I like this wine just by itself, too.




When pairing is good, I tend to eat too much.
After the dinner, I felt stuffed and needed remedy...

Amaro Ciociaro and Amaro Sibilla.
Sweet spice and herb helped my stomach to calm down.

Central Italian Wine: A Guided Tasting

There was Central Italian Wine: A Guided Tasting at Solano Cellars this week.
This was a sequel to the last month's Southern Italian Wine Tasting.
There were two white wines and five red wines.

Falesco Est! Est!! Est!!! di Montefiascone 2014
This is from Lazio.
Citrus zest, pear, and acacia-like sweet flower.
Est! Est!! Est!!! is not usually my favorite wine, but this one was good.

Second white wine we tried was La Carraia Orvieto 2015
(picture of this wine is on the bottom of this page)
Wine from Umbria.
Grape fruit and grape. White flower. Neutral and easy to drink.
Everybody there loved this wine.
Very approachable and only $12.
Good deal. Very good deal.

The first red wine was Valle Reale Abruzzo 2010.
100% Montepulciano, from the vineyard on the top of the mountain.
Cherry-like fruit and very fine tannin.

Di Majo Norante Ramitello Molise Rosso 2012. 
85% Montepulciano and 15% Aglianico.
Aroma was very flowery. Violet, rose, and dark cherry.
Good balance.

Castellare di Castellina Chianti 2014. From Toscany
95% Sangiovese and 5% Canaiolo.
Strawberry, raspberry, fennel and shiso.
The bird on the label is a local bird which is on the verge of extinction.
The description of this bird is on the label, too.
They use the label to raise awareness of the disappearing species.
I liked this idea and wanted to like this wine, but unfortunately it wasn't my favorite (not a bad wine, just personal preference).

Altesino Rosso di Montalcino 2014.
100% Sangiovese.
Cherry and herb. There was earthiness.
Tannin was higher side but very fine.

Altesino Brunello di Montalcino 2011.
100% Sangiovese.
Tart fruit and fresh flower.
Tannin was high but well integrated and balanced.
Elegant wine.

Like Last month, lovely Chloe from Winebow lead us through this Central Italian Tour.
There were so many people but she handled beautifully without losing the personal touch.


Here's the wines I brought back home:
La Carraia Orvieto 2015 and Di Majo Norante Ramitello Molise Rosso 2012

I look forward to finding another favorite at the next Northern Italian Tasting!

Wine making

It's been two weeks since I started wine making with Cabernet Sauvignon from the garden.
The fermentation stopped so it's time to bottle.

First, drain the wine (can I call it wine?) and separated free-run and pressed juice.
Free-run tasted like red fruits.
Low tannin and medium acid.
Alcohol was low, so the grapes weren't ripe enough when I harvested them (I needed more sugar = ripeness to achieve higher level of alcohol).
Pressed juice had more greenness.

I mixed the half of the pressed juice into free-run, and let it settle in a fridge over night.

We did tasting with the left over pressed juice.

Here's JC's tasting note:
Green pepper, apple skin, cherry liqueur, licorice, thyme, red pepper cone, compost, wet clay.
Medium tannin, medium plus acid, low alcohol (8%?), silky body, a little bit of volatile acid.
Wow, it sounds like real wine!

My comment is...it tasted more like cider than wine.

Next day, we bottled the wine (can I really call it wine?) using coffee filter.
I have no idea how long I should let it age, but we decided to wait at least until next year to try.
What's gonna happen...?

Pair with Saffron

Domaine de Durban Gigondas 2014
Red wine from the Southern Rhone, France.

70% Grenache, 30% Syrah.  
Purple color with medium intensity of aroma.
Cherry, cramberry, violet and spices such as nutmeg, licorice, cardamon, etc.
Tannin was higher side, but fine in texture.

We had this wine with Bacon and Tomato Sauce Pasta with saffron.
It wasn't a bad pairing, but not a great pairing either.
I thought Gigondas and bacon would be a nice pairing...
JC suspected that saffron and the wine didn't work well together.
Because the wine was too strong for the subtle flavor of saffron? Maybe.
Saffron might need some kind of sweetness which comes from oak-ageing like Rioja.
This can be my next pairing theme.
  

Home Remedy

Tamago-zake is a home remedy in Japan.
This is believed to work when you caught cold.

First, warm up Sake.
Mix egg and sugar (not as sweet as eggnog), then pour hot sake into it and mix well.
Drink up, and go sleep.

However, I find this drink too strong to drink when I feel weak, so JC made me his version of home remedy when I was sick in bed.

Lemon juice, Passion fruits juice, Liqueur, Gin.
Lots of Vitamin C.
The simple structure made it easy to drink.

Did it really work? Well, at least I'm here.