Chirimen-like Shawl

There is yarn called Hard Twisted Yarn.
If you weave with this yarn, the yarn eventually tries to unwind itself, and this will create bumpy texture. The fabric called Chirimen uses this yarn for the weft.

 I bought Hard Twisted yarn from HABU, and made a shawl to see if I could create this bumpy effect.

The warp was HABU wool crepe, the weft was HABU linen.
The wool crepe was the Hard Twisted yarn.

The yarn was highly twisted and it tended to tangle, so warping was a kind of struggle.
After dressing the loom, it was a plain weave so the rest went smoothly.

When I took down the fabric from the loom, it was flat.

Then I washed it with hot water and dried it, and finally I saw the bumpy texture.
It felt like magic!

I used Hard Twisted yarn only for the warp so the warp shrank and it caused the bumpy texture sideways. If you use Hard Twisted yarn for warp and weft, you will have the wavy effect for both directions (so I heard).

This shrank, of course, because of this texture, but more than I was expecting.
Now I have to figure out how to use the shawl which is a little too short.

Sudden Wine Maker?

Although I live only one hour from Napa by car, this area is consider to be unsuitable for cultivating Cabernet Sauvignon.
However, when I saw the vine at a nursery, I couldn't resist the idea of harvesting Cabernet Sauvignon in my garden.
It was 10 years ago.
The tree kept growing but I never saw grapes.
I gave up the dream of grape picking and just enjoyed the leaves. Then, three years ago, the vine suddenly started to bear grapes.
This year, I trimmed excess leaves and immature grapes, and ended up with twenty clusters of healthy grapes.

Now there is only one thing I would do with them. Making wine!

I rinsed them lightly and destemmed them.
In a clean glass container, I crushed each grape by hand.
Liquid was clear at first, then soon started to catch pink color from the skim.
It smelled really green.
I covered the container with cloth, and kept it over night in a fridge (cold maceration?).

Second day, I took out the container from the fridge. No big change.

Third day, still nothing happened.
When I crushed the grapes it didn't feel very sticky (probably there weren't enough sugar), so JC added a little bit of sugar.
By the way, chaptalization (adding sugar) is banned for California wines.

Punching down the skins on surface to the bottom every day, and the forth day, it finally started to ferment!
I saw bubbles and I heard bubbling sound.
The color was deep purple.
It became to smell like flower.

It's been ten days now. It smells more like fruit.
Fermentation is slowing down but still continuing.

Next week, I have to move to the next step. But what should I do?
There is no barrel for this size and I don't have any wooden container which can mimic oak barrique.
JC suggested to store in a glass bottle and throw cinnamon stick in it.
I'm a little skeptical of this proposal, but maybe have no choice...

Paella-style Rice

JC gave me a blind tasting test.

R. Lopez de Heredia Vina Bosconia Red Reserva 2004.
Red wine from Rioja, Spain.
Tempranillo 80%, Garnacha 15%.
Deep ruby color with garnet hue.
Dried fruit, sour cherry, earthiness, coffee candy.
I tasted oak but it was very soft. Good wine.
At first, I thought it was Chianti. Then JC gave me a hint that this was a blend, and I got it Rioja.
Not bad for me.

We had this wine with Paella. Or, Paella-style rice.
The fish market was closed so we only had frozen shrimp and chicken.
It still had good flavor, and of course was delicious with Rioja.

We opened Yalumba Patchwork Shiraz 2013, too.
Shiraz from Barossa Valley, Australia.
Ripe fruit, sweet spices, lots of oak.
Wine itself was good, but the alcohol was too high for this dish.

By the way, the Paella rice comes in a very cute bag.
I find this rice at Spanish store or other European food market.
There are other colors and other designs for different kinds of rice, but this blue color Bomba rice is my favorite.

It's shame to waste this cuteness, so I usually keep this bag and make something with this.

The Bomba Rice Bag is one of them.

There is a recipe for Paella on the back side of this bag.
Not only cute, but also useful bag!

Pommeau de Normandie

I like wine and I like to learn about wine.
On the way to learning about wine, I sometimes encounter other great drinks which I wasn't expecting to enjoy that much, or didn't even know before.
This happy find makes me like wine even more.

Le Pere Jules Pommeau de Normandie

Le Pere Jules is a producer of Apple Cider and Calvados from Normandy, France.
Pommeau de Normandie is an aperitif made by blending Calvados and apple juice and ageing them in oak barrel.

Beautiful color.
It had a taste of apple and sweet baking spice, but didn't taste "obviously" sweet.
I liked its decent sweetness.
This tasted great by itself, but I was told that I could pour Prosecco on top of it and garnish with lemon peel.
That sounds good, too.

Umeboshi Making

Umeboshi is salty and sour pickled plum.
It's popular ingredients for Onigiri (rice ball), or placed in the middle of white rice in the obento box so it looks like Japanese flag.
You can buy Umeboshi at Japanese stores, but it's not so difficult to make it by yourself.

Around May or June, you would find plums for Umesh (plum wine) at Japanese supermarkets.

Choose ones which are ripe. If they are green, leave them for several days to ripen.

Wash them thoroughly, dry them, and throw them into sanitized container with salt which is 18% of the weight of the plums.

Place a weight on top of the plums so that the moisture from plums (called Plum Vinegar) comes out quickly.
This is crucial because without being covered by the Plum Vinegar, the plums would be likely to get moldy.

Optional: Find a bunch of red color Shiso (Japanese herb), trim off hard parts, scrub them with salt then add to the container for red color.

Choose sunny, hot day (I usually do this in September), and take the plums out from the Plum Vinegar and let them dry under the sun for three days.
If you used red Shiso leaves, dry them too until they become crispy. This tastes good with rice.

Now Umeboshi is ready to eat, but they taste better if you let them rest for a year.

To tell you the truth, Umeboshi is too salty and too sour to eat for me, but JC loves this so I mostly make this for him.
I like the flavor itself, so I chop the Umeboshi and make it into paste and use as a condiment.
Plum Vinegar can be used to pickle other vegetables such as cucumber.
Or you spread Plum Vinegar on plastic wrap, make rice ball with this wrap and the rice ball would have salty plum flavor.
There is nothing to be wasted!

Making Waterproof Tote Bag

Making a waterproof tote bag before the rainy season.

First, cut the waterproof fabric into the size of the bag.

Sew the handle and zipper.

Then sew the sides and the bottom to make it into the bag shape.
I used a plastic plate to reinforce the bottom.

Make a lining.
Attach a pocket first then sew the lining fabric into the same shape as the outer bag.
Sew the lining to the outer bag seam allowance by the zipper.

Flip over the bag and ta-da!

Simple tote bag. Easy to make, easy to use.
Now I'm ready for the rainy season. But please do not rain too hard.

ArPePe, Rinaldi, Sagrantino...

When I have a chance to try many wines at tasting events, it's fun and informative but I might not get a clear picture of wines after tasting so many of them.
So, for this Italian Wine Tasting held at an Italian restaurant Desco in Oakland, I made a mental list of wines I would focus on.

First, ArPePe from Valtellina, Lombardia.

Inferno Fiamme Antiche 2010 had mineral and fresh fruit. Lightest of three.
Grumello Rocca Piro Riserva 2010 had nut and fruit.
Sassella Rocce Rossa Riserva 2002 was earthy and delicate, and there were still lots of fruit. Complex. Tannin was high but soft. Great as I expected.

Francesco Rinaldi from Piemonte.

Grignoloino 2015 had greenness of asparagus or freshly peeled apple skin. Good wine for vegetable dish.
Barolo Cannubi and Barolo Brunate, both 2012. They had apple and quince.
2008 Cannubbio had tree fruit. High but soft tannin.
2007 Le Brunate had characteristics of strawberry, black tea, herb, and cream-like softness. Complex wine.

And I wanted to try Valpolicella Classico and Amarone side by side.
Venturini Massimino is from Veneto.
Valpolicella Classico Superiore Ripasso 2012 had fresh red fruit.
Amarone della Valpolicella Classico 2011 and Amarone della Valpolicella Classico Riserva 2005 were like concentrated dark fruit. Coffee candy.

Drusian Francesco's Procecco di Valdobbiadene from Veneto.
Scacciadiavoli's Metodo Classico Rose Brut from Umbria.
They were very good sparkling wines.
Both were non vintage.
Rose was 100% Sagrantino, first time I tried.
It was very fruit, like freshly grated yellow apple.
I wasn't expecting this from Sagrantino (my image of Sagrantino was full of tannin). Interesting.

Other wines to remember:
Marisa Cuomo from Campania.
Furore Biance Fiorduva 2014 had honey-like quality.
Furore Rosso (Aglianico/Pedirosso) 2015 had black cherry and violet.
Both were very good.

Poderi San Lazzaro from Marche.
Piceno Superiore Podere 72 (Sangiovese/ Montepulciano) 2013 had herbs and black cherry. Approachable.
Offida Rosso Bordo (Grenache) 2011 had soft tannin, herbs and cooked fruit.
Offida Rosso Grifola (Montepulciano) 2012 was decent. Good structure and balanced.
It's said that Montepulciano from Marche is underrated, and I have to agree. This is a great wine.
This winery was a great find at this tasting.



DeConciliis from Campania.
Aglianico Donna Luna 2013 and Naima 2007. Black fruit, dried fruit, sweet spice.

I Favati from Campania.
Grecodi Tufo 2013 was fresh, citrus zest.
Taurasi 2008 was good, too.

Scacciadiavoli is from Umbria.
Montefalco Sagrantino 2010 was definitely a good wine.
Very decent.
Unfortunately, I still don't know how to handle wines with such a high tannin.

Liquore di Finocchietto from Profumi della Costiera (Campania) is fennel liqueur.
This digestive tasted like Anise biscotti.
Their limoncello was good, too.









I can't name everything, but there were many good wines.
And food was great, too.

Authentic and sophisticated Italian cuisine.
I would like to come back to this restaurant for dinner sometime.