wine tasting with friends

I've been to Napa and Sonoma.  I've gone wine tasting in my home province and in Ontario.  I've visited wineries in Texas, Arizona, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin.  I've been to New Zealand wine regions and tasted in Jerez and near Valparaiso in Chile and enjoyed the wineries near Stellenbosch in South Africa.  I've enjoyed so many wines and wineries, but I think that heading up to Paso Robles may be my favourite.

We used to go to as many wineries and taste as many wines as possible in one day, but no longer.  We're older, we want it to be easier on us.  Instead of many wineries this past weekend, we focused on one:  Epoch.

We'd tried an Epoch wine at Guard and Grace in Denver last month and liked it very much.  Van and I then enjoyed a different bottle a week or two later at his place over a steak dinner one night.  So very good.  So when I reached out to arrange with our friends Marisa and Philippe meeting up with them, I suggested Epoch.  That ended up being our one stop for the day.

We arrived there at 12:30.  What a gorgeous facility it was, too,

and handsome views. 

If nothing else, the architecture alone is reason to visit.  But do go for the wines!  We did the library tasting, and a table was set up for us with the five wines we were to taste. 

In fact, we ended up tasting more than that - they were happy to have us try some of the more recent ones, and not just reds either. 

We ended up coming home with several bottles, and it will be a treat to share them with friends or just enjoy them among the three of us.

Even better, it was terrific to see Marisa and Philippe again! 

I met Marisa way back in 2009 (I think) at the ASIST conference in Vancouver.  Since Conrad and I moved to California, we've not been too far from them - they live a little south of Paso Robles - and we've tried to get together annually.  Not always successful, but we've managed over the years.

After such a nice (and leisurely - three hours!) time of it, Conrad, Van, Olive (she was allowed to be with us in the winery) headed back into town, stopping briefly at Jack Creek Farms

to shop a little there (including some of their gorgeous persimmons)

and then in downtown Paso Robles. 

Well, Van and I shopped a bit, Conrad and Olive relaxed and kept watch. 

We capped the day with a nice dinner near the hotel at Il Cortile:  quail for my appetizer

and then fettuccine with truffles for my meal. 

Off to bed after that.

And Monday, the drive home.

A short getaway, but a lovely getaway.  May we get the chance again!

road trip to Paso

Our birthday present to Van this year was to hop in his car, bring Olive along, and get to Paso Robles for a couple of nights, a place he hadn't visited in almost four years.  On a sunny Saturday morning, we set out northward.  Van drove, I commandeered the back seat, next to the little girl.

Up the 210 to the 5, over the Grape Vine and into the Central Valley,

then we headed west into the Cuyama Valley.  That was where we stopped for lunch, at this cool little place that Conrad and I had visited once before, called Cuyama Buckhorn.  

Lunch in our bellies, we set off toward Paso Robles.  I dozed off after we hit the 101, I think, and woke up just as we made our way into San Luis Obispo.  Onward north, and we were at our hotel, the Piccolo, before it got dark out.  We unpacked, Olive staked out her territory,

and we all relaxed.

A little later it was time for dinner.  We cut across the Christmas parade route twice to get there, but that was no trouble.  And it was cool to see the small town parade.  Lots of folks out watching it, too!

Dinner was at La Cosecha.  We shared small plates, like the croquettes

and the lamb ribs. 

I didn't take shots of all of the food, which was too bad, because the later dishes were actually the better ones.  The kitchen surprised us with a dish of octopus, and wow, was that tender.  A nice place to enjoy that Friday night.

Through the park once dinner was done, window shopping in the stores around the park, then enjoying the holiday lights in the park itself. 

Off to bed soon after that.  A good long night of sleep to prepare for an arduous (ha!) day of wine tasting to come....

quick check in after the weekend

We made it home!  I'll write more on the weekend that was and post photos (of course!), but I've got a cold coming on, and I think I just need to make this an early evening in my own bed.  So, cheers to you all, and I shall check in soon.

Romy

2022 was an embarrassment of riches when it came to concerts.  2023?  Not so much, alas.  Van and I did Red Rocks early in November, a series of DJ sets presented by Anjunabeats.  And Allison and I did TRNSMT in Glasgow in July.  Beyond that?  Nothing that comes to mind.

So thank goodness for a show at last, even if it does mean trekking to a different part of LA and staying up later than our usual bedtime.

I remember when The XX first came out.  I liked a song of theirs, then a while later, on a subsequent album, another song.  Two songs in total, that's all I knew.  I heard some of the Jamie XX and Oliver Sim solo work since then, but in neither case did it really grab me.

Months back, though, I saw that Romy had released an album, and I checked out a song or two out of curiosity.  Spoil alert:  Loveher will be #1 on my year end list that I compile.  So good!  I had planned to tell Van about her, and he surprised me by having discovered her as well at about the same time.  If anything, he got way further into her album than I did.  So when he suggested we go see Romy perform live, I happily agreed.

The show was held over in the Mid-Wilshire area, at a theatre not far from LACMA.  We had an easy dinner nearby (pasta, cocktails, nothing I photographed, it was fine), then headed to the theatre.  Gorgeous marquee, I have to say. 

Didn't seem too busy, but it was early.  In fact, when we walked in, the first opening act had just finished, and the second was about to start up, a DJ named Kim Foxman. 

She played for over an hour, which was, well, perhaps too generous.  No, she wasn't bad - I bopped, truly.  But I also wanted Romy to come on.  I'm old, remember.

The show was just Romy and a DJ playing the backing tracks, and it was pretty good.  I like her voice, but I can't say it's the most powerful, and I felt at first that she was lost in the music that was supposed to be backing her.  But the show gained momentum. 

She was clearly loved by the audience (and wow, so many gay men, so many gay men with regular body types, which was such a welcome delight)(and far fewer lesbians than I might have expected, from what I saw), and she seemed humbled and appreciative.  That was important when, late in the show, during Loveher, the backing track died abruptly.  Restarted, some progress, died again.  Restarted, and two songs later, died again.  At that point, she left the stage so that the crew could deal with it.  She came back and was very apologetic.  The audience was gracious in return.  She closed out the show a couple of songs later.  The first, or nearly the first of her small tour.  Darn technical problems.

And now there are no more shows planned this year.  May there be some in 2024.  I can't believe I took so little opportunity over the years to see live music in Chicago, and I am glad I've managed so many opportunities here in SoCal since then.

Friday, not Saturday

Saturday morning is our usual morning for Amara Cafe, but we're off to Paso Robles tomorrow, and we may not get the chance to pop down the road to Amara.  So we made it part of our Friday morning today, which was a nice treat.

No, nothing out of the ordinary.  Just a good breakfast of an arepa

and a decaf latte,

my usual.  Still, nice to be there just the same!

Happy December!

First of the month, everyone, last month of the year.  So let's start things off with photos of two cuties who got to hang out last night.

More blogging ahead this month.  Wow, almost a full year of it under my belt!