Although we are writing from Texas (I'm a proud native) at present, we'll always stay abreast of and include a lot of California news. Our letters from the past all originated from our California home, we love the state for its beauty and general dedication to doing the right things (at least from an environmentalist's perspective). And we remain connected to it in many ways, and watch it closely, so it will feature here regularly.
Having said that, it was reassuring to hear Governor Jerry Brown reiterate his pledge that the state would unrelentingly resist any and all attempts by Trump's administration to meddle in any way with California's liberal (and proper) agenda, particularly as it relates to the environment. Brown has proven in years past that he means what he says, so he remains a leader for all Californians even at the ripe old age of 78. Being a long-time Sierra Club member myself, I know what widespread support Brown enjoys within the West's environmental movement, and I feel sure that he bought a substantial amount of additional goodwill with that little piece of his State-of-the-State address.
More news in this morning from the clown car: several government agencies (who work for the people, by the way) have been instructed by the clown car driver to cease their open communication with their employers (we, the people) until further notice. No press releases, no nothing unless and until permission is granted by someone (?) in authority. This has a really nasty smell to it, since one of those agencies is the Environmental Protection Agency, and the new Cabinet is populated by climate-change deniers and serial polluters. We'll see where this goes, with more information coming out later in the day, but this news had already drawn the attention of the world's environmentaists, and will doubtless unleash a shitstorm of flack for Trump to tweet about in the wee hours of the mornng,
And, in closing for the day (maybe, depending on what happens next), I ask that someone correct me if they have any way of describing for the public the meaning of "alternative fact": of course, if it means what we all believe it to mean, that is, a big, blatant, bald-faced LIE, then no response is necessary.
Thanks for your time...
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
We're back..to many Americans, the country looks to be butt-deep in trouble ...Governor Jerry draws the line in the sand, and conservationists prepare for an ugly battle...
We had to think hard about how we wanted to ease into this first letter back. Would there still be anyone out there? If so, would they still want to hear what we had to say? Only one way to find out...
Yep, we've been away for a while; we had a lot going on, and were pretty well preoccupied. We didn't feel we could devote the time and attention to the letter that was required to publish something worthwhile, so we decided that the best thing to do was to do nothing.
Good thing, too. A lot changed during that hiatus, much of which required some time to digest and accept. We had an election, in case you missed it, and the outcome poses a lot of questions for almost everybody in America.
Due to the nuttiness of that peculiar American institution we call the Electoral College we have again found a way to elect to the presidency an individual who did not receive a majority of the votes cast by his fellow citizens. Not only that, but this particular individual is clearly the least qualified and poorly prepared for the task ahead of anyone ever elected to that (or maybe any) public office. Go figure.
So, we're (many millions of us, anyway) now considering our options and opportunities. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of interest and advocacy groups that are concerned that the issues and things they care about are about to come under less-than-friendly fire, and they're likely correct. To me, the particular areas of greatest concern are those that have to do with the environment and preserving what remains of our wild places and the critters that live in them. Most of Mr. Trump's Cabinet nominees, as well as those advisors and hangers-on who will probably accompany him to the White House, for the most part display astonishing levels of ignorance and/or lack of curiosity or concern for the welfare of the planet in general, and for our own country's wild places and creatures in particular. Being a proud and committed environmentalist, this is deeply offensive and concerning to me. Not only do I not like it, but I am determined to do all possible to resist and fight any and all attempts to corrupt, weaken, or further damage the laws and policies protecting our country's wild places, creatures, or environment. Bottom line, the next four years are going to be a hell of a challenge for millions of Americans, so everybody who gives a damn about preserving and protecting something near and dear to them should buckle up and get ready to rumble.
We'll be having a lot more to say about this in the future, so those who don't care about the same things can tune out now. Those who take issue with anything they read here are invited to comment; if you have something worthwhile to say, say it and expect discussion. If you're a troll, don't waste anyone's time.
As always, we intend to continue making space here for the other odds and ends that we know are of interest to our friends and other readers: there will always be the "workingman's wines" feature, and we'll continue to let you know when we find unique high-quality mom-and-pop or boutique type food and/or beverage products that warrant your attention. We also remain active in the food and beverage consulting and placement field, and will devote more time to our practice in the future, but we can't and won't sit idly on the sideline while the expected atrocities are committed against the things beyond day-to-day life that matter to us are occurring. Therefore, a significant amount of space will go to the cause of the environment and conservation.
Yep, we've been away for a while; we had a lot going on, and were pretty well preoccupied. We didn't feel we could devote the time and attention to the letter that was required to publish something worthwhile, so we decided that the best thing to do was to do nothing.
Good thing, too. A lot changed during that hiatus, much of which required some time to digest and accept. We had an election, in case you missed it, and the outcome poses a lot of questions for almost everybody in America.
Due to the nuttiness of that peculiar American institution we call the Electoral College we have again found a way to elect to the presidency an individual who did not receive a majority of the votes cast by his fellow citizens. Not only that, but this particular individual is clearly the least qualified and poorly prepared for the task ahead of anyone ever elected to that (or maybe any) public office. Go figure.
So, we're (many millions of us, anyway) now considering our options and opportunities. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of interest and advocacy groups that are concerned that the issues and things they care about are about to come under less-than-friendly fire, and they're likely correct. To me, the particular areas of greatest concern are those that have to do with the environment and preserving what remains of our wild places and the critters that live in them. Most of Mr. Trump's Cabinet nominees, as well as those advisors and hangers-on who will probably accompany him to the White House, for the most part display astonishing levels of ignorance and/or lack of curiosity or concern for the welfare of the planet in general, and for our own country's wild places and creatures in particular. Being a proud and committed environmentalist, this is deeply offensive and concerning to me. Not only do I not like it, but I am determined to do all possible to resist and fight any and all attempts to corrupt, weaken, or further damage the laws and policies protecting our country's wild places, creatures, or environment. Bottom line, the next four years are going to be a hell of a challenge for millions of Americans, so everybody who gives a damn about preserving and protecting something near and dear to them should buckle up and get ready to rumble.
We'll be having a lot more to say about this in the future, so those who don't care about the same things can tune out now. Those who take issue with anything they read here are invited to comment; if you have something worthwhile to say, say it and expect discussion. If you're a troll, don't waste anyone's time.
As always, we intend to continue making space here for the other odds and ends that we know are of interest to our friends and other readers: there will always be the "workingman's wines" feature, and we'll continue to let you know when we find unique high-quality mom-and-pop or boutique type food and/or beverage products that warrant your attention. We also remain active in the food and beverage consulting and placement field, and will devote more time to our practice in the future, but we can't and won't sit idly on the sideline while the expected atrocities are committed against the things beyond day-to-day life that matter to us are occurring. Therefore, a significant amount of space will go to the cause of the environment and conservation.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Fire season returns to Northern California; more good stuff from Rodney Strong Vineyards; and a late spring storm system brings rain and snow to Shasta and the Lemurians...
We've been waiting to get some indication of what this upcoming fire season was going to look like, given that we've been blessed so far this year with substantial rainfalls and a healthy snowpack, both for the first time in more than a few moons. Several regions on the state have actually been removed from the "drought" classification, and water restrictions eased or even lifted in a few areas. Whether that will prove to be a wise decision remains to be seen, because people will be people, but we shall see how things play out as the summer goes on.
However, be that as it may, we have now gotten a look at what the forests are going to do when summer stresses materialize, particularly the ever-present reality of pop-up lightning storms in the mountains. Right now, and for the past 2 weeks, the Pony Fire complex is burning in the Klamath National Forest, about 15 miles southwest of Happy Camp, and just west of Hwy 96 near Klamath. More than 1200 firefighters were committed to the fire at its peak, which finally grew to 148,000 + acres before being contained as of this morning's InciWeb summary of the official briefing. The area is isolated and contains heavy understory growth and a good deal of dead material on the ground that remains from earlier fires, primarily from the summer of 2008, I would guesss. I suppose that what we've learned so far is that the forests are still very receptive and ready to ignite at the first opportunity, so we'll follow along and see what happens. We've already seen a few small grass/brush fires here in the Whiskeytown Lake area over the last several weeks, stuff in the 15-40 or so acre range, but nothing dramatic as yet. However, it's only a matter of time. Southern California is getting its first early dose, as well, with the Sherpa Fire burning at 7600+ acres in the Los Padres National Forest west/northwest of Santa Barbara, which is claimed to be 45% contained at present' However, they're dealing with terrible conditions in the way of high temperatures and high winds. We wish them luck.
Moving on, we're pleased to see that the folks at Rodney Strong continue to do the right things with sauvignon blanc; their 2015 Charlotte's Home (Northern Sonoma) model is a very pretty and well-made wine that is as good an example of what the grape can do while still being priced at a level ($12.99 at retail locally) that anyone can justify shelling out for an evening's good time. Bouquet is expansive and floral, color is bright straw, and the fruit is lush and persistent. All in all, very tasty and a perfect accompaniment to cold chicken and shrimp salads, or equally nice as a cocktail wine on a hot afternoon.
I'm finishing this (I admit falling asleep immediately after the conclusion of O J: Made In America last night, which is without doubt the best work I've ever seen on this tragic event) early (relative term, I guess) in the day after a night that brought our part of the state one last (probably) spring storm system that pushed through a massive wall of soft, steady drizzle here in the far North Valley, as well as a big mother of a snow dump in the higher elevations of the Sierra and Cascades. Great surprise this morning to get my first peeks at Mt. Shasta as it struggled to shed the cloud cover hiding its new snow. Exactly what we needed heading into summer! Enjoy, Lemurians!
More in a few days.
Cliff
However, be that as it may, we have now gotten a look at what the forests are going to do when summer stresses materialize, particularly the ever-present reality of pop-up lightning storms in the mountains. Right now, and for the past 2 weeks, the Pony Fire complex is burning in the Klamath National Forest, about 15 miles southwest of Happy Camp, and just west of Hwy 96 near Klamath. More than 1200 firefighters were committed to the fire at its peak, which finally grew to 148,000 + acres before being contained as of this morning's InciWeb summary of the official briefing. The area is isolated and contains heavy understory growth and a good deal of dead material on the ground that remains from earlier fires, primarily from the summer of 2008, I would guesss. I suppose that what we've learned so far is that the forests are still very receptive and ready to ignite at the first opportunity, so we'll follow along and see what happens. We've already seen a few small grass/brush fires here in the Whiskeytown Lake area over the last several weeks, stuff in the 15-40 or so acre range, but nothing dramatic as yet. However, it's only a matter of time. Southern California is getting its first early dose, as well, with the Sherpa Fire burning at 7600+ acres in the Los Padres National Forest west/northwest of Santa Barbara, which is claimed to be 45% contained at present' However, they're dealing with terrible conditions in the way of high temperatures and high winds. We wish them luck.
Moving on, we're pleased to see that the folks at Rodney Strong continue to do the right things with sauvignon blanc; their 2015 Charlotte's Home (Northern Sonoma) model is a very pretty and well-made wine that is as good an example of what the grape can do while still being priced at a level ($12.99 at retail locally) that anyone can justify shelling out for an evening's good time. Bouquet is expansive and floral, color is bright straw, and the fruit is lush and persistent. All in all, very tasty and a perfect accompaniment to cold chicken and shrimp salads, or equally nice as a cocktail wine on a hot afternoon.
I'm finishing this (I admit falling asleep immediately after the conclusion of O J: Made In America last night, which is without doubt the best work I've ever seen on this tragic event) early (relative term, I guess) in the day after a night that brought our part of the state one last (probably) spring storm system that pushed through a massive wall of soft, steady drizzle here in the far North Valley, as well as a big mother of a snow dump in the higher elevations of the Sierra and Cascades. Great surprise this morning to get my first peeks at Mt. Shasta as it struggled to shed the cloud cover hiding its new snow. Exactly what we needed heading into summer! Enjoy, Lemurians!
More in a few days.
Cliff
Friday, April 22, 2016
We're back and we have a ghost (a good one, we think); spectacular springtime on The Hill; Redding Farmers' Market opens; and the likelihood of a hutchinsongolf Fall wine tour...
As some of you noticed, we've been absent for the past several weeks. Other responsibilities and obligations diverted our attention from this letter and refocused it on the ongoing effort at trying to make a living, but we're back now, at least for the present, and trying to catch up.
Interestingly, and unusually, there's been a lot going on here since our return. For one thing, we've finally come to terms with the fact that we do, indeed, have a ghost sharing our house. We've suspected it for a number of years, probably from the first year. Occasional crashing noises in various parts of the house at odd hours of both day and night (as if someone had dropped a stack of books on the floor, maybe), but no evidence of anything being out of place when investigated; on a few occasions, usually at night, the sound of running feet that seemed to come from upstairs if the listener was downstairs, and vice-versa at other times; and sometimes hearing bits and pieces of what sounded like conversations coming from areas where there there was no one. After a while we sort of accepted these as just quirks of an old mountain house, and none of us, my wife or myself or the dogs, ever felt any discomfort with it. However, the house has seemed to be a good deal more active over the last several weeks, the highlight of which occurred two weeks ago. Catherine, my wife, had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching tv upstairs, and I was downstairs in my office working. Sometime around 1 am I called it a night and fell asleep after reading for a short time; I thought she was still watching tv, so I remained in my office, turning in on the small bed there. According to her, she awoke sometime between 3 and 4 am, she thought due to a noise, but not certain. She sat up, thinking her cat had probably wanted to go out, and saw the figure of a man standing directly behind the sofa she had been sleeping on, which is positioned in the middle of the room beside a large picture window looking onto the deck. She says that the figure spoke to her: she believes that he asked her "Is there anything I can do?", but it might have been "anything we can do?" or "anything you can do?" Then he vanished. She is of the impression that he was dressed in casual clothing that appeared to be from an earlier era, maybe the 40's or 50's, and wore glasses. Beyond that, she remembers nothing more, except that he was completely non-threatening. So much so, in fact, that she didn't bother to tell me about the experience until the next morning, going back to sleep a short time later.
So we're accepting our ghost, or ghosts if he's not alone, and going on with things just as before. However many there are, as long as we're all happy and comfortable with each other, we'll all be fine.
Beyond that, we're experiencing a spectacular spring here on our little mountain. Everything is already in full bloom and blossom, including wildflowers we've never seen before in the entire nine years we've been here. The abundant rain and mild temperatures have spurred growth in unexpected ways: the valley oaks' leaves are already fully formed and are almost neon-bright in their lime green color; the honeysuckle vines in those oaks are ripe and already so heavily perfumed that by late afternoon they can almost overpower you, and the little honeybees are trying hard to keep up. The native grasses are coming knee-high for the second time, having already been knocked down once this season, and our resident gray fox has (I think) a litter working somewhere here on the property; she's awfully busy, at least, and seems to be staying really close to a particular brushy area just a hundred feet or so to the north of the house. Lulu has expressed some curiosity about it, but has stayed respectfully clear of the thickest part, so I'm assuming that's where the den is located. We'll know pretty shortly, I would think; in the past she has begun parading her kits around as soon as they're able to navigate without falling on their faces every few steps. We'll see.
Another great benefit of spring's arrival is the opening of our local farmers' market, which took place a couple of weeks ago, although pickings are still pretty sparse. What there is, though, particularly the strawberries and early peas, is beautiful to behold, and is a pretty great predictor for all that's yet to arrive. The food vendors are already out in force, including our old friends the Colimas with their tamales. Thank you, Lord. As usual, more on the market as the season goes along.
There seems to be some interest building among some of our old friends regarding the possibility of our putting together a new Fall Wine Country Golf Tour for 2016; so, maybe we'll do it. As before, if we do go ahead with it, we'll begin organizing and scheduling in early June, and we;ll poist details here as things develop. If we do go this year I'd really like to move a bit into the Sierra winegrowing areas and take the opportunity to play several of the great old courses that are tucked away in the foothills. it'll be a trip worth doing, I promise. Stay tuned.
Okay, that's all for now. Back much sooner this time.
Cliff
Interestingly, and unusually, there's been a lot going on here since our return. For one thing, we've finally come to terms with the fact that we do, indeed, have a ghost sharing our house. We've suspected it for a number of years, probably from the first year. Occasional crashing noises in various parts of the house at odd hours of both day and night (as if someone had dropped a stack of books on the floor, maybe), but no evidence of anything being out of place when investigated; on a few occasions, usually at night, the sound of running feet that seemed to come from upstairs if the listener was downstairs, and vice-versa at other times; and sometimes hearing bits and pieces of what sounded like conversations coming from areas where there there was no one. After a while we sort of accepted these as just quirks of an old mountain house, and none of us, my wife or myself or the dogs, ever felt any discomfort with it. However, the house has seemed to be a good deal more active over the last several weeks, the highlight of which occurred two weeks ago. Catherine, my wife, had fallen asleep on the sofa while watching tv upstairs, and I was downstairs in my office working. Sometime around 1 am I called it a night and fell asleep after reading for a short time; I thought she was still watching tv, so I remained in my office, turning in on the small bed there. According to her, she awoke sometime between 3 and 4 am, she thought due to a noise, but not certain. She sat up, thinking her cat had probably wanted to go out, and saw the figure of a man standing directly behind the sofa she had been sleeping on, which is positioned in the middle of the room beside a large picture window looking onto the deck. She says that the figure spoke to her: she believes that he asked her "Is there anything I can do?", but it might have been "anything we can do?" or "anything you can do?" Then he vanished. She is of the impression that he was dressed in casual clothing that appeared to be from an earlier era, maybe the 40's or 50's, and wore glasses. Beyond that, she remembers nothing more, except that he was completely non-threatening. So much so, in fact, that she didn't bother to tell me about the experience until the next morning, going back to sleep a short time later.
So we're accepting our ghost, or ghosts if he's not alone, and going on with things just as before. However many there are, as long as we're all happy and comfortable with each other, we'll all be fine.
Beyond that, we're experiencing a spectacular spring here on our little mountain. Everything is already in full bloom and blossom, including wildflowers we've never seen before in the entire nine years we've been here. The abundant rain and mild temperatures have spurred growth in unexpected ways: the valley oaks' leaves are already fully formed and are almost neon-bright in their lime green color; the honeysuckle vines in those oaks are ripe and already so heavily perfumed that by late afternoon they can almost overpower you, and the little honeybees are trying hard to keep up. The native grasses are coming knee-high for the second time, having already been knocked down once this season, and our resident gray fox has (I think) a litter working somewhere here on the property; she's awfully busy, at least, and seems to be staying really close to a particular brushy area just a hundred feet or so to the north of the house. Lulu has expressed some curiosity about it, but has stayed respectfully clear of the thickest part, so I'm assuming that's where the den is located. We'll know pretty shortly, I would think; in the past she has begun parading her kits around as soon as they're able to navigate without falling on their faces every few steps. We'll see.
Another great benefit of spring's arrival is the opening of our local farmers' market, which took place a couple of weeks ago, although pickings are still pretty sparse. What there is, though, particularly the strawberries and early peas, is beautiful to behold, and is a pretty great predictor for all that's yet to arrive. The food vendors are already out in force, including our old friends the Colimas with their tamales. Thank you, Lord. As usual, more on the market as the season goes along.
There seems to be some interest building among some of our old friends regarding the possibility of our putting together a new Fall Wine Country Golf Tour for 2016; so, maybe we'll do it. As before, if we do go ahead with it, we'll begin organizing and scheduling in early June, and we;ll poist details here as things develop. If we do go this year I'd really like to move a bit into the Sierra winegrowing areas and take the opportunity to play several of the great old courses that are tucked away in the foothills. it'll be a trip worth doing, I promise. Stay tuned.
Okay, that's all for now. Back much sooner this time.
Cliff
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Shasta and Lassen looking springtimey from the Hillside; Raphael Ravenscroft's saxophone, and ghost golf courses...
Lulu and I spent a good while on the deck this evening watching the fat clouds roll in over Mt. Shasta to the north and Elephant Butte and Lassen in the east, with darkness creeping across the valley as the sun disappeared behind us in the west, behind the coast range. Thank you for this, Lord.
It seems that we're about to get kicked in the butt by another early spring; days are warm, nights are cool but moist, and everything with roots in the ground is putting out green shoots and new leaves. We've gotten a lot of rain so far this year, with more in the long-range outlook; reservoirs and lakes are rising, streams, creeks and rivers are up and running high. The water picture is brightening, at least here in the North State, but the drought is far from being broken, nor will it be this year even if we were to have our wettest 12 months ever, according to the people who are supposed to know. And, in keeping with human nature as we know it, most of the reporting cities and water districts have missed their conservation marks during the past 2 months, believing that since it is raining everything must be okay. Way to go, guys.
So, anyway, surveying the North Valley from here both Shasta and Lassen are showing solid snowpacks from top to timberline, but with the aid of binoculars we can see shades of new green popping out at lower altitudes. If this warming trend continues, and it seems that it's likely to do so, both mountains will probably be active by mid-April at the latest. For tourists, this should be a superb spring and summer for a North State visit, especially hiker/climbers and kayakers. The last couple of seasons have been drought-crippled, and understandably so, with rivers and creeks drying or pitifully thin due to the drought, and forests brown and tinder-dry, but things are beginning to look as though a green year is in our immediate future. This is a good time to look at a Norcal vacation, friends, particularly if you've never been north of Sacramento or west of Reno/Tahoe. You'll be amazed at what you've missed. You may even find yourself looking at retirement or get-away real estate, and there probably won't ever be a better time, given the local market. I'd buy more if I could afford it. Check us out; both Shasta and Trinity counties have pretty decent web representation; look with enthusiasm and you'll find lots of information about us and all we've got to offer those of you looking for something and someplace a little off-center and new to kick back and enjoy life for a while. You don't know what you're missing.
New subject. I was prowling through a shelf of almost-forgotten albums last week and stumbled onto an old copy of Gerry Rafferty's City to City. For those of you who don't know, never knew, or have forgotten, this was a cornerstone album of of late '70s rock and roll from the former front man of Stealer's Wheel, a more or less edgy Scottish band that came and went very quickly for a number of reasons, but which left a small legacy of pretty strong music behind. Anyway, it isn't Rafferty's vocals that caused my addiction to this odd collection of tunes; rather, it was (and is) the incredibly spooky and powerful saxophone work of Raphael Ravenscroft, which still, to this day, after a thousand or so times sitting captivated, can stop me cold. I only discovered, a few days ago, that he had died a couple of years ago, in 2014, at the tender age of 60. A sad discovery it was, too. Ravenscroft, as brilliant as he was at his particular craft, was never acknowledged for it by rock fans in general, and actually took some unwarranted abuse in later years from internet rock psychos who resented his work on the City to City album. Not being psycho myself, I never really spent any quality time trying to understand their arguments, which had to do with some other player they felt should have been on the record, and I don't care now, either. All I know is that I love the man's playing, and we're poorer for his passing. If you want to know why, pull up and listen to the album, or better yet, just 2 tracks: Island and Baker Street (considered the most famous saxophone performance in rock and roll history by many). You'll never forget
his sound. RIP.
Okay, more soon...
Cliff
It seems that we're about to get kicked in the butt by another early spring; days are warm, nights are cool but moist, and everything with roots in the ground is putting out green shoots and new leaves. We've gotten a lot of rain so far this year, with more in the long-range outlook; reservoirs and lakes are rising, streams, creeks and rivers are up and running high. The water picture is brightening, at least here in the North State, but the drought is far from being broken, nor will it be this year even if we were to have our wettest 12 months ever, according to the people who are supposed to know. And, in keeping with human nature as we know it, most of the reporting cities and water districts have missed their conservation marks during the past 2 months, believing that since it is raining everything must be okay. Way to go, guys.
So, anyway, surveying the North Valley from here both Shasta and Lassen are showing solid snowpacks from top to timberline, but with the aid of binoculars we can see shades of new green popping out at lower altitudes. If this warming trend continues, and it seems that it's likely to do so, both mountains will probably be active by mid-April at the latest. For tourists, this should be a superb spring and summer for a North State visit, especially hiker/climbers and kayakers. The last couple of seasons have been drought-crippled, and understandably so, with rivers and creeks drying or pitifully thin due to the drought, and forests brown and tinder-dry, but things are beginning to look as though a green year is in our immediate future. This is a good time to look at a Norcal vacation, friends, particularly if you've never been north of Sacramento or west of Reno/Tahoe. You'll be amazed at what you've missed. You may even find yourself looking at retirement or get-away real estate, and there probably won't ever be a better time, given the local market. I'd buy more if I could afford it. Check us out; both Shasta and Trinity counties have pretty decent web representation; look with enthusiasm and you'll find lots of information about us and all we've got to offer those of you looking for something and someplace a little off-center and new to kick back and enjoy life for a while. You don't know what you're missing.
New subject. I was prowling through a shelf of almost-forgotten albums last week and stumbled onto an old copy of Gerry Rafferty's City to City. For those of you who don't know, never knew, or have forgotten, this was a cornerstone album of of late '70s rock and roll from the former front man of Stealer's Wheel, a more or less edgy Scottish band that came and went very quickly for a number of reasons, but which left a small legacy of pretty strong music behind. Anyway, it isn't Rafferty's vocals that caused my addiction to this odd collection of tunes; rather, it was (and is) the incredibly spooky and powerful saxophone work of Raphael Ravenscroft, which still, to this day, after a thousand or so times sitting captivated, can stop me cold. I only discovered, a few days ago, that he had died a couple of years ago, in 2014, at the tender age of 60. A sad discovery it was, too. Ravenscroft, as brilliant as he was at his particular craft, was never acknowledged for it by rock fans in general, and actually took some unwarranted abuse in later years from internet rock psychos who resented his work on the City to City album. Not being psycho myself, I never really spent any quality time trying to understand their arguments, which had to do with some other player they felt should have been on the record, and I don't care now, either. All I know is that I love the man's playing, and we're poorer for his passing. If you want to know why, pull up and listen to the album, or better yet, just 2 tracks: Island and Baker Street (considered the most famous saxophone performance in rock and roll history by many). You'll never forget
Okay, more soon...
Cliff
Friday, February 26, 2016
Beautiful Albarino from Lee Family Farm in Monterey; 9th Circuit Court of Appeals screws up tip-sharing tradition for us; and True Crime in the West
If I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that we are, indeed, deviating more and more often from the original intent of this more-or-less regularly written letter, which was conceived as a means of communicating informally with friends and clients regarding the goings-on in our professional realm, that being the food and beverage/golf areas of the hospitality industry, focusing specifically on the West. That remains a major part of the effort, and always will.
However, over the past year we've found ourselves focusing on other matters, such as sporadic attempts to convey to our readers the charm and attraction of our home ground, that being the foothills and mountains of far Northern California. And, the more closely we've looked at our surroundings, the more frequently we've been struck by things that we only noticed in passing before, situations and events that for one reason or another we feel compelled to examine more closely, and perhaps comment on here. Further, for whatever reason, over time it has begun to be clear that there are people out there who have an interest in these letters despite, or maybe because of, these detours. We now have a group of regular visitors/readers that stretches across continents and oceans: not only our own country, but England, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Romania, Mexico, Poland, Canada, Venezuela, the Philippines, and perhaps some I don't know about. We;re pleased about that, and appreciative, and it points up the fact that people all across the world are interested in the American West, probably for a hundred different reasons.
So, I suppose we'll continue doing what we're doing, and see where it takes us.
Having said all that, I have to get back to basics for a moment and acknowledge a wine we just stumbled across several days ago, purely by accident, but which we're really happy that we found, that being Lee Family Farm's Albarino. We've touted albarino here before, most notably that of New Clairvaux Vineyards in tiny Vina, near Chico. We like New Clairvaux's style a lot. Lee's take is significantly different, however, and equally impressive in a very different way, which is likely due both to fruit sources and to winemaking styles . This is an interestingly complex wine from front to back. Medium gold color, with a busy but pretty and intriguingly structured bouquet of dried apricots, lychee, and vanilla, leading the palate to believe it is going to get something that is significantly different from what actually comes next: the fruit is rich, lemony, and focused, with the apricot notes from the nose returning along with some white peach, kiwi and a bit of a green-olive undercurrent that pins things together. Finish is tropical, and makes perfect sense in context. Overall, a remarkable wine, and a great bargain at the $17 price we paid. I'm going to buy several more tomorrow, and would urge you to do the same. Have members/customers you want to do a favor?; turn them on to this wine. You're welcome. It's interesting and important enough to mention that Lee Family Farm is a label owned/produced by one of our favorites, that being Morgan Vineyards of Carmel. High rent, for sure, but the wines are surprisingly reasonably priced, and always good value.
Something else I've become aware of lately is the fact that we have a bunch of weird crime here in California. Now, being a native Texan, I know more than a little about weird-ass crime and criminals, but I have to admit that California, particularly Southern California, has at least as much and maybe more than even Texas. Seems that way, anyhow. I think the main difference may be that Texas seems to have more crime committed by and/or against rich folks than does California, although both states appear to send equal numbers of the poor (read minorities) to prison for long terms for seemingly minor offenses. And, for some reason, California seems to be an environment that breeds more arsonists per capita than anywhere else in our great country, at least at a casual glance. Some fascinating stuff goes on, though, in both, no question about it. For the present, though, we'll focus on California, since Texas Monthly magazine has a pretty good handle on the nonsense in Texas. Of all the murders, kidnappings, and other stuff currently in the public eye in California, for instance, we have our choice of many, many cases to look at, one that fascinates me is the recent conviction in San Francisco of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, head of Chinatown's Ghee Kung Tong, of 162 counts of racketeering, murder, and assorted other crimes. The case nailed a number of other more or less high-profile folks, too, including state Senator Leland Yee, a member of one of the state's most influential families, who was convicted of corruption as a a result of his association with Shrimp Boy, among other things, including arms trafficking. There's no need to dig too deeply into the case here; check it out on the L A Times' website, if you're interested in details, as their coverage of the case was outstanding. Bottom line is that we'll take a look at some of these really fun cases as they float to the surface, so stay tuned if that sort of thing interests you. Thank the Lord for California.
Last, but far from least, is the news that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that tip sharing. or pooling, is no longer an acceptable practice for restaurants, hotels, clubs, or any other establishment doing business in any of a number of states, including California. This is, in our opinion, wrong-thinking and uninformed for a number of reasons, and is going to cause financial pain not only for employers wishing to see that all their employees are fairly and equitably compensated, but also for a whole class of workers who contribute at least as much, if not more in many cases, to customer satisfaction as anyone else in the house. I'm speaking of the "back-of-house" workers, the cooks, pantry staff, dishwashers, bussers, and all related, who labor to create and send out the food and clean up the accompanying messes, that brings paying patrons off the street day after day. Diners and bar patrons do not generally return week in and week out for the pleasure of a waiter's company or because they like the decor; rather, it's the quality of what's on the plate, more often than not, that causes them to drive across town and sign the check over and over again. Other factors play a role, certainly, but great food and drink overshadows all else.
Problem is, the folks out front are the only employees who typically have the opportunity to meet and interact with the guests, thereby creating for themselves the further opportunity to generate a tip, thus substantially enhancing their take-home pay. It is not unusual, at least where tips are not pooled and shared, for these front-of-house employees to create for themselves a situation where they are making two or even three times as much as those in back who make it possible for them to do so. Fair? No, I think not.
For those of you who aren't struggling to make a living in the hospitality industry, the concept of tip-sharing, or pooling, simply means that all tips left by customers/members/guests (or whatever you prefer to call those folks who pay you good money for what you do) go into a common fund rather than to the individual server or bartender who served the party. Then, prior to paychecks being written, the fund is divided up among all (or most, depending on the policies of the individual house) employees; the percentage of the pool each employee receives is determined by the application of some formula created by the owners/management, and will vary from place to place depending on the particular philosophy of the house. If you're a Republican you may turn red in the face and scream "Socialists!", and maybe you're right, but so what? It levels the playing field and gives everyone the chance to be fairly compensated for their contribution.
And, as you might have imagined, a fairly large number of lawsuits have been filed over this practice, most of them contesting management's right to participate in the sharing of the pool, and rightfully so. In most cases management and supervisory staff make several multiples of what the average hospitality worker earns, and have no business dipping into the tip pool unless they are performing the same jobs as the line workers, which is rare, indeed.
Unfortunately, the 9th Circuit seems to have taken the position that the only person entitled to a tip is the one to whom it was directed by the customer, thereby effectively telling the back-of-house employees that their contributions don't count. That's wrong, pure and simple. However, it puts management in thousands of restaurants, hotels, resorts, clubs, coffee bars, and wherever else in the position of having to try to find a way to make up for that pay cut to a critical segment of their workforce, and one with a collection of skillsets that far exceeds, in certain positions, that of anyone working out front. (Sorry, wait staff; you know I love you, and you also know it's true.) Given that most restaurants work on razor-thin margins already, that almost certainly means that we can expect to see significant increases in menu pricing almost immediately. Operators are searching for alternatives to raising prices, because they understand the repercussions, but there aren't many, if indeed there are any at all that make sense.
This is a problem of major proportions, believe me, for those of us who have spent our lives trying to be the best restaurateurs we could be, which also means taking care of our employees as best we could, and giving them the opportunity to live full lives free of the worries associated with living on the financial brink. We will follow this closely.
More rain coming tonight, breaking up a string of beautiful spring-like days. More soon, and hope you're paying attention to all around you...
Cliff
However, over the past year we've found ourselves focusing on other matters, such as sporadic attempts to convey to our readers the charm and attraction of our home ground, that being the foothills and mountains of far Northern California. And, the more closely we've looked at our surroundings, the more frequently we've been struck by things that we only noticed in passing before, situations and events that for one reason or another we feel compelled to examine more closely, and perhaps comment on here. Further, for whatever reason, over time it has begun to be clear that there are people out there who have an interest in these letters despite, or maybe because of, these detours. We now have a group of regular visitors/readers that stretches across continents and oceans: not only our own country, but England, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Romania, Mexico, Poland, Canada, Venezuela, the Philippines, and perhaps some I don't know about. We;re pleased about that, and appreciative, and it points up the fact that people all across the world are interested in the American West, probably for a hundred different reasons.
So, I suppose we'll continue doing what we're doing, and see where it takes us.
Having said all that, I have to get back to basics for a moment and acknowledge a wine we just stumbled across several days ago, purely by accident, but which we're really happy that we found, that being Lee Family Farm's Albarino. We've touted albarino here before, most notably that of New Clairvaux Vineyards in tiny Vina, near Chico. We like New Clairvaux's style a lot. Lee's take is significantly different, however, and equally impressive in a very different way, which is likely due both to fruit sources and to winemaking styles . This is an interestingly complex wine from front to back. Medium gold color, with a busy but pretty and intriguingly structured bouquet of dried apricots, lychee, and vanilla, leading the palate to believe it is going to get something that is significantly different from what actually comes next: the fruit is rich, lemony, and focused, with the apricot notes from the nose returning along with some white peach, kiwi and a bit of a green-olive undercurrent that pins things together. Finish is tropical, and makes perfect sense in context. Overall, a remarkable wine, and a great bargain at the $17 price we paid. I'm going to buy several more tomorrow, and would urge you to do the same. Have members/customers you want to do a favor?; turn them on to this wine. You're welcome. It's interesting and important enough to mention that Lee Family Farm is a label owned/produced by one of our favorites, that being Morgan Vineyards of Carmel. High rent, for sure, but the wines are surprisingly reasonably priced, and always good value.
Something else I've become aware of lately is the fact that we have a bunch of weird crime here in California. Now, being a native Texan, I know more than a little about weird-ass crime and criminals, but I have to admit that California, particularly Southern California, has at least as much and maybe more than even Texas. Seems that way, anyhow. I think the main difference may be that Texas seems to have more crime committed by and/or against rich folks than does California, although both states appear to send equal numbers of the poor (read minorities) to prison for long terms for seemingly minor offenses. And, for some reason, California seems to be an environment that breeds more arsonists per capita than anywhere else in our great country, at least at a casual glance. Some fascinating stuff goes on, though, in both, no question about it. For the present, though, we'll focus on California, since Texas Monthly magazine has a pretty good handle on the nonsense in Texas. Of all the murders, kidnappings, and other stuff currently in the public eye in California, for instance, we have our choice of many, many cases to look at, one that fascinates me is the recent conviction in San Francisco of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, head of Chinatown's Ghee Kung Tong, of 162 counts of racketeering, murder, and assorted other crimes. The case nailed a number of other more or less high-profile folks, too, including state Senator Leland Yee, a member of one of the state's most influential families, who was convicted of corruption as a a result of his association with Shrimp Boy, among other things, including arms trafficking. There's no need to dig too deeply into the case here; check it out on the L A Times' website, if you're interested in details, as their coverage of the case was outstanding. Bottom line is that we'll take a look at some of these really fun cases as they float to the surface, so stay tuned if that sort of thing interests you. Thank the Lord for California.
Last, but far from least, is the news that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that tip sharing. or pooling, is no longer an acceptable practice for restaurants, hotels, clubs, or any other establishment doing business in any of a number of states, including California. This is, in our opinion, wrong-thinking and uninformed for a number of reasons, and is going to cause financial pain not only for employers wishing to see that all their employees are fairly and equitably compensated, but also for a whole class of workers who contribute at least as much, if not more in many cases, to customer satisfaction as anyone else in the house. I'm speaking of the "back-of-house" workers, the cooks, pantry staff, dishwashers, bussers, and all related, who labor to create and send out the food and clean up the accompanying messes, that brings paying patrons off the street day after day. Diners and bar patrons do not generally return week in and week out for the pleasure of a waiter's company or because they like the decor; rather, it's the quality of what's on the plate, more often than not, that causes them to drive across town and sign the check over and over again. Other factors play a role, certainly, but great food and drink overshadows all else.
Problem is, the folks out front are the only employees who typically have the opportunity to meet and interact with the guests, thereby creating for themselves the further opportunity to generate a tip, thus substantially enhancing their take-home pay. It is not unusual, at least where tips are not pooled and shared, for these front-of-house employees to create for themselves a situation where they are making two or even three times as much as those in back who make it possible for them to do so. Fair? No, I think not.
For those of you who aren't struggling to make a living in the hospitality industry, the concept of tip-sharing, or pooling, simply means that all tips left by customers/members/guests (or whatever you prefer to call those folks who pay you good money for what you do) go into a common fund rather than to the individual server or bartender who served the party. Then, prior to paychecks being written, the fund is divided up among all (or most, depending on the policies of the individual house) employees; the percentage of the pool each employee receives is determined by the application of some formula created by the owners/management, and will vary from place to place depending on the particular philosophy of the house. If you're a Republican you may turn red in the face and scream "Socialists!", and maybe you're right, but so what? It levels the playing field and gives everyone the chance to be fairly compensated for their contribution.
And, as you might have imagined, a fairly large number of lawsuits have been filed over this practice, most of them contesting management's right to participate in the sharing of the pool, and rightfully so. In most cases management and supervisory staff make several multiples of what the average hospitality worker earns, and have no business dipping into the tip pool unless they are performing the same jobs as the line workers, which is rare, indeed.
Unfortunately, the 9th Circuit seems to have taken the position that the only person entitled to a tip is the one to whom it was directed by the customer, thereby effectively telling the back-of-house employees that their contributions don't count. That's wrong, pure and simple. However, it puts management in thousands of restaurants, hotels, resorts, clubs, coffee bars, and wherever else in the position of having to try to find a way to make up for that pay cut to a critical segment of their workforce, and one with a collection of skillsets that far exceeds, in certain positions, that of anyone working out front. (Sorry, wait staff; you know I love you, and you also know it's true.) Given that most restaurants work on razor-thin margins already, that almost certainly means that we can expect to see significant increases in menu pricing almost immediately. Operators are searching for alternatives to raising prices, because they understand the repercussions, but there aren't many, if indeed there are any at all that make sense.
This is a problem of major proportions, believe me, for those of us who have spent our lives trying to be the best restaurateurs we could be, which also means taking care of our employees as best we could, and giving them the opportunity to live full lives free of the worries associated with living on the financial brink. We will follow this closely.
More rain coming tonight, breaking up a string of beautiful spring-like days. More soon, and hope you're paying attention to all around you...
Cliff
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Rain and sleet (lots) on The Hill; end of the line in Oregon; discovering Dottie Smith; and that ain't no restaurant, that's a techno-cafeteria...
Three solid weeks of rain, sleet, and a little snow have done wonders for our corner of paradise, especially the lakes, rivers and streams, which are all roaring full and, at least in the hills and mountains, over their banks. It's good to see, and it has been a long while since we last saw it. The past couple of days have been spring-like; sunny skies, mild breezes, and lots of cold-season grasses waving bright green. Nice, but coming to an end soon, with another Pacific storm due to roll in over the Coast Range on Thursday. Thank you, Lord.
Big news yesterday morning, at least for us: seems the feds and the Oregon State Police finally decided they'd had enough nonsense out of the lunatics holed up at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon, and intercepted the leadership of the group as they were cruising in a couple of SUVs on their way to a meeting with concerned locals in the little town of John Day, some 100 or so miles away. Details are still sketchy, but apparently there was some level if resistance from at least one of the armed terrorists, with the result that he was shot and killed. As I said, we still, at least as of this hour, don't have many details, but, as unfortunate as it is, it was bound to happen sooner or later despite the restraint the authorities had displayed over the past three weeks. Turns out you can't just decide to take up arms, invade a national wildlife refuge belonging to the people of the United States, threaten federal employees, intimidate the citizens of the surrounding countryside, and defy orders from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to vacate the premises and surrender your weapons without some consequences. These home-grown militants were given every chance to walk away peacefully, but were so deceived by the fact that the lawmen on scene were keeping their distance and exercising remarkable levels of tolerance in their dealings with them that they assumed (incorrectly) that their bluff was working, and so kept escalating tensions with nonsensical rhetoric and displays of weaponry. I don't know where the line in the sand was, but at some point they stepped over, and the curtain came down.
As many of you know, this particular group of "patriots" and "constitutionalists" claimed to be doing what they were doing as a protest of federal management of public lands in the West, which is another way of saying that they wanted to open up millions of acres of lands belonging to you and me to commercial exploitation by loggers, oil companies, and, most importantly to many of them, who happened to resent the fact that they were required to pay a modest fee for the privilege of grazing their cattle on our grasses, to ranchers for open grazing purposes. Here in the West, that last-mentioned item is an integral piece of the lifestyle we like to refer to as "cowboy welfare", and the two leaders of the band of outlaws at Malheur are sons of one of the highest-profile welfare ranchers yet exposed, one Cliven Bundy, who grazed his cattle on Nevada public lands to the tune of more than $1 million in fees, which he has steadfastly refused to pay and which, as far as we know, is still owed to you and me. (It might be pointed out, too, that ranchers who contract with the government for the right to graze public lands pay a small fraction of what it costs those who buy grazing rights on privately-owned lands, but some of them refuse to pay even that, claiming that they should have unrestricted access to do as they wish). So, in effect, these people are stealing from us, the public. Not to mention the fact that they're giving our part of the world a black eye just by the fact that they're here.
All of this is the long way of saying that neither these particular anarchists, nor any other of our increasing inventory of domestic terrorists, can be allowed to bully and intimidate the law-abiding citizens of our land, particularly when it's for no other reason than their own self-interests. They can put lipstick on it and call it what they want, but a pig's still a pig. So, congratulations to the folks of Harney County, Oregon, for getting their lives back, and thanks to the law enforcement agencies involved for the reasonable and rational way they dealt with this mini-crisis that could have been so much worse.
Now, on to Dottie Smith. I stumbled onto her, or at least her writings, when a byline of hers in the Redding Record-Searchlight caught my eye a year or so ago. I've forgotten what that particular article was about, but since then I've read dozens of her columns, and I've learned more about the history of Shasta County from her than I ever expected to know. Dottie is a retired teacher who has made a life's work of travelling this part of Northern California up, down, and from side to side, searching out and recording the stories, people, and places that make it what it is; the good, bad, and the ugly, as it is everywhere. What I love about Dottie is that she pulls no punches; she calls'em the way she sees'em. Proof of this would be two of her more recent columns, both dealing with unpleasant and inconvenient episodes in local history; one tells the story of the Chinese experience in the area, and the other with the shameful treatment endured by the Native American tribes of the region, both centered around events that occurred in the mid-1800s. The folks who settled this part of the state were probably no better or worse, on the whole, than any other group of pioneer settlers in our country's history, but they undoubtedly shamed themselves by some of their actions, and Dottie tells the tales with a clarity and economy of words that is a pleasure to read, attempting to gloss over nothing. For those of you who might be planning a to spend time in our part of the state, and who have an interest in the history of the places you might travel through and see, I can't recommend highly enough a website Dottie has created where you'll be able to find these articles and more Dottie: ShastaCountyHistory.com. It's time well spent, I promise.
Okay, lastly in this long letter, just a quick observation on a recent LA Times article I've been brooding about. The subject is a new concept restaurant in the Topanga Canyon area of Canoga Park called eatsa. First of all, everything about the eatsa concept is at least semi-radical, at least to an old f&b guy like me. The menu is built around quinoa; in fact, quinoa is about all there is. Lots of different iterations, for sure, but still, it's quinoa. Oh, you can get a hand-crafted soft drink, or house-made potato chips or salsa, but basically it's all quinoa all the time. Which is okay if you love quinoa. The curve ball, though, comes in the way the quinoa comes at you: no wait staff, no tables, no chairs...just iPads to place your order on, after which (in about 3 to 4 minutes, they claim) your name lights up over a glass cubicle which you then enter by knocking twice (cool) to claim your custom-prepared quinoa bowl. Problem is, then you have to go find a place to sit and eat it. Maybe it's more fun than it sounds. However, I love innovation in restaurants, and I wish them luck. There's also a San Francisco location (where else would it be?), according to the article, with more to come. If you go, give us a heads-up in the Comments area.
Good night; see you soon...
Cliff
Big news yesterday morning, at least for us: seems the feds and the Oregon State Police finally decided they'd had enough nonsense out of the lunatics holed up at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in southeast Oregon, and intercepted the leadership of the group as they were cruising in a couple of SUVs on their way to a meeting with concerned locals in the little town of John Day, some 100 or so miles away. Details are still sketchy, but apparently there was some level if resistance from at least one of the armed terrorists, with the result that he was shot and killed. As I said, we still, at least as of this hour, don't have many details, but, as unfortunate as it is, it was bound to happen sooner or later despite the restraint the authorities had displayed over the past three weeks. Turns out you can't just decide to take up arms, invade a national wildlife refuge belonging to the people of the United States, threaten federal employees, intimidate the citizens of the surrounding countryside, and defy orders from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to vacate the premises and surrender your weapons without some consequences. These home-grown militants were given every chance to walk away peacefully, but were so deceived by the fact that the lawmen on scene were keeping their distance and exercising remarkable levels of tolerance in their dealings with them that they assumed (incorrectly) that their bluff was working, and so kept escalating tensions with nonsensical rhetoric and displays of weaponry. I don't know where the line in the sand was, but at some point they stepped over, and the curtain came down.
As many of you know, this particular group of "patriots" and "constitutionalists" claimed to be doing what they were doing as a protest of federal management of public lands in the West, which is another way of saying that they wanted to open up millions of acres of lands belonging to you and me to commercial exploitation by loggers, oil companies, and, most importantly to many of them, who happened to resent the fact that they were required to pay a modest fee for the privilege of grazing their cattle on our grasses, to ranchers for open grazing purposes. Here in the West, that last-mentioned item is an integral piece of the lifestyle we like to refer to as "cowboy welfare", and the two leaders of the band of outlaws at Malheur are sons of one of the highest-profile welfare ranchers yet exposed, one Cliven Bundy, who grazed his cattle on Nevada public lands to the tune of more than $1 million in fees, which he has steadfastly refused to pay and which, as far as we know, is still owed to you and me. (It might be pointed out, too, that ranchers who contract with the government for the right to graze public lands pay a small fraction of what it costs those who buy grazing rights on privately-owned lands, but some of them refuse to pay even that, claiming that they should have unrestricted access to do as they wish). So, in effect, these people are stealing from us, the public. Not to mention the fact that they're giving our part of the world a black eye just by the fact that they're here.
All of this is the long way of saying that neither these particular anarchists, nor any other of our increasing inventory of domestic terrorists, can be allowed to bully and intimidate the law-abiding citizens of our land, particularly when it's for no other reason than their own self-interests. They can put lipstick on it and call it what they want, but a pig's still a pig. So, congratulations to the folks of Harney County, Oregon, for getting their lives back, and thanks to the law enforcement agencies involved for the reasonable and rational way they dealt with this mini-crisis that could have been so much worse.
Now, on to Dottie Smith. I stumbled onto her, or at least her writings, when a byline of hers in the Redding Record-Searchlight caught my eye a year or so ago. I've forgotten what that particular article was about, but since then I've read dozens of her columns, and I've learned more about the history of Shasta County from her than I ever expected to know. Dottie is a retired teacher who has made a life's work of travelling this part of Northern California up, down, and from side to side, searching out and recording the stories, people, and places that make it what it is; the good, bad, and the ugly, as it is everywhere. What I love about Dottie is that she pulls no punches; she calls'em the way she sees'em. Proof of this would be two of her more recent columns, both dealing with unpleasant and inconvenient episodes in local history; one tells the story of the Chinese experience in the area, and the other with the shameful treatment endured by the Native American tribes of the region, both centered around events that occurred in the mid-1800s. The folks who settled this part of the state were probably no better or worse, on the whole, than any other group of pioneer settlers in our country's history, but they undoubtedly shamed themselves by some of their actions, and Dottie tells the tales with a clarity and economy of words that is a pleasure to read, attempting to gloss over nothing. For those of you who might be planning a to spend time in our part of the state, and who have an interest in the history of the places you might travel through and see, I can't recommend highly enough a website Dottie has created where you'll be able to find these articles and more Dottie: ShastaCountyHistory.com. It's time well spent, I promise.
Okay, lastly in this long letter, just a quick observation on a recent LA Times article I've been brooding about. The subject is a new concept restaurant in the Topanga Canyon area of Canoga Park called eatsa. First of all, everything about the eatsa concept is at least semi-radical, at least to an old f&b guy like me. The menu is built around quinoa; in fact, quinoa is about all there is. Lots of different iterations, for sure, but still, it's quinoa. Oh, you can get a hand-crafted soft drink, or house-made potato chips or salsa, but basically it's all quinoa all the time. Which is okay if you love quinoa. The curve ball, though, comes in the way the quinoa comes at you: no wait staff, no tables, no chairs...just iPads to place your order on, after which (in about 3 to 4 minutes, they claim) your name lights up over a glass cubicle which you then enter by knocking twice (cool) to claim your custom-prepared quinoa bowl. Problem is, then you have to go find a place to sit and eat it. Maybe it's more fun than it sounds. However, I love innovation in restaurants, and I wish them luck. There's also a San Francisco location (where else would it be?), according to the article, with more to come. If you go, give us a heads-up in the Comments area.
Good night; see you soon...
Cliff
Thursday, January 21, 2016
More Yosemite ranting; and what about the bozos at Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, busily counting their gifted dildos while squatting on my (and your) property? Also, Franciscan's
The Hillsider has gotten himself completely outrage-besotted over the Yosemite debacle, as you can probably tell from my last post. And, as we wrote only a week or so ago, and still persisting, we also have the bold "militiamen" (armed, by the way) who have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge's compound in Harney County, Oregon. These folks, too, have greatlty annoyed me, although they do have the redeeming quality of inspiring a lot of funny, sometimes outrageous, internet activity generated by a growing legion of pranksters who find them and their actions inspirational, at least at times.
First, though, let's take a fresh look at Yosemite, the National Park Service, and the good citizens at Delaware North. It's interesting to see how the two parties responsible for this mess have chosen to portray it to the public, each version of the story having just enough truth in it to make it defensible should it be necessary: Park Service, for its part, would have us believe that Delaware North is a sly and greedy corporate vampire flitting about filing trademark applications behind the Service's back in an attempt to steal iconic names of places and things that rightfully belong to the American people and, at the same time, attempting to extort vastly-inflated sums of money for the transfer of trademarks it already controls to the use of the new parks concessionaire (Aramark, no less, a company with which I have had a number of unsatisfactory dealings over the years), which recently won the contract to manage those facilities from DN. It should be noted that most of that appears to be more or less true. Delaware North, on the other hand, would have us believe that this is all just a business dispute that will work itself out through negotiation or, at worst, in the courts, which is also more or less true. However, as we all have learned the hard way, the mean old devil is in the details. Right?
Let's see, where to start? I guess we could start by noting that there's a $48 million spread between what Park Service thinks the trademarks (or "intellectual property" as the lawyers like to call it) are worth ($3.5 million) and what DN would like us tho accept as their true value ($51.2 million). I'm not sure whether the $51.2 million also includes the rights to the name "Space Shuttle Atlantis", one of the several trademarks that DN has made recent application for without telling Park Service it was doing so, and which, by the way, you would also think belonged to We the People, not a commercial foodservices purveyor, but what the hell, right? Their lawyers are sneakier than ours, apparently, and maybe smarter, but I guess that's capitalism for you.
Then, on the other hand, we have to ask "How the hell did Park Service let all this slide by?" How is it that these iconic names that belong to/with our national treasures are rattling around unprotected from the predations of people like those at Delaware North? I've always had the highest regard for the folks at National Park Service, and I truly hope someone representing the Service is going to present some sort of justification for this kind of thing to have been possible, but right now it appears to me that We, the People, have been screwed again. We're paying close attention to this one, and will continue to rant and froth at the mouth until we hear some kind of explanation that satisfies us, although I can't imagine what it might be. Does anyone really believe that Yosemite National Park should pay $52 million dollars to continue using names of places and institutions so iconic they are literally part of the park's continuing history? The majestic and rustically beautiful Ahwahnee Hotel has to be renamed? I don't think so.
Now, on to the goofballs at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, who are still squatting on our (yours and mine) property, insisting that it be turned over to local authorities (who don't want any part of this nonsense) to be opened up for commercial exploitation. They claim to be "patriots, defenders of the Constitution", and swear that they are only there to restore the rights of the common people who have been trampled on by Big Government. Oh yes, they're also all carrying guns, but have assured the locals they won't shoot anyone unless they're forced to do so. By that they appear to mean that they're intending to shoot anyone who attempts to remove them by force. So far law enforcement has shown remarkable restraint, maybe too much, and has been content to just wait them out, but that strategy hasn't been productive, mainly because they allow friends and family of the band of clowns holed up inside to visit and bring food and other supplies. I'm not sure who decided that was a good idea, but it probably needs to be revisited.
It should be pointed out that the geniuses behind this occupation are the Bundy brothers, progeny of good ol' boy Cliven Bundy, who, a year or so ago, took offense at the federal government's insistence that he pay his many years of delinquent grazing fees (owed due to his grazing of his cattle at deeply-discounted rates on government land) and summoned a similar band of wanna-be militia guys with guns and camo jackets and all sorts of other let's-pretend-we're-soldiers stuff) and conducted a stand-off with the authorities that finally resulted in everybody just going home. So, I suppose the Bundy boys feel entitled now.
Problem is, these guys are just thugs and yahoos with nothing else to do; they're not patriots, or heroes, or defenders of the Constitution. Nor do they take their inspiration and direction from God, as one of them, Ammon Bundy, indicated early on. They're publicity-loving anarchists who have made careers of finding ways to live out of the public trough. And, worst of all, they're disrupting the lives of good law-abiding citizens of the Hillsider's part of the world, and causing them embarassment and stress. The good folks of Harney County have made it abundantly clear that they want their towns back; they want all the outsiders to go back wherever they came from and leave them in peace. Time to strike the big top, load up the clowns and their handlers, and hit the road, Bundys. And don't come back unless it's to watch birds.
We're not through with this one yet, either.
Clearly, we're not happy with these situations. At first glance it may seem that all this dust being kicked up by the Hillsider is out of character, and not in keeping with the purpose of our newsletter. However, that would be wrong. As those of you who've been reading us for a while know, we love our little part of the world; Northern California and the greater Pacific Northwest are special places, a blessing of Nature. We resent it deeply when they are abused by anyone or any institution and feel a duty to address it here so as to focus the attention of others who share our feelings on the things that need watching. We will continue to do that.
In closing, and more to the point of what we usually try to address here, we felt it necessary to acknowledge what might be the best little white wine buy in the market today, that being Franciscan's 2013 Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley), which we've been buying consistently at $8.99 for more than a month now. The winery must have a lot to sell, because I've been seeing the wine floor-stacked in several outlets since well before Christmas, and there doesn't appear to be any end to it, at least yet. Like virtually everything Franciscan does, it is pretty much flawless: brilliant pale straw color and a rich, flowery-citrusy nose lead into expansive, grassy-grapefruityness on the palate that finishes long and ripe and balanced. This is a gift at the price, and is definitely something for those of you who are looking for winter whites that match well with soups, pastas, and (especially) risottos. We recommend.
Back in a few days.
Cliff
First, though, let's take a fresh look at Yosemite, the National Park Service, and the good citizens at Delaware North. It's interesting to see how the two parties responsible for this mess have chosen to portray it to the public, each version of the story having just enough truth in it to make it defensible should it be necessary: Park Service, for its part, would have us believe that Delaware North is a sly and greedy corporate vampire flitting about filing trademark applications behind the Service's back in an attempt to steal iconic names of places and things that rightfully belong to the American people and, at the same time, attempting to extort vastly-inflated sums of money for the transfer of trademarks it already controls to the use of the new parks concessionaire (Aramark, no less, a company with which I have had a number of unsatisfactory dealings over the years), which recently won the contract to manage those facilities from DN. It should be noted that most of that appears to be more or less true. Delaware North, on the other hand, would have us believe that this is all just a business dispute that will work itself out through negotiation or, at worst, in the courts, which is also more or less true. However, as we all have learned the hard way, the mean old devil is in the details. Right?
Let's see, where to start? I guess we could start by noting that there's a $48 million spread between what Park Service thinks the trademarks (or "intellectual property" as the lawyers like to call it) are worth ($3.5 million) and what DN would like us tho accept as their true value ($51.2 million). I'm not sure whether the $51.2 million also includes the rights to the name "Space Shuttle Atlantis", one of the several trademarks that DN has made recent application for without telling Park Service it was doing so, and which, by the way, you would also think belonged to We the People, not a commercial foodservices purveyor, but what the hell, right? Their lawyers are sneakier than ours, apparently, and maybe smarter, but I guess that's capitalism for you.
Then, on the other hand, we have to ask "How the hell did Park Service let all this slide by?" How is it that these iconic names that belong to/with our national treasures are rattling around unprotected from the predations of people like those at Delaware North? I've always had the highest regard for the folks at National Park Service, and I truly hope someone representing the Service is going to present some sort of justification for this kind of thing to have been possible, but right now it appears to me that We, the People, have been screwed again. We're paying close attention to this one, and will continue to rant and froth at the mouth until we hear some kind of explanation that satisfies us, although I can't imagine what it might be. Does anyone really believe that Yosemite National Park should pay $52 million dollars to continue using names of places and institutions so iconic they are literally part of the park's continuing history? The majestic and rustically beautiful Ahwahnee Hotel has to be renamed? I don't think so.
Now, on to the goofballs at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, who are still squatting on our (yours and mine) property, insisting that it be turned over to local authorities (who don't want any part of this nonsense) to be opened up for commercial exploitation. They claim to be "patriots, defenders of the Constitution", and swear that they are only there to restore the rights of the common people who have been trampled on by Big Government. Oh yes, they're also all carrying guns, but have assured the locals they won't shoot anyone unless they're forced to do so. By that they appear to mean that they're intending to shoot anyone who attempts to remove them by force. So far law enforcement has shown remarkable restraint, maybe too much, and has been content to just wait them out, but that strategy hasn't been productive, mainly because they allow friends and family of the band of clowns holed up inside to visit and bring food and other supplies. I'm not sure who decided that was a good idea, but it probably needs to be revisited.
It should be pointed out that the geniuses behind this occupation are the Bundy brothers, progeny of good ol' boy Cliven Bundy, who, a year or so ago, took offense at the federal government's insistence that he pay his many years of delinquent grazing fees (owed due to his grazing of his cattle at deeply-discounted rates on government land) and summoned a similar band of wanna-be militia guys with guns and camo jackets and all sorts of other let's-pretend-we're-soldiers stuff) and conducted a stand-off with the authorities that finally resulted in everybody just going home. So, I suppose the Bundy boys feel entitled now.
Problem is, these guys are just thugs and yahoos with nothing else to do; they're not patriots, or heroes, or defenders of the Constitution. Nor do they take their inspiration and direction from God, as one of them, Ammon Bundy, indicated early on. They're publicity-loving anarchists who have made careers of finding ways to live out of the public trough. And, worst of all, they're disrupting the lives of good law-abiding citizens of the Hillsider's part of the world, and causing them embarassment and stress. The good folks of Harney County have made it abundantly clear that they want their towns back; they want all the outsiders to go back wherever they came from and leave them in peace. Time to strike the big top, load up the clowns and their handlers, and hit the road, Bundys. And don't come back unless it's to watch birds.
We're not through with this one yet, either.
Clearly, we're not happy with these situations. At first glance it may seem that all this dust being kicked up by the Hillsider is out of character, and not in keeping with the purpose of our newsletter. However, that would be wrong. As those of you who've been reading us for a while know, we love our little part of the world; Northern California and the greater Pacific Northwest are special places, a blessing of Nature. We resent it deeply when they are abused by anyone or any institution and feel a duty to address it here so as to focus the attention of others who share our feelings on the things that need watching. We will continue to do that.
In closing, and more to the point of what we usually try to address here, we felt it necessary to acknowledge what might be the best little white wine buy in the market today, that being Franciscan's 2013 Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley), which we've been buying consistently at $8.99 for more than a month now. The winery must have a lot to sell, because I've been seeing the wine floor-stacked in several outlets since well before Christmas, and there doesn't appear to be any end to it, at least yet. Like virtually everything Franciscan does, it is pretty much flawless: brilliant pale straw color and a rich, flowery-citrusy nose lead into expansive, grassy-grapefruityness on the palate that finishes long and ripe and balanced. This is a gift at the price, and is definitely something for those of you who are looking for winter whites that match well with soups, pastas, and (especially) risottos. We recommend.
Back in a few days.
Cliff
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Are these people serious? Yosemite National Park becomes ground-zero for another act of outrageous corporate greed...
Okay, now they've done it...they have pushed me into that dizzying wilderness of frothing-at-the-mouth outrage that leads to rape, pillage, and plunder. Problem is, I'm not sure (yet) who to be the most pissed off at: Delaware North Companies, a Buffalo, New York based hospitality services amalgam of assets owned by Jeremy Jacobs (who also owns the Boston Bruins), or the leadership of the National Parks Service.
The reason it's difficult to determine who deserves to be loathed most in this particular instance is this: On the one hand, we have another gross example of government incompetence in the management of the people's assets and heritage, while on the other hand we see a prime demonstration of corporate sleight-of-hand and greed being used to hold what rightfully should be iconic intellectual assets of the American people as ransom bait.
In brief, the issue is this: We the People have just been informed by the National Parks Service that it will soon be changing the traditional names of a number of hotels, lodges, cabins, restaurants, and other cherished sites and public accommodations within the bounds of Yosemite National Park, such as the rustically beautiful old Ahwahnee and Wawona hotels, Yosemite Lodge, and Badger Pass Ski Area, among others, all much closer to 100 years old than not. Why? Glad you asked.
It seems that Delaware North, which has been the concessionaire operating the hospitality venues in Yosemite for a number of years, has recently lost that contract to Aramark, which is another can of worms in my professional opinion, but which is not presently relevant. And, as we are just finding out, due to practices of successive Parks Services administrations over many decades, it seems that many of the venue trademarks in the park (such as Ahwahnee, etc.) have been allowed to remain in private hands rather than We the People's, being transferred (apparently) from owner to owner each time the concessions contractor changed. This situation was created due to the government's practice in the early days of the parks system's creation of allowing individual entrepreneurs to build and own public accommodations and recreational facilities within the parks; naturally, they also owned the names of those facilities, and this situation was never addressed. So, now that Delaware North has lost out to Aramark (think you had problems in the past, Park Service? Just wait til Aramark gets through with you.), Delaware North is suing the Service (or, us) for about $44 million more for the transfer of the Yosemite trademarks, claiming that they were undervalued in the deal with Aramark. It's worth noting, I think, that according to the Los Angeles Times this includes the rights to additional trademarks that Delaware North acquired during its time as concessionaire, although it didn't see fit to notify the Service that it was doing so. (How does that happen, I wonder? Seems a little underhanded, don't you think?) Of course, the Parks Service totally rejects this argument, swears it won't pay it, and has decided that the smart (?) thing to do is just change all the names.
That's the short version of how this kettle of crap soup came to be. Much legal maneuvering continues, of course, and many lawyers are wondering how the hell they're going to spend all the money they're going to make off this debacle, but I'm sure they'll be up to the task. Question is, what about us? We, the American taxpayers, will of course be the ones who are screwed, no matter how this turns out.
The Hillsider isn't through with this, I assure you. It seems that our public lands, the People's greatest treasures, are under attack from all sides: government incompetence, anarchists calling themselves patriots and militias, and all manner of corporate ne'er-do-wells who simply want to exploit what's left for their own greedy purposes. To those of us who cherish our wild places, and our freedom to use and enjoy them without being exploited each time we do, this is unacceptable, and needs to be exposed and resisted...
Cliff
The reason it's difficult to determine who deserves to be loathed most in this particular instance is this: On the one hand, we have another gross example of government incompetence in the management of the people's assets and heritage, while on the other hand we see a prime demonstration of corporate sleight-of-hand and greed being used to hold what rightfully should be iconic intellectual assets of the American people as ransom bait.
In brief, the issue is this: We the People have just been informed by the National Parks Service that it will soon be changing the traditional names of a number of hotels, lodges, cabins, restaurants, and other cherished sites and public accommodations within the bounds of Yosemite National Park, such as the rustically beautiful old Ahwahnee and Wawona hotels, Yosemite Lodge, and Badger Pass Ski Area, among others, all much closer to 100 years old than not. Why? Glad you asked.
It seems that Delaware North, which has been the concessionaire operating the hospitality venues in Yosemite for a number of years, has recently lost that contract to Aramark, which is another can of worms in my professional opinion, but which is not presently relevant. And, as we are just finding out, due to practices of successive Parks Services administrations over many decades, it seems that many of the venue trademarks in the park (such as Ahwahnee, etc.) have been allowed to remain in private hands rather than We the People's, being transferred (apparently) from owner to owner each time the concessions contractor changed. This situation was created due to the government's practice in the early days of the parks system's creation of allowing individual entrepreneurs to build and own public accommodations and recreational facilities within the parks; naturally, they also owned the names of those facilities, and this situation was never addressed. So, now that Delaware North has lost out to Aramark (think you had problems in the past, Park Service? Just wait til Aramark gets through with you.), Delaware North is suing the Service (or, us) for about $44 million more for the transfer of the Yosemite trademarks, claiming that they were undervalued in the deal with Aramark. It's worth noting, I think, that according to the Los Angeles Times this includes the rights to additional trademarks that Delaware North acquired during its time as concessionaire, although it didn't see fit to notify the Service that it was doing so. (How does that happen, I wonder? Seems a little underhanded, don't you think?) Of course, the Parks Service totally rejects this argument, swears it won't pay it, and has decided that the smart (?) thing to do is just change all the names.
That's the short version of how this kettle of crap soup came to be. Much legal maneuvering continues, of course, and many lawyers are wondering how the hell they're going to spend all the money they're going to make off this debacle, but I'm sure they'll be up to the task. Question is, what about us? We, the American taxpayers, will of course be the ones who are screwed, no matter how this turns out.
The Hillsider isn't through with this, I assure you. It seems that our public lands, the People's greatest treasures, are under attack from all sides: government incompetence, anarchists calling themselves patriots and militias, and all manner of corporate ne'er-do-wells who simply want to exploit what's left for their own greedy purposes. To those of us who cherish our wild places, and our freedom to use and enjoy them without being exploited each time we do, this is unacceptable, and needs to be exposed and resisted...
Cliff
Friday, January 15, 2016
Back to Zinfandel Grille (as promised); a near-term opportunity for golf with long-term implications; and do-gooders at Sierra Nevada Brewery...
I had good intentions; I was determined, after our now-traditional Christmas Eve dinner at Sacramento's venerable Zinfandel Grille last month, to take a fresh look, if only briefly, at where they find themselves these days. Let's face it, 30 years (okay, 28, if you want to nit-pick) is a remarkably long life for an independent restaurant in this country, especially here in California where many trends in food, wine, and pretty much everything else come and go so quickly that many of us never even knew that they were here. So let's give credit where it's due; the folks at Z-Grille have locked into a formula that has weathered a number of storms, including the Big Meltdown, and have kept on doing what they do best to a packed house most nights of the week. I can honestly say that the restaurant is one of the few that has never disappointed me; I haven't always been thrilled, but never disappointed.
The Grille bills itself as being "Mediterranean inspired", and I suppose that's a reasonable thing to say if only because of the number of pizzas and pastas on the menu year in and year out. However, many of the things they do really well don't have much of a claim to Mediterranean heritage, but so what? They taste good.
The menus are re-written on a more or less seasonal basis, but fish always plays a prominent role in the restaurant's offerings, and they have always had a nice touch with it, especially salmon. The current dinner menu's variation is a grilled version with a Meyer lemon beurre blanc and ginger-teriyaki glaze, and is very nice. The shrimp piccata with angel hair pasta is also excellent, as is the Mustard Chicken. And, although I've had a few that are every bit as good as this one (although not many), the always-available because so many people love it and order it every time they walk in (me included), the Spicy Black Bean Soup, with its life-giving roasted tomato salsa, is not to be ignored. Ever. All in all, and allowing for a little of the usual inertia inherent in the nature of long-term successful restaurants, the kitchen is, and always has been, solid.
Surprisingly, though, all things considered, the wine list is not dazzling. Nor has it ever been, at least in my experience. The white wines side of the menu is a disappointment, being composed mostly of the same old tired representatives of the high profile and hip, with only a few stars shining. The reds fare better, though, with listings of really nice examples (and good values) from folks like Justin, Boeger, Trefethen, Ridge, and Martin Ray, as well as sturdy war horses like Simi, Louis Martini, Franciscan, and Clos du Val. There is a good bar with (usually) solid bartenders in residence, and it is almost always busy. We recommend. In short, Zinfandel Grille is still a dining establishment where all is well; good food and drink at fair prices, with service to match.
Now on to another subject near and dear to me: golf. Almost everyone connected to the game, particularly those connected in a commercial way, are, and have been for quite some time, concerned with the significant fall-off in numbers of new players entering the game, and most acutely with the dire situation that many private golf/country clubs now find themselves facing. And. as you can imagine, there as many theories making the rounds about the reasons why this is happening as there are people concerned, and most of them are, to one extent or another, valid. I, like many, am convinced that the greatest challenges lie with the facts that the game is expensive by the average person's standard; it requires a substantial portion of a day to play a full 18 hole round; that players are, at least at many private clubs, still governed by repressive (and sometimes ludicrously so) codes of behavior and standards of dress which make little sense to most individuals under the age of 40; and the game is hard, and requires serious attention and dedication in order to become proficient at it.
A few of those issues will never change: the game, as it exists in its traditional form, will always be hard, it will always require a significant amount of time to play, and it will always be expensive, at least relative to many other pastimes such as tennis or softball/basketball/soccer leagues, or bowling, to name a few. There is only so much that can be done to address change in those areas without negatively impacting the game, itself, and I have no interest in that; it's not a viable solution. However, there are some positive measures that the industry can take to alleviate some of the pain associated with the other concerns of many new players:
First, and this applies for the most part to many, but not all, private clubs, re-write your bylaws and general rules to discard the silly and repressive guidelines for dress and behavior that are no longer relevant to today's families and lifestyles. Prohibitions against the use of cellphones on club grounds, or discussions concerning business in certain areas of the clubhouse, or restrictions of times during which "juniors" are allowed on the course or practice areas, as well as a myriad of variations on those themes and other similarly nonsensical ones, are no longer acceptable to most of today's young families, and are best left in the past, where they belong. The selection of which local club to join by young families today goes far beyond which has "the best course in the area". Successful recruiting campaigns these days are the ones that address the needs of every member of the family. If your club happens to be in the enviable position of neither needing nor wanting new blood, then I suppose you can do whatever makes you happy, but if not, then you'd better pay attention to what prospective members want, rather than what you want them to have.
And next, I urge that you invest in your staff. Recruit the best, pay well, and spend money to advance ongoing professional education opportunities for key personnel. Your members expect the best when they come to their club, and both Management and boards of directors are responsible for seeing that it is provided to them, within the club's means. From many years' experience I can tell you that there's no more valuable asset to a hospitality organization, whether club, resort, hotel, or restaurant, than a happy, committed, and well-trained staff; they will make or break you.
And, finally, set your dues at a level that will support an operation of the quality that you intend to provide your members/guests. No matter what else you do, DO NOT OVERPROMISE AND UNDERDELIVER. That is the deadliest of sins. Do only what you can do well, and afford. If the demographics of your membership are not such that it can or will pay for the vision, then the vision has to change to serve reality.
Good luck. The golf industry is presently facing the greatest challenges of my career, which spans more than 30 years, and the private club sector, in particular, is vulnerable and exposed as never before. I believe that only those leaders who are forward-thinking and aggressive in their planning and execution of their visions will succeed and prosper. The landscape is already littered with the carcasses of hundreds of marginally-operated private clubs that floundered and died during the disasters of the economic crashes and sector meltdowns of the recession, and there will be more, I am sure of that. I hope that you won't be responsible for any of those.
Finally, before closing this letter, I feel obligated (almost) to acknowledge the local activism of the good people at our down-the-road neighbor, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, in Chico. I find it interesting, as well as encouraging, that they are so relentlessly persistent in their determination to do the right things for the environment (their water-conserving initiatives have been front and center in the community), for example. They have also been leading-edge pioneers in the area of composting (brewing generates a great deal of organic waste that has to go somewhere, so why not use it productively?) and had the first, and for a long time the only, HotRot system in the country. Hot Rot is a pioneering method of super-composting through the use of an innovative bit of engineering manufactured in New Zealand, and it enabled the brewery to achieve the first-ever coveted Zero Waste Platinum Certification from the US Zero Waste Business Council in 2013, in recognition of the fact that they are diverting 99.8% of their waste from landfills and incinerators. And, among many other initiatives, Sierra Nevada is a major supporter of the Public Broadcasting System in the North State. And, they make great beers.
Thanks for you efforts, and please don't ever stop producing Torpedo.
Back soon...
Cliff
The Grille bills itself as being "Mediterranean inspired", and I suppose that's a reasonable thing to say if only because of the number of pizzas and pastas on the menu year in and year out. However, many of the things they do really well don't have much of a claim to Mediterranean heritage, but so what? They taste good.
The menus are re-written on a more or less seasonal basis, but fish always plays a prominent role in the restaurant's offerings, and they have always had a nice touch with it, especially salmon. The current dinner menu's variation is a grilled version with a Meyer lemon beurre blanc and ginger-teriyaki glaze, and is very nice. The shrimp piccata with angel hair pasta is also excellent, as is the Mustard Chicken. And, although I've had a few that are every bit as good as this one (although not many), the always-available because so many people love it and order it every time they walk in (me included), the Spicy Black Bean Soup, with its life-giving roasted tomato salsa, is not to be ignored. Ever. All in all, and allowing for a little of the usual inertia inherent in the nature of long-term successful restaurants, the kitchen is, and always has been, solid.
Surprisingly, though, all things considered, the wine list is not dazzling. Nor has it ever been, at least in my experience. The white wines side of the menu is a disappointment, being composed mostly of the same old tired representatives of the high profile and hip, with only a few stars shining. The reds fare better, though, with listings of really nice examples (and good values) from folks like Justin, Boeger, Trefethen, Ridge, and Martin Ray, as well as sturdy war horses like Simi, Louis Martini, Franciscan, and Clos du Val. There is a good bar with (usually) solid bartenders in residence, and it is almost always busy. We recommend. In short, Zinfandel Grille is still a dining establishment where all is well; good food and drink at fair prices, with service to match.
Now on to another subject near and dear to me: golf. Almost everyone connected to the game, particularly those connected in a commercial way, are, and have been for quite some time, concerned with the significant fall-off in numbers of new players entering the game, and most acutely with the dire situation that many private golf/country clubs now find themselves facing. And. as you can imagine, there as many theories making the rounds about the reasons why this is happening as there are people concerned, and most of them are, to one extent or another, valid. I, like many, am convinced that the greatest challenges lie with the facts that the game is expensive by the average person's standard; it requires a substantial portion of a day to play a full 18 hole round; that players are, at least at many private clubs, still governed by repressive (and sometimes ludicrously so) codes of behavior and standards of dress which make little sense to most individuals under the age of 40; and the game is hard, and requires serious attention and dedication in order to become proficient at it.
A few of those issues will never change: the game, as it exists in its traditional form, will always be hard, it will always require a significant amount of time to play, and it will always be expensive, at least relative to many other pastimes such as tennis or softball/basketball/soccer leagues, or bowling, to name a few. There is only so much that can be done to address change in those areas without negatively impacting the game, itself, and I have no interest in that; it's not a viable solution. However, there are some positive measures that the industry can take to alleviate some of the pain associated with the other concerns of many new players:
First, and this applies for the most part to many, but not all, private clubs, re-write your bylaws and general rules to discard the silly and repressive guidelines for dress and behavior that are no longer relevant to today's families and lifestyles. Prohibitions against the use of cellphones on club grounds, or discussions concerning business in certain areas of the clubhouse, or restrictions of times during which "juniors" are allowed on the course or practice areas, as well as a myriad of variations on those themes and other similarly nonsensical ones, are no longer acceptable to most of today's young families, and are best left in the past, where they belong. The selection of which local club to join by young families today goes far beyond which has "the best course in the area". Successful recruiting campaigns these days are the ones that address the needs of every member of the family. If your club happens to be in the enviable position of neither needing nor wanting new blood, then I suppose you can do whatever makes you happy, but if not, then you'd better pay attention to what prospective members want, rather than what you want them to have.
And next, I urge that you invest in your staff. Recruit the best, pay well, and spend money to advance ongoing professional education opportunities for key personnel. Your members expect the best when they come to their club, and both Management and boards of directors are responsible for seeing that it is provided to them, within the club's means. From many years' experience I can tell you that there's no more valuable asset to a hospitality organization, whether club, resort, hotel, or restaurant, than a happy, committed, and well-trained staff; they will make or break you.
And, finally, set your dues at a level that will support an operation of the quality that you intend to provide your members/guests. No matter what else you do, DO NOT OVERPROMISE AND UNDERDELIVER. That is the deadliest of sins. Do only what you can do well, and afford. If the demographics of your membership are not such that it can or will pay for the vision, then the vision has to change to serve reality.
Good luck. The golf industry is presently facing the greatest challenges of my career, which spans more than 30 years, and the private club sector, in particular, is vulnerable and exposed as never before. I believe that only those leaders who are forward-thinking and aggressive in their planning and execution of their visions will succeed and prosper. The landscape is already littered with the carcasses of hundreds of marginally-operated private clubs that floundered and died during the disasters of the economic crashes and sector meltdowns of the recession, and there will be more, I am sure of that. I hope that you won't be responsible for any of those.
Finally, before closing this letter, I feel obligated (almost) to acknowledge the local activism of the good people at our down-the-road neighbor, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, in Chico. I find it interesting, as well as encouraging, that they are so relentlessly persistent in their determination to do the right things for the environment (their water-conserving initiatives have been front and center in the community), for example. They have also been leading-edge pioneers in the area of composting (brewing generates a great deal of organic waste that has to go somewhere, so why not use it productively?) and had the first, and for a long time the only, HotRot system in the country. Hot Rot is a pioneering method of super-composting through the use of an innovative bit of engineering manufactured in New Zealand, and it enabled the brewery to achieve the first-ever coveted Zero Waste Platinum Certification from the US Zero Waste Business Council in 2013, in recognition of the fact that they are diverting 99.8% of their waste from landfills and incinerators. And, among many other initiatives, Sierra Nevada is a major supporter of the Public Broadcasting System in the North State. And, they make great beers.
Thanks for you efforts, and please don't ever stop producing Torpedo.
Back soon...
Cliff
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
El Nino has arrived!...no foolin'; home-grown terrorists at the Oregon bird sanctuary; Bogle's surprisingly good (outstanding, in fact) 2012 Phantom red blend; and Christmas Eve (again) at Zinfandel Grille...
How great is this???Rain, fog, sleet, and snow right here in the North State! Most of us had forgotten what it was like, so those of us who spend time outdoors are like a bunch of kids strolling around oblivious to the cold and wet, trailing wet dogs, mud and cold drafts into the house behind us and generally making nuisances of ourselves to those trying to maintain some sense of cleanliness and order. The only real drawback is that so many folks have apparently misremembered everything they ever knew about driving automobiles under winter conditions, as well, and you feel (with some justification) that you're taking your life in your hands every time you venture onto the highways and byways of our little part of Paradise. But, in fairness, it's getting better now that we're into the third full week of the pattern; most who were going to have accidents have already had them. At any rate, we're spending most of our time sitting by the window where it's snug and warm, just catching up on stuff (like this) that we should have done several days back.
One upside to procrastinating, however, is that I still hadn't begun writing when the newest crop of clowns and bozos descended on the quiet little town of Burns, Oregon, which is almost close enough to be called a neighbor, allegedly in order to defend the freedoms and restore the rights of its citizens, who were, unbeknownst to most of them, being trampled on by that Great Satan, the federal government. What that means is that the self-styled "militiamen", led by the Bundy brothers who, along with their father Cliven, made news a couple of years back by facing off with the Feds at their ranch in Nevada over a little matter of roughly $1,000,000.00 in unpaid fees for many years of grazing their cattle on public lands. Apparently the Bundys feel entitled to use the people's lands for their own private benefit for free, and the government doesn't see it that way (nor do I, for that matter). Anyway, rather than make a fuss and cause bloodshed, the Feds backed off, the Bundys declared victory, and now believe that they're bullet-proof and can do anything they damn well please. Which brings us to the present day, with them and several dozen more of their ilk occupying a Federal nature sanctuary headquarters compound in southeastern Oregon, waving their guns around and claiming they're going to liberate the land. They also are claiming that they're communing with God, but that's another issue. Bottom line is that they're a bunch of thugs who have turned to domestic terrorism in order to try and further enhance their cowboy-welfare lifestyle (i.e. living off the American taxpayers), and the people of Burns want them out of their town and their lives. And it appears that the Harney County Sheriff, a plain-spoken man named David Ward, may be prepared to remove them and send them on their way if the Feds don't have the fortitude to do so. (The FBI says that it is "monitoring" the situation, but has somehow decided that it's a "local law enforcement problem" rather than theirs, which is strange given that the terrorists are unlawfully occupying a property belonging to the federal government and have declared that they are never leaving until the government surrenders ownership. Sounds like a federal problem to me, but what do I know).
Anyway, all this annoys the hell out of me. In the first place, I don't like bullies or terrorists of any race, creed, color, or persuasion, least of all home-grown ones who are supposed to know better. In the second place, I don't like bullies screwing around with my part of the world; I'm with Sheriff Ward. Let's get them out of there before they hurt someone, then lock'em up. Last I heard, threatening someone with physical harm or death is a crime and needs to be dealt with. Okay, enough for now.
A rare thing happened over Christmas: my mother-in-law, who drinks a total of maybe three bottles of wine a year, one glass at a time, presented me with several bottles that had been recommended to her by a clerk at her favorite Sacramento grocer's. Two were pinot noirs, which shall go un-named (sorry, Barbara), but one, a red "Rhone-ish blend", turned out to be an outstanding find. That wine is the 2012 Phantom, from Bogle Vineyards. Phantom is an interesting concoction of petite sirah (41%), zinfandel (31%), cabernet sauvignon (20%), and merlot (8%). Surprisingly, the cab is out front on the palate, providing lots of black cherry notes, and a leathery-dusty component in the nose. The zin and petite sirah contribute deep purple-black color and a jammy-briary rusticicity to the flavor profile that is perfect for winter stews, roasts, and soups. I didn't detect the presence of the merlot anywhere, but I didn't biss it either; don't know what it could have added to this really nice offering froma winery that we overlook too often here. We recommend it, particularly at the $17-21 price tag, depending on where you find it. More workingman's wine.
And, in closing, congratulations are due little Mt. Shasta City which, not surprisingly, sits at the foot of Mt. Shasta just outside the park entrance. A pretty, quaint and laid-back mountain village, it has just been named America's Top Hippie City for Stressed-Out Progressives by ReverbPress.com. This comes as no surprise to The Hillsider, being a close neughbor, but it may to some, especially given the fact that it topped such high-profile bastions of hipdom as Madison, Wisconsin, Ashland, Oregon, and Berkeley, not to mention Marfa,Texas and Madrid, New Mexico. Far out is right.
Later. Happy snow.
PS: Sorry, but ran out of time before I got to Zinfandel Grille (one of my favorite restaurants). Coming next...
One upside to procrastinating, however, is that I still hadn't begun writing when the newest crop of clowns and bozos descended on the quiet little town of Burns, Oregon, which is almost close enough to be called a neighbor, allegedly in order to defend the freedoms and restore the rights of its citizens, who were, unbeknownst to most of them, being trampled on by that Great Satan, the federal government. What that means is that the self-styled "militiamen", led by the Bundy brothers who, along with their father Cliven, made news a couple of years back by facing off with the Feds at their ranch in Nevada over a little matter of roughly $1,000,000.00 in unpaid fees for many years of grazing their cattle on public lands. Apparently the Bundys feel entitled to use the people's lands for their own private benefit for free, and the government doesn't see it that way (nor do I, for that matter). Anyway, rather than make a fuss and cause bloodshed, the Feds backed off, the Bundys declared victory, and now believe that they're bullet-proof and can do anything they damn well please. Which brings us to the present day, with them and several dozen more of their ilk occupying a Federal nature sanctuary headquarters compound in southeastern Oregon, waving their guns around and claiming they're going to liberate the land. They also are claiming that they're communing with God, but that's another issue. Bottom line is that they're a bunch of thugs who have turned to domestic terrorism in order to try and further enhance their cowboy-welfare lifestyle (i.e. living off the American taxpayers), and the people of Burns want them out of their town and their lives. And it appears that the Harney County Sheriff, a plain-spoken man named David Ward, may be prepared to remove them and send them on their way if the Feds don't have the fortitude to do so. (The FBI says that it is "monitoring" the situation, but has somehow decided that it's a "local law enforcement problem" rather than theirs, which is strange given that the terrorists are unlawfully occupying a property belonging to the federal government and have declared that they are never leaving until the government surrenders ownership. Sounds like a federal problem to me, but what do I know).
Anyway, all this annoys the hell out of me. In the first place, I don't like bullies or terrorists of any race, creed, color, or persuasion, least of all home-grown ones who are supposed to know better. In the second place, I don't like bullies screwing around with my part of the world; I'm with Sheriff Ward. Let's get them out of there before they hurt someone, then lock'em up. Last I heard, threatening someone with physical harm or death is a crime and needs to be dealt with. Okay, enough for now.
A rare thing happened over Christmas: my mother-in-law, who drinks a total of maybe three bottles of wine a year, one glass at a time, presented me with several bottles that had been recommended to her by a clerk at her favorite Sacramento grocer's. Two were pinot noirs, which shall go un-named (sorry, Barbara), but one, a red "Rhone-ish blend", turned out to be an outstanding find. That wine is the 2012 Phantom, from Bogle Vineyards. Phantom is an interesting concoction of petite sirah (41%), zinfandel (31%), cabernet sauvignon (20%), and merlot (8%). Surprisingly, the cab is out front on the palate, providing lots of black cherry notes, and a leathery-dusty component in the nose. The zin and petite sirah contribute deep purple-black color and a jammy-briary rusticicity to the flavor profile that is perfect for winter stews, roasts, and soups. I didn't detect the presence of the merlot anywhere, but I didn't biss it either; don't know what it could have added to this really nice offering froma winery that we overlook too often here. We recommend it, particularly at the $17-21 price tag, depending on where you find it. More workingman's wine.
And, in closing, congratulations are due little Mt. Shasta City which, not surprisingly, sits at the foot of Mt. Shasta just outside the park entrance. A pretty, quaint and laid-back mountain village, it has just been named America's Top Hippie City for Stressed-Out Progressives by ReverbPress.com. This comes as no surprise to The Hillsider, being a close neughbor, but it may to some, especially given the fact that it topped such high-profile bastions of hipdom as Madison, Wisconsin, Ashland, Oregon, and Berkeley, not to mention Marfa,Texas and Madrid, New Mexico. Far out is right.
Later. Happy snow.
PS: Sorry, but ran out of time before I got to Zinfandel Grille (one of my favorite restaurants). Coming next...
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Parade of early winter storms brings sweet rain and big snow to Sierra and Cascades; and Husch's evergreen Dry Gewurz just keeps on pleasing...
As I write this, I'm sitting in a long-past-use-by-date old office chair that I inherited from the young woman from whom we purchased our previous home, and which I've dragged across Northern California for almost 20 years because I can't figure out how to get rid of it. I'm also looking out the window of my little home office at a fog-and-mist-shrouded hillside that drops down to a mountain highway approximately a quarter mile below us, and which I presently can barely see between the fog and rain. The CalFire station directly across the highway is invisible now, and the only way I know that it's still there is because they just went through their every-Sunday ritual of testing all their various sirens and other warning/emergency sounds-producers a short while ago. I'm able to say that they all continue to work fine.
Our rains have been pretty constant for the past several weeks, with only an occasional break of a day here and there where we've seen some sunshine and clear views to the north and east, so it was a
pleasant surprise the day before yesterday when we got a sudden respite from the rain and fog, and lo and behold, there were our two big mountains, Lassen to the east and Shasta due north, both completely blanketed in pure, blindingly white snow! Holy smoke! We haven't seen that in two long years, and had almost forgotten how strikingly they appeared in winters past. Pretty cool, and very welcome.
However, the coming of the snow and ice in the high country also means that activities on both mountains shift focus dramatically, and they do it very quickly. Many of the secondary access roads are closed or irregularly maintained, and only those individuals familiar with winter mountain travel should undertake casual or poorly-planned driving trips into those areas where such knowledge is needed. The ski parks and other commercial outdoor recreation sites around Shasta are well maintained and managed, and skiers, boarders, and others who enjoy the alpine lifestyle flock to them each and every day during the season, particularly at weekends, and if you plan to go you should take any opportunity to make reservations and other arrangements in advance. Take a look at the website visitmtshasta.com for a comprehensive view of all that's available in and around the mountain and in the pretty little town of Mt. Shasta City; you'll find all the usual mountain town stuff, including good food, drink, and cozy places to rest.
Most people find significant differences in the feel of our two big Norcal mountains, and I understand that completely. To me, Lassen seems to be a friendlier mountain, if that makes sense. It is substantially less massive, for one thing, and doesn't have quite the fierceness of demeanor that Shasta can present, especially during inclement weather. Too, Lassen is managed and maintained by the National Parks Service, and features excellent camping and recreational facilities, and excellent trail systems, which make it very accessible and usable for the average tourist. Shasta, on the other hand, is not a national park, but is a part of Trinity/Shasta National Forest, and is maintained by the US Forest Service. Facilities are fewer and less family-friendly, and one gets the feeling of being in the real wilderness once away from the roads and parking areas, which isn't necessarily always the case at the more-visited and busier Lassen. I suppose a more concise way of putting it is to say that Shasta is a mountain for mountain people, while Lassen is more a tourist's venue. Both, however, are beautiful places, special in their own ways, and should be visited by anyone travelling Northern California. We'll take closer looks at both in the next several weeks.
Due to weather we've been kept close to home (indoors for the most part) for the last two weeks or so, but yesterday we couldn't take it any longer and had to make a break for it, I gathered up my pal Lulu (see picture above), threw old towels in the back of the car, put on trail shoes, and off we went. Given that weather was still iffy, we elected to make the short drive to Swasey Recreation Area, just a few miles down the road, and the nearest true wilderness to our hill. It appeared that we probably had a couple of hours before more rain moved in, so we struck off from the trailhead and took the Wintu trail eastward and up the side of the rise toward Mule Mountain. The trees, mostly cedar and pine, were still dripping and there was a good deal of water standing in low spots; the streams were running freely, cold and clear, for the first time in almost a year. Lulu, who is an old girl for sure, and who frequently takes 10 minutes or so to work out the kinks and stiffness when she decides to get active, was frisking along like a puppy, and finding interesting scents everywhere she turned. Birds were singing, squawking, and flitting around like mad, and squirrels were hopping through the trees and chattering at Lulu as she raced around their trees and chased them when she found them on the ground. The sun kept peeking through the canopy of trees, but couldn't quite sustain itself, so that we mostly were navigating through shade and shadows; as the afternoon wore on it got colder, and after about an hour and a half we intersected the Meiner Loop and started back to the car. We made the trip back a little quicker than the trip out simply because it's mostly a gentle downhill trek on the Loop to the trailhead. We could occasionally hear the flock of mountain bikers who frequent the area on a regular basis, but only encountered one of them during our entire hike, much to Lulu's delight, since she considers them a blight on her forests even though the great majority of them are good neighbors who treat the trails and their fellow users with respect. At any rate, we got back to the car just as the sun disappeared for the day, and the temperature started to drop as we stood watching a pair of horsewomen load up and prepare to call it a day. Time to go.
Swasey is only one of many trail systems that are scattered across our part of California, all of them, as far as I know, well maintained and used by thousands of outdoor lovers regularly: hikers, trekkers, trail runners, strollers, mountain bikers, horse lovers, and a host of otehrs who simply love being outside in this beautiful place. I recommend that those of you coming to our part of the world who love these same things spend a little time checking out the hundreds (if not thousands) of websites maintained by various interest groups touting them all, so that you can more thoroughly enjoy your time with us.
Finally, a note to you fellow lovers of our Norcal wines. A favorite of mine, but one that too frequently slips my mind, is Husch's Dry Gewurztraminer, the most recent iteration of which is the 2014 Anderson Valley Dry Gewurz, a pretty wine that can easily be loved by pretty much everyone. Husch has been producing fine wines, particularly sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, and gewurztraminer, in blessedly rural Mendocino forever, since before even the pot growers discovered the area, and they continue to do so. Thank goodness. Because they make very good wines and sell them at fair prices, a combination of facts that the folks who bring you Workingman's Wines set great store in, as you know. And this model is no different: pale gold color, a fresh, spicy-grapefruity nose, and soft peachy-grapefruity flavors that linger and bring a nice expansive crispness to a finish that is a perfect and perfectly-assembled foil for the richness of holiday and winter foods. And, at $14, give or take a buck, it is truly a gift that keeps on giving. Try it, you'll be very glad you did.
We'll be back very soon...
Our rains have been pretty constant for the past several weeks, with only an occasional break of a day here and there where we've seen some sunshine and clear views to the north and east, so it was a
pleasant surprise the day before yesterday when we got a sudden respite from the rain and fog, and lo and behold, there were our two big mountains, Lassen to the east and Shasta due north, both completely blanketed in pure, blindingly white snow! Holy smoke! We haven't seen that in two long years, and had almost forgotten how strikingly they appeared in winters past. Pretty cool, and very welcome.
However, the coming of the snow and ice in the high country also means that activities on both mountains shift focus dramatically, and they do it very quickly. Many of the secondary access roads are closed or irregularly maintained, and only those individuals familiar with winter mountain travel should undertake casual or poorly-planned driving trips into those areas where such knowledge is needed. The ski parks and other commercial outdoor recreation sites around Shasta are well maintained and managed, and skiers, boarders, and others who enjoy the alpine lifestyle flock to them each and every day during the season, particularly at weekends, and if you plan to go you should take any opportunity to make reservations and other arrangements in advance. Take a look at the website visitmtshasta.com for a comprehensive view of all that's available in and around the mountain and in the pretty little town of Mt. Shasta City; you'll find all the usual mountain town stuff, including good food, drink, and cozy places to rest.
Most people find significant differences in the feel of our two big Norcal mountains, and I understand that completely. To me, Lassen seems to be a friendlier mountain, if that makes sense. It is substantially less massive, for one thing, and doesn't have quite the fierceness of demeanor that Shasta can present, especially during inclement weather. Too, Lassen is managed and maintained by the National Parks Service, and features excellent camping and recreational facilities, and excellent trail systems, which make it very accessible and usable for the average tourist. Shasta, on the other hand, is not a national park, but is a part of Trinity/Shasta National Forest, and is maintained by the US Forest Service. Facilities are fewer and less family-friendly, and one gets the feeling of being in the real wilderness once away from the roads and parking areas, which isn't necessarily always the case at the more-visited and busier Lassen. I suppose a more concise way of putting it is to say that Shasta is a mountain for mountain people, while Lassen is more a tourist's venue. Both, however, are beautiful places, special in their own ways, and should be visited by anyone travelling Northern California. We'll take closer looks at both in the next several weeks.
Due to weather we've been kept close to home (indoors for the most part) for the last two weeks or so, but yesterday we couldn't take it any longer and had to make a break for it, I gathered up my pal Lulu (see picture above), threw old towels in the back of the car, put on trail shoes, and off we went. Given that weather was still iffy, we elected to make the short drive to Swasey Recreation Area, just a few miles down the road, and the nearest true wilderness to our hill. It appeared that we probably had a couple of hours before more rain moved in, so we struck off from the trailhead and took the Wintu trail eastward and up the side of the rise toward Mule Mountain. The trees, mostly cedar and pine, were still dripping and there was a good deal of water standing in low spots; the streams were running freely, cold and clear, for the first time in almost a year. Lulu, who is an old girl for sure, and who frequently takes 10 minutes or so to work out the kinks and stiffness when she decides to get active, was frisking along like a puppy, and finding interesting scents everywhere she turned. Birds were singing, squawking, and flitting around like mad, and squirrels were hopping through the trees and chattering at Lulu as she raced around their trees and chased them when she found them on the ground. The sun kept peeking through the canopy of trees, but couldn't quite sustain itself, so that we mostly were navigating through shade and shadows; as the afternoon wore on it got colder, and after about an hour and a half we intersected the Meiner Loop and started back to the car. We made the trip back a little quicker than the trip out simply because it's mostly a gentle downhill trek on the Loop to the trailhead. We could occasionally hear the flock of mountain bikers who frequent the area on a regular basis, but only encountered one of them during our entire hike, much to Lulu's delight, since she considers them a blight on her forests even though the great majority of them are good neighbors who treat the trails and their fellow users with respect. At any rate, we got back to the car just as the sun disappeared for the day, and the temperature started to drop as we stood watching a pair of horsewomen load up and prepare to call it a day. Time to go.
Swasey is only one of many trail systems that are scattered across our part of California, all of them, as far as I know, well maintained and used by thousands of outdoor lovers regularly: hikers, trekkers, trail runners, strollers, mountain bikers, horse lovers, and a host of otehrs who simply love being outside in this beautiful place. I recommend that those of you coming to our part of the world who love these same things spend a little time checking out the hundreds (if not thousands) of websites maintained by various interest groups touting them all, so that you can more thoroughly enjoy your time with us.
Finally, a note to you fellow lovers of our Norcal wines. A favorite of mine, but one that too frequently slips my mind, is Husch's Dry Gewurztraminer, the most recent iteration of which is the 2014 Anderson Valley Dry Gewurz, a pretty wine that can easily be loved by pretty much everyone. Husch has been producing fine wines, particularly sauvignon blanc, pinot noir, and gewurztraminer, in blessedly rural Mendocino forever, since before even the pot growers discovered the area, and they continue to do so. Thank goodness. Because they make very good wines and sell them at fair prices, a combination of facts that the folks who bring you Workingman's Wines set great store in, as you know. And this model is no different: pale gold color, a fresh, spicy-grapefruity nose, and soft peachy-grapefruity flavors that linger and bring a nice expansive crispness to a finish that is a perfect and perfectly-assembled foil for the richness of holiday and winter foods. And, at $14, give or take a buck, it is truly a gift that keeps on giving. Try it, you'll be very glad you did.
We'll be back very soon...
Friday, December 4, 2015
Snow on Lassen and Shasta, winter rain for the Valley; 2012 Mt. Tehama Shiraz (another base hit); and preparing for El Nino...
Wow! We're finally beginning to see some normal seasonal weather, complete with cold rain, a little sleet, and some snow in the higher elevations of the foothills and mountains, so far mostly at 4,000 feet and above, and it feels GREAT...as most of you know, it's been a while for us here in California, particularly here in the far North Valley. Looking out the window, both to the north and southeast, I can just begin to see that the patchiness of the snow fields on Shasta and Lassen have been smothered over with significant levels of new white stuff, but whether wet or powder is a mystery at present. The ski resorts were hoping this storm would dump enough to get them open and humming after a couple of disastrous seasons, and skiers and boarders all across this part of the state are packing into cars, vans, and SUVs at this very moment and heading out to try their luck. Hope it goes well, folks. Happy snow!
Pleased to say that we (I) finally got focused enough to locate a wine we've been looking forward to trying for some time now, that being the 2012 Shiraz from Mt. Tehama's winery in Manton, near Shingletown. I've been trying for a couple of months to find time to make the relatively short (and pretty) drive from here in Redding to the winery, but still haven't been able to pull it off as of today. I'll make a point of it within the next few weeks, though, and report back here after I've done so; I'm very impressed with the two wines I've tasted to date, those being the 2012 Petite Sirah, reviewed here several months back, and now the Shiraz, and I'm looking forward to meeting the man behind the effort, Alain Teutschmann. Alain and I have been in fairly regular contact for a while now, and I'm intrigued by what he's accomplished to this point, particularly since I have a fondness and attachment for Rhone-style reds that goes back more than 30 years, having been a long-time friend of Sonoma's Foppiano family, makers of what I condider to consistently be one of the half-dozen best red wine values in Calidfornia, that being their estate Petite Sirah. Don't misunderstand: I'm not ready to put Alain's wines in that category yet, but one day he might find himself there if he keeps doing what he's doing. After all, the Foppianos have been making their wines at their home just outside Healdsburg for more than 100 years, so they have a sizeable head start.
Having said that, let's get to the Shiraz. First, it's important to remember that although they sound very much alike, and share some basic characteristics, particularly their typical deep color and depth of flavor, Petite Sirah and Shiraz (or Syrah) aren't the same and shouldn't be judged by the same yardstick. Nor, for that matter, should Australian Shiraz be directly compared to French Syrah, because the traditional vinification styles differ and the final products, though usually recognizable as brothers and sisters, are different, as most brothers and sisters are. So, having thoroughly muddied the waters, let's proceed. Mt. Tehama's 2012 Shiraz is a very nice wine, and will be even better in the future; I'm sure of that. It is deeply colored, literally purple-black, and richly scented with black fruit notes and some vanilla and allspice. There's still a little heat in the nose, which lingers for the first half hour or so, so it's best to get the wine into the glass to breathe for a bit before you get into it seriously. Decanting would be a good idea if you had the time, but certainly isn't necessary; the wine begins to soften and open in the glass before you know it, but retains the Rhone-ish earthy bite in the finish all the way through the bottle. A bit more bottle age will moderate that particular characteristic.
The dark fruit, particularly a ripe plumminess overlaid with strawberries, is the dominant profile on the palate, and the wine finishes with some oakiness overlaid by the same dark fruit beam that runs through the entire wine. Very nice now, and, as we said, will continue to improve for a while in bottle. I'm not sure which of the two I prefer, or even if I do favor one over the other; they are both very good, and well worth seeking out. The price is right, too. For those of you working on winter wine lists, especially by-the-glass, this is an opportunity to tag a wine that;s right for the seasonal fare your kitchens are going to be producing, and to show your customers/members that you can do something other than follow the herd.
As promised in our last letter, we're about to launch our series on North State tourism attractions; first one (Mt. Lassen and surrounds) will be up this weekend. Also, I hope we can coax Chef Dan into providing something for next week...we had some great feedback on his White Cheddar soup, so I know there are several folks out there waiting...
Later...
Pleased to say that we (I) finally got focused enough to locate a wine we've been looking forward to trying for some time now, that being the 2012 Shiraz from Mt. Tehama's winery in Manton, near Shingletown. I've been trying for a couple of months to find time to make the relatively short (and pretty) drive from here in Redding to the winery, but still haven't been able to pull it off as of today. I'll make a point of it within the next few weeks, though, and report back here after I've done so; I'm very impressed with the two wines I've tasted to date, those being the 2012 Petite Sirah, reviewed here several months back, and now the Shiraz, and I'm looking forward to meeting the man behind the effort, Alain Teutschmann. Alain and I have been in fairly regular contact for a while now, and I'm intrigued by what he's accomplished to this point, particularly since I have a fondness and attachment for Rhone-style reds that goes back more than 30 years, having been a long-time friend of Sonoma's Foppiano family, makers of what I condider to consistently be one of the half-dozen best red wine values in Calidfornia, that being their estate Petite Sirah. Don't misunderstand: I'm not ready to put Alain's wines in that category yet, but one day he might find himself there if he keeps doing what he's doing. After all, the Foppianos have been making their wines at their home just outside Healdsburg for more than 100 years, so they have a sizeable head start.
Having said that, let's get to the Shiraz. First, it's important to remember that although they sound very much alike, and share some basic characteristics, particularly their typical deep color and depth of flavor, Petite Sirah and Shiraz (or Syrah) aren't the same and shouldn't be judged by the same yardstick. Nor, for that matter, should Australian Shiraz be directly compared to French Syrah, because the traditional vinification styles differ and the final products, though usually recognizable as brothers and sisters, are different, as most brothers and sisters are. So, having thoroughly muddied the waters, let's proceed. Mt. Tehama's 2012 Shiraz is a very nice wine, and will be even better in the future; I'm sure of that. It is deeply colored, literally purple-black, and richly scented with black fruit notes and some vanilla and allspice. There's still a little heat in the nose, which lingers for the first half hour or so, so it's best to get the wine into the glass to breathe for a bit before you get into it seriously. Decanting would be a good idea if you had the time, but certainly isn't necessary; the wine begins to soften and open in the glass before you know it, but retains the Rhone-ish earthy bite in the finish all the way through the bottle. A bit more bottle age will moderate that particular characteristic.
The dark fruit, particularly a ripe plumminess overlaid with strawberries, is the dominant profile on the palate, and the wine finishes with some oakiness overlaid by the same dark fruit beam that runs through the entire wine. Very nice now, and, as we said, will continue to improve for a while in bottle. I'm not sure which of the two I prefer, or even if I do favor one over the other; they are both very good, and well worth seeking out. The price is right, too. For those of you working on winter wine lists, especially by-the-glass, this is an opportunity to tag a wine that;s right for the seasonal fare your kitchens are going to be producing, and to show your customers/members that you can do something other than follow the herd.
As promised in our last letter, we're about to launch our series on North State tourism attractions; first one (Mt. Lassen and surrounds) will be up this weekend. Also, I hope we can coax Chef Dan into providing something for next week...we had some great feedback on his White Cheddar soup, so I know there are several folks out there waiting...
Later...
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Brick's Barbecue...another example of fixing something that wasn't broke; Matson Vineyards' 2012 Chardonnay Trinity County and far Norcal tourism...what's the problem?
I'll admit that I'm not the smartest guy in the world; pretty much anyone who knows me will second that emotion. However, I have had some small degree of success at food and beverage operations of many types and sizes, mostly because I was smart enough to hire good people and stay out of their way most of the time, so I feel that I have some basis for expressing my opinion oh this subject: Why the hell do so many people with perfectly good restaurants/cafes/diners/food trucks, etc, feel compelled to change or dramatically alter their format in some fashion, usually resulting in either abject and swift failure or a slow and lingering death that leaves everyone shaking their heads and mumbling to themselves? This, to me as an operator, is the absolute height of lunacy. I suppose that it has worked for somebody, somewhere, at some time, but I don't know when or where.
As you have probably guessed, something has happened locally to set me off (again). Specifically, the fact that a perfectly good little barbecue dive that was always busy (at least when I was there, which was frequently) and served up wonderfully tender, fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs, great burgers, and addictive fresh-cut fries, has been ruined, and for no apparent reason that I can see. The friendly little joint (maybe 40 seats inside plus an elevated bar area with seating for maybe 10 and a patio that could accommodate 15-20 in the right weather) has been abandoned for a "bigger and better" space on the other side of town left empty when another wanna-be steakhouse went belly-up a few years back; big, big mistake. The place is cavernous, cold, and rarely even semi-busy, at least when I've been there. The old crowd, made up of locals on their way home from a softball or soccer game, bikers passing through on their way to who knows where, hikers and kayakers heading for the mountains, old golfers like me stopping off to pick up dinner-to-go after an afternoon away, and a wide assortment of others just relaxing and enjoying themselves, has pretty much been replaced, but I'm not sure by whom, because I haven't really seen them. The menu, too, is "new and different". sort of like a Chili's, but not as imaginative. Don't know how long they'll last, and it's a shame, but when it goes it won't be a huge loss except to the people depending on it for a check. You'd think folks would learn to leave well enough alone, but they never seem to.
Some good news, now: I just stumbled upon a bottle of Matson Vineyards' 2012 Chardonnay (Trinity County), and the wine is remarkably tasty and well made. And, as a bonus, it actually tastes like chardonnay, which is a big step up from several of the varietal bottlings produced by other wineries in this part of the world over the past decade. Pale gold color with some green tints, a ripe meyer lemon and vanilla nose, and a medium body with fairly forward chardonnay fruit and a firm, slightly warm finish (which will probably soften after a bit of air in the glass) make for a nice pairing with light soups and shrimp dishes, or cold chicken salad with crusty sourdough. Nicely done. We'll be interested to taste some others from this Redding-area winery, and we're wondering why it's taken us so long to find them. A little embarrassing. You can check them out for yourselves at matsonvineyards.com.
Final recorded thought for the day: Why is there such a seeming lack of interest in far Northern California tourism? Seems so, anyway. And not only on the part of the tourists and vacationers, themselves, but there also seems to be a real absence of creativity and energy on the part of those who should be promoting it, meaning those who live here and sure as hell need the cash flow. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who recognizes the facts: high unemployment, low per-capita income, ditto education, no real industrial base (not a bad thing in some ways, but a real draw-back for those looking for work), lots of homeless and displaced folks wandering the streets, and on and on. Sure, we draw a fairly significant number of fishermen, kayakers/rafters/tubers/and other assorted water sports enthusiasts on a seasonal basis, or did before the drought really got a stranglehold on us, but not much more as far as I can tell. Why is that? Are we too damn lazy to do the work required? Are we just not smart enough or industrious enough or imaginative or ambitious enough? I think not; in truth, I believe it comes down to a fundamental inferiority complex that is pervasive in our part of paradise. Get a map of our state, then draw line from the Pacific coast just west of Santa Rosa to the east/northeast through Sacramento and proceeding gradually but certainly all the way to Reno, just over the line in Nevada. I firmly believe that everyone north of that line to the Oregon border (except Napa and Sonoma, of course) has a weird little inferiority complex, one based in the mistaken notion that because of the fame, glitter, and glory that has been heaped on all the kinfolk to the south, the San Franciscos and Santa Cruzs and Santa Barbaras and Malibus and Los Angeleses and San Diegos, that they are unworthy of comparison and unable to compete. This, of course, is nonsense, and has to be put right. The far North State has a tremendous heritage, one to be proud of, and is going to have to learn to blow its own horn very soon, before the depression sets too firmly to be broken up. Beginning with our next post we're going to take our own stab at the problem and begin exploring some shiny Norcal jewels; first up, Mt. Lassen and surrounds.
See you very soon...
Cliff
As you have probably guessed, something has happened locally to set me off (again). Specifically, the fact that a perfectly good little barbecue dive that was always busy (at least when I was there, which was frequently) and served up wonderfully tender, fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs, great burgers, and addictive fresh-cut fries, has been ruined, and for no apparent reason that I can see. The friendly little joint (maybe 40 seats inside plus an elevated bar area with seating for maybe 10 and a patio that could accommodate 15-20 in the right weather) has been abandoned for a "bigger and better" space on the other side of town left empty when another wanna-be steakhouse went belly-up a few years back; big, big mistake. The place is cavernous, cold, and rarely even semi-busy, at least when I've been there. The old crowd, made up of locals on their way home from a softball or soccer game, bikers passing through on their way to who knows where, hikers and kayakers heading for the mountains, old golfers like me stopping off to pick up dinner-to-go after an afternoon away, and a wide assortment of others just relaxing and enjoying themselves, has pretty much been replaced, but I'm not sure by whom, because I haven't really seen them. The menu, too, is "new and different". sort of like a Chili's, but not as imaginative. Don't know how long they'll last, and it's a shame, but when it goes it won't be a huge loss except to the people depending on it for a check. You'd think folks would learn to leave well enough alone, but they never seem to.
Some good news, now: I just stumbled upon a bottle of Matson Vineyards' 2012 Chardonnay (Trinity County), and the wine is remarkably tasty and well made. And, as a bonus, it actually tastes like chardonnay, which is a big step up from several of the varietal bottlings produced by other wineries in this part of the world over the past decade. Pale gold color with some green tints, a ripe meyer lemon and vanilla nose, and a medium body with fairly forward chardonnay fruit and a firm, slightly warm finish (which will probably soften after a bit of air in the glass) make for a nice pairing with light soups and shrimp dishes, or cold chicken salad with crusty sourdough. Nicely done. We'll be interested to taste some others from this Redding-area winery, and we're wondering why it's taken us so long to find them. A little embarrassing. You can check them out for yourselves at matsonvineyards.com.
Final recorded thought for the day: Why is there such a seeming lack of interest in far Northern California tourism? Seems so, anyway. And not only on the part of the tourists and vacationers, themselves, but there also seems to be a real absence of creativity and energy on the part of those who should be promoting it, meaning those who live here and sure as hell need the cash flow. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who recognizes the facts: high unemployment, low per-capita income, ditto education, no real industrial base (not a bad thing in some ways, but a real draw-back for those looking for work), lots of homeless and displaced folks wandering the streets, and on and on. Sure, we draw a fairly significant number of fishermen, kayakers/rafters/tubers/and other assorted water sports enthusiasts on a seasonal basis, or did before the drought really got a stranglehold on us, but not much more as far as I can tell. Why is that? Are we too damn lazy to do the work required? Are we just not smart enough or industrious enough or imaginative or ambitious enough? I think not; in truth, I believe it comes down to a fundamental inferiority complex that is pervasive in our part of paradise. Get a map of our state, then draw line from the Pacific coast just west of Santa Rosa to the east/northeast through Sacramento and proceeding gradually but certainly all the way to Reno, just over the line in Nevada. I firmly believe that everyone north of that line to the Oregon border (except Napa and Sonoma, of course) has a weird little inferiority complex, one based in the mistaken notion that because of the fame, glitter, and glory that has been heaped on all the kinfolk to the south, the San Franciscos and Santa Cruzs and Santa Barbaras and Malibus and Los Angeleses and San Diegos, that they are unworthy of comparison and unable to compete. This, of course, is nonsense, and has to be put right. The far North State has a tremendous heritage, one to be proud of, and is going to have to learn to blow its own horn very soon, before the depression sets too firmly to be broken up. Beginning with our next post we're going to take our own stab at the problem and begin exploring some shiny Norcal jewels; first up, Mt. Lassen and surrounds.
See you very soon...
Cliff
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
California rain: too much, roo fast, and mostly in the wrong places; another really good sauvignon blanc (I know, I know) for poor people like us, and more golf stuff...
Well, we got some of that rain we've been hoping for; however, as usually happens to us California sinners, it didn't happen exactly as we had expected. What we got was another demonstration that even though the rain gods do have a sense of humor, it's a little skewed from center. Southern California, where very few of the state's major reservoirs reside, got hammered: water fell out of the sky in truckloads, then promptly raced down the drought-and fire-denuded hillsides, gullies, arroyos and canyons and blasted through homes, across roadways (burying hundreds of cars on I 5 in a sea of mud), and generally wreaking havoc before making its way to the ocean and disappearing.
Here in Norcal, however, where all of the state's biggest lakes and reservoirs sit virtually bone dry, just waiting for a Big Gulp, we got sprinkles and mist and one three or four minute deluge early Saturday morning that vanished into the parched earth so quickly that if you hadn't been awake to see it happen, you'd have no way of knowing that it did. And, to top it all off, those forecasters who are promising us a powerful El Nino this winter are also now saying that the rains it brings will likely be concentrated in the southern part of the state rather than way up here in the lonely and forsaken north, where we actually have the capacity to store it as water or, in the mountains, as snowpack. Thank you, rain gods, for another good laugh. We can only hope that if you see how hard we're trying to change our ways and be better people maybe you'll give us a break on this and move a few of those storms north of the Bay. . Just sayin'...
Okay. Moving on. I'm reasonably certain that many of you are getting tired of reading about sauvignon blanc here, and I promise to lighten up after today. Problem is, sb is, like zinfandel, one of the few places to look in today's market for really good wines at honest prices, although I'm also seeing some new activity in petite sirah, tepranillo, pinot noir and gewurztraminer from developing (or not-yet-gentrified) growing areas in California and Oregon, as well as some very good, inexpensive reds from South Africa and Portugal. But, having said all that, I still have to congratulate the folks at SeaGlass for their 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Santa Barbara. Bright, fresh, aromatic, and lots of true sb fruit make for a nice white that's versatile enough to carry off cocktail duty before serving as an excellent accompaniment to everything from roast chicken to seafood gumbo. And, at $9.99 on sale, it's not only reasonable but a steal; I'd buy it up to $13 and feel good about it.
Back to golf for a minute. I ripped the good folks operating golf courses in Maricopa County, Arizona, in my last post for what was reported to be an unconscionable consumption of water in the maintenance and upkeep of those facilities. I'm not backing off that criticism, I want to be clear about that. However, I do want to mitigate what I wrote to a degree. After re-reading Ms. Shaffer's article, and trying to get all the details organized as best I could, I couldn't arrive at what I considered a fair idea of exactly how to interpret what I was seeing. For one thing, the article was written in such a way that it was unclear whether the 80 million gallons/day figure applied strictly to Maricopa County courses or to all those included in the "Phoenix area" which consists, apparently, of two other counties as well as Maricopa. Nor was I able to determine (or find anywhere else I looked) how many courses lie within Maricopa; according to the Arizona Golf Association there are 220 in the "Phoenix area", but exactly what that means, I don't know. Also, how many of that 220 are full 18 hole courses or equivalent? Again, don't know and can't find out without a lot of time and effort, which I don't have right now. One thing is certain: even though Arizona is a golf mecca for many, there ain't 220 regulation 18 hole golf layouts in any three counties, so we can put that aside. And, no natter how you try to explain it, 80 million gallons of water per day is an absurd number, and people need to get a grip on themselves. Maybe it's time for the operators in the area to give some serious thought to taking a more worldly approach to their management practices and begin looking at how many courses in other challenging climatic areas are maintained and presented. Sooner or later we're going to have to find a way to wean our playing population off the "Augusta mentality" that permeates American golf culture, particularly at the private club level. There are a number of designers, owners, managers, and superintendents who understand this and who have been trying to spread the gospel for years, but progress has been verrrrry slow, and resistance remains verrrrrrrry strong,particularly in most affluent clubs. The day of reckoning is approaching, though; water rights holders in California are already beginning to understand that they don't hold the sacred documents they always believed they did, and times are going to get tougher before they get better, if they ever do get better.
Time use our heads and get ahead of the curve, boys and girls. More to come...
By the way for those who have asked for off-site email contact, it's cliff@hutchinsongolf.us.
Here in Norcal, however, where all of the state's biggest lakes and reservoirs sit virtually bone dry, just waiting for a Big Gulp, we got sprinkles and mist and one three or four minute deluge early Saturday morning that vanished into the parched earth so quickly that if you hadn't been awake to see it happen, you'd have no way of knowing that it did. And, to top it all off, those forecasters who are promising us a powerful El Nino this winter are also now saying that the rains it brings will likely be concentrated in the southern part of the state rather than way up here in the lonely and forsaken north, where we actually have the capacity to store it as water or, in the mountains, as snowpack. Thank you, rain gods, for another good laugh. We can only hope that if you see how hard we're trying to change our ways and be better people maybe you'll give us a break on this and move a few of those storms north of the Bay. . Just sayin'...
Okay. Moving on. I'm reasonably certain that many of you are getting tired of reading about sauvignon blanc here, and I promise to lighten up after today. Problem is, sb is, like zinfandel, one of the few places to look in today's market for really good wines at honest prices, although I'm also seeing some new activity in petite sirah, tepranillo, pinot noir and gewurztraminer from developing (or not-yet-gentrified) growing areas in California and Oregon, as well as some very good, inexpensive reds from South Africa and Portugal. But, having said all that, I still have to congratulate the folks at SeaGlass for their 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Santa Barbara. Bright, fresh, aromatic, and lots of true sb fruit make for a nice white that's versatile enough to carry off cocktail duty before serving as an excellent accompaniment to everything from roast chicken to seafood gumbo. And, at $9.99 on sale, it's not only reasonable but a steal; I'd buy it up to $13 and feel good about it.
Back to golf for a minute. I ripped the good folks operating golf courses in Maricopa County, Arizona, in my last post for what was reported to be an unconscionable consumption of water in the maintenance and upkeep of those facilities. I'm not backing off that criticism, I want to be clear about that. However, I do want to mitigate what I wrote to a degree. After re-reading Ms. Shaffer's article, and trying to get all the details organized as best I could, I couldn't arrive at what I considered a fair idea of exactly how to interpret what I was seeing. For one thing, the article was written in such a way that it was unclear whether the 80 million gallons/day figure applied strictly to Maricopa County courses or to all those included in the "Phoenix area" which consists, apparently, of two other counties as well as Maricopa. Nor was I able to determine (or find anywhere else I looked) how many courses lie within Maricopa; according to the Arizona Golf Association there are 220 in the "Phoenix area", but exactly what that means, I don't know. Also, how many of that 220 are full 18 hole courses or equivalent? Again, don't know and can't find out without a lot of time and effort, which I don't have right now. One thing is certain: even though Arizona is a golf mecca for many, there ain't 220 regulation 18 hole golf layouts in any three counties, so we can put that aside. And, no natter how you try to explain it, 80 million gallons of water per day is an absurd number, and people need to get a grip on themselves. Maybe it's time for the operators in the area to give some serious thought to taking a more worldly approach to their management practices and begin looking at how many courses in other challenging climatic areas are maintained and presented. Sooner or later we're going to have to find a way to wean our playing population off the "Augusta mentality" that permeates American golf culture, particularly at the private club level. There are a number of designers, owners, managers, and superintendents who understand this and who have been trying to spread the gospel for years, but progress has been verrrrry slow, and resistance remains verrrrrrrry strong,particularly in most affluent clubs. The day of reckoning is approaching, though; water rights holders in California are already beginning to understand that they don't hold the sacred documents they always believed they did, and times are going to get tougher before they get better, if they ever do get better.
Time use our heads and get ahead of the curve, boys and girls. More to come...
By the way for those who have asked for off-site email contact, it's cliff@hutchinsongolf.us.
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Visit from the relatives, venting some anger at certain of my professional family, a nice sauvignon blanc from Sterling at a really nice price, and the drought...
I'm back, if you missed me (and even if you didn't) after a long-awaited visit from my sister and brother, and their respective spouses, all the way from my (our) home turf in the great state of Texas, which I love dearly. It was good to see them; we don't see much of each other at all these days, mostly weddings and funerals, because of the distance from here to there, so we always want an opportunity to be well-enjoyed by everyone. Unfortunately, due to the significant level of chaos caused by the millions of fires (seems like that many, anyway) burning across Northern California at present, we didn't get to do the wine country tour they had been looking forward to, and I'm sorry for that. I hope we get a chance to do it for them sooner rather than later.
Moving on, I have to take an opportunity to vent some steam toward a handful of my professional brethren, who continue to put the golf industry in the crosshairs of environmentalists and conservationists (and lots of other people, as well) by way of their unconscionable waste of water during times of drought when tens of thousands of Westerners can't get enough water to perform some of life's most basic functions. I have in front of me an article by Brandi Shaffer published several days ago by Club and Resort Business magazine in an online posting, which highlights the fact that the Phoenix area golf community of courses (Maricopa County) were found to have used an average of slightly more than 80 million gallons of water per day in a 2010 US Geological Survey report, which is more than twice as much as the second place water guzzler, Riverside County (California), at least according to this article. I would tend to believe that Ms. Shaffer is accurately reporting the survey's findings, since C&RB has proven reliable in the past. This report is compiled every five years according to the AP so we should see an updated version in the near future, which will, we can hope, reflect a substantial reduction in that number as superintendents, boards, and management companie respond to the worsening crisis caused by the devastating drought impacting the western states.I feel certain that this will be the case, because at heart most professional property managers in the golf industry are responsible individuals who are conservationists at heart. Most of them will, if allowed to do so, and if funds are available, do as many of the things that they know will reduce their property's demand for water as possible and practical. Taking certain areas off the irrigation grid and allowing them to return to native grasses and other vegetation, installing more drought-tolerant turf cultivars, eliminating some "aesthetic" water features, increasing mowing heights in some areas, as well as at least a dozen other initiatives on the part of course owners and managers can have significant positive impacts on water consumption with absolutely no decline in playing conditions (and many times conditions are improved through these actions). I know that there are a lot of people scrutinizing the activities and actions of those of us in the golf industry each and every day, as they should, and articles like the one I've just highlighted only serve to enhance that scrutiny. Therefore, I urge each of my fellow industry professionals to do all possible, and to proselytize relentlessly, to persuade those controlling the purse-strings and making decisions regarding policy and planning, to find new, more, and better ways to manage our resources and be better citizens. Our game has struggled with image in the past, and still does at times, but it's changing as the public becomes more aware of the initiatives and day-to-day efforts of golf facilities to lead and innovate as we work our way through these times and position ourselves for the future, so let's turn up the volume.
On a different subject, I can,t remember the last time I tasted a wine from Sterling Vineyards that really impressed me until recently, when I picked up a bottle of their 2013 Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley.This is really tasty stuff, especially at the price ($14.95 here in Norcal, which puts it squarely in the "workingman's wine" category that we love so much ($25-28 max); problem is, it may be drying up as I'm not sure how close they may be to a vintage change. So I urge you to get in touch with your Sterling wholesaler if you're an F&B type, or just hike on down to your friendly local wine merchant's place of business if you're simply a wine lover, and pick up a bottle or two before it disappears. Bright color, a mature citrus-and- wet stones nose, and lush, firm fruit that is typical Napa-ish in character, with Meyer lemon and a long persistent finish that is perfect with chicken any way you want it, but seems particularly suited to a curry dish.Try it, you'll like it...and take care not to overchill it...
The drought marches on. although most people continue to do what they can to be responsible and continue to reduce their usage. More next time...
By the way for those of you who jumped on Chef Dan's wonderful white cheddar meal-in-a-bowl soup a couple of weeks ago, we'll see if we can't persuade him to do another contribution in the next letter.
Cliff
.
Moving on, I have to take an opportunity to vent some steam toward a handful of my professional brethren, who continue to put the golf industry in the crosshairs of environmentalists and conservationists (and lots of other people, as well) by way of their unconscionable waste of water during times of drought when tens of thousands of Westerners can't get enough water to perform some of life's most basic functions. I have in front of me an article by Brandi Shaffer published several days ago by Club and Resort Business magazine in an online posting, which highlights the fact that the Phoenix area golf community of courses (Maricopa County) were found to have used an average of slightly more than 80 million gallons of water per day in a 2010 US Geological Survey report, which is more than twice as much as the second place water guzzler, Riverside County (California), at least according to this article. I would tend to believe that Ms. Shaffer is accurately reporting the survey's findings, since C&RB has proven reliable in the past. This report is compiled every five years according to the AP so we should see an updated version in the near future, which will, we can hope, reflect a substantial reduction in that number as superintendents, boards, and management companie respond to the worsening crisis caused by the devastating drought impacting the western states.I feel certain that this will be the case, because at heart most professional property managers in the golf industry are responsible individuals who are conservationists at heart. Most of them will, if allowed to do so, and if funds are available, do as many of the things that they know will reduce their property's demand for water as possible and practical. Taking certain areas off the irrigation grid and allowing them to return to native grasses and other vegetation, installing more drought-tolerant turf cultivars, eliminating some "aesthetic" water features, increasing mowing heights in some areas, as well as at least a dozen other initiatives on the part of course owners and managers can have significant positive impacts on water consumption with absolutely no decline in playing conditions (and many times conditions are improved through these actions). I know that there are a lot of people scrutinizing the activities and actions of those of us in the golf industry each and every day, as they should, and articles like the one I've just highlighted only serve to enhance that scrutiny. Therefore, I urge each of my fellow industry professionals to do all possible, and to proselytize relentlessly, to persuade those controlling the purse-strings and making decisions regarding policy and planning, to find new, more, and better ways to manage our resources and be better citizens. Our game has struggled with image in the past, and still does at times, but it's changing as the public becomes more aware of the initiatives and day-to-day efforts of golf facilities to lead and innovate as we work our way through these times and position ourselves for the future, so let's turn up the volume.
On a different subject, I can,t remember the last time I tasted a wine from Sterling Vineyards that really impressed me until recently, when I picked up a bottle of their 2013 Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley.This is really tasty stuff, especially at the price ($14.95 here in Norcal, which puts it squarely in the "workingman's wine" category that we love so much ($25-28 max); problem is, it may be drying up as I'm not sure how close they may be to a vintage change. So I urge you to get in touch with your Sterling wholesaler if you're an F&B type, or just hike on down to your friendly local wine merchant's place of business if you're simply a wine lover, and pick up a bottle or two before it disappears. Bright color, a mature citrus-and- wet stones nose, and lush, firm fruit that is typical Napa-ish in character, with Meyer lemon and a long persistent finish that is perfect with chicken any way you want it, but seems particularly suited to a curry dish.Try it, you'll like it...and take care not to overchill it...
The drought marches on. although most people continue to do what they can to be responsible and continue to reduce their usage. More next time...
By the way for those of you who jumped on Chef Dan's wonderful white cheddar meal-in-a-bowl soup a couple of weeks ago, we'll see if we can't persuade him to do another contribution in the next letter.
Cliff
.
Monday, September 14, 2015
Chef Dan comes through, the new monster fire in Napa and Lake, and a box wine for zin lovers who know the difference (honest)...
Okay, as promised (or semi-promised, at least) here's a recipe to be copied, used, and cherished forever, at least by those of you who love and understand great soups. I warn you up front, however: this is not your grandma's gentle little creamy kinda-cheesy concoction that you remember from your sniffly-nosed childhood wintry stay-home-sick days that made you feel all warm and cozy. Nope, this is a rich, weighty, almost-a-full-meal-in-a-bowl version of an old-style Canadian rancher's soup that we fussed over for a number of days before we felt we had it right, and I still marvel at the level of perceptiveness that Dan Gilbert brought to this process: he was able to clearly understand how he needed to approach and solve the problem just by listening to me explain as best I could how I wanted it to taste and how it needed to work with the wines being featured on that specific night. It was perfect in the end, and was probably the most talked-about and discussed item on the menu, which was impressive. So, here you go, compliments of Chef Dan Gilbert...
Black Diamond Aged White Cheddar Soup
(serves 8)
1 leek, duced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 1/2 cups sauvignon blanc (a medium-weight wine with some grassiness is desirable)
1/2 gal rich chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
pinch of cayenne (optional, but preferred)
pinch of kosher salt and white pepper
16 oz grated Black Diamond Canadian White Cheddar
Roux (4 oz butter, 4 oz flour)
Method
Saute leeks and celery in canola oil for 3 - 4 minutes, add sauvignon blanc and cayenne pepper and reduce by half, add chicken stock and heavy cream, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes; add a pinch of kosher salt and white pepper and ehisk in half the roux (soup will become creammy and smooth); you may add more roux if needed. Whisk in shredded lack Diamond cheddar, making sure all the cheese melts and binds together (consistency should be a light to medium thickness and silky); strain with fine mesh strainer.
Return to low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently; if soup seems to be too thick, it may be thinned with chicken stock or sauvignon blanc; soup is ready to serve. Garnish with a whole wheat crostini. Serve with a medium-to-full sauvignon blanc albarino, or chardonnay
Those of you who are working on new fall and winter menus will want to look closely at this one...
Unhappily, Mr Fire is back among us and is currently kicking butt across wide swaths of wine country.including Napa (again), Lake (again), and Amador counties. The Valley fire (Napa) erupted late Saturday evening and has burned approximately 95 square miles as of this morning's CalFire report; it has already destroyed the little town of Middletown just north of Calistoga, and has burned more than 400 structures. CalFire is calling it a monster and Governor Jerry has declared Napa and Lake counties disaster areas again. Seems that Calistoga and Kelseyville have been designated as regional shelter centers for the hundreds of families that have been evacuated, and normal activities are in turmoil. No one can say what the impact of these fires will be on this years' winegrape harvest, but word is that a number of growers and wineries are struggling to deal with the labor crisis caused by the absence of workers who are looking after their families and property that may be in harm's way or serving as volunteer firefighters. How long this new disaster is going to be with us is far from certain; as of this morning CalFire says it's at 5% containment, but the winds are up and it keeps jumping their lines. As for the Butte fire (Amador), it appears to be almost as nasty as the Valley; one saving grace, I suppose, is that it's burning in an area that's less heavily populated (and tourist-travelled), but it doesn't appear to be any closer to containment and could do any number of things before it's all over. We wish the best for our many friends in the Napa area, and hope everyone stays safe and well...
A happy note to close this letter: we just picked up a copy of Bota Box's latest offering of their "Old Vine" Zinfandel ($18.95 for the 3l box), which is the 2013 vintage; not only is this a good, well-made red wine, which is frequently all you can hope for from a bulk package with a varietal label, but this one actually tastes like a pretty decent zin! Rich fruit, good color and balance, and a berryish finish that is old-time California through and through. It's worth your while if you like having a tasty red on hand that can be gulped down with burgers and pizza without feeling the guilt associated with uncorking a $25 or $30 bottle for your unruly friends to disrespect.
I think that's it for now, but more very soon...
Cliff
Black Diamond Aged White Cheddar Soup
(serves 8)
1 leek, duced
2 celery ribs, diced
1 1/2 cups sauvignon blanc (a medium-weight wine with some grassiness is desirable)
1/2 gal rich chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
pinch of cayenne (optional, but preferred)
pinch of kosher salt and white pepper
16 oz grated Black Diamond Canadian White Cheddar
Roux (4 oz butter, 4 oz flour)
Method
Saute leeks and celery in canola oil for 3 - 4 minutes, add sauvignon blanc and cayenne pepper and reduce by half, add chicken stock and heavy cream, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes; add a pinch of kosher salt and white pepper and ehisk in half the roux (soup will become creammy and smooth); you may add more roux if needed. Whisk in shredded lack Diamond cheddar, making sure all the cheese melts and binds together (consistency should be a light to medium thickness and silky); strain with fine mesh strainer.
Return to low heat for 15 minutes, stirring frequently; if soup seems to be too thick, it may be thinned with chicken stock or sauvignon blanc; soup is ready to serve. Garnish with a whole wheat crostini. Serve with a medium-to-full sauvignon blanc albarino, or chardonnay
Those of you who are working on new fall and winter menus will want to look closely at this one...
Unhappily, Mr Fire is back among us and is currently kicking butt across wide swaths of wine country.including Napa (again), Lake (again), and Amador counties. The Valley fire (Napa) erupted late Saturday evening and has burned approximately 95 square miles as of this morning's CalFire report; it has already destroyed the little town of Middletown just north of Calistoga, and has burned more than 400 structures. CalFire is calling it a monster and Governor Jerry has declared Napa and Lake counties disaster areas again. Seems that Calistoga and Kelseyville have been designated as regional shelter centers for the hundreds of families that have been evacuated, and normal activities are in turmoil. No one can say what the impact of these fires will be on this years' winegrape harvest, but word is that a number of growers and wineries are struggling to deal with the labor crisis caused by the absence of workers who are looking after their families and property that may be in harm's way or serving as volunteer firefighters. How long this new disaster is going to be with us is far from certain; as of this morning CalFire says it's at 5% containment, but the winds are up and it keeps jumping their lines. As for the Butte fire (Amador), it appears to be almost as nasty as the Valley; one saving grace, I suppose, is that it's burning in an area that's less heavily populated (and tourist-travelled), but it doesn't appear to be any closer to containment and could do any number of things before it's all over. We wish the best for our many friends in the Napa area, and hope everyone stays safe and well...
A happy note to close this letter: we just picked up a copy of Bota Box's latest offering of their "Old Vine" Zinfandel ($18.95 for the 3l box), which is the 2013 vintage; not only is this a good, well-made red wine, which is frequently all you can hope for from a bulk package with a varietal label, but this one actually tastes like a pretty decent zin! Rich fruit, good color and balance, and a berryish finish that is old-time California through and through. It's worth your while if you like having a tasty red on hand that can be gulped down with burgers and pizza without feeling the guilt associated with uncorking a $25 or $30 bottle for your unruly friends to disrespect.
I think that's it for now, but more very soon...
Cliff
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Wine country and the drought, the (rapidly) changing face of residential landscaping in the West, and the coming of the El Nino monster...
Drought + hottest summer on record + fire ...what do you get? EARLY HARVEST!!!
So, pretty much everybody who grows wine grapes in California is now up to his or her butt in harvest, weeks and weeks early, due to the effects on vinifera of little water and a whole lot of prolonged heat. It's going to be very interesting, and a little nerve-rattling, to see what the overall quality of this vintage will be, because if, as many scientists presently believe, this growing season is a precursor of what climate change (yes, deniers, it's real, regardless of what Bush and Cheney told you) is likely to make commonplace, then we need to take note and begin learning how to deal with it as it will be. This 2015 harvest's final judgment is, of course, still a mystery to us all, even though most grapes destined to become sparkling wines are safely in,picking in Napa having begun as early as July22 (Mumm, I think) as are many of the aromatic varieties such as sauvignon blanc, gewurztraminer, albarino, viognier, etc., harvesting having begun during the first week of August. We will be spending some time in both Napa and Sonoma later this month, as well as the Shenandoah area, so will get a good look and feel for what to expect overall from some folks who are knee-deep in it, and will bring that back to you.
The pall of wood smoke that has been hanging over our end of the valley for the past month or so has been pushed to the east (temporarily, at least) by winds off the Pacific during the last week, bringing cooler temperatures (80s and 90s instead of 100 - 113) but no moisture, at least none that made it over the Coast Range. Many of us are now coming to the realization that lawns and gardens are the least of our worries: they're done. Now we're coming to understand that our trees are entering crisis territory, as well, and we're losing sleep over how to deal with that set of problems. We have several cherished trees on our property, most significantly a 60-foot beauty of a western sugarcone pine that shades the front of our house, and a hundred-year-old valley oak that anchors a big piece of our hillside between the house and the road. We have determined that we will do all possible to ensure that these two trees, in particular, survive this drought: we, like many of our neighbors, have for the past several months been re-purposing and re-using every possible drop of water that runs through our piping: dishwater, laundry water (when possible), even "stale" dog and cat water. We have taken landscape that had been irrigated for decades out of the loops, even to the point of allowing a space I had hand-graded and seeded to fine fescue with the intent of creating a backyard practice putting green go back to dirt and rock, all for the purpose of conserving additional water for our treasured trees. So each and every day we gingerly carry plastic tubs and buckets of murky dishwater or water gathered from other purposes, like washing windows, out to our trees and carefully pour it along their driplines in the hope that these extra few hundred gallons each month will help them weather this nasty experience. We'll see, I suppose, if we live long enough.
It's truly a fascinating new world here in the West: almost anywhere you go, whether it's the grocery, a gas station, the pharmacy, a bookstore, or standing on the practice tee at your local (dusty) muny, the conversations overheard will almost invariably turn to the drought and its challenges within a short time. You can bet money on it. People are attacking their particular concerns in different ways, and it's interesting to note that the folks who seem to be most actively engaged are the very ones you might expect to resist change: bless my soul, Jimmy, it's older Californians who are stepping up to the plate in droves...ripping out water-sucking lawns in favor of New Mexico/Arizona-style seriscapes or at the very least replacing thirsty turfgrass cultivars and ornamentals with more drought-tolerant varieties, and replacing outdated irrigation technologies with state-of-the-art systems pioneered by the golf industry. This is heartening stuff, as is much (though not all) of the data coming from Governor Jerry's office each month regarding how we performed during the preceding month in relation to the target reduction rates we've been given, which is generally pretty good. However, there are still pockets of resistors, mostly located in some of our more affluent areas (surprise!!!) who haven't yet gotten on the team, but they will very soon now that the heat is about to be turned up on their sorry asses...more soon on that.
The weather geniuses scattered around the world's brain tanks are still saying that the indicators are all still in place for the successful development of a powerful El Nino in the coming months, and that we here in California are likely in for a very wet winter (though it will not reach drought-buster proportions). This news is quite popular here in our little corner of the West, as you might expect. However, we've heard this song before, so no one is passing out the pointy party hats yet; we'll see.
In closing, a note to my good friend and former chef (twice, in fact), Dan Gilbert, who is presently living and working in beautiful Santa Cruz: Dan, I was thinking of that cream of Canadian cheddar (I think we used Black Diamond) soup that you created for one of our vintner's dinner menus at Del Paso a number of years back. That is one of the most strikingly-flavored culinary creations I can ever recall, and is one of the few dishes that some people still comment on from time to time. If you'll pass along the recipe we'll publish it here for the benefit of the F&B types (and anyone else who cares to try it) who check in from time to time. Let me know...
That's all for now...
So, pretty much everybody who grows wine grapes in California is now up to his or her butt in harvest, weeks and weeks early, due to the effects on vinifera of little water and a whole lot of prolonged heat. It's going to be very interesting, and a little nerve-rattling, to see what the overall quality of this vintage will be, because if, as many scientists presently believe, this growing season is a precursor of what climate change (yes, deniers, it's real, regardless of what Bush and Cheney told you) is likely to make commonplace, then we need to take note and begin learning how to deal with it as it will be. This 2015 harvest's final judgment is, of course, still a mystery to us all, even though most grapes destined to become sparkling wines are safely in,picking in Napa having begun as early as July22 (Mumm, I think) as are many of the aromatic varieties such as sauvignon blanc, gewurztraminer, albarino, viognier, etc., harvesting having begun during the first week of August. We will be spending some time in both Napa and Sonoma later this month, as well as the Shenandoah area, so will get a good look and feel for what to expect overall from some folks who are knee-deep in it, and will bring that back to you.
The pall of wood smoke that has been hanging over our end of the valley for the past month or so has been pushed to the east (temporarily, at least) by winds off the Pacific during the last week, bringing cooler temperatures (80s and 90s instead of 100 - 113) but no moisture, at least none that made it over the Coast Range. Many of us are now coming to the realization that lawns and gardens are the least of our worries: they're done. Now we're coming to understand that our trees are entering crisis territory, as well, and we're losing sleep over how to deal with that set of problems. We have several cherished trees on our property, most significantly a 60-foot beauty of a western sugarcone pine that shades the front of our house, and a hundred-year-old valley oak that anchors a big piece of our hillside between the house and the road. We have determined that we will do all possible to ensure that these two trees, in particular, survive this drought: we, like many of our neighbors, have for the past several months been re-purposing and re-using every possible drop of water that runs through our piping: dishwater, laundry water (when possible), even "stale" dog and cat water. We have taken landscape that had been irrigated for decades out of the loops, even to the point of allowing a space I had hand-graded and seeded to fine fescue with the intent of creating a backyard practice putting green go back to dirt and rock, all for the purpose of conserving additional water for our treasured trees. So each and every day we gingerly carry plastic tubs and buckets of murky dishwater or water gathered from other purposes, like washing windows, out to our trees and carefully pour it along their driplines in the hope that these extra few hundred gallons each month will help them weather this nasty experience. We'll see, I suppose, if we live long enough.
It's truly a fascinating new world here in the West: almost anywhere you go, whether it's the grocery, a gas station, the pharmacy, a bookstore, or standing on the practice tee at your local (dusty) muny, the conversations overheard will almost invariably turn to the drought and its challenges within a short time. You can bet money on it. People are attacking their particular concerns in different ways, and it's interesting to note that the folks who seem to be most actively engaged are the very ones you might expect to resist change: bless my soul, Jimmy, it's older Californians who are stepping up to the plate in droves...ripping out water-sucking lawns in favor of New Mexico/Arizona-style seriscapes or at the very least replacing thirsty turfgrass cultivars and ornamentals with more drought-tolerant varieties, and replacing outdated irrigation technologies with state-of-the-art systems pioneered by the golf industry. This is heartening stuff, as is much (though not all) of the data coming from Governor Jerry's office each month regarding how we performed during the preceding month in relation to the target reduction rates we've been given, which is generally pretty good. However, there are still pockets of resistors, mostly located in some of our more affluent areas (surprise!!!) who haven't yet gotten on the team, but they will very soon now that the heat is about to be turned up on their sorry asses...more soon on that.
The weather geniuses scattered around the world's brain tanks are still saying that the indicators are all still in place for the successful development of a powerful El Nino in the coming months, and that we here in California are likely in for a very wet winter (though it will not reach drought-buster proportions). This news is quite popular here in our little corner of the West, as you might expect. However, we've heard this song before, so no one is passing out the pointy party hats yet; we'll see.
In closing, a note to my good friend and former chef (twice, in fact), Dan Gilbert, who is presently living and working in beautiful Santa Cruz: Dan, I was thinking of that cream of Canadian cheddar (I think we used Black Diamond) soup that you created for one of our vintner's dinner menus at Del Paso a number of years back. That is one of the most strikingly-flavored culinary creations I can ever recall, and is one of the few dishes that some people still comment on from time to time. If you'll pass along the recipe we'll publish it here for the benefit of the F&B types (and anyone else who cares to try it) who check in from time to time. Let me know...
That's all for now...
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