The Saga of the Brinks Lock

The protocol at the Coppell Family YMCA is that lockers are for day use only.  This is because there just aren't enough lockers for all members to be assigned a permanent one.  The policy is posted all over the locker room saying locks and belongings are to be taken with you when you leave the building.

A Brinks lock appeared on the locker next to the one I use about two weeks before Thanksgiving.  One week later, or perhaps more, friend Kristin moved one of the policy signs and put it directly onto that locker.  The lock stayed there.

On December 5, a new sign was up saying that the lock would be removed on December 6 at noon.  On December 7, the lock had some small bites taken out of it, but was still there.  On December 13, more bite marks appeared on the lock along with a new sign:
                             YOU WIN THIS ROUND.
                                Lock 1       YMCA 0

That day, at the coffee table, we cornered the Y's maintenance man and TR offered to lend him a die cutter to remove it.  John said, "Oh, I have a die cutter.  I hadn't thought about that."

The next day the lock was gone, although the locker was a bit worse for wear--the finish was marred and the metal lock holder had a bite out of it.  This time the sign said:
                                                     K. O.
                                             YMCA WINS

                                      Picture of lock in two pieces--lock and hasp.

Spanish Tapas Wine Pairing Dinner at Grape Wine Springs in Grapevine

TR and I arrived early and ordered a glass each of sparkling wine.  When friends Maureen and John joined us, we had another glass and they also each had a glass.  But almost immediately, they came to pour the glass of wine that went with our first two courses--a Chardonnay/Semillion Blend.  It was lightly oaked and went ok with the food, but not by itself. 



 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Our first course was warm dates with manchego and bacon.  I could have made a meal of these, alone.  We had already decimated the the olives, so we asked for more.  There were also lightly salted almonds at our table.  These went well with all the wines (except the last.)

 

 

Our second course was arugula and Serrano Ham with a Lemon-Olive Oil Vinaigrette.  I forgot to take a picture of this which was a shame, because it was a delicious salad with a mild and slightly lemony dressing.

 

Then there was Garlic Shrimp with garlic roasted tomatoes, grated Manchego and crispy Prosciutto.  Unfortunately the shrimp were much too peppery for my tender palette.   Luckily, TR loves spicy food, so he got my second shrimp while I shoveled almonds and olives into my mouth.  With no bread and no water on the table, this was my best recourse, and it worked.

 

Below you see one of our servers pouring the Sangiovese which was to be our wine for this and the next course.  Since both of these courses were fish, I questioned the wine choice, but wound up only taking a couple of sips of each of the next two wines, the brut and the chardonnay blend still gracing my place went well with both dishes.

 

 

Then came one of my favorite dishes of the night.  This was Scallops with Saffron sauce.  It said in the menu it would be paired with Spanish Paprika Potatoes.  Thank goodness it wasn't.  The potatoes came with our next course and were very spicy.  They would have drowned out the delicate flavor of the creamy saffron sauce and the perfectly cooked (and even harder, cleaned) scallops.  The toast point included, when dipped in the saffron sauce, cooled the remainder of the spice from the shrimp of the last course. 

 

The only meat course was also lovely (except for the way too spicy Paprika Potatoes, which I shared with TR).  The Beef Skewers with Orange and Garlic was paired with Grape Wine Springs' Night Watchman, a Petit Syrah and Zinfandel blend).  Again, I took only a couple of sips of the wine which was an apt pairing, but I was finishing off my whites and they also went quite well (what doesn't go well with sparkling brut?)    The beef,  perfectly medium rare--a feat for caterers--was beautifully tender and seasoned.  I know some people would object to the only slightly cooked red onions on the skewer, but for me they added a tasty and crunchy element along with the red pepper and yellow tomatoes that won TR over completely.

 

The final course of Valencia Orange Cake was huge, moist, and mildly orangey.  The Decadence Chocolate Port it was paired with was, as always, to die for.  Maureen and John were surprised by how good it was and they left with a couple bottles of it.  We left with a case of sparkling--half brut and half almond.  At 30% off on bottles bought for the evening, they had made us a deal we couldn't refuse.

 

Conversation had been lively all evening long.  For the first time in a while, there was no live music for the dinner which was a good thing, since it usually overpowers the ability to talk in the small venue.  We were able to discuss and even solve some of the world's refugee problems.  Quite satisfying!

 

We left full but not stuffed, happy but not drunk, and basking in the glow of having great friends.



Taste of Italy and Wine Pairing at Grape Vine Springs Winery

I tried to get a picture of the two new bottles of wine that were being introduced with this dinner, but my computer is telling me the disk from my camera is corrupted!  Ahhhrgh!  So, I am using a stock photo from the winery's website.

This winery starts you with a glass of wine when you walk in--a choice of white or red.  We always choose white and received a light pinot...a perfect starter.

With the Amuse Bouche of two mini crab cakes with red pepper Romesco sauce (a bit large for an Amuse Bouche, but small for an appetizer), we were served their first new wine--a brut sparkling that they call Celebrate.  It was, to our tastes, as good as Homestead's Celebration used to be (before they ran out) making it the best sparkling for the best price in Grapevine!  It complimented the delicious crab cakes well--I am often wary of crab cakes--I've encountered too many shells--but these were exceptional.  When the owner told us all wine would be 30% off that evening, we started plotting how many we should buy.

A mini antipasti plate came next with marinated mozzarella, salami, about the best prosciutto I've ever had, olives, and a lovely hard nutty cheese--Manchego???  This was paired with a lightly oaked Chardonnay, which we normally hate, but the pairing was perfect.  We couldn't stop commenting on how well the wine complimented all components of the dish--even the acidic single cocktail onion.

Gorgonzola and cracked black pepper pork chops with potato gnocchi and sage Alfredo sauce, prosciutto roasted garlic zucchini and cheese biscuits followed.  The pork chop was huge and delicious--I hated that I could only finish half of it--creamy and moist--perfectly cooked--a very difficult meat to pull off when catering.  I also just tasted the gnocchi--I'd been looking forward to it having seen in made on many cooking shows, but, the reality of it was a disappointment.  As far as I was concerned mashed potato with flour, rolled, cut and boiled kind of had the texture of paste that has gotten too dry in the jar.  The sauce was good, though.  The zucchini was way too strong of garlic for me (and that is hard to do--I put garlic in everything), and the asparagus was overcooked, thin, and wilted.

With this was served a Malbec--fruity and strong, which complimented the pork wonderfully.  They came around asking us if we wanted more Malbec, but, knowing what red wine can do to us, we both declined.  The first serving was quite adequate.

The dessert was an apricot mascarpone cake with toasted sliced almonds.  This may have been the weakest dish of the night, or I may simply have been too full to appreciate it.  After sending half of my pork chop back to the kitchen, this piece of cake looked about twice as big as necessary and I ate less than half of it.  It was also too sweet for my tastes.  It was served with the second of their new wines--This Wine A'int Bad.

This wine comes with a story.  Back at the brewery their attempt to bring the Port to it's full 18% alcohol level had stalled at 9%.  Nothing they did could make it finish its fermentation process.  So, they dumped their three kinds (Raspberry Chocolate, Chocolate, and Chocolate Cherry) together and tasted it.  Their first reaction after tasting this concoction became the name of the wine.  They bottled about 320 bottles of their mistake and were selling it for just $18.95 (before the 30% discount.)

What did TR in, I think, was first that they poured a very generous serving of This Wine A'int Bad...so generous that I could only finish half of it.  TR then proceeded to finish both my wine and my dessert...and wound up with a hangover next day.  I had known I was feeling it and that I was driving, which is why I stopped.

We bought 5 bottles of the Celebrate and one of This Wine A'int Bad.  Probably should have gotten more of the sparking, but we will be back.  We have to introduce Julie to it.

McKinney Wine-ing

So the next day after Grapefest, we had an appointment to see our IRA (money gal) server in McKinney.  While there, I suggested we go to the two wineries there and pick up our club selections.  We set the GPS ("Gypsy") for Dusti's address since this was a new office and we'd never been there.  After taking us on quite a round-a-bout trip, it took us right across the street from our favorite McKinney restaurant--Café Malaga.  We told Dusti if she'd just told us what the office was across from, we'd have found it easy.  We love Café Malaga.

So, next we went to Lone Star Wine Cellars.  I first wanted to confirm that they had gotten my e-mail about cancelling my membership.  The wine seller behind the counter called the owner who talked to me and asked if I'd tried their newest wine--a slightly sparkling moscato.  Usually they are too sweet for me, but this was nice.  We already had one selection coming from before I cancelled, so I got two bottles of the moscato.  However, I'm not at all sure she actually cancelled my membership--  I'm inclined to think not since I was wishy-washy on the phone.  We each had a glass as well and some warm nuts.

Then we went to Landon who have two sparkling wines we really like plus a bunch of fruit wines that are fun.




We got two bottles each of the sparklings, then ordered a bottle to drink there, plus a cheese platter which would be supper.  Originally the plan had been to go to Café Malaga, but a friend has asked us to join her for lunch at Pho Yen Phi earlier and there was only a very little hunger in us.  I can always enjoy a cheese platter with a bottle of sparkling for supper...  :-)

Grapefest, Thursday, 9/11, 2014

Oh, yes, know.  The pictures of "not us" are annoying, but I cannot remember my camera for the life of me when I go to these things.  The point of this pic is look behind these ladies...the crowd!  the crowd!

Which accounts for us going on Thursday.  Imagine trying to navigate that with a scooter (me) and a walker (TR).  This pic was actually taken at the People's choice event which is a way that we non-expert peons can vote on our favorite wines.  And, because the event is so popular, a huge number of wineries participate--only Texas wineries are allowed and there are between 50-60 of them participating this year.

But, we did this event last in our day--because we went on Thursday, the first People's Choice time slot was at 5:00 - 6:30 p. m.

We got there at about 10:30.  I accompanied TR to the shuttle bus after we parked, and then rigged his walker to the back of my scooter with bungies to race the bus to the entrance of the event.  (The bus won.)  When I met TR with his walker, unhooked it, and we headed into the event, a guy ran out toward us from the side motioning to a special parking area they had set up for handicapped, right by the front entrance.  Was that there in previous years?  I have no memory of it.  But, now we know for future reference.

Of course, first on my agenda was to check out the art and other vendors.   TR was willing to accompany me for awhile.  Then we came to Nature's Finest Art:
http://www.naturesfinestart.net/NEW_Gemstone_Designs.html    They are at many of the festivals and art shows in the area--we see them all the time--and I have bought most of my jewelry with them.  TR has also bought rings from them, but they had none with them on this day--however he browsed while I spent over $300.  My purse sated and his browsing also, we eased on up the road to the champagne terrace, whose bar was not yet open (things often don't open at opening on Thursday), but there was champagne being served on the street, so, I left him with a glass as I explored the rest of the vendors.  However, I spent no more, still in shell-shock from the $300.  I went back and had a glass of champagne with him. 

While browsing, we had noticed that Messina Hoff had a sign up on an old hotel building saying they were going to open this fall.  Commenting on that to the champagne vendor, we were pointed to a new winery just around the corner which had opened in August.  Since it was within the event gates, we headed over to check it out.

It is Sloan and Williams Winery:   http://www.sloanwilliams.com/index.html.  I see from their website that they have vineyards in central Texas, but that is not what the girl at the winery said.  She told us the grapes came from their original winery in Lodi, CA.  But the website doesn't mention that.  They only had four wines at the moment, but more are coming in all the time, including a line of fruit wines.  We liked two of the wines and shared a glass of each (pacing ourselves).  They also had a nice assortment of Tapas (probably the best in Grapevine) at the moment, including a build it yourself cheese plate with lots of choices.  We have not joined their club...yet.  This is a wait and see attitude at the moment.  We did not have any Tapas, because this was a festival day and we had already dipped into the street food and intended to go back.  I'd gotten a steak burrito which I had only been able to eat half of.

Back to the Champagne Terrace to see if any music had started yet; it had not.  We drank champagne and read and wound up talking on the phone--everyone seemed to want to call us.  And, the music started sound checks and rehearsing a couple songs--a rock group--not the usual fare for the champagne terrace, but at this point, we were just waiting for the People's Choice event.  I got TR two desserts from the Italian tent and I got a frozen chocolate covered cheesecake--my first ever.  Wow!



Now we were ready for the People's Choice.  We headed on down there and waited in line for our wristband, glass, ballot, and for them to open the gate.  We headed toward the back figuring back to front would encounter a bit less wait at each table.  The point was to pace ourselves and only sample those wines that we had half a prayer of liking.  Between the two of us, we were able to mark our ballots with only one wine in each category that we like.  I also discovered at the Messina Hoff table that they will be opening on Thanksgiving Day in Grapevine.  So that makes five real wineries (that can sell bottles) in Grapevine by the end of the year, plus two food and entertainment venues that have Texas wines.



TR decided to walk back to the car, after getting a frozen chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick, and I, not to be outdone, had had a root beer float which I immediately proceeded to dump all over my scooter!  I managed to salvage half of it, so all was not lost.  We were home by 8:30.

Within the next few days, I e-mailed another winery, Crossroads, that I'd learned at the People's Choice was in Little Elm (across the lake from us--about ten minutes away).  We like two of their wines very much--Detour and My Cheeky Bastard.  The gentleman e-mailed me back that they would be moving to Grapevine before the end of the year--so six wineries in Grapevine!

A Serendipity Day at Grapevine on September 4

Well, over to the right side of our People's Choice tickets (an hour an a half opportunity to sample Texas wines from over 60 different wineries and vote on your favorites) it said Sept. 4.  Now the whole statement was Sept 4-11 which I should have known was a misprint--Grapefest (in which People's Choice is an event) lasts 4 days, not ten.)  I had deliberately gotten our tickets for Thursday because it is the sparsest  day (on the week-end, there are so many people it is impossible for me to navigate with my scooter.) 

So, long story short, we arrived in Grapevine at the right time, on the right day, just a week early.  Grapevine was (relatively) dead.  I checked the tickets and saw that on the left side, it said September 11.  I hadn't even noticed that before.  So, I said, "Well, we need sparkling wine, anyway" (we drink a lot of sparkling wine--the alcohol content is not as much, most of our friends will drink it making scrambling for the right wine easier, and I often serving it with crackers and cheese or breakfast, the two times we most enjoy wine at home.)



I suggested we head for Homestead first.  This is a small house with two rooms, a front porch, a side patio, and tables in the front yard (in the picture, obviously decorated for Hallowe'en).  The actual winery is further north, this is just a venue for serving and selling their wines as well as some of the other wines of North Texas.  Homestead has carried a wonderful sparkling (Celebration) in the past, but they ran out in the winter.  I was hoping they had gotten more.  They had not, but were still hopeful.  Since we have a club membership there, we sat down and sampled the two new wines they had, then ordered a glass each of our favorites.



This is (or at least was) one of the main draws at Homestead--John, now retired much to our sorrow.  He is always a friendly and charming soul--probably the soul of Homestead Grapevine, in fact.  We affectionately called him "the undertaker" because he looked like he'd stepped straight from a horror movie (though not so much with this hat which was not a usual accoutrement.  I think he bought it for golf, something he intended to do a lot after retirement.)  Of course, John wasn't there (though we may be lucky enough to catch him next week at Grapefest)--he is retired of course, but still shows up for parties and events--on his schedule.  We had a lovely conversation with the lady who was working there...all of Homestead's people are friendly and knowledgeable.

              

           

Next we went to Cross Timbers Winery, as far north as you can go on Main Street in Grapevine.  Since this is somewhat off the beaten path, we don't often go there, but we will now.  The venue is huge, a small house which holds the tasting room is bordered by huge outside areas, including a large barn used for parties and a wonderful trellised terrace in back not even shown here.  There are two large parking lots and even room for some grapevines, though most of their wine is neither grown nor made here.  We have usually found one or two wines we like here, but have not been really wild about any.  We sampled their semi-sweet wines (which would be more to our taste) and found one we were impressed with--their Muscat Canalli (the newer one).  This is semi-sparkling and not too sweet, but certainly light and lovely.  We bought two bottles of this.  The wine clerk  would not allow us to sample their new sparkling wine, because the rest of the bottle would go bad.  We said we'd buy a bottle, have a glass there, then recork it, and take it home.  (This worried her greatly, but not us--we knew that right down the road we could buy a sparkling wine bottle cork.)  However, the wine was delicious, and we not only drank the whole bottle right there (Cross Timbers gives you complimentary cheese and crackers with wine drunk on the premises, and we had to finish that--right?), we bought four more bottles of the sparkling and texted Julie about how our day was going and finding this great new wine.

Of course, at this point, we needed something to eat---FAST!  We headed to The Main Bakery and Bistro (whose website pictures I can't seem to copy and bring over here).  TR had an angus burger with a huge pile of French fries.  I had a bowl of tomato basil soup (which was to die for) and a fresh salmon salad.  I had expected the salad to be smoked salmon, but it was salmon sushi, which was surprisingly mild.  It had an Asian dipping sauce, which really didn't add much flavor, and the overall effect was that it was bland and not what I needed after all that wine, so I helped TR finish his pile of French Fries.  We then skipped all those fabulous-looking pastry desserts...and headed to Su Vino Winery.

Had I been in Grapevine with girlfriends, we'd have gone shopping--there are wonderful shops and art exhibit spots on Main Street as well, but I'll do that next week at Grapefest.  Then I will be able to park TR at some music with some wine and wine tickets and shop to my heart's content.

Now at Su Vino we sampled their new wines and ordered a glass each of our favorites with a small cheese plate (picture below.)  We had a fun conversation with some of the people at the bar--a couple ladies in town for a convention and doing some sight seeing (or drinking) on their spare time.  After our purchase of four bottles of sparkling almond wine, we headed home, ready for a quiet week-end.

Dinner at Seasons 52

Well, I have a picture right here of the four of us at dinner, but I can't make the ding blasted scanner work...  It says I need a software update, but Windows 8 won't let me look for it!  Aggggh!

So, hopefully this pic from their website will help:  (on the bottom of the page--it won't let me write underneath the picture for some reason.)

Julie and Chris took us out to celebrate TR's birthday.  She immediately ordered champagne  and we then ordered four appetizers to share.  I wasn't greatly impressed with the seafood, but loved the ravioli (if memory serves, it was spinach and feta).  Very good.  All of us but Chris had rack of lamb (which was lovely, but way too much--I took half of mine home, along with some of TR's and half of Julie's.  We ate it the next night also.)  Chris had a steak and loved it.

You can see the dessert platter below, except we were brought a dessert tree (on a tree-shaped stand like a cupcake stand) with TR's birthday candle on the top.  Fun.  We could take as many as we wanted--I think everyone took three, except me--I took two.  And my first choice was not much to my liking--Key Lime, but it seemed to have more graham cracker than lime.  My second choice--Crème Brulee--was much better.  One of Julie's choices was the tiramisu, which she did not like--one taste told me why--it was made with very strong expresso and Julie does not like coffee.  I found it delicious.  One of TR's was blueberries in lemon curd.  I had gone with the key lime thinking it would have more flavor--wrong-o.  That lemon curd was wonderfully rich and tart--just like I like it.  Fabulous.

We decided next time, we will just get appetizers and desserts....and maybe leave not quite so full.