What a 24 hour stretch….

Well yesterday started out with a first – me running 10 miles for the first time in my entire life. I haven't been talking about this too much on the blog, but for a long time I have been trying to run a ½ marathon but have had lots of injuries that have precluded me from getting there. My previous high was 9 miles but it was with enormous pain in my shins (aka shin splints), so the fact that I am sitting here the day after with only a minor bit of soreness in my knee is a positive thing. We'll see as we ramp up for my 1^st race – coming up soon.

After the run, it was time to prep for yet another 'Open That Bottle Night' at the house. An awesome crew of people with some excellent wines:

• Glaetzer Bishop Shiraz (2004) and Penfolds St. Henri Shiraz (1998) – Chris and Shelly.
• Lokoya Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon (1996 and 1997) – Sharon and Ralph.
• J. Bookwalter Cabernet Sauvignon (2003) – JoAnna and Mary – also winners of the 'best story of the evening'.
• Kistler Les Noisetiers Chardonnay (2003) and Atalon Merlot (2001) – Rebecca and Michael.
• Molly Dooker Goosebumps Sparkling Shiraz (2006), Lange Freedom Hill Pinot Noir (2003) and a Kindzmarauli Sapervi Dessert Wine (1997).

So JoAnna and Mary get the award for the best story (prize TBD but it may have to do something with Purple Teeth Cellars – ahem). JoAnna grew up in the Tri-Cities and she had an aspiration to be able to afford to buy wines from a winery close by known as J. Bookwalter. So when she and Mary went there a few years ago, JoAnna just said to Mary that money was going to be spent on a case of wine and that was it. Hmmm….. Apparently this mindset was something new to Mary, but eventually she came around…. Mary stepped up and splurged on a bottle to go along with JoAnna's case. To those not in attendance, let me assure you that the delivery was pretty hilarious, especially because they both tend to like some great labels like Pepper Bridge (my favorite in WA State). And now Marc and I have a new winery in the Columbia Valley to check out because we need to acquire more wine.

Some words about the Kindzmarauli Sapervi Dessert Wine (1997). This was given to me back in 1998 when I hosted my very 1^st dinner party back in my shoebox in the West Village by a gentleman named Matt Bartels (now Bartelsian). Now there was a ton of alcohol consumed at this dinner party – one might use the word 'paralytic' to describe the state of things including one person needing to be carried to the cab to get home. I guess that had to do with the sangria that my friend, Ian, and I made. Oops. Anyway we never got to Matt's bottle but I had always vaguely remembered the description as some kind of Armenian cognac thing. Most of the bottle was in the Cyrillic lettering, so I never bothered to really look at it in too much detail. Matt had just gotten engaged to the woman who would become his wife (Ella) and she was Armenian so we didn't give the origins of the bottle much thought except for the fact that it was really cool…. Now this bottle has been in 4 cross-country moves, apartments/condos/houses with different temperature fluctuations, etc. I finally told Marc that we had open this year since I got it 10 years ago and also reconnected with Matt on Facebook. We discovered it was actually a semi-sweet red, which made us even more skeptical of how it was going to taste. It actually tasted pretty nice – not too syrupy, great flavors, etc. I think we are going to do some kind of candle holder thing with the bottle itself. But the wine in the bottle ended up being quite the positive surprise.

My favorite wine of the evening was actually the 2001 Atalon Merlot, which was purchased because Michael wanted to be "anti-Sideways". "Sideways" was the movie that pretty much killed a lot of Merlot producers for a long time because the main character had a personal vendetta against the grape. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy any of the other wines but I had to pick my favorite of the evening. The Lokoyas brought by Sharon and Ralph were superb (BTW, we love that Ralph had an obsessive wine buying phase in the 90s and he is so generous to share with us every year), and the '97 rocked. The Glaetzer from the Ba-ross-a (not Ba-rose-a) Valley was very spicy and the Kistler Chardonnay was perfectly paired with Michael's seafood appetizer of salmon, crab, shrimp, garlic and some other excellent ingredients.

We needed something healthy at some point in the dinner and Sharon came through with an excellent salad that was not only healthy, but tasty. JoAnna and Mary came through in the pinch with some fruit pies (liked the key lime one). Shelly and Chris brought a very globally oriented cheese course which included some Drunken Goat (very appropriate). Rebecca made an outstanding twice baked potato dish that could not have gone better with the main course (Brasato al Barolo) and the wines served with dinner, particularly the Lokoya Cabs. And finally, Marc made some kick-a** chocolate truffles from a recipe in Wine Spectator. No leftovers on that one unfortunately.

Fun times…. Thanks to all who trekked to the house for an outstanding evening.