A Giant Season

Spectacular.  Thrilling.  Emotional.  

There were the hits, the broken bats, the creepy beards, spectacular catches, the Cardinal fumbles, the orange flags, the kayaks hoping to catch fly balls in Mc Covey Cove, and the chilly San Francisco drizzle that of course rolled into a classic San Francisco downpour.  The San Francisco Giants are once again headed to the World Series after a hard fought battle for the Pennant and man, do they deserve it.

I know The City by The Bay technically isn't my city anymore, but it does have a way of seeping into your DNA and settling into your bones and never giving up until you mentally promise that one day you will be back.  It's just that kind of place with those kinds of people, and ultimately those kinds of fans that know how to support and host a team through good times and bad.  The Giants have a long history of battling their own identity, whether it be their home city (New York?  San Jose?) or their playing field, Candlestick anyone???  No thank you.  

I remember seventeen years ago when this stadium by the bay didn't exist and it's future lie simply in desperate pleas on orange Prop P signs plastered in every restaurant, shop and apartment window around town.  In spite of this gigantic, "modern" new stadium being proposed for one of the seediest, filthiest neighborhoods in The City that was home to only the dump, shopping cart communities, and abandoned warehouses, support was finally strong in 1996 after many failed attempts to build the Giants a new home.  We voted, the prop passed and as construction got under way, we saw restaurants and bars gentrify the area along with swanky new condos and even a Whole Foods Market.  Pac Bell Park was completed in 2000 and the following summer I took my three week old son in a Baby Bjorn to his first baseball game and remember that gorgeous San Francisco day like it was yesterday.  The park is now on it's third name in six years, AT&T Park, but will always be the beloved home of this dedicated team and it's fans.

Go Giants!!

Wine Workout

I just came across this fabulous article in the October issue of Food & Wine magazine.  "Train Yourself To Be a Better Wine Taster" really breaks down the essential steps in evaluating wine by taking wine out of the process completely.  What???  Oh yes, absolutely.  

Working on an account with Andrea Robinson too many years ago I first heard her describe wine to a hotel waitstaff in this manner and I can't tell you how enlightening it was.  I won't go into all the details but when she spoke about body, tannins, oak, etc. using comparisons such as milk (nonfat, 2%, whole), tea (oversteeped), and toast (burnt), it was an analogy that made wine so sensorially easy to understand you could instantly see light bulbs going off around the room.  The article breaks tasting wine into six tasting exercises to more clearly define the meaning of body, tannin, acidity, sweetness, flavor, and oak.  It is a brilliant way to "help even a wine know-nothing become a smarter, happier, more insightful taster."

Cheers!