Troglodytes and Pi.

'Troglodyte' is a varied word with many entries. Coincidence has it I might qualify for them all to varying degree, but for the sake of this intro we'll stick with the first two.

1. a prehistoric cave dweller.
2. a person living in seclusion.
3. a person of degraded, primitive, or brutal character.
4. a person unacquainted with affairs of the world.
5. an animal living underground.

In the chase for a mathematical equation to the universe, my vote is for Pi. It is most like the wax and wane of everyday life, randomness with sudden punctuations of pattern, the patterns themselves random. At position 9, 470, 344, the string 1234567 occurs. At position 3, 346, 228 the string 7777777 occurs. Like that.

So that when I try to figure out the mathematical equation of my winos visits to The Cave, it is just as elusively without pattern. I may very well be here for days minus any activity at all, it is crickets, it is pure silence, it is the stuff of Monks & Madness, and then all of a sudden it's crazy, everyone shows up at once, you think it will be a busy day but it is only a busy moment, and an hour later and an hour after that it is again nothing, I have to wait maybe twenty, maybe a hundred, maybe a million positions to pass before the next random pattern occurs. It's so exciting!

(click here to play with Pi.)

History

The Hotel, once glamorous, became a virtual crack-den only half occupied. That was the purchase made by Mr. Day and his company at the end of the seventies. A few originals remain, easily discernible from the general population, they are the ones who have personality, characters direct from Central Casting. Small aside: there really is a Central Casting. I happened past it one day, perused the line outside, and thought, wow, they could be right out of Central Casting...much in the same way I was passing La Brea Tarpits one day and observed, hm, smells like tar around here. I know, I'm brilliant that way.

Some of the original, some of the character , some of the flavor remains, both in and around The Hotel. When our fire extinguisher was serviced, it turns out the "Indian Chief Fire Extinguisher Service" really is run by an Indian Chief who also once lived here way before my time. There are kids here who tell of older brothers once living here. And of course there is Larry.

There were a few incarnations of radio on the premises, mostly KIEV at 87 on your AM dial. Here is a more in depth history of them and their time in the basement of the Hotel. The sign is

still on the back of their door. There are also remnants of them on the parking lot, cements patches where radio towers once stood. Here's also a picture of a picture where you can make out the radio tower in the foreground while they're building The Cave in the background. (You can see this one hanging when you come in to visit.)

Larry worked at KIEV. He did commercials for them and was here in the wee hours watching the night pass by, quite possibly why The Cave caught his attention. Larry came in today to pick up some wine, and I saw this one in the outgoings. 1969 Robert Mondavi Cab, best wine of the year that year, puntless, with a price tag that reads $5.27. The wine, The building, The Larry...a moment of many classics.

Happy Valentine's Day from The Cave.

Who loves ya, baby?

Breaking Bread.

I once knew someone fond of the expression "breaking bread," a simple though exquisitely layered term despite its biblical roots (600 references). To sit with, to commune, to get to the heart of a matter; the power and bond and intimacy of small gesture.

So when I got an email yesterday from a person I don't know at all well asking if they could bend my ear with some things that were stressing them out, rather than opt for a restaurant I thought it a moment better, more wholly served by "breaking bread." And also that wine might help.

The menu.

I overindulged a bit at the farmer's market this past weekend (it's such a great time for winter produce), so I threw it all together as a stew: carrots and brussel sprouts oven roasted (olive oil, s&p at 350 degrees until tender), two different kale's sauteed in garlic and olive oil, and garbanzo beans all in a curried tomato sauce. Turns out my stressed out guest is vegetarian, so that worked out nicely.

(But we picked up some sourdough and Manchego as a precaution.)

The wine.

Just this week one of my crazy cellar guys gave me a bottle of Pedemont Cellars 2007 Adagio. He's crazy because he comes in, he says hi, I say hi, and then he goes into the cellar. A few minutes later he comes out again and hands me a bottle of wine, and then he disappears into the cellar again to do his thing. No reason and no fanfare. Like maybe I did something that would compel him to want to do that in return, or maybe I said something that made him all weepy with soft generosity. None of that: just because. Blows me away. Anyway, the wine is a blend of 40% Syrah and 60% Sangiovesse. I have no idea what that means, but the label does, fruity and spicy, and let me tell you that label didn't lie. What I really liked about this wine was it was a really nice bottle of wine. It wasn't flashy and it wasn't trying to be the center of attention; no prima donna aspirations here, just a good, solid, full bunch of flavor that was a perfect and willing accompaniment to the meal it shared.

I happened to have too much food that would have gone bad had someone not helped me out with it, and it happened to be vegetarian. I happened to get a call from a vegetarian who needed to be fed. I happened to receive a bottle of wine just this week, for no reason other than just because, that also happened to perfectly accompany the meal on its own terms. A very simple meal, it would seem, born nonetheless of a good amount of coincidence, all come together for the final bread broken, three hours of good conversation in an easy environment. Sometimes the moment's reprieve is all we need.

Sarah, Nick, and Bordeaux Undiscovered

Blame the Saints, not the one's from New Orleans who I think are playing in the Superbowl this weekend, no, the Patron Saints of Wine. Or maybe it was my curiosity about that subject matter that started it, the same curiosity that anecdotally has been bad news for felines. But this curiosity was divined.

I was sitting here on a quiet Sunday Googling, the whim of the moment, 'Patron Saints of Wine.' There are 441,000 results for this search, but if you are like me, you have patience for a page or two. I tend to click - scan - backspace for a while, and then return to what seemed worthy. One of my returns was to the first result listed, some guy's blog named "Bordeaux Undiscovered." Scrolling down the page I noticed the side bar had a lot of info about wine that might help a person who knows nothing about wine know something about wine. Of course, we've been here before. I've been on all the websites, read through all the experts opinions, and to be honest it's been so overwhelming, I feel so vastly incapable, that I've not learned too much at all. For some reason it's not sticking. So I expected no less from this sight, but the subjects were interesting to me and I sat here a couple of hours reading this guy's blog. For which I got paid. I know!

Nick writes the story of an idea. What was happening was, for every post I read I actually understood something, versus the nothing I've been understanding for a year now reading other people's contributions. Nick writes his posts in a way that speaks to my way of comprehending something; he gives a context and then delineates its parts. All I'd been reading was parts, but now I was able to see how it all fit together, each post both self-contained and part of the larger machine.

So I emailed Nick over there at the Bordeaux Undiscovered Wine Shop in the UK to thank him. (Life is short; say 'thank you.') What I didn't expect was to hear back, and to hear back rather immediately. Next day was an email from Sarah, the first of a quite a few, really, so unnecessarily generous and open, all for a troglodyte who knows nothing about wine. What's wrong with these people?

Isn't the world cool?

Last night Sarah emailed me at 2a.m. her time to answer my question asking for a clarification on shipping. Here's her response:

"We do sell to the USA (and internationally) but only on the fine wine site Interest In Wine. Due to the complex shipping laws the different states are governed by the customer normally has to arrange shipping themselves but we are happy to combine our efforts to get the job done as we have various contacts etc. Our financial wizard Paul arranges all this and we have negotiants (Bordeaux wine merchants) who we deal with. Our wines are either kept at the chateau in barrel as En Primeur (wine futures) or in bottle in France/UK. Unfortunately we can't do this on Bordeaux-Undiscovered as the wines are petite chateaux and a fraction of the price - therefore we simply can't justify the expense . . at the moment anyways."

Give it a peruse, you won't be disappointed. Oh, and while you're over there, don't miss this one posted on Nick's blog yesterday.

The World Famous Cave. Thank you Sarah and Nick. Of over six thousand saints, only one is considered the patron saint of generosity: St. Nicholas of Myra. He the Santa Claus prototype. Hey, wait - Nick? Nah...