Going Postal.

Here's a list of post-office shootings since 1983. Big list. After ten years and thirty-five deaths the term "going postal" became part of the American lexicon.

People don't go "In-n-Out;" they don't go "Nordstroms," "Haagan Daz," or "Google." What is it about the postal system that elicits such strong emotion?

When I came to The Cave one of the first orders of business was to get the mail delivered here (which was previously delivered to the owners home address). Seems simple enough, right? Go to the post office and put in for an address change? It took two months and I confess, I was so frustrated I was very close to a complete melt down, shocked by the thorough and absolute pinnacle of incompetence my very simple task became. Mind you, I'm a troglodyte for a living, how competent can I be? Rocket Scientist, I assure you, in comparison to what I was dealing with there.

At the top of every month lease renewals are mailed out, and over the course of the month they trickle back in. Every few months I get a phone call from one of my winos wondering why their perfectly addressed renewal was returned to them. And every few months I go through the process of calling the USPS to try to find, identify, resolve the issue. I did it in November, and am in the process of doing it right now. I wish this was a story with a happy ending for my customers who have better things to do than find another envelope, another stamp, a pen...but I'll be doing do it again in another few months and it will never change.

Gee, I wonder why they're going bankrupt?

Things I want to know, Part 27, 056, 837, 001.

I like potato chips, but really, if there were a nuclear war and the fall out shelter I ended up in had only Kool-Aid and Wonder Bread, in that whole survival-of-the-fittest thing I'd absolutely be the first to go. I'm not vegetarian, but I do have a severe food allergy to, of all crazy things, sugar. Ridiculous, I know, but true. Ergo, I was oddly forced into a life of essentially healthy eating, you know, minus the potato chips. And because of this, I'm crazy-conscious of food and it has always been interesting to me.


Like why does most peanut butter have sugar in it? What's wrong with the peanuts? Don't they taste really good by themselves? You grow them right, a little peanut integrity. Whole Foods puts sugar in their store brand peanut butter! What the? Beats me. There's this stuff, Smucker's Sugar Free Diet Breakfast Syrup. Read that ingredients list. Under "features," it boasts a 365 day shelf life. WHAT IS THIS STUFF ?! People put this into their bodies? This is like me trying to find sugar-free sugar. At some point, you know, you just walk away.

Sometimes wine is a challenge for me, and I assume it is the sugars in it, residual or otherwise. But my reactions to wine vary, a couple of glasses leaving me with no residue at all the next day or with a bit of thickness. It varies and it is unpredictable.

Then I saw this post on the Terroirist blog. These are the two sub-links, both entirely interesting reads.
http://www.garagistewine.com/feeling-sick
http://www.finewinemag.com/docs/WFW%2030%20Wine%20Myths%20by%20Lewin.pdf

Perpetually new to wine, I confess I don't understand why (in some-not-all cases) it would require this much manipulation to produce a basic and decent product. What's wrong with the grapes and the sun? Why can't they just make wine? Am I drinking wine or "wine-product?" Am I drinking a good wine, or the wine of a good magician?

(2/4/11 - here are a few more links for you from Bordeaux Undiscovered. Thank you, Nick. )

Shhh...

The owners are hovering. Everybody behave!

A family nod.

I was perusing LA Times on-line yesterday and saw a picture of Alex and then thought, "Hey, that's Alex." Alex cellars here at The Cave. It's nice to see the kids are out there getting it done.
Nice write-up, Mr. Alex; congrats.

the Charles Bukowski wine review

Were my camera not in the shop for repair, today's photo would look a lot like this:











If you're going to have that much LA in January, then why not a little more. I was perusing a little bit of Bukowski last night and here an excerpt of is his poem "quiet in a quiet night."

(note: a posthumous publication from a guy who knows he's dying.)

"I can feel myself getting fat, old, and
stupid.
I wheeze putting on my shoes.
I am no longer sure if I have years
left, months left, weeks left,
days left
or is the last minute is arrowing
in.
no matter.
this bottle of 1983
Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classe
still rings the damned gong,
at least I've avoided sitting around
with the other old farts
sorting out unprecious
memories
the young are no help either,
they are shining mirrors without
reflection....

"this is an excellent wine.
it connects me with infinity.
a man without wine is like a fish without
water,
a bird without wings.

wine runs in the blood of the tiger
and me....

"it is a beautiful night."

Terroirist, (a daily wine blog)

I stumbled onto this blog recently and after a bit of perusing it has earned The Cave Seal of Approval. It's the first blog I've added to The Cave reading list in over a year. The logo is a bit of bad timing current events-wise, but I like its conciseness of content, it's round-up-one-stop- shopping style, and its off-beat subject matter.

And if you've ever thought you might want to try your own hand at writing about wine, today's post entitled Wanted: Wine Writers could be your first step. Good luck.

2008 L'Aventure Estate Optimus

Since I live in the building it's not a big deal to accommodate the occasional off-hour wine emergency. So when I was here at 1:30 a.m. Thursday and feeling a little too awake like maybe I wasn't going to go to bed at all, I thought it might be a nice time to open this up.

This stuff was crazy-huge-good. Big flavors, big body, perfectly balanced, fruity spice and spicy fruit with a little lingering cocoa at the finish. Watching re-runs of Frazier, the night hanging quietly around me, the beautiful silence, just digging this wine until about 3:30 a.m. It was great!

(Thank you, Mr. R.)

...a small troglodyte aside:

Am I obsessed with KTLA's annual broadcast of the Rose Parade? YES! Is it January 7th and I'm still thinking about it? YES!
I was still in high school when Stephanie Edwards and Bob Eubanks started hosting the Tournament of Roses, and I'm old. I guess they thought Stephanie was, too. In 2006 she was relegated to the sidelines so Bob could have a younger co-host...even though he's five years older than Ms. Edwards! It rained buckets that year and watching this older woman have to stand in it for the duration while Jerk Eubanks was warm and dry and loaded with passive aggressive digs was really a bad moment for all things classy.

It seems enough decency prevailed to reinstate Ms. Edwards to her post after another year's absence, but the bickering would and does prevail, indeed reign buckets. (Good one, I know.) It's kind of fun to watch.

But the main reason we're here today is a quote from last weeks parade, Something Mr. Eubanks said towards the end in a fit of annual floral nostalgia: "You can say what you want about this country of ours, but we are truly Americans."

I wrote it down.

And a week later I still have no idea what it means.

2004 Pride Mountain Merlot

I'd never heard of nor seen this stuff before opening it recently, and it was really good. Nice fruity things, nice little floral action in it, (that was a nice bit of pleasant surprise); very yummy. Thank-you, Mr. N, for this one.

Leftovers

Mmmm, leftovers.

This is Agnar. Okay, it's one of the original Nast drawings of the modern Santa Claus, but if you put it in a bit of a diet and gave it a shave, it could be Agnar. Same ruddy features, same twinkley eyes. And Agnar is from Norway, not too far from where this guy came.



















Actually, it was the Julenisser that came from Norway, household elves or gnomes. Here's a good backstory in them.



















This is an Izzy. You may recall Izzy from this picture re: LA Times article on him and his underground beer storage with this handy transportation system.




















Izzy has 40 gnomes last count, how interesting that he should be the one to submit a review of Agnar's latest contribution to our taste buds, a beautiful pomegranate wine that quite magically appeared around the holidays.

(note: I was in the bathroom when Izzy got here. Sometimes they let me out for that sort of thing.)

From the Iz-man:
"Sometime between the rainstorms last week I wandered into the cave; to my surprise, Jen was no where to be found. Hidden in a nook of the cave, under the glow of the nostalgic light bulbs, there sat a bottle of 100% pomegranate wine surround by tiny glasses… A trap? A friendly welcome or just a mistake of placement?

I sat next to the bottle, trying to resist it but found myself pouring a taste quickly. A beautiful pale strawberry elixir with crystal clarity sat in the tiny glass while the aromas of sweet port and honey filled the air.

All the bottle read was 100% pomegranate… This was a mystery of a sweet fruit wine with a great balance and fine fruit flavor. Full bodied with a long and bright aftertaste that lingered on the tongue.

Fruit wines are often a disappointment in my experience, usually nothing more then an overly sweet mess of bad grape wine with a fruit flavor. This was special, a unique fruit wine with deep complexity and well balanced acidity.

Jen caught me writing my tasting notes and squeezing out the last drops out of the glass. I was later informed the bottle came from an excellent wine marker who stores at The Cave. How the bottle appeared on to the table when no one was looking, no one knows…"

New Year's Day Arts and Crafts Project

If you're wondering what to do with that champagne cork you stepped on while stumbling into the bathroom this morning, here's a few pictures from years past design competition from the folks at Design Within Reach.