last hours before Europe

So just a few hours before I take off for Paris. I'm in the cafe across the street from my cousin's place using the wi-fi while i got a load working at the laundromat. Beautiful day today here in New York, and last night was incredible. Met up with Giamma for an Italian wine tasting at Gradisca, the place he just started to work at. Lots of people speaking Italian and giving me a quick lesson for my upcoming visit. Next, we visited Cru to taste some nice wine in the front room including Pigato from Italy. I was told the perfect pairing for it is pesto linguine becuase they both come from Liguria. After we went to the opening party for Plus Ultra art gallery that recently moved to Chelsea from Williamsburg, I had some great food at The Red Cat. Two words, yum and fun... except for the buzz-kill matre'd lady at Red Cat.

I land in Paris on April Fool's day tomorrow. I'm going to take the subway to JFK. Trying to avoid having a nice cup of coffee. Wow, this all feels so cool.

It's a thin line between love and hate

I used to love buttery, oaky chardonnay. Now, I hate it. I'm happy being back in New York because I love taking the subway (the C train from the Brooklyn Lafayette station) with older trains and complete with cool people watching. I hated the subway this morning after I realized I got off at the wrong station.

Brooklyn

Monday morning and hello from Ft. Greene in Brooklyn. Several new eating places have opened since I was here last, and it's so nice to see wine lists that include wines from different places like Greece and Israel. I left Napa about 10 days ago. Stopped over in Sacramento for a few days to take care of some logistics, and had fun celebrating St. Pat's with Irish car bombs (drop a shot of Bailey's/Jamison into Guinness). Drove south to Santa Barbara's north county wine country, just outside of Santa Maria. I made quick visits to Cambria, Rancho Sisquoc and Khoeler wineries. After driving over the Sierra Madres into the central valley, I was on my to Las Vegas. Didn't get much of a chance to hit any of the casinos or restaurants as I was busy getting ready to take off for JFK.

March Madness

Bung Hole wine shop in London, thanks to Judy for the pic. I have worked my you-know-what off here in Napa, literally I've lost some lbs and feel really good except for the tendonitis in my right elbow. I'm leaving Napa and will be without home and job in 2 days... yippeee! The big fans in the vinyards are actually called wind machines and they are supposed to fight the nightime frost as the buds are about to break. It sounds like Blackhawk Down in front of my house and they make it hard to sleep.

Graperadio.com, cool web resource, they had a great couple shows on Piedmont, Italy. New topic: macintosh, I sort of miss my life supporting macs, but the job i'm looking for is like technical support for people, on wine instead of a computer. This month marks the one-year anniversary of quitting my old career and starting my wine life. It's also the blog's birthday. I've been slow at posting, but will do my best to keep it updated, especially as I venture out of Napa and onto the rest of my wine field research.

Dave Chapelle was on 'Inside the Actor's Studio' and was amazing.