B-Day, WHC, New Book, Horrorworld, Finis, And Dry Creek Notes.
Happy Birthday Amacker
It’s amacker’s birthday week…and we are celebrating tonight under the Master Chef debg’s creations. Happy Birthday, Amacker!
Belated WHC Thank-Yous
I apologize for not doing this sooner, but I’ve been under the weather and on deadlines since I got back from WHC. To all the folks I met along the way at WHC - thank you. To the organizers - excellent job! To the HWA - Best. Stokers. Ever. Special thank-you to Del Howison who came through on TGE copies (which happen to be out of print and impossible to get), and to those of you who bought them-thank you as well. Thanks to everyone who came to my readings, and to everyone who came, enjoyed, and participated in the Gross Out Contest. I’ve gotten a lot of emails great emails from folks on this one, and had a blast planning it.
The New Book-o-Meter
What happens when four Stoker Award winning poets get together in email? A book, that’s what. This new book-o-meter is for a yet-to-be-titled collaboration by Linda Addison, Marge Simon, Charlee Jacob, and myself. My goal is about 40 pages of Poetry, which is why the meter reads 10,000 words.
HorrorWorld Interview
Have a look at Steve Wedel's interview with me over at Horrorworld. Go for the interview; stay for the rest!
Finished Stuff
I finished the Introduction for Mark McLaughlin and Mike McCarty's new book, Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster. It's off to the publisher now.
Notes from the Weekend in Healdsburg with Muppet Man, lily_dove, and Mot.
Five things you need to know about the Dry Creek growing region:
1). Make an appointment at Michel-Schlumberger for their wine and cheese pairing. Seriously. You will not be sorry. My two favorite things taken away from that is that they make a desert wine that tastes exactly like mead - which is something I can’t ever have because I can’t digest honey. I have only ever had mead once - specially home-made mead, and at the time my ignorance of the honey as an ingredient was my total and utter intestinal downfall within the hour of drinking it. M-S's Semillion Silk Purse is not going to do that, however. Ever. Muwahahahaha! You can only get it at the winery, however. But Sophie's Cellars has it for $27...
The second thing is they paired the cheese with the appellation of the wines served - and there is this little known farm that a Portuguese family owns and operates that makes St. George cheese. The family’s name is Matos, and their farm is in Santa Rosa.
This cheese goes with anything, I swear, and is the most amazing cheese… We got directions to the farm to buy some, but didn’t get around to it with all the other running we did. It’s worth the drive to Santa Rosa, I’m telling you. Cowgirl Creamery sells the Matos St. George for $15.50/lb, and the Cheese Shop on Polk and Pacific sells it for a whopping $23/lb. I picked up a cut-to-order wedge yesterday but am still smarting from the price. You can get it straight from the farm for about $5.99/lb. (who ever knew cheese was such a mark-up…and local cheese at that). Tip - if they wrap it for you in paper, rewrap it in plastic wrap. The cheese does go hard fast in the paper. You’ll want to keep it moist.
2) Mounts. MOUNTS MOUNTS MOUNTS! This is also a family owned and operated vineyard, and has been for 40 years. They typically only taste by appointment only, but we got a hot tip that their tasting room was open (ok, ok…we saw the sign out on the side of the road, and the nice lady at Michel-Schlumberger told us if the sign was out…run, do not walk…to Mounts). Being a family farm…it looks like a family farm. You drive through dirt and gravel, find yourself at a little farm house with a big red farm barn, and a tiny four year old girl peeps around the corner at you, just as you walk around to the back of the barn…where her beautiful (and very pregnant) mother greets you with a smile and a glass. You notice the four year old climbing amongst the barrels a bit, but this is no distraction compared to the amazing flavors of their Syrahs and Zins. Oh. My. God. We bought a case. Make no mistake, this is a family farm experience, not your hoidy-toidy Napa/Somona we’re-so-rich-we-can-buy-your-soul type of tasting room. It’s part of the charm, too.
3) Ferrari-Carano has a tulip hotline for when all the tulips in their amazing gardens are in bloom. Truthfully, this was the only reason we were stopping at the (somewhat Disney Theme Parkish) large volume winery…but they also had this new tasting room tucked away from the usual tourists (at $5, most people prefer to stay upstairs), with gold flecked granite topped tables and bar, and these giant curly obsidian glass chandeliers that just were amazing to look at.
They reminded me of a cluster of myriad vampires disguised as bats, clawing and cloying to one another like some entangled body-art, hanging in disguise. Anyway…the wines were nothing of note down there (a $15 tasting fee), except…one. Oh glorious Baccus, you have hidden a treasure there in there Elderado Noir Muscat. Its black. A Black Muscat! And oh…so….goooooooooooooooooood! (insert homer drooling sounds here). Not the best price point, but I bought a bottle.
4) I forced everyone to go (kitsch-factor understood) to Longboard Vinyards, because as a surf geek, I really, really had a hard time not being out in the waves when we left at 10am on Saturday morning, with the clear blue skies, warm weather, no offshore winds, and minus tides going off around the Bay Area. They have a lot of restored old 60’s and 70’s longboards hanging, along with a few shortboards, and play some good surf movies on the plasma screen while you taste. The owner is a surfer, of course…and while not the cheapest wine, it’s good young wine, so you can sit on it for a while and it will turn into great wine. We picked up some of their Syrah and one bottle of their 2005 Merlot which we tasted there (and is excellent to drink now), but they only had three bottles left of. The tasting room is very small, but it wasn’t crowded. Probably because any surfer would have been out in the waves…(cringe).
5). Simi whites. And that’s all I have to say about it, though some of you wine-o’s would say their reds are even better. Oh! And they have this chardonnay/olive oil marinade stuff for $5.99 (or at least they did - we bought the last two bottles of it). Another thing you can only get at the winery.
Well, that's all for now, folks.
It’s amacker’s birthday week…and we are celebrating tonight under the Master Chef debg’s creations. Happy Birthday, Amacker!
Belated WHC Thank-Yous
I apologize for not doing this sooner, but I’ve been under the weather and on deadlines since I got back from WHC. To all the folks I met along the way at WHC - thank you. To the organizers - excellent job! To the HWA - Best. Stokers. Ever. Special thank-you to Del Howison who came through on TGE copies (which happen to be out of print and impossible to get), and to those of you who bought them-thank you as well. Thanks to everyone who came to my readings, and to everyone who came, enjoyed, and participated in the Gross Out Contest. I’ve gotten a lot of emails great emails from folks on this one, and had a blast planning it.
The New Book-o-Meter
What happens when four Stoker Award winning poets get together in email? A book, that’s what. This new book-o-meter is for a yet-to-be-titled collaboration by Linda Addison, Marge Simon, Charlee Jacob, and myself. My goal is about 40 pages of Poetry, which is why the meter reads 10,000 words.
HorrorWorld Interview
Have a look at Steve Wedel's interview with me over at Horrorworld. Go for the interview; stay for the rest!
Finished Stuff
I finished the Introduction for Mark McLaughlin and Mike McCarty's new book, Attack of the Two-Headed Poetry Monster. It's off to the publisher now.
Notes from the Weekend in Healdsburg with Muppet Man, lily_dove, and Mot.
Five things you need to know about the Dry Creek growing region:
1). Make an appointment at Michel-Schlumberger for their wine and cheese pairing. Seriously. You will not be sorry. My two favorite things taken away from that is that they make a desert wine that tastes exactly like mead - which is something I can’t ever have because I can’t digest honey. I have only ever had mead once - specially home-made mead, and at the time my ignorance of the honey as an ingredient was my total and utter intestinal downfall within the hour of drinking it. M-S's Semillion Silk Purse is not going to do that, however. Ever. Muwahahahaha! You can only get it at the winery, however. But Sophie's Cellars has it for $27...
The second thing is they paired the cheese with the appellation of the wines served - and there is this little known farm that a Portuguese family owns and operates that makes St. George cheese. The family’s name is Matos, and their farm is in Santa Rosa.
This cheese goes with anything, I swear, and is the most amazing cheese… We got directions to the farm to buy some, but didn’t get around to it with all the other running we did. It’s worth the drive to Santa Rosa, I’m telling you. Cowgirl Creamery sells the Matos St. George for $15.50/lb, and the Cheese Shop on Polk and Pacific sells it for a whopping $23/lb. I picked up a cut-to-order wedge yesterday but am still smarting from the price. You can get it straight from the farm for about $5.99/lb. (who ever knew cheese was such a mark-up…and local cheese at that). Tip - if they wrap it for you in paper, rewrap it in plastic wrap. The cheese does go hard fast in the paper. You’ll want to keep it moist.
2) Mounts. MOUNTS MOUNTS MOUNTS! This is also a family owned and operated vineyard, and has been for 40 years. They typically only taste by appointment only, but we got a hot tip that their tasting room was open (ok, ok…we saw the sign out on the side of the road, and the nice lady at Michel-Schlumberger told us if the sign was out…run, do not walk…to Mounts). Being a family farm…it looks like a family farm. You drive through dirt and gravel, find yourself at a little farm house with a big red farm barn, and a tiny four year old girl peeps around the corner at you, just as you walk around to the back of the barn…where her beautiful (and very pregnant) mother greets you with a smile and a glass. You notice the four year old climbing amongst the barrels a bit, but this is no distraction compared to the amazing flavors of their Syrahs and Zins. Oh. My. God. We bought a case. Make no mistake, this is a family farm experience, not your hoidy-toidy Napa/Somona we’re-so-rich-we-can-buy-your-soul type of tasting room. It’s part of the charm, too.
3) Ferrari-Carano has a tulip hotline for when all the tulips in their amazing gardens are in bloom. Truthfully, this was the only reason we were stopping at the (somewhat Disney Theme Parkish) large volume winery…but they also had this new tasting room tucked away from the usual tourists (at $5, most people prefer to stay upstairs), with gold flecked granite topped tables and bar, and these giant curly obsidian glass chandeliers that just were amazing to look at.
They reminded me of a cluster of myriad vampires disguised as bats, clawing and cloying to one another like some entangled body-art, hanging in disguise. Anyway…the wines were nothing of note down there (a $15 tasting fee), except…one. Oh glorious Baccus, you have hidden a treasure there in there Elderado Noir Muscat. Its black. A Black Muscat! And oh…so….goooooooooooooooooood! (insert homer drooling sounds here). Not the best price point, but I bought a bottle.
4) I forced everyone to go (kitsch-factor understood) to Longboard Vinyards, because as a surf geek, I really, really had a hard time not being out in the waves when we left at 10am on Saturday morning, with the clear blue skies, warm weather, no offshore winds, and minus tides going off around the Bay Area. They have a lot of restored old 60’s and 70’s longboards hanging, along with a few shortboards, and play some good surf movies on the plasma screen while you taste. The owner is a surfer, of course…and while not the cheapest wine, it’s good young wine, so you can sit on it for a while and it will turn into great wine. We picked up some of their Syrah and one bottle of their 2005 Merlot which we tasted there (and is excellent to drink now), but they only had three bottles left of. The tasting room is very small, but it wasn’t crowded. Probably because any surfer would have been out in the waves…(cringe).
5). Simi whites. And that’s all I have to say about it, though some of you wine-o’s would say their reds are even better. Oh! And they have this chardonnay/olive oil marinade stuff for $5.99 (or at least they did - we bought the last two bottles of it). Another thing you can only get at the winery.
Well, that's all for now, folks.