Ahoy, mateys - busy weekend ahead!
Reduction Redux
Well, today was my (own personal) official weigh in. Did I say that I thought I was about 2-3 lbs. more than I figured for my starting weight? How about 4.2 lbs.?!? NOT happy with that, especially since it puts me less than 20 lbs. from my highest weight. I took a good long look in the mirror this morning (clothed) and did not like what I saw. it's time to get serious about this instead of half-assing (I WISH I had half the ass I do now - HA!) it and hoping for good results.
So, strict South Beach phase 1 for 2 weeks, starting Monday. Can't do it this weekend; more on that in a minute. Strict Phase 1 means NO sugar (including fruit), NO alcohol, and NO carbohydrates or fiber from anything except vegetables. For chocolate (a big trigger food), I can have sugar free pudding, sugar free cocoa, and sugar free fudgesicles (sp? - my dictionary doesn't seem to know). I'll eat nuts but stay away from peanut butter (another trigger food).
Starting weight: 174.2 lbs. Goal weight: 164.2 lbs. by 12/25/09. Weigh-ins on Fridays.
I really hated typing that number but I can't let it get any worse.
***********************************
Harvest 2009, Act I
We harvested 1 ton of Pinot Gris and about 700 lbs. of Pinot Noir yesterday. We needed to hire only one worker for yesterday. We thought we'd need Lindsay in the afternoon, but there was much less fruit on the Pinot Gris vines than we thought and Theresa (our hired hand) worked only until about 3 p.m. I picked the Pinot Noir. I was hoping for more fruit, but the deer really got into them this year. I hope the winery has enough Pinot Noir for a full barrel. The Pinot Gris also went across the street for processing, but one of the tasting room employees is actually the owner of those grapes. He's starting a winery of his own and wanted 1 ton of our Pinot Gris.
The last sampling we did yielded the following results:
Pinot Noir: 21.0 brix, pH 3.07, TA 1.13
Pinot Gris: 21.4 brix, pH 3.16, TA 0.99
Act II commences tomorrow when we pick another ton (or so, hopefully!) of Pinot Gris. I think it will be an easier day than yesterday. Those will go to a PA winery. Act III (Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Shiraz) commences 2-3 weeks from now (as long as we can hang 'em). Those grapes go across the street.
I'm sure we'll regroup and assess final numbers after harvest is completely over, but 2009 was not a good year for New York fruit. The Finger Lakes had similar weather that resulted in similar yield and ripeness, and Long Island was plagued with disease pressure this year.
***********************************
Harvest 2009, Act I - Comic Interlude
Under the sub-heading: If you don't laugh, you'll cry.
We loaded up a truckload of Pinot Gris to take across the street. I almost asked Rick if he had closed the tailgate on the truck, but didn't because...well, I don't know why, but I should have. We pulled out into the road, and I watched in horror in the sideview mirror as half a dozen crates went flying off the back of the truck onto US Route 20. In case you didn't know, folks, this is a major interstate road. A line of traffic quickly bottlenecked as fruit and crates were blocking the westbound lane and Rick & I sat for a few seconds in stunned horror.
"We've got to get out there and do something RIGHT NOW," Rick said as traffic slowly started detouring around using the eastbound (oncoming lane) as well as they could. When some of the traffic had cleared, a semi put his hazard lights on to allow us to get the crates and fruit out of the road (I always complain about the noise of the semis outside our house, but that was damned decent of the driver). We salvaged what we could, but ended up losing 2 crates of fruit entirely. Of course, since Rick had figured out almost exactly the 1 ton we needed (because we have a shortage of fruit), we had to go back after delivering the remainder and pick 3 more crates to fulfill our obligation.
Even though they are right across the street, it doesn't appear that anyone at the winery witnessed our incident, and Rick has sworn me to silence on the matter (he's proclaimed it the dumbest thing he's ever done).
The rest of the delivery went off without incident, which is good since we didn't have any more Pinot Noir -- if we had lost THAT fruit onto the road, I *would* be crying right now.
***********************************
The Big Chill
So, Rick's ex decided that she needed to have a reunion with some college friends "before one of us dies" and, of course, this involves Rick (they met in college). SO, about 10 people are flying and driving to WNY (the first arrived last night) for a Big Chill weekend (sans funeral, obv). Unless someone's wife or partner is much younger, I will be cast in the role of Meg Tilly (sans suicided lover, obv) (really? Suicided is a word, dictionary?!?).
Participants in this little stroll down memory lane include: Rick's ex-girlfriend (his first serious relationship) and Leanna's ex-boyfriend (right after the two of them broke up, Rick & Leanna got together). Doesn't that sound like FUN?
At least there's a new dog at Leanna's house; I can hang out with him if nobody likes me.
I'm dreading this just a little bit, not because of the relationships involved, but because I always dread going to large gatherings, especially since I won't really know any of them. Also, we're spending a good chunk of weekend over there -- tonight for dinner, which will go late, I'm sure; tomorrow for dinner; Sunday for lunch and wine tasting. I had the option of working on Columbus Day, which is a regular holiday for me, because our office will be open, but I think I'm actually going to take it off and just decompress from all the sociability. Rick will be working and Lindsay has class & probably work, so I'll have the house to myself. That sounds SO GOOD right now.
Well, today was my (own personal) official weigh in. Did I say that I thought I was about 2-3 lbs. more than I figured for my starting weight? How about 4.2 lbs.?!? NOT happy with that, especially since it puts me less than 20 lbs. from my highest weight. I took a good long look in the mirror this morning (clothed) and did not like what I saw. it's time to get serious about this instead of half-assing (I WISH I had half the ass I do now - HA!) it and hoping for good results.
So, strict South Beach phase 1 for 2 weeks, starting Monday. Can't do it this weekend; more on that in a minute. Strict Phase 1 means NO sugar (including fruit), NO alcohol, and NO carbohydrates or fiber from anything except vegetables. For chocolate (a big trigger food), I can have sugar free pudding, sugar free cocoa, and sugar free fudgesicles (sp? - my dictionary doesn't seem to know). I'll eat nuts but stay away from peanut butter (another trigger food).
Starting weight: 174.2 lbs. Goal weight: 164.2 lbs. by 12/25/09. Weigh-ins on Fridays.
I really hated typing that number but I can't let it get any worse.
***********************************
Harvest 2009, Act I
We harvested 1 ton of Pinot Gris and about 700 lbs. of Pinot Noir yesterday. We needed to hire only one worker for yesterday. We thought we'd need Lindsay in the afternoon, but there was much less fruit on the Pinot Gris vines than we thought and Theresa (our hired hand) worked only until about 3 p.m. I picked the Pinot Noir. I was hoping for more fruit, but the deer really got into them this year. I hope the winery has enough Pinot Noir for a full barrel. The Pinot Gris also went across the street for processing, but one of the tasting room employees is actually the owner of those grapes. He's starting a winery of his own and wanted 1 ton of our Pinot Gris.
The last sampling we did yielded the following results:
Pinot Noir: 21.0 brix, pH 3.07, TA 1.13
Pinot Gris: 21.4 brix, pH 3.16, TA 0.99
Act II commences tomorrow when we pick another ton (or so, hopefully!) of Pinot Gris. I think it will be an easier day than yesterday. Those will go to a PA winery. Act III (Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Shiraz) commences 2-3 weeks from now (as long as we can hang 'em). Those grapes go across the street.
I'm sure we'll regroup and assess final numbers after harvest is completely over, but 2009 was not a good year for New York fruit. The Finger Lakes had similar weather that resulted in similar yield and ripeness, and Long Island was plagued with disease pressure this year.
***********************************
Harvest 2009, Act I - Comic Interlude
Under the sub-heading: If you don't laugh, you'll cry.
We loaded up a truckload of Pinot Gris to take across the street. I almost asked Rick if he had closed the tailgate on the truck, but didn't because...well, I don't know why, but I should have. We pulled out into the road, and I watched in horror in the sideview mirror as half a dozen crates went flying off the back of the truck onto US Route 20. In case you didn't know, folks, this is a major interstate road. A line of traffic quickly bottlenecked as fruit and crates were blocking the westbound lane and Rick & I sat for a few seconds in stunned horror.
"We've got to get out there and do something RIGHT NOW," Rick said as traffic slowly started detouring around using the eastbound (oncoming lane) as well as they could. When some of the traffic had cleared, a semi put his hazard lights on to allow us to get the crates and fruit out of the road (I always complain about the noise of the semis outside our house, but that was damned decent of the driver). We salvaged what we could, but ended up losing 2 crates of fruit entirely. Of course, since Rick had figured out almost exactly the 1 ton we needed (because we have a shortage of fruit), we had to go back after delivering the remainder and pick 3 more crates to fulfill our obligation.
Even though they are right across the street, it doesn't appear that anyone at the winery witnessed our incident, and Rick has sworn me to silence on the matter (he's proclaimed it the dumbest thing he's ever done).
The rest of the delivery went off without incident, which is good since we didn't have any more Pinot Noir -- if we had lost THAT fruit onto the road, I *would* be crying right now.
***********************************
The Big Chill
So, Rick's ex decided that she needed to have a reunion with some college friends "before one of us dies" and, of course, this involves Rick (they met in college). SO, about 10 people are flying and driving to WNY (the first arrived last night) for a Big Chill weekend (sans funeral, obv). Unless someone's wife or partner is much younger, I will be cast in the role of Meg Tilly (sans suicided lover, obv) (really? Suicided is a word, dictionary?!?).
Participants in this little stroll down memory lane include: Rick's ex-girlfriend (his first serious relationship) and Leanna's ex-boyfriend (right after the two of them broke up, Rick & Leanna got together). Doesn't that sound like FUN?
At least there's a new dog at Leanna's house; I can hang out with him if nobody likes me.
I'm dreading this just a little bit, not because of the relationships involved, but because I always dread going to large gatherings, especially since I won't really know any of them. Also, we're spending a good chunk of weekend over there -- tonight for dinner, which will go late, I'm sure; tomorrow for dinner; Sunday for lunch and wine tasting. I had the option of working on Columbus Day, which is a regular holiday for me, because our office will be open, but I think I'm actually going to take it off and just decompress from all the sociability. Rick will be working and Lindsay has class & probably work, so I'll have the house to myself. That sounds SO GOOD right now.