Later, Much Later

Once again we have failed in our role in your life, dear Audience, as scribe of eating and drinking. We haven’t even been travelling much but to Paris regularly, of course

We cannot say that we have been distracted by the forecoming, but we would be amiss if we did not point you, loyal readers, toward a new addition to the World Wide Web. His Nibs, somewhat recently chomaged (‘unemployed,’ to those of us on the western coast of the Atlantic Ocean), has been trying to return to his artistic roots now that he finds himself with much free time. As a result, when we are not demanding his services as a chauffeur to the Parisian suburbs and the physical address of our most favored virtual auction site to collect lovely bottles that we degust and share with you, Brave Followers among the Audience, His Nibs has been creating things.

The most intimes of those of you, cher Audience, may recall that His Nibs’ true training was not to sell American sirens and police lightbars into the French police and atomic reactor market but to be a fine art framer in the “old world” sense – beautiful moldings, exquisite papers, etc. – and he has always had a fine sense of detail. All said, he is now making marvelous objects that one wants to own or at least give as gifts. We think everyone must put down pens, pause the note-taking and visit His Nibs’ new blog site:

http://jpgcreations.blogspot.com/

Typically, it is all in French and there are no tags, descriptions or prices, but with only a small amount of encouragement, we are sure he will make those adjustments. Do be sure to bookmark this page.

Where to continue, when chronological order has been tossed out… Well, an easy segue way may be to a dinner prepared by His Nibs. If you remember, as I am sure you do, HN’s fanatical attention to detail, you can imagine that he is an excellent cook. Not one to prepare simple dishes, nor to create casual dinners, HN often creates in the kitchen with game hunted and prepped by his father.

This particular evening we were six and the dinner began with basic hors d’oeuvres and vodka-tonics or a glass of Champagne before we moved to table. Since we have commandeered a large portion of His Nibs’ cave, or basement storage space, in which to guard the wine that you, Loyal Followers, enjoy Stateside, it is our job to choose the wines for dinner, from the aforementioned cave, needless to say.

The first course was a pheasant terrine with toast. It was lightly ‘gamey,’ more of a 'fowl-y' taste, if you will, than heavy game. We had recently discovered in our local supermarket a delightful 2005 Chablis produced by l’Union des Viticulteurs de Chablis, a cooperative producing Chablis for small grower/members in the Chablis region. It was crisp, steely with typical Chablisienne minerality. For an equivalent price of about $11 dollars, we bought all the shop had. This balanced nicely the earthy terrine.

The main course was a roasted pheasant stuffed with wild mushrooms. Note what we mean by “not one to prepare simple dishes..”? To serve with this we had opened in advance a bottle of red 1990 Auxey-Duresses. This bottle was totally unknown to us to the degree we did not even know why we had purchased what could have been a bottle past its prime (1990 is a ‘reach’ for a bottle that is not a premier cru but only a simple village appellation). We did not even know the domain. All that was known was that Auxey-Duresses is an appellation from a village on the Côte de Beaune very near to Meursault.

This evening we were rewarded, however, and the bottle was definitely not past. His Nibs does not own an appropriate wine carafe (mental note!) so we had simply used the ‘splash’ method – pour briskly into large wine glasses allowing air to mix as one pours – and it opened beautifully.

The nose carried the powerful muskiness much prized in older Burgundies, the color was a deep red with a slight tinge of rusty brown at the edges of the glass. In the mouth, the fruit was full and ripe with light spices that rested on the tongue after swallowing. It was a wine to be savored slowly as most of the tannins had aged away and there was little structure left. It proved to be an excellent surprise and we were disappointed that the others appreciated it as well (that meant less for us). Luckily, there are 5 more bottles in the cave.

The cheese course was simply a slab of Comté with baguette and I had chosen a 1985 Savigny-les-Beaune 1er Cru La Dominode, by Bonnet. All of you, dear Audience, have read my thoughts on this wine from various years. It is rich but elegant, heavier than the Auxey but not overly complex. Always a wise and enjoyable choice!

It was January, near the time of Epiphany, so dessert was the traditional galette des Rois, a simple pastry filled with frangipane, an almond paste, in which a small prize has been secreted. The person served the slice with the prize is the Roi and must wear the paper crown sold with the galette. Luckily this evening, I was not crowned.

Time to sleep!