TT Continued... I
crawled up the steps into the cavernous interior and
saw Mel at the wheel some half mile away. We were
literally driving an apartment building! Crying with
laughter we arrived at our friends lovely home in
Northbrook and were welcomed with 4 iced flutes of
Billecart Salmon rose champagne and lots of hugs.
We shook off the woes of our flight by submerging
ourselves into his heavenly pool and then said our
good-nights to their two adorable children and Roger
cooked us the most sublime dinner. We started with
little mezes of tuna sashimi and crab legs on celery
remoulade (raw celery root strips marinated in mustard
mayonnaise) and smoked salmon. Then he served us fresh
Maine lobsters with little diced and sautéed
fingerling potatoes and fresh sweet corn smothered
in butter and scattered with fresh basil leaves -
heaven. Mel had brought a bottle of a very rare Californian
Chardonnay from Aubert winery which was amazing even
though I am not a huge fan of Californian Chardonnay.
This was more like a great white Burgundy. Roger then
produced a single vineyard Chardonnay from Patz and
Hall and followed that with an amazing Super Tuscan,
the Ornellaia 2001 which was amazing.
We were all pretty smashed by now and so Roger
turned on the TV and we wept with laughter as we
watched a comedy show he had recorded from HBO called
“Flight of the Concorde” with two unutterably
wacky and hilarious New Zealanders making fun of
the world we live in. Was it the wine? Was it the
joy of the children being asleep? Was it that Mel
and I had just survived a trip on Southwest airlines?
Perhaps – but it was really, really funny.
The next morning early Mel and I went off in our
mobile apartment to make a presentation of our Tortoise
Creek and Tiamo wines to wholesalers in Chicago.
The wines were tasting absolutely terrific especially
the new Cabernet/Syrah blend. Mel’s presentation
and happy speechifying made everyone excited about
the wines and many compliments about the brand were
shouted out. I can’t wait for you all to try
the Cabernet/Syrah blend for yourselves and let
us know if you, too, think that you would like a
cellar full! After the tasting we returned to find
that Roger had seared some fresh tuna for a Salade
Nicoise outside on the patio. It was utterly wonderful.
He had managed to find some cases of the finest
Provence rose called Domaine Tempier from Bandol
and we managed to make an impressive assault on
his precious stash to help the Nicoise go down (not
that it needed any help but WE needed the excuse
of course!) After sunbathing and swimming we all
fell into a lovely siesta under the trees.
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