San Diego

I recently made a whirlwind trip to San Diego where despite my hectic time schedule, I managed to take in a little of the local culture. First, I went to Mission Bay.

Mission Bay on the Pacific is saturated with joggers, rollerbladers, cyclists, and surfers. While there, I decided to check out a local tradition, the Lahaina Beach House, where I sampled Fish Tacos and Blue Moon wheat beer.
The Lahaina Beach House is a very small and simple bungalow bar, with a view of the Pacific from its outdoor deck. Loud rock music, sunshine, palm trees, waves and beer accentuate the surrounding hard bodies and bikinis and makes the deck at Lahaina Beach House a great place to people watch. Later that night, I was introduced to a couple of San Diego beers, Stone Pale Ale, and Karl Strauss Red Trolley Ale. Both beers were good, Stone being a strong example of a Pale Ale. Red Trolley kept me coming back for pint after pint, though. The beer was malty, carameley, and smooth. It was excellent to drink while walking along Mission Bay.

I was fortunate enough to find some time for lunch the next day, and decided to eat at the Fish Market by the battleship Midway on the Navy Pier in San Diego harbor. My lunch guests and I ate on the "top of the market" patio overlooking the bay. I ordered the scallops topped with black olive tapinade, rosemary potatoes, rapini, and roasted tomatoes, and washed it down with a San Fransisco beer, Anchor Steam Pale Ale (Okay, maybe more than one.) The scallops were excellent, however, while I like tapinade, I found it overpowered the delicate taste of the scallops.

It is maddening to visit a city with so much to offer, and have little or no time to experience it.

Maria Callas

Maria Callas. She was a beautiful woman with an amazing, haunting voice that gave me an aesthetical experience many times when I listened to her recordings.

Although I recognize haut couture as a high form of art, and appreciate its beauty, I am not the kind of man to spend a lot of time looking at or thinking about clothing. However, When I attended a Maria Callas exposition in Paris, I found one of her dresses on display to be quite striking. I found it so striking that I purchased a post card of the dress. It is my only post card on the subject of clothing. Maybe it was because I had heard so many excerpts of her recordings, and saw many photographs of her throughout the morning. Staring at the dress in real life, I was imagining her alive: wearing the dress, moving, and singing. It was intoxicating experience.

I thought about the idea of scanning the post card from time to time, and somehow incorporating it into my blog, but the idea was intermittent and fleeting. Then, yesterday morning my friend MonkeyPosh told me of the death of Luciano Pavarotti. I think I was the last person on earth to know. I was surprised how many of my friends that normally listen to pop, rock, country and other non-art music made comments throughout the day about how they had been touched by Pavarotti's music. Inevitably, I read about Pavarotti's life and accomplishments, and my thoughts naturally came back to Callas, one of my favorite opera heroines, and the beautiful, striking dress I saw in Paris. Here it is:

(Click to Enlarge)

Two Fine Cabs, One Short Night

Last night I had wine with a couple of fellow-wine lovers at the Deep Fork Grill. First we ordered a bottle of 2003 Ferrari Carano ("FC") Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine was served in nice Riedelesque Burgundy wine glasses. It was a pleasure to drink out of "thin" lipped glass instead of a "fat" lipped glass like so many restaurants today. This is one of the main reasons, after cost, I prefer to drink at home.
The FC was truly a pleasure to drink, it was very bold, with pronounced flavors of red fruits, chocolate, and tobacco. Tannins were present, but not overpowering. This wine was such a pleasure to drink that the three of us soon finished off a plate of bacon wrapped grilled chicken with artichoke hearts and spicy sauce, and the bottle. You know the wine was good when someone jokingly wrings the bottle as if to get to the last drop. Not wishing to over-imbibe, we opted to order by the glass. I am glad we did, as we each ordered a glass of 2002 Bennett Family Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. If the first wine was excellent, and it was, this wine was a step above. The wine was balanced: bold and smooth at the same time. It was like drinking silk, and yet was very complex, and three dimensional.

Butte de Chalmont

Latitude: 49°12'50.81"N
Longitude: 3°24'39.86"E

The Butte de Chalmont is the site of a work of art by Paul Landowski. It is located in the Picardie region of France, in the Department of Aisne. It lies within the triangle created by Reims, Soissons, and Château-Thierry.

Map View (Must have Google Earth). Photo Copyright 2007 Water Into Wine.

Historically it commemorates the 2nd battle of Marne, July 15 - September 16, 1918. The 2nd battle of Marne is known as the last German offensive, and would become the Allies first offensive. Casualties in the battle were estimated to be French (95,000), British (13,000) and United States (12,000) German (168,000). For detailed historical information, there are excellent sites here, here, here, here, and here.


At the bottom of the butte, there is a large statue of a woman, who personifies France, facing northeast over the Plateau du Tardenois. The inscription says "La France". There is a rocky trail that leads up the terraced butte. At the top of the butte is a conglomerate of many statues, which personify those lost in the battles. The inscription reads "Les Phantomes".


From the top of the butte is a beautiful view of the Plateau du Tardenois. One can easily climb on top of the phantoms for a photograph.


The site is a wonderful place to have a pique-nique, or even a casse-croûte, and a fantastic area for a ride on the bicyclette. Arrive via bicycle from Beugneux from the north, or Walée from the south. The perfect starting points for a bicycle ride/pique-nique are Fère-en-Tardenois (birthplace of Camille Claudel) due east of Butte de Chalmont or Neuilly-Saint-Front, due west.


A little slice of Pâté de Campagne on baguette with a few cornichons, Saucisse sèche, and a chausson aux pommes for dessert while overlooking the Plateau of Tardenois: very relaxing.