Yamhill-Carlton AVA Open House - Wine Tasting 2012

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending to Yamhill-Carlton AVA Open House 2012 at Anne Amie Vineyards.  First off, what does that mean?  It is a wine tasting event for the wine producers of grapes grown in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA (most notably Pinot Noir).  There were 34 wineries pouring (I didn't get to all of them, but I did my best...) and nosh from 6 local restaurants and caterers.  Second, what is the Yamhill-Carlton AVA?  An AVA (or American Viticultural Area) is a growing region for wine grapes.  Depending on geology, micro climates, and elevation wines from one vineyard can be very different from the next, even if they are close in proximity.  These are the distinctions, upon which the AVAs are based.  So with a larger growing region (in this case the northern Willamette Valley) there can be several smaller, distinctive regions, and these are called AVAs (in this case the Yamhill-Carlton).

The Yamhill-Carlton AVA is home to some of the most respected wineries and winemakers in the Willamette Valley.  Names like Ken Wright, Lynn Penner-Ashe, and Dick Shae are legendary in the region, and have all had a hand in making Oregon wines famous, and produce some of the best Pinot Noir in the world.  And trust me they all showed very well, but the pleasant surprise this day was how well the smaller, unheralded and, in some cases, brand spanking new wineries showed right next to the big boys.  I had a chance to try some labels I'd never heard of, and I was quite pleased by the whole experience.

I want to make this point, I am not a professional wine taster (one can always dream though, right...?).  I am just a guy who enjoys drinking it, and I am lucky enough to have grown up in one of the finest wine growing regions in the world.  I also want to make this point, as I have said in previous posts, everyones palate is different, so just because I liked something doesn't mean you will and vice versa.  But I don't mind telling you about my experience, nor giving you my opinion.  Take it for what it is worth, and above all drink what you like and don't let others tell you what you should be tasting.  That being said, here is what I tasted...

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Menu for the 2012 Oscar Party - Dishes for this Years Academy Award Show

In years past as the Oscars approached I would start to fret about what to serve at my party.  I have a bit of a tradition of making a dish based on or inspired by each of the best picture nominees.  Coming up with 5-10 dishes every year is actually harder than it sounds.  Some years your are blessed with movies like The Kings Speech (The King's Peach Cobbler) or The Blind Side (Blind Sliders) and the dishes basically make themselves.  But some years there are difficult films like The Reader (I made "fReaders" a play on potato fritters) or The Fighter (We finally came up with Punch, which was actually a real hit).  What I would have done for ideas from some post on-line to at least give me a hint of an inkling of what to do.  So, here is my post for those looking for menu items for this years nominees (I like to call them "Nom-Noms".  The dishes, not the movies).

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Francophilia and Self Love Alive and Well in Hollywood - A Look at the Years Oscar Nominees

With the Oscars a mere week away, it is time to look at the nominees for Best Picture.  And as we look over the field there is a real continental feel to the movies nominated.  As in North America and Europe.  Save for The Descendants which is based in Hawaii (which, as we know, is in fact a US state) every story comes from one or the other.  Some might argue The Tree of Life is actually based in someone's dream, but they speak English enough to guess it is set in America.

This seems to point to the state of movie making in general.  With the economy still in its recovery, ever increasing ticket prices, and quality content being provided on any number of platforms, people need a good reason to go to the movies.  To attract the public you need to have ingenuity, intrigue, and interest.  The best way to do that is to go with what you know, return to your base (a lesson most often learned in politics, it is an election year after all).  This year there are no tales from exotic far off lands, strange alternate universes, or alien planets.  This years crop are based in well known familiar settings.  That is not to say that there are not elements of the fantastic.

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2012 Consumer Electronics Show - The Gadgets

All right guys, here is the one you have been waiting for: what was the coolest stuff at the 2012 CES?  Well here are a few thoughts, trends, and gadgets groundbreaking and absurd that stood out at the CES.

You're flat screen looks great with that scarf!

- Wireless TVs the next great accessory

As I noted in an earlier post, the lines between different technologies are blurring.  Computer monitors are now nearly as clear as televisions.  Televisions now have wireless and portable capabilities.  Your phone or tablet can act as a remote for any component in the house including turning lights or heating on and off, or even start you car.  Basically what is happening is users are demanding access to data and performance, and there is a race to provide it.  Which means there are legions of people creating technologies, platforms, and apps all tailor made to give the public the easiest and most streamlined answer for any and every issue we have.  Becoming the leader in any little niche is going to be big business.  That means there are many options for users, and it also means many solution providers are not going to make it.  The competition is ongoing, and we will see what ends up being the standard in the future.  But for now, lets enjoy the ride, and revel in the innovation.

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2012 Consumer Electronics Show- The Vehicles



Electric Concept Car- Audi Urban



One of the more surprising aspects of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the number of automobiles that are on display.  A car is a machine, that needs oil and fuel, and drives in the snow and rain.  Cars are not like computers or TVs right?  Well, actually it is all of the above.  Just ask the thankful parents that never hear "Are we there yet?" from their children happily viewing their favorite programs on seat mounted TVs in the back seat.  The amount of technology and programing that goes in to modern vehicles is staggering and extremely complex.  They truly are computers on wheels.  And in fact unveiling new technologies within an automobile is a great way to garner attention at the CES.

There are a few trends in cars right now.  Voice recognition and activation, and heads up displays are going to be a part the driving experience in the years to come.  These will allow you to make phone calls, listen and reply to emails and texts, and see all functionality of the vehicle all while keeping your eyes on the road.  There are various services and devices that will allow you to do this currently, but these advancements are begining to be baked into new models and concept vehicles, so in the future they will most likely come standard.

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2012 Consumer Electronics Show

Ford EVOS-  Electric Concept Car

Earlier this month I was given the opportunity to go to the International Consumer Electronic Show (CES for short) in Las Vegas.  For those of you who are not familiar, the CES is the show where most of the big name brands roll out their new technologies and updated models of their product suites.  It is the show where you can glimpse into next generation technologies and find trends in mainstream consumer products.  It is the show where everything from $10 headphones to $10,000 personal home servers are on display for all to see.  It is quite simply THE Show.

It is the largest convention of the year in Vegas.  There are nearly 2500 companies presenting, over 15 miles of booths and aisle ways, in 5 huge convention halls.  It over runs the entire Las Vegas convention center and spills over in to The Venitian and The Las Vegas Hilton.  Throughout the whole town surly yet appreciative cabbies line up by what seems like the hundreds just to move the 159,000 industry affiliated attendees from place to place.  Maybe next year they will invent teleportation, but as it stands now it is a huge mangled mess of droves, flocks, and gaggles of people.  All bustling about to see "the next big thing".

The difficulties associated with attempting to take it all in are fairly obvious.  There is simply too much to see in 4 days.  And I am sure there are some fascinating stuff that I just wandered by in a mid-afternoon daze of over-stimulation and malnourishment.  But I will do my best to cover some of the highlights and give you a few thoughts.  First off, some mechanical issues, the CES is simply too large to cover in one blog post, so I am going to cut it up in to a couple different bite sized entries.  Second, I am not an industry technician, so I don't have all the specs, requirements, and analysis of "This" vs "That".  What I do have is a four day experience seeing myriad competing technologies and thoughts and observations of what I saw.   So, without further ado...  Let's get to it!

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White Chili Recipe- "White Lightning" wins the 2011 Chili Cookoff!



2011 Champion- White Lightning

 Each year The Girlfriend and her friends have a Chili Cook Off.  This year I was lucky enough to be invited to enter a chili.  And guess what?  That's right!  The Polymouth's very own "White Lightning" won the 2011 Chili Cook Off!!!  Woo-hoo!  And along with it there is a killer trophy, which now will, as is customary, receive an addition of some sort before being put on the line again next fall.  There were 11 entries in all, and some very creative competition.  We had meaty chilies con carne, luscious vegetarian chilies, firery super spicy chilies, other wonderful white chilies, and another top contender was the delicious and exotic pumpkin chili. 

I've never really entered a cooking competition, even one as relaxed and friendly as this, so there were some butterflies and excitement that came along with entering.  Our entry was quite tasty, but it certainly wasn't easy.  Not that it was difficult, it just had several steps, and took most of the day to make.  As usual I had a general recipe in mind, but I was cooking "Iron-Style" and kept tweaking and adding ingredients up till the final moments before we left for the party.  There is no way to know exactly what the final recipe ended up being, but I will do my best to explain the process and steps that went into this tasty dish.

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Arrested Development Returning for a 4th Season

In case you have fallen in a "Sudden Valley", or are forced to live in an attic since your escape from prison and the Polymouth is your only source for current events, do we have good news for you!  Arrested Development, AKA the funniest sit-com of all time, is returning for a truncated 4th season to set up the long awaited feature film.  They are expecting a 10 episode mini-season catching fans up on "The Lost Years" since the premature cancelation of the cult classic.  This is all hearsay and rumor, but here are some links to some sites that seem pretty certain, including some tweets from the cast confirming reports.

http://bluthfamilyreunion.com/41/arrested-development-to-return-for-4th-season/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/celebritology/post/arrested-development-will-return-with-new-episodes-and-the-movie/2011/10/02/gIQAMszQGL_blog.html

http://news.yahoo.com/arrested-development-announces-4th-season-movie-230333253.html



We're gonna get "Hop-Ons"...

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Uncle E's Hip-Hop Anthology: Vol. 7- Pass Tha Mic

Ok, so this might be a little confusing because I haven't posted any of Uncle E's Hip-Hop Anthology previously, and this is Volume 7.  But think of it like how Star Wars started with Volume 4 (Episode IV: A New Hope).  This particular mix is just fun to talk about, so we're starting here.

A few years back I started putting together mixes for my nephew that included some of my favorite tunes from Hip-Hop's "Golden Age" (generally considered the early-to-mid 90's, after "Old School" but before every record label had to have a Hip-Hop act and sort of ruined the spirit of the genre).  This became a larger task than I initially thought.  It grew from a couple mixes into a multi-disc anthology.  There are some well known classics, but there are a bunch of hidden gems that are hard to even find anymore.  With that said, here is the first installment of Uncle E's Hip-Hop Anthology:

Volume 7: Pass Tha Mic

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Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet 3.0 (Top 250 Update)

Most drafts will be over the next week or so.  Here is the Top 250 players taking into account Fantasy Value, Average Draft Position, Strength of Schedule, and Free Agency Aquisitions.  Best of luck this year...

1. Adrian Peterson- RB, MIN
2. Arian Foster- RB, HOU
3. Chris Johnson- RB, TEN
4. Ray Rice- RB, BAL
5. Jamaal Charles- RB, KC
6. LeSean McCoy- RB, PHI
7. Andre Johnson- WR, HOU
8. Maurice Jones-Drew- RB, JAX
9. Roddy White- WR, ATL
10. Darren McFadden- RB, OAK

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