Moyey's Wine and Travel Blog

Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?

2008-08-22T17:37:00.002-05:00

United Airlines has decided to stop serving free food on its flights from Washington to Europe in Economy.

For me, this is the last staw! I don't think I will fly United Airlines any more! I just want to cash in the last of my miles -- and transfer my loyalty to another carrier. (Probably, my US carrier of choice will be Continental once it joins Star Alliance.)

I understand that United is faced with soaring fuel prices, but transatlantic routes have always tended to be profitable, and it just seems that United has forgotten that there are alternatives.

This change will become effective on October 1, 2008.

For details, Follow this link to United's site:

http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,51502,00.html

Cafe de Paris, Columbia, MD (Revisited)

2007-12-14T17:43:00.000-05:00

Cafe de Paris
8088 Center Park Drive
Columbia
MD 410 997 3904

www.cafedepariscolumbia.com

Today I visited this restaurant for a quick bite for lunch. They now offer crepes in a little cafe atmosphere. They serve the crepes with a fresh salad, and they are delicious. I had a Shellfish Crepe, and my daughter had mozzarella, tomato, and pesto. Both were served promptly. They were freshly cooked and delicious.

The total bill for the two crepes, a soda water, and tax was under $18. This is a good new addition to Columbia's options at lunch.

For a (rather old) description of my last full dinner at this restaurant, click here.

MAXjet -- The Washington Route (IAD)

2007-12-04T17:52:00.000-05:00

Well, I never got to try it!

Almost two years ago, I posted a comment about MAXjet, the airline that was trying to compete on the London to Washington route flying business class-only Boeing 767s. I wondered whether the story would end in "ignominious defeat."

Business class fares on this route have always been really expensive, and I welcomed the idea of a new competitor -- particularly since they offered fares as low as $750! I also liked the idea that you could transfer on to an EasyJet flight since they flew to Stansted rather than Heathrow.

Unfortunately, MAXjet has given up on Washington. But it is hardly ignominious defeat as the airline seems to be thriving on the New York (JFK), Las Vegas (LAS), and Los Angeles (LAX) routes!

So we are left with United, Virgin, and British for our non-stop options. (They all fly into Heathrow.) So how much does it cost? According to Kayak, the site that searches for the cheapest fares, leaving on February 12 and returning one week later), you would pay $3390 on United, $4060 on British, and $4050 on Virgin Atlantic. A lot of money!

The United option is certainly the best deal particularly as they now offer lie-flat seats in Business Class with 15-inch monitors! For a description of United's new and improved Business Class, follow this link. But you should book with caution as these upgrades will not be complete for some time!

Quite often the best (but less reliable) way of getting into Business Class is to buy an Economy ticket and upgrade. I have frequently been offered a $500 upgrade -- sometimes less -- even when I have been holding a really cheap cattle class ticket.

Hampton Inn -- Bloomsburg

2007-12-01T11:18:00.000-05:00

Hampton Inn
255 Paper Mill Road

Bloomsburg

Pennsylvania

USA 17815

Tel: +1-570-380-1020

Fax: +1-570-380-1035

I have traveled frequently with my old friend and business partner, Dr. A. It seems as if he has a principle that he applies whenever he stays at a hotel: If he doesn't like it, he complains a lot. If he likes it, he complains a little. There is a rumor that hotel owners across the world have him on a watch-out list! I remember him once warning a hotel manager that he was about to instruct the head of travel of the North American division (of our then twenty-eight person) company to blacklist the entire hotel chain and expressly forbid all our (two) sales representatives from staying there!

His usual complaint used to be a lament for the basics. "Just give me a decent bed, a clean room, and an adequate bathroom, and I'll be happy," was his usual cry as we would leave a hotel. Added to his list of basics was a morning banana without which he would growl for the rest of the day.

I used to find this refrain somewhat unconvincing coming from a man whose agonies tend to be making up his mind between the Four Seasons and the Ritz-Carlton. I often used to wonder how the basics would really sit with this Lexus-driving, Perignon-drinking, foie-gras eating consumer of luxury goods and services while listening to his plea for "just the basics" typically made while sitting in Seat 2A on a British Airways transatlantic flight.

Anyway, we spent the better part of this week at a Hampton Inn in Bloomsburg Pennsylvania, and Hampton Inn really is a chain that just gets the basics right with few loftier ambitions or pretensions. And while I had some minor complaints (shower not warm enough, no signs of recognition for a Hilton Diamond member, a room with two queen beds when I really wanted a king, a rather noisy window-situated heating system), Dr. A was ecstatically happy. "Perhaps the tables have turned, and now you are the complainer," he commented as he cheerfully munched his way through his second banana.

To summarize, the Hampton Inn in Bloomsburg is an excellent basic hotel with a few minor flaws. An adequate breakfast is provided by an extremely friendly English server in the morning on, alas, disposable plates.

But for only $114 a night, you can hardly complain! In general, I really do like this chain, and I appreciate being able to get Hilton points when I stay there.

Holiday Inn, Athens, Greece

2007-10-27T15:38:00.000-05:00

The top floor of the Holiday Inn in Athens

Holiday Inn

50 MICHALACOPOULOU ST

Athens

Telephone 30-210-7278000

Hotel Fax: 30-210-7278600

I never used to stay at Holiday Inns. They seemed a little "basic" for expense account travel and a little expensive for personal travel. But I have changed my opinion somewhat, and they fill a very useful niche for people traveling with families in Europe. Most of the big chains don't allow you to put four people in a room, and that is how we have made many of our trips affordable. Holiday Inn is the exception to the rule, and that was why we chose to spend the first couple of nights at the Holiday Inn in Athens.

The rooms were comfortable, and the price was right -- about 140 Euros (including tax) for a room for four. It is really easy to get to this hotel from the airport -- just take the metro. The people at the front desk were really friendly. The rooftop pool looked lovely, but it closed early in the evening so we were not able to use it.

The only little shock was the price of a club soda in the bar, which was about 6 Euros! But these prices are typical of Athens, which is now an expensive city!

Greece

2007-08-11T10:49:00.000-05:00

This picture is just an apartment block, but it is the site of where of the British Embassy school, where I went in about 1959.

My relationship with Greece has three chapters. The first was when I was very small. We moved to Greece when I was two and stayed there until I was six. Of course, those memories are more about early childhood and don't have a lot to do with Greece. Like all early memories, you can never be sure whether you remember the story or you remember the actual event.

But I remember my mother complaining to my father that he ran over her toes in our driveway, and I believed it. I remember thinking that didn't seem to harm her all that much and I was tempted many times to stick my toes under the wheels of cars to see what it was like. Fortunately, I never did! I remember not wanting to go to Rafina because once the see was rough and I thought that must be why it is called Rafina. I remember my friend, Andrew. His father came back from a business trip by plane and promptly went to bed with the flu, and I assumed that the flu was the consequence of flying. I remember my brother misbehaving at school, and the nuns but him in a cupboard with frosted glass. He wailed and waved his arms behind the frosted glass, and I wanted to rescue him, but I couldn't! That chapter ended in 1960.

The next time I was in Greeece was in 1981. I hitch-hiked from England to Brindisi, and got on a ferry from Brindisi to Patras. After sleeping on the deck for the night, I awoke to find the boat had stopped in the bay at Ithaca. I had never seen anything quite so beautiful in my life. I just had to get off, and I spent a few days there. Then, on to Athens! Athens seemed hot, dusty, unfriendly, and after a couple of days, I went to Lesbos, where I spent two glorious weeks in Molivos or Mithymna as it is more formally known. I was impoversished at the time, but Greece seemed to be such good value, and I was determined to return.

In July of 2007, I went to Greece with the family, and it was the best holiday we have ever had. But Greece had changed. Athens was a modern city with a wonderful metro system. The only disappointment was that the country did seem to be a little spoiled by the millions of tourists (like us!) who have discovered Greece. On my trip in 1981, I often found a bottle of Retsina placed on my table in the bars -- by a friendly local, who wanted to welcome a scruffy tourist. This time it really did seem as if the hospitality industry was determined to make you part with just a few more Euros! The prices seemed to be extraordinarily high, but, if you go to one of the most beautiful countries in the world, what do you expect?

We decided to visit Athens and only two islands. First, we went to Santorini, where we spent about a week. Then we went to Paros. The views in Santorini are absolutely extraordinary, but if I were to do it all over again, I think I would not spend as much as a week there. Santorini is just too overrun with tourists for my taste. Paros was perfect -- developed enough to provide a wide choice of restaurants, but not quite as crowded as Santorini!

No more amenity kits -- Singapore Airlines -- Business Class

2007-05-26T09:41:00.000-05:00

One of the nice little comforts of business class travel is the amenity kit. Waiting on your seat in a sealed bag, this little gift provides you with toothpaste, eyeshades, lip balm, and other little in-flight necessities.

I use these bags to carry around my electronic toys. I suppose that if I were a true road-warrior on long-distance flights every week, I would quickly tire of these novelties, but I fly rarely enough that I still get a kick out of them. (Actually my dirty little secret is that I have a sad habit of collecting them, and I have even been known to buy these things on e-bay.)

Funnily enough, Singapore Airlines, the airline that seems to lead the way in making customers happy, seems to have abandoned the practice of handing out these little bags. Although, according to their website, they provide a "range of branded toiletries such as eau de cologne, aftershave, and moisturising lotion" in the lavatories, the individual bag handed to you at your seat seems to be a thing of the past.

I would have thought these days, with liquids being a cause for suspicion, these little goodie bags would be even more important to the traveler seeking comfort in the air!

Cafe de Paris, Columbia, MD

2007-05-25T12:03:00.000-05:00

Cafe de Paris
8088 Center Park Drive
Columbia, MD

410 997 3904

www.cafedepariscolumbia.com

This restaurant used to be in a rather dreary shopping mall in Laurel, and I have always liked it. Last night I went mostly because I had heard that the chef, Marc Dixon, at one of my favorite restaurants, The Iron Bridge, had moved here.

Three of us had dinner. Two of us started with the excellent foie gras that was accompanied by a superb salad. Tony declared that his starter, the smoked salmon, was good but not excellent.

For our main courses, Clayton and I had the lamb chops, which I like very much although they were a little over done for my taste, and we were never asked how we would like them. Tony had a "special" of grouper, which he liked very much.

The desserts were outstanding, particularly the tarte tatin and the profiteroles.

As for wine, we had the Menage a Trois from Folie a Deux. This wine is an interesting blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Saugignon, and Merlot.

The bill was about $71 each, including tax, two bottles of the Menage a Trois ($26), and coffee, but not the tip.

An excellent meal that was well served!

Charles Bove — Vin Mousseux de Qualite

2007-01-08T08:34:00.000-05:00

This post was posted on my other site: www.moyey.com on December 31, 2006.

Charles Bove — Vin Mousseux de Qualite

This is a Chenin Blanc-based sparkling wine from the Loire Valley. Although described as Brut, it is just a little bit sweeter than you would expect. It is refreshing, fruity, and delicious. Best of all, it is only about $10.00 a bottle — about a third of what you would pay for Champagne.

We will be using our Charles Bove to ring in the New Year. A Happy New Year to all!

I bought it at the Iron Bridge Wine Company. For their address, click here.

Paris or London; Orbitz or Hilton or YTB?

2007-01-06T00:13:00.000-05:00

Paris or London; Orbitz or Hilton or YTB?

I put this posting on my new site: www.moyey.com

I am always shocked by how much it costs to be in London these days. With the dollar worth just a little more than fifty cents, everything seems to be so expensive. Even beer does not seem to be the bargain it was just a few years ago.

I was recently planning a trip, and wanted to stay the last night near an airport so I went to Orbitz (www.orbitz.com) to check out the price of the airport Hilton in Paris and the price of the airport Hilton in London. The result was not exactly surprising — London was much more expensive than Paris. The Hilton at Heathrow was $363 a night, and the one at the airport in Paris was $202. (I was booking for the night of 3rd March, 2007)

But the surprising thing about this exercise was when I decided to compare the rates offered by Orbitz with the rates at the Hilton site (www.hilton.com). The Paris airport Hilton was only $130, and the London Hilton was $372.

While Orbitz seemed much higher than using the Hilton site, I did find the same rate at YTB. For the sake of full disclosure, the person who runs this business is a good friend of mine, a person that I have known for a number of years and would recommend very highly.
It really pays to shop around!

One other tip — look carefully at the rates. Hilton quotes the prices in pounds and euros. Getting that wrong could turn out to be an expensive mistake!

Finally, if you are staying at a Hilton, make sure you get points and miles. You don’t get many miles if you are staying just a night, but it can be a clever way of breathing new life into miles on an airline you don’t use anymore. (Miles expire after a certain period if there is no activity in the account.)

Singapore Airlines -- SQ 25 from New York to Frankfurt

2007-01-04T13:28:00.000-05:00

Also posted on my new blog site -- www.moyey.com.

Singapore Airlines runs several flights from the New York area to Singapore. There is a non-stop, SQ 21, which goes out of Newark on an Airbus (340-500), and also service from JFK on a Boeing 747-400, with a stop in Frankfurt. (Interestingly, both SQ21 and SQ22 run eastbound so the traveler on this route will go round the world without really stopping!)

All airline adventurers should at some stage of their lives experience the joys of flying one of the better Asian airlines (Cathay, Thai, Singapore, etc.). SQ 25 provides an opportunity for you to experience Singapore Airlines even if you are planning to spend your miles on a European trip.
Here is an example. I once wanted to travel from Washington to London using miles in my Mileage Plus account. The obvious way to travel would have been on any of United’s three non-stop flights from Dulles to Heathrow. As someone whose goal is to travel on as many airlines as possible, I decided to use United’s service from Dulles (IAD) to New York (JFK). I took SQ25 from JFK to Frankfurt (FRA), and then used Lufthansa to get from FRA to London (LHR). The price of this route in miles was the same as if I had taken the non-stop routing. (A full account of this flight can be found by clicking here.)

Next summer, I am going to use SQ25 again for a family trip to Athens. Using United miles my route will be Washington - New York - Frankfurt - Athens - Frankfurt - London - Washington. The last leg will be on United, but I could not avoid that if I wanted to spend a few nights in London on the return trip.

Mileage Plus seats are limited on SQ25 so the traveler really needs to make plans in advance. With careful planning, this is a good way of experiencing what is arguably the best airline in the world.

Using Delta Miles

2007-01-03T21:49:00.000-05:00

The days of free travel are numbered. It is becoming more and more dificult to get miles; airlines want more miles for flights; and some airlines (USAirways and Delta, in particular) are changing the rules about how long miles can lie dormant before they expire.

With this in mind, I decided to use up my Delta miles on a trip to London. Booking using Delta airlines, it seemed as if I would have to take a very circuitous route to get to London. (From Washington, one route involved going from BWI to Atlanta to Cincinnati to London’s Gatwick airport, which is inconvenient for me.)

But there is an alternative. In the end I got a much better route — Washington to Paris to London for exactly the same number of miles on Air France. Plus that puts me into Heathrow. And, Air France still serves free drinks in Economy.

When you are using your miles, consider using an alternative carrier. Delta belongs to Skyteam, and you can use the Skyteam site (www.skyteam.com) to figure out what your options are. Delta alternatives include Alitalia and Korean. With United miles, you can fly on Swiss, Lufthansa, Singapore, Thai, and SAS!

Is it really cheaper or am I just splitting fares?

2006-12-27T20:34:00.000-05:00

I am continuing to post here, but my main site is now: www.moyey.com. Come and visit!

Picture this scenario. You live in the Washington area, and next summer you would like to spend a few days in London, and then you would like to fly on to Greece. The plan looks like this. You will leave Washington on July 14, 2007. Then you will travel to Athens on July 21. You would like to stay there until August 5. There is a late flight out of Athens on August 5, and you can take the onward leg back to Washington on August 6.

Using the BA site and selecting the lowest possible and most restricted fare, This journey will set you back $2,294, and that includes $341.81 in taxes. Quite a lot!

Now there is nothing you can do about these dreadful taxes, but there are a few tricks you can do to play with the fare. Try this. Still using the BA site, book the Washington to London flight as one trip picking the very same flight, and the trip to London will cost $985.71, including taxes of $288.71. Then buy another ticket and book exactly the same flights to and from Athens. The total fare for the Athens trip will be GBP (British Pounds) 168.20 or $328.64 in US dollars. So the total for your trip will turn out to be $1,314.35 — a total savings of 979.65!

And if you worry that British Airways will use their computers to track you down and hate you for ever, you could always use another airline for the London to Washington leg. There are all sorts of airlines offering low cost trips out of London to many European airports.

For example, using EasyJet (www.easyjet.com), the trip to Greece from London’s Gatwick airport would cost GBP 150.52, and that includes a travel insurance policy as well as taxes.

Good luck searching for cheap flights. And remember that two tickets are often cheaper than one!

Redeeming miles on British Airways Executive Club

2006-12-04T17:55:00.000-05:00

A slightly more detailed version of this post is posted on my new site:

http://www.moyey.com.

Another work in progress on the new site is that you will be able to filter postings. For example, you can see only the airline-related postings.

This posting is probably useful only to British Airways Executive Club members who live in the United States.

Back in the “good old days,” it was pretty easy to rack up miles on British Airways.
First, they had household accounts, which allowed people living at the same address to pool their miles into a single account. As a result, even people who hardly ever traveled could collectively earn a free ticket.

Secondly, it was pretty cheap to buy tickets with miles. For example, 40,000 miles would buy a ticket from anywhere in the United States to anywhere in Europe. I once went from Washington (IAD) to Istanbul forjust 40,000 miles. I also once had a fabulous trip in First for 120,000 miles. My route was Washinton to London; London to Dubai; Dubai to Tehran; Tehran to Dubai; Dubai to London; London to Manchester; Manchester to London; London to Washington.

Third you could accumulate miles really fast using a Diners Club card. For every dollar you spent, you earned a mile. And every summer, British Airways used to have a two-for-one offer.
These happy days are over. British Airways now gives you only 25% of miles flown if you use a discount ticket. The number of miles required has risen massively. And the Diners Club offer in the summer gives you only 1.5 miles to the dollar. We are going to book some tickets to southern Europe sometime this summer (probably Athens), but each ticket is going to cost 65,000 miles.

It almost looks as if British Airways wants to hide free tickets on its web site. They advertise deals that allow you to pay part cash and part miles, and these are easy to find. They also seem to hid the chart that tells you how many miles you are going to need.

So here is the link for members (with a number/userID and PIN/password) wanting to get free tickets for their miles.

New Website!!!

2006-12-01T18:24:00.000-05:00

Well as you may know, Moyey has been really busy with other stuff. But one thin that I have accomplished is establish moyey.com, and that is where I will be blogging in the future.

Please come and visit. I hope to get a little more time this month, and I will create more content.

I will also be improving my other site soon -- www.extremewining.com.

This site will be connect to a Moodle wine site, and I hope to provide access to lots of wine information.

Please visit. And if you want to help me make these sites better, I would love to talk to you.

Wine Spectator -- Wine of the Year

2006-11-16T17:53:00.001-05:00

Well, I think in the future that I should stick to predicting the past. It is so much easier!

The Wine Spectator came out with its top (most exciting) wine of the year last Friday. Earlier this year, in this post (Click here) I predicted that Chateau Leoville Barton (2003) wouild be chosen as the Wine Spectator's wine of the year. But I was wrong. Leoville Barton came in as number three. Casanova di Neri, Brunello di Montalcino (2001) won the top spot with Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon (2003) coming in second.

With 98 points, Leoville Barton scored more than the Casanova (97) and Quilceda (95). And the only other wine scoring 98 was Krug Brut Champagne, 1995 with a price tag of $224!

You can see the whole list by clicking here.

I am still glad to have several bottles of the Leoville Barton lying around. I have not tried it yet.

The Price of Everything and the Value of Nothing

2006-10-31T22:36:00.000-05:00

I have always thought that one of the many joys of wine drinking is finding special wine that tastes much more expensive than the price suggests. For those of you who read my last posting about the Guardian Peak SMG, there is an amazing story. A friend brought it for us to have over dinner all the way from the winery, where he paid about $20.00 for it. But we discovered it here for only $9.99! (We had it special ordered from Paul's in Wisconsin Avenue in DC.) I have always known that it can be a bit expensive to buy at the winery, but this seems extraordinary!

While on the subject of price, a lot of people suggest I am missing the point in my proposed scoring system for airline wine service that I described here. The suggestion is that Moyey knows the "price of everything and the value of nothing" as Oscar Wilde would put it. But actually I want to discover the bargains, and however good the wine is, I don't want an airline to go bargain hunting on my behalf when I am sitting in an airline seat.

I absolutely love Tesco Champagne, but if I am in Seat 2A on Singapore Airlines, I want to have the choice between my Krug and Dom Perignon. When I am back on terra firma, then I want to be the one discover the Tesco Champagne and tell how I got my six-pack for only GBP 78.03!

The opportunity to taste these very expensive and sometimes overpriced wines in the air is also a good benchmarking opportunity. It is nice to compare your steals with the expensive stuff that you cannot usually afford.

Guardian Peak SMG, 2004

2006-10-08T11:47:00.000-05:00

Long boycotted during the apartheid era, South African wines are something of a mystery to me although I am beginning to be very interested in them for two main reasons. First, they seem to represent excellent value for money. Second, they seem to do very well with a grape I like very much, Chenin Blanc, which is usually called Steen in South Africa.

Last night we had something completely different while we were waiting for dinner. One of my friends brought Guardian Peak SMG 2004, which we drank before dinner with cheese (Manchego, Cheshire, and Irish Cheddar). As you might have already guessed, SMG stands for Syrah (54%), Mourvedre (36%), and Grenache (10%). With an alcohol level of 14.5%, this is certainly not a wimpy wine, and it is a little bit "in your face" with deep and rich plummy stewed fruit flavors with sweet cherry notes. This wine does not lack subtlety though, and the blend gives it a degree of spicy vanilla cedary complexity. I wondered how it would taste after a few years in the cellar.

This is a wonderful wine, and I strongly recommend it. My friends brought it back from South Africa, but I saw it on Wine Searcher for just $9.99. If this wine can really be had for that price (or anything less than $15.00 for that matter), I would dash out and buy all I could afford!

Hanna, Cabernet Sauvignon, 1988

2006-10-01T09:29:00.000-05:00

Hanna, Cabernet Sauvignon, 1988

This wine was in my cellar for one only reason. The youngest of the Moyey family is called Hannah, and 1988 was the year of her birth. The Hanna winery also holds a special place in our hearts since we had a lovely visit there when we staying in Calistoga a few years back. Last night, Hannah was back home visiting from college so we decided to celebrate with a bottle of Hanna.

But I did not really expect much from Hanna. First 1988 was really not a particularly good vintage for Cabernet Sauvignon in Northern California. Second, everyone tells you these days that most wines are intended to conumed upon release, and a wine is far more likely to show badly if it is drunk too late than if you drink it too soon. Finally, I had a problem with the cork, which broke while I was trying to open it. I finally managed to remove it fairly cleanly, and although the top part of the cork was broken, it looked as though the bottom part of it had maintained a good seal. There was a considerable amount of sediment so I poured it through a filter into a decanter.

As I was pouring, it became clear that we were in for something of a treat. A delicious aroma of blackcurrant came up from the wine as I poured. The color was a deep crimson with perhaps some degree of lightening but certainly no browning. The taste was concentrated deep fruit with some cedar with sweet vanilla overtones from the oak. A delicious wine that really seemed to have derived benefit from eighteen years in my cellar.

Sushi King, Columbia, MD

2006-09-30T17:47:00.000-05:00

Sushi King
6490 Dobbin Road
Columbia, MD
21045

Monday - Saturday

(Lunch 11:30AM to 3PM)

(Dinner 5PM to 10PM)

Sunday Closed

Phone: 410 997 1269
Fax: 410 997 1266

For a Google map, click here.

For Sushi King's website, click here.

Two Japanese restaurants in Columbia have very high ratings in the Zagat guide. One is Sushi Sono (Click here for my comments), and the other is Sushi King where we had lunch today. Sushi King is located in a rather dreary strip mall next to the handy express Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office, where you can renew registrations and drivers' licenses without the fuss of going to Glen Burnie. The restaurant is decorated in that typical Japanese bamboo style with little cubicles where you can eat in privacy.

Eating off the lunch menu, we had bento boxes, and two of our party of four were not particularly hungry so we only ordered three of them. Mine came tempura -- two large shrimps and vegetables, rice, an order of California rolls, and a nicely dressed salad ($9.50). The other came with Tuna rolls and Chicken Teryaki ($9.50). Miso soup was included.

The Miso soup was very nice. It seemed slighly sweeter than most. The tempura items were obviously freshly cooked, and the California Rolls tasted very fresh. The food was definitely above average.

Although the food was good although not spectacularI must say that, given the choice, I would prefer to go to Sushi Sono. The service here has been friendly in the part. I am not sure if they resented two of us sharing a box, but the server seemed rather unfriendly. (She presented only three bubble gums at the end of the meal!)

Although Sushi King serves alcoholic drinks, we did not have wine with our meal, and the bill for three lunches (but four people) was about $35, including an extra order of California Rolls to go. Very good value!

Moet & Chandon White Star

2006-09-24T20:40:00.000-05:00

Well I acquired this bottle out of spite. A couple of weeks, I was about to buy a bottle of Korbel, but suddenly felt irritated that it called itself Champagne. (If you are interested, click here to see that discussion and Korbel's defense.) So I spent three times as much money -- about $30.00. And I wound up with this delicious bottle of White Star from Moet & Chandon.

They always say that if you spend a little extra, the first thing you forget is the price, and I liked this Champagne very much indeed. It is made with both red grapes (Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier) and white grapes (Chardonnay). It is less dry than most Champagnes sold in the United States, which are usually Brut. This Extra Dry Champagne is considerably sweet. It is a kinder, gentler Champagne that would go well with anything. (I don't find Brut Champagne works very well with desserts although it served so often with wedding cakes.) It has nice beedy little bubbles, and is fruity in a way that is not often found in Champagne -- peaches! Very nice indeed.

Pistachio Nuts, B.F. Skinner, and Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon 2001

2006-09-23T11:11:00.000-05:00

For people seeking the short story on 2001 Geyser Peak Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine is simply extraordinary. I bought it a few years ago at the King's Contrivance Liquor Store in Columbia. (Click here for the posting on where I get my wine.) This wine had a dark berry flavor. It was surprisingly sweet, dark, and extremely intense. You could certainly taste the oak that provided soft vanilla overtones to the flavor. Simply stated, this wine was delicious. Although the price was $16.49 on the bottle, I think it was on sale and I paid about $12.00 for the bottle. Keeping it for a few years really paid off.

Now the long story...

(If you have the time, follow the links. It might be fun!)

In an earlier post, I suggested that some of the fun about wine drinking is about finding a wine where the quality seems to bear little relationship to the price. When I drink wine like the perennially good Petite Syrah from Bogle at around $12.00, I feel that I have somehow beaten the system! The Ancient Vines Zinfandel (around $12.00) from Cline gives me that same smug satisfaction.

But there is another joy of drinking wine that is linked to a theory, which is totally devoid of any research basis, that I have about pistachio nuts. Put a bowl of pistachio nuts in front of me, and I cannot stop eating them until the last one has gone. Other people often seem to have similar weaknesses.

(By the way, if I am drinking wine before dinner, I usually avoid peanuts. I don't consider them very wine friendly.)

Apart from unrestrained gluttony, I believe that this compulsion to keep eating is related to the behaviorist idea that habits are more strongly reinforced if the reward for a behavior is given randomly. So, if you eat thirty pistachio nuts, you are likely to find twenty six good ones, one little stinker, and the remaining three will simply sing in your mouth. Seeking the reward of that perfect pistachio, you just keep on and on eating them.

The pistachio nut enthusiast probably knows that the best pistachio nuts in the world come from Iran which, according the article in Wikipedia on the subject, produces more pistachios nuts in the world with 38% of the world's production. You can usually tell an Iranian pistachio nut just by looking at it. They tend to be much larger than most, and they simply taste better. (Avoid pistachios that are dyed red. They are rarely any good.)

Readers in Maryland can buy Iranian pistachios at Sizar's food market:

6955 Oakland Mills Rd
Columbia, MD 21045.

For a Google map, click here.

(They are not quite as good as getting them from a firend traveling to Iran, but they are still pretty tasty! Sizar's is a nice little Persian grocery store with not just food from Iran, but all sorts of food from the Middle East and the Mediterranean. You can also get Indian food there, including chutneys curry paste, and so on.)

So what has all this got to do with Geyser Peak? Well, I wanted a red wine for dinner on Friday night. We did not have guests so I was not looking for one of my better Bordeaux, but I wanted something a little bit better than an $8.00 "everyday" wine. I also wanted to drink up any potentially "over the hill" wines in the cellar. So that was why I picked the Geyser Peak -- not too expensive, possibly aging, and, without guests, the risk of disappointment was low.

This wine was my unpredictable reward. I hoped for "good" and would have been satisfied with "okay," but I never expected extraordinary. It reminded me of much more expensive wines, and I began to think of Silver Oak. It was so dark, dense, and the blackberry/cassis fruit was marvellous. The oak provided a rich vanilla almost creamy! Although probably mature, it was clearly not in decline, and I would venture to say that it was at its peak. I have one bottle of this wine left. I will drink it soon but on a very special occasion!

I have had a lot of good luck from Geyser Peak, and this experience will keep me coming back again and again to seek that perfect reward!

The winery's notes on this wine are below:

Vintage: 2001
Appellation: Alexander Valley

Grape Varietal: Cabernet Sauvignon

Storage/Type: 100% American oak barrels: 20% new oak; 80% a balanced mixture of one-, two-, and three-year old oak
Maturation Time: 15 months

Production Comments: A portion of the fruit for this wine was processed through our rotary fermenters. These innovative tanks enable maximum desirable extraction with only four or five days of on-skin fermentation, and minimize extraction of harsh, undesirable tannins.

Bottling Information & Analysis: Bottling Date: 06/03

Release Date: 12/03

Cases Produced: 49400

Alcohol 13.5%

pH 3.72

Acid 0.60

R.S. Dry

Wine Description: Classic Alexander Valley aromas of sweet blackberry fruit and cassis burst out of the glass on this wine. The vibrant intensity of the fruit aromas is typical of Geyser Peak's style, as is the restrained oak, which supports the fruit without dominating it. Ripe raspberry, blackberry and black cherry flavors harmonize on the wine's rich, juicy mid-palate with toasty oak notes. Typically Alexander Valley tannins come to the fore on the finish, which harmonizes persistent fruit flavors with fine-grained tannins.
Recipes: Black Olive Tapenade Crostini, Fabulous Flank Steak, Grilled New York Steaks with Cabernet Reduction Sauce, Pork Chops a La Piacenza, Rack of Lamb with Red Wine Jus, Red Wine Braised Oxtail

Hampton Inn, Lexington Park

2006-09-19T18:33:00.000-05:00

The lobby at the Hampton Inn. Breakfast is served here.

Hampton Inn
22211 Three Notch Road
Lexington Park, Maryland
United States 20653

Tel: +1-301-863-3200
Fax: +1-301-863-7865

For a Google map, click here

There is an old principle in writing about hotels, planes, and restaurants. Don't judge them by how they perform when things are going well. Reserve judgement until things go wrong. I remember trying to take an old TWA flight from JFK to Madrid shortly before TWA disappeared. The flight couldn't leave, and we were told to go away and come back in 24 hours. Accommodation? Find your own. Can you guarantee us a seat on tomorrow's flight? I can't even guarantee we will be here tomorrow. Shortly after that TWA disappeared. And I was glad!

Anyway, we arrived late at the Hampton Inn in Lexington Park to check into our room, and we were told we had the last room. When we went upstairs, we found the key would not work so the very nice person at the desk came to help. Even his new key would not work so he went to get a "hard" key, a metal one that you use the old fashioned way. As he tried to turn the key, a sad voice from behind the door politely asked if there was any reason why we trying to get into his room.

The desk clerk immediately apologized profusely, and we went downstairs. The first thing he did was to phone the sad man and tell him that there would be no charge for the night. Then he found us a room and said there would be no charge for us either.

I was so pleased that they seemed so anxious to please, and the next day the new person on duty at the desk apologized too and freely admitted that it was her fault.

In every other way, the stay was excellent. This hotel is well appointed with a very comfortable bed, a good large bathroom. Breakfast in the morning is included, and it was quite nice with good coffee.

As I have mentioned before, I really like Hampton Inns, and this was a great example of them going out of their way to please.

I only wish they would not use stryrofoam so much for breakfast!

Our room for the night, if we had not been given the free room, would have been about $95.

The Hot Noodle, California, MD

2006-09-18T17:56:00.000-05:00

The Hot Noodle
22576 Macarthur Boulevard
California
Maryland 20616

A Google map can be found here.

Telephone: 301-862-9188

When I see a restaurant that serves many different kinds of cooking, I often walk in another direction. It irritates me if a restaurant seems to be unable to make up its mind about what kind of food it wants to serve. But if I applied that principle to the Hot Noodle, I would miss out on some really very good food.

This restaurant, which is convenient to people visiting Patuxent Naval Air Station or St. Mary's College of Maryland, is located in a little strip mall in an area with offices that seem to feed off the Naval Air Station. Advertising that you can have "The Great Taste of Asia All Under One Roof," The Hot Noodle is a place where you can get Chinese Potstickers ($5.95), Pho ($6.95), Pad Thai ($7.45), or Korean Short Ribs ($13.95). I think the owners are probably Vietnamese so I usually stick to Vietnamese dishes, but friends and family have had food from all over the map. I cannot remember having a bad dish here. And this restaurant offers really good value for money in a nice comfortable setting.

I usually start with the Spring Rolls (3 for $4.95) or the Shrimp Summer Rolls (3 for $4.95), which are "freshly sliced shrimp, lettuce, island mints, carrots, cucumbers, vermicelli noodles, and bean sprouts, hand wrapped in cool rice paper, and served with zesty peanut sauce." The peanut sauce is just wonderful!

The excellent Vietnamese Steak ($10.95) is made of tender cubes of very good beef cooked in a wok and served with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions with a lime and pepper sauce. It is my favorite dish in the restaurant.

There is a wine list, but I have always been traveling so I have never has any wine here, but they serve very nice limeade. The portions are generous, and I have always been too full for dessert.

My only gripe here is the way they print the menu. Red text on green is barely legible to most people, and would probably be a nightmare for people with color perception difficulties! Some of the writing is in small print over pictures, and that is difficult to read too. But I hear they are changing their menu. I only hope that means the presentation rather than the dishes.

Dinner for eight last Saturday (September 16, 2006) was only $113 the other night. We had shared starters, a main course, and soft drinks. An exceptionally good restaurant with excellent value for money!

Château Langoa Barton, 1996

2006-09-04T18:16:00.000-05:00

We had a bottle of Château Langoa Barton, 1996, on Saturday night, and I was hoping for something very special, and it wasn't.

I found it hard, very tannic, and there really was not much sense of fruit. It seemed as if this wine was in a period where it had lost the fresh initial fruit of a young wine, but had not yet softened its tannins and gained complexity.

After a little, it seemed to open up a little, but overall this was a disappointment. Perhaps we should have just kept this wine longer!