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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in jtavan's LiveJournal:

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    Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
    7:32 pm
    TN: Durin 2006 Riviera Ligure di Ponente Pigato

    13% ABV indicated. Liquid silken rocks with a splash of lemon. A somewhat larger splash would be better. ($cheap, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Sunday, May 24th, 2009
    10:02 am
    Recipe: Beans and Rice With Avocado Salad

    By request, one of my favorite dishes.

    Beans and Rice With Avocado Salad

    10oz dried yellow (Mayacoba/Canary) beans, soaked in water 6 hours to overnight
    2 rice cups (360ml) Jasmine (white or brown) or Thai Red Cargo rice
    2-4 avocados (depending on size)
    2 large shallots
    2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes
    1oz fresh squeezed lime juice
    1tbs chili flakes, fine
    top-quality aromatic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
    salt and pepper

    Bring soaked beans to a boil in a pot of water, then reduce heat and simmer slowly, covered, until tender (several hours). 10 minutes before finished, add salt to taste (it takes a few minutes for the beans to absorb the salt). Drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and set aside. In an electric rice cooker, cook rice with some salt and the bean cooking liquid. A few minutes before the rice cycle completes, add the cooked beans to the rice and stir well. While the rice cooks, prepare the salad.

    Slice avocadoes in half, removing the pit. Score with crosshatches and scoop into a bowl. Dice tomatoes and mince shallots very fine and add to the bowl along with lime juice, salt, pepper, and chili flake. Add a good splash of the aromatic olive oil and stir well, trying not to completely mash the avocado cubes. Serve the cold salad atop a bowl of the hot rice and beans so that the heat from the rice brings out the aroma of the oil. Top with additional olive oil if desired.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
    9:45 pm
    TN: Chermette - Domaine du Vissoux 2005 Beaujolais

    12% ABV indicated. This is a little bit of happiness in a glass. It’s got fruit. It’s got rocks. It’s got juicy tartness. It’s absolutely adorable, and all of $13/bottle. Delicious, food-friendly red wine without attitude. Sadly, no longer available. ($13, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
    10:45 pm
    TN: Laroche/Domaine aux Moines 1994 Savennières-Roche aux Moines

    The ghost of an apple haunts this dry, dessicated husk of a wine, its shrill, acidic shrieking almost completely masking the rustle of autumn leaves. ($17, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Sunday, February 1st, 2009
    9:47 pm
    TN: Clos Roche Blanche 2007 Pineau d’Aunis “L’Arpent”

    Delicious, but not as extraordinary as the 2006. It lacks the etherial beauty, showing a slightly more masculine profile. Still, it’s great stuff. ($17?, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Saturday, January 31st, 2009
    9:11 pm
    TN: Burrell School 2005 Cabernet Franc Pichon Vineyard (Santa Cruz Mtns)

    (14.5% ABV indicated) Brilliant ruby wine, redolent of oak and spice, bearing not the slightest resemblance to Cab Franc. Good fruit, but generic. (~$40 direct)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Saturday, January 10th, 2009
    9:54 pm
    TN: Elio Altare 2006 Dolcetto d’Alba

    Floral nose, dense blueberry and blackberry packed into a context of rich tannin. It avoids being syrupy by the narrowest margin - a hedonist’s wine that even fruit-haters like me can enjoy. Delicious. A Larry, but a good one. (Beltramo’s, $20?)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Monday, December 22nd, 2008
    12:35 am
    TN: Poderi San Lazzaro 2005 Rosso Piceno Superiore “Podere 72″

    13.5% ABV indicated. 50% Montepulciano, 50% Sangiovese, aged 9 months in new and used French oak barrels. This has that rustic, prickly, volatile acidity and leathery (bretty?) scent that we find in a lot of lesser-known Italian reds. The wine is not significantly harmed by the new oak, only showing a little sweetness and a little smoke in the finish. Finishes a little sticky. Decent table wine, not worth spending much money on it.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
    9:59 pm
    TN: Philippe Tessier 2007 Cheverny Rouge

    Lots of fruit, an unusual dark maroon spice tint, and a good bit of juicyness. What does it taste like? Hard to say - I wouldn’t necessarily have guessed it as a gamay/pinot noir blend in a blind tasting, but maybe I would have. Unusual, pleasant, refreshing. Larry. ($14, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Saturday, December 6th, 2008
    11:09 am
    TN: Moët 1999 Dom Pérignon

    Maybe it’s just the mild head cold and stuffiness I’m experiencing, but this is severely underwhelming. A bit rubbery both to smell and taste, and the biscuity/doughy note doesn’t really compensate for the almost astringent, thin character. Still, we took posession of the new house, and needed to celebrate that along with Repeal Day. Good memories despite underwhelming, expensive fizzy wine. ($119, Costco)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    11:05 am
    TN: Bert Simon 1996 Serrig Würzberg Riesling Spätlese

    8.5% ABV indicated. At first it seemed a bit age-faded, with the fruit sort of oxidized and slightly sticky from the residual sugar. Just starting to get that oily aged-Riesling note. Nothing particularly impressive. It was a lot better after a couple days corked and a couple accidental freeze/thaw cycles, strangely enough, with increased zip and zing and interest. Still a Larry, but a much more enjoyable one. ($18, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Sunday, November 16th, 2008
    6:32 pm
    TN: Hétszölö 2006 Tokaji Furmint Sec (Hungary)

    Dried herbs and fall apples and layers of rock and acid. This is absolutely delicious - astonishingly so. I haven’t had many dry wines from Tokaj, but I’m going to need to do some more study of them. Curly. ($10, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
    12:08 am
    TN: Marc Olivier Domaine de la Pépière 2005 Vin de Pays du Jardin de la France “Cépage CôtR

    Pure Malbec fruit in a balanced and clean format. A little small-scale, which is something of a relief after the volatile fruit bombs of Argentina.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
    3:41 pm
    RR: Da Kitchen and Local Boy Snack Shop, Kihei

    Da Kitchen: Monstrously large plates of local food done very right. Good kalbi, great fried mahi. Dis place broke da mouf!

    Local Boy Snack Shop: apparently one of the relatively few places for real shave ice on Maui. It is indeed very good, with azuki beans, sweet cream, and li hing mui powder for topping. Really delicious, but avoid the awful tourist trap garbage mall that surrounds it - dire stuff.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Monday, October 27th, 2008
    4:51 pm
    RR: Maui Brewing Company

    Newly reopened following an extensive remodel. It’s a lot more industrial and more noisy now, but a lot more brewpub-like. Good beer just as I remembered, particularly the IPA. And, for the record, there is no better start to a meal than a wedge of beer-battered, deep-fried Brie with guava jelly. Sadly, they underseasoned the otherwise-excellent burger, and completely neglected to season the onion rings. Even so, a very enjoyable brewpub meal.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Monday, October 20th, 2008
    8:19 pm
    TN: Valkenburg Imports 2007 “Undone” Pinot Noir (Rheinhessen)

    This is pretty much exactly as billed. Pinot Noir grape, unsullied by oak char or vanilla. It’s grape-y like a Beaujolais Villages, but with some of that Pinot spice. Fresh and pleasant - an unpretentious and tasty table wine that goes down easily. Not as interesting as I remember the Binz cheap Pinot being, but I’ll get more of this and enjoy every sip. ($11, K&L)

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    8:12 pm
    TN: Angostura 1919 Rum (Trinidad)

    Medium amber
    Crystallized brown sugared fruit
    And vanilla bean

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Friday, October 17th, 2008
    9:49 pm
    TN: Ballentine 2002 Napa Valley Syrah “Old Vines”

    14.7% ABV indicated, but tastes like 15.7%. Like brushing my teeth with a barrel stave soaked in pure ethanol. Maybe if this were chilled it would tame some of the heat, but the prickly acidity and alcohol burn obstruct the fruit. Normally I like acid, but this is spiky and out of place. I think there’s some decent fruit hidden in this wine, but it is indeed hidden. Very much a Moe wine.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Sunday, October 12th, 2008
    3:50 pm
    TN: Torani and Monin Passionfruit Syrups

    Torani Passionfruit Syrup: Somewhat thin, somewhat yellow. Very sweet, with clean, reasonably-believable passionfruit flavor. Could use some more acid and more intensity. 19g sugar per 30ml serving.

    Monin Passionfruit Syrup: Much thicker and more syrupy. Harsh, chemical, acrid flavor bears no resemblance to any passionfruit I ever ate. Tastes like the outflow of an industrial flavor plant waste line. Still undrinkable when diluted with water and ice. DNPIM. 25g sugar per 30ml serving.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

    Thursday, October 9th, 2008
    8:46 pm
    TN: Twisted Oak 2006 Viognier

    Tropical American oak, apricot and spice balanced by decent acid. Not really my style, but competently done. Larry.

    Originally published at Jeremy's Tasting Notes &c.. Please leave any comments there.

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