From the Desk of DJ

I may have been one for May, but this blog is still flourishing after 15 years.  People are clamoring for more, meaning the Wig and #1 both busted my chops for sparse recent production, whereas Trump’s just shut down after a month because it was getting only slightly more hits than mine. Maybe Trump will bring it back when he is reinstated as POTUS in August.

Since my last post we’ve been to Paso Robles and Tahoe.  Paso was with TCG and Katie and Tahoe was hosted by them.  They remarked that they really enjoyed spending so much time with me.

Paso was quite nice.  I heard it compared to Napa, circa 1980.  We had a very upbeat driver for our big wine tasting day, and she estimated that there are 350 wineries in the area.  We hit Eberle, Booker, and Calcareous that day.  All our hosts were cordial and knowledgeable, making for pleasant visits.  We went to Justin the day before for lunch and tasting and joined their wine club.

We stayed at the Paso Robles Inn. My wife said the crew next door kept her up one night, but I was apparently dead to the world, sleeping in every day.  I stayed in the room one day as the others went to the pool, so I missed the opportunity to meet a nice drunk couple that chatted them up.  They said they were patrons of the nearby Rodeo Bar.  I suggested to TCG that we start our next day there with a couple shots of Popov, but we got lattes instead.

We sampled several local breakfast eateries and were not disappointed with the piles of food they provided, which allowed us to subsist on light lunches.  We had dinners at Thomas Hill Organics, BL Brasserie, and Il Cortile.  We can recommend them all, but we saved the best for last at Il Cortile, with generous cocktails, great service and fine food.

Wine dominated but we did spend a little time at the Firestone Walker Taproom, the makers of 805.  We tried a few flights, most of which were good, but we didn’t care for one.  It might have been the Blueberry Mint Cobbler or the Cocoanut Stout.  I appreciate creativity as much as the next guy, but c’mon people!

We spent a couple weeks at the FC hideout before heading to Tahoe last Thursday. Thursday night was a fun event with some folks we had just met along with TCG’s neighbors and #2.  We all made a personalized pizza, which TCG cooked up in his portable pizza oven, which can hit 900 degrees plus.  This evening featured the TCG and DJ show, which has a two-drink minimum.  We kept the crowd in stitches, at least in our own minds.  Charlie walked into this party at the end, which is akin to being unceremoniously dumped into a foreign country.

#1 and Barbie arrived on Friday and The Hoteliers on Saturday.  I still need to get a bar name for Mrs. Hotelier.  We went out on the boat several times.  #2 just got a new boat so along with Katie’s boat we had enough room for the entire crew.  We hit a few rough patches and Barbie started talking about her coccyx.  We did lunch at Gar Woods, where we had some excitement when two waitstaff collided and dropped their trays.  The clean-up crew had it fixed in no time and #1 got a free drink because he got a little splashed on the back.

We split dinners between the TCG and #2 abodes. The mac and cheese I made was sandwiched between #1’s taco bar and butter chicken.  For our last dinner, TCG let me pick out one the Booker wines he purchased in Paso.  I chose the Tempranillo and decanted it.  It was quite good, and I asked if I could take another home with me.  Permission denied.

We are now back home and getting ready for a busy weekend. The girl comes home tonight with her girlfriend and we’re having a pizza party Friday with Mashie, Unc, my sister and LA.  Saturday night is a going away party for Charlie, who is heading to Massachusetts.  Sunday is a wedding shower for The Hotelier’s daughter. Monday, we rest.

We got the sad news yesterday that The Wig’s dad – father, grandfather, great-grandfather - passed away at 96.  I met him several times and he was quite the physical specimen, weightlifting into his 70s.  RIP Ernie.