Text 19116, 117 rader
Skriven 2009-01-04 05:39:02 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: AUS delicacies 27
=========================
 ML> I have in fact discovered a certain advantage to traveling with the
 ML> y, a, and f. And there is a distinct deficit in traveling alone.
 GJ> There are advantages in lone travel, as you need only go to the places
 GJ> *you* want to go to, but there are more disadvantages, such as
 GJ> expense, and frequent offers of a "Nice young
 GJ> Chinese/Indian/Thai/Filipino girl/boy"

I get those kinds of offers in Italy usually; I pass for a
scruffy empty-pocketed native in most parts of east Asia,
where I plan to spend part of this month - got a good fare,
cheapish accommos, and the total out-of-pocket will probably
equal what rent and food would cost here (thank you Mileage Plus).

 ML> As that paper can be read online, we have suggested that Jim W
 GJ> should write a letter, and if he won the 2 bottles Kevin has offered to
 GJ> collect them on his behalf.
 ML> Ah, yes. Who will cover the shipping costs to YK?
 GJ> You jest!  Kevin can write a review of it and send that to Jim, at no
 GJ> cost.  That would be (almost) as good as sending the real thing.

I take it Kevin would be a less than perfect fiduciary.

 ML> Did [Mr Ballbuster] know Ray at all, or of him?
 GJ> Of course, as they were next door neighbours.  After all, everyone
 GJ> knows everyone else in the Barossa.

'twould be a perfect opportunity to find out who took custody of
the delectable if demented Joan as well as of the vineyards.

 -=> Glen Jamieson said to Dave Sacerdote <=-

 GJ> One thing I really can't understand is how a bottle of wine - any wine
 GJ> - can be valued at hundreds of dollars.  I noticed that the wine list

I can. Better made wines made from better ingredients should cost more,
and there's an optimal age for wine, which in the case of the better
ones is greater than a month, and so there's a return on investment factor
(if you want to tie up your capital for a decade or two, which is what
is needed for maturation of a proper red, your valuation will want to
increase at least with the standard ROI), and there's a scarcity factor.
I myself wouldn't pay over $50 for a bottle of wine, but that's mostly
because I can't afford to.

The only wine I've had recently that actually made the angels sing was
a Petrus, valued in the thousands, out of Nicholas's cellar. I think
that if one had the resources, whether from hard work or from bilking
credulous pensioners out of their savings, such a purchase would be
well worth the price.

 GJ> at a restaurant where I recently ate had Penfolds Grange listed at
 GJ> $495 a bottle.  Who would buy that?  My thoughts were that anyone
 GJ> earning so much money that s/he could afford to spend that amount on
 GJ> wine would not be likely to tell the difference between the Grange and
 GJ> a $60 something else.  Conversely, the few people who could fully
 GJ> appreciate the difference would be very unlikely to be able to afford
 GJ> the Grange. 

Truth on the likelihood part, but you are implying an unwarranted class
distinction, I think. I'd say that 90% of the fancy restaurant clientele
would not distinguish between Grange and Thomas Hyland, but I'd be
willing to wager that that was true also of 99% of the general public.
The fact that you may run in circles where impecunity and virtuosic
taste buds coincide doesn't give you evidence to damn the rich while
extolling the poor. For every you or Kevin (assuming his taste buds and
brains haven't totally burned out in the last couple years) there are
a hundred working blokes out of Monty's Auto Repair & Petrol who would
happily toss down that Grange in the same way as they'd guzzle some
Stanley cask wine and with equal enjoyment.

 GJ> Wine is for drinking, giving transient pleasure before being turned
 GJ> into urine, not for storing as an investment, but many people see it
 GJ> as such, and never intend to drink it.  All quite sad...

True. But there is no doubt that wine acquires delicacy and other
positive traits for up to several decades if kept happy and warm. Not
unlike women, and perhaps men, too, though despite the encouragement
of my friend Bill and an increasing number of others, I can't speak
for these latter.

 GJ> Anyway, try to have at least a *fairly* Happy New Year, in spite of
 GJ> the gloom and doom news coming over the airways at this time.

I am currently staying with friends who have cousins and
stuff in the IDF and friends and relations in Sdeirot and
the Golan Heights. Life, as I have to remind myself, could
be worse.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: To Make A Ragoo Of Pig's Ears
 Categories: Stew, Ragout
      Yield: 1 Servings

           ;text

  To Make A Ragoo Of Pig's-Ears
  Take a quantity of pig's-ears and boil them in one half wine and the
  other water; cut them in small pieces, then brown a little butter,
  and put them in, and a pretty deal of gravy, two anchovies, an
  eschalot or two, a little mustard, and some slices of lemon, some
  salt, and stew all these together, and shake it up thick. Garnish the
  dish with barberries.

  From The Complete Housewife, 1728

  Reprinted in the "Mantle Of Safety Cookbook", published by The Air
  Branch of the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia (Central
  Section), Port Augusta Women's Auxilliary, to commemorate the 25th
  Birthday of the Port Augusta Base in 1980.

  Typed by Greg Mayman, 2003-11-06

MMMMM
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

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