Food, Wine & Friends Page 95
SANDY OBESTER'S 2005 BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Hosted by Marjorie Noble Martin
San Mateo
We gathered at Marjorie's home to celebrate Sandy's
birthday and more...
We celebrated that Bob Gorman, fresh from surgery, was able to join us. We
celebrated that Frank Weisl could join us, as well as Marjorie!
Alexia took care of the "nibbles" and Henry opened the magnum of Bruno
Paillard Champagne...very nice!
Sandy Obester, the birthday girl.
The Menu:
Henry brought some mushrooms for Bob to identify...he'd just caught them in the
woods earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, the chef is working on the risotto in the kitchen...
Before...
After...
We sat down at had some roasted peppers with a Bagna Calda sauce...
Ettore German's 2002 "Binel" was the wine for this course...Alexia
felt it was corked...I sniffed it and it seemed okay, though as the wine warmed,
there was a slight 'off' note. Still, not bad.
Bob got busy, too.
Marjorie looked great!
Next we had the wild mushroom risotto with an Albese white
truffle shaved on top of it!
Rivetti's Barbera-based red called "Pin" was the wine of choice.
Frank wanted a bit more wine...
A palate-cleansing, refreshing Nouveau Beaujolais ice was next.
Lamb stew and polenta comprised the main plate.
We had a bottle of Elena Fucci's "Aglianico" called Titolo. I
thought this bottle was off, showing an excessively earthy note. The
Librandi wine, from Calabria, was delightful, though...
With the lamb stew we had steamed beets and braised cardoons.
Marjorie was really hungry...!!!
Paul took care of the cheese course...we had a Gros Freres' 1966 Vosne-Romane
which was delicate, youthful and delicious.
Some questioned the authenticity of the wine, since the bottle was clean and,
obviously, freshly labeled. I purchased it a year ago from a reputable
importer, though, who buys directly from the estate. It was nicely
Burgundian...a good bottle, certainly.
The birthday cake was a work of art...
The Fire Department insisted on a one candle limit on the birthday cake...they
didn't want Paul's facial hair to catch on fire.
We opened a bottle of 1949 Banyuls which Alexia swore was not legit...
"I've tasted old wines and they don't have this much red color. Come
on...this is not right..."
Whatever it was, it was good.
We then had a few gifts for Sandy...
Bob got her some Joseph Schmidt's chocolates...
We washed a few dishes, some stemware and then called it a night.
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