Not too long ago, even after I had been toying the idea of starting this blog, my wife and I were dining at a fairly high-end steak restaurant in town to celebrate a promotion she received at work.  We brought our own wine, a twelve year-old cabernet sauvignon from Napa Valley.  I ordered an aged rib-eye steak with a side of sautéed mushrooms. The rib-eye was prepared simply enough, seasoned with salt and pepper and finished with a touch of butter and parsley. The mushrooms were of the brown button and Portobello variety, sautéed in butter and garlic.  Something happened to this dish when I was washing it down with the slightly matured, velvety cabernet.   In my mouth, the fat from the marbled piece of beef danced slow and languorous with the softly sweet and peppery wine.  Then, the earthiness of the mushrooms enhanced the flavors of everything to a rapturous level. The dinner epitomized for me the adage that eating well and drinking well go hand in hand.

 

There are few pleasures in life which equal the experience of a having a meal so delicious, so viscerally gratifying that you would remember it forever.  I often find that such meals are the end-product of the alchemy of good food combined with equally good drink.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be wine you’re drinking with your food.  I have had amazing meals of fish tacos, lime wedges and Mexican cervezas.  Blueberry pancakes with the right coffee could be the best start to anyone’s day.  This blog is about me sharing those stories of these great combinations with you.  

 

I’m not a sommelier.  The only time I worked in the food industry was as a teenager, working at a burger n’ fries joint located inside Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. Today, I work as a lawyer at a Fortune 500 company in the venerable “O.C.” Sure, the thought has crossed my mind once or twice to leap into sommelier school just to learn more than what I already know.  As it stands, I have taken wine courses through the local university’s extension curriculum and have completed the certificate program there.  The legendary stories of former lawyers like Robert M. Parker, Jr. and Arthur Frommer who left their respective legal professions to live the good life – and make money at it – are certainly compelling. 

 

The name of my webpage is “Bread & Water.” However, until I can make this my uber Domain Name, I’ve also added “Nervous Kitchen” to my URL.   Even when I’m not cooking, I’m nervous in the kitchen as only an armchair sommelier can be. I often agonize over what to appropriately drink with a dish being prepared.

 

Regardless, I’m starting this website as someone who has just turned forty and perhaps is finding that he would like to share his many interesting life experiences, particularly as it relates to eating and drinking, with anyone willing to read about them.  The purpose of my blog is not so much to create a reference guide for those of you eager to find the perfect wine to go with the lamb you prepared that evening, although you will certainly find many posts about wine and about lamb.  I’m mostly here to tell some tales and share with you some interesting moments, not always good ones, about something I ate and drank. So let us raise our glasses and begin.    

 

 

 

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