I went to the wednesday night farmer's market in Davis yesterday for the first time. Of course it would be awesome if Sac had something like that in addition to all our other markets around town. I got some bland Indian food and finally got to try one of those gourmet popsicles I've heard about, poached pear and brandy.
I also checked out this weird wine shop (Valley Wine Co) on 4th and G in Davis that MH clued me in to. I've passed by it a thousand times on my way to the co-op and always thought it wasn't open to the public. But it is, although there are tons of cardboard boxes obscuring the front entrance and you have to go in through the side. They have an interesting selection. I got a 2004 Alsacian blend for 11 bucks, and smiller got a 2004 Fuller's vintage ale that I don't think they realized they had, it had just been sitting in the fridge for two years. The guys who run it are nice.
I went in there right before my 21st birthday, millions of years ago, and had them order me some real Egri Bikaver (not the crap you can buy at Trader Joe's). The guy was so nice and excited to talk to me about Hungary. He was kinda like the anti-Darrel Corti, who was rather rude when I asked him for help finding a good Tokay for my grandmother a few years ago. But it was an incredible Tokay.
ReplyDeletespeaking of tokay, the wine i got has tokay d'alsace (or pinot gris) in it. mmm...wine. why am i not drinking it right now?
ReplyDeletehey-i have a question for peeps, has anyone out there ever been to durango?
What is it about the Wednesday night farmer's market in Davis that is good? The evening approach, or products there?
ReplyDeleteI'm curious but I don't want to go to Davis...what awesomeness are we missing out on?
Its funny, the Hungarian wine board has sued Alsace and they can no longer use the name Tokay d'Alsace. Now the Alsace producers just call it Pinot Gris. They also sued Friuli (NE Italy) for using the grape name Tocai Friuliano, so they changed the name to just Friuliano, but then other Friulians argued that wasn't fair to other native Friulian grapes! So there are thousands of bottles of wine labeled Friuliano that are being held up by the red tape!
ReplyDeleteNot that I blame the Hungarians...they once held an imperial level status in the wine world and the soviet era really put the kabash on that.
-MH
The produce is more artfully arranged, but can't beat the selection of our sunday morning market. The cool thing is that there are food booths, so you can get dinner there, and they have tables set up for you to eat them at, and public bathrooms, and an atm, and bands play.
ReplyDeleteI mainly liked the evening approach to the Davis Farmer's Market. Seemed a little more lively. The stuff for sale wasn't any better than the Sac one (and inferior to the Sunday morning one) but it seemed more like the Thursday Night Market of days gone by than a Farmer's Market.
ReplyDeletemiller
All this talk of Tokaj is making me thirsty.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the most delicious thing in the whole world.
I also miss you guys!
-Ella
Ella! We miss you too! Are you guys okay down there?????
ReplyDelete-Michele
Yah, we got to go back to the house yesterday and everything was totally fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny to watch your neighbors unload all the crap that they packed when fleeing the fire, while you are doing the same thing. People don't want to talk to each other during this kind of moment, I've discovered. I saved great grandparents quilts, really special antique clothes, some guitars, my roomate's glockenspeil, computers and shitloads of camera equipment. I watched one neighbor unload about 300 dvds from her car. Weird. I would never rescue that kind of crap. We had to pack on behalf of two absent roomates too. That was hard.
The night of the fire, one neighbor kept saying "you guys aren't leaving, right?" for like an hour, as we packed. When Willy finally made him look at the giant wall of red flames 1/4 mile away directly behind our houses, he freaked out and only then accepted the situation! He panicked and yelled "what do I pack?!" and started yelling about how angry he was that no emergency personel had told anyone to leave! sigh.
Dude! there was a 40 thousand acre wildfire surrounding the village on three sides all fucking day long and at 3am you are complaining nobody told you that you might have to leave? Art students, man!
Ella
Really glad that you guys are alright. Now, accept this sign and move back here already. I'll buy you a bottle of Tokay if you do.
ReplyDeleteY'all have heard of Lodi, right? Half-hour south of Sacramento, specializes in growing Tokay grapes, some fine wines these days (so I hear; I've been a teetotaler for 15 years)?
ReplyDeleteGrwffydd, former longtime San Joaquin County resident ...
Yea, there's even a high school named after the wine. They didn't recruit Samoans teens for their football team like Franklin High did though.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Capt. Charles M. Weber
There ain't nothing noble about the rot in Lodi however.
ReplyDeleteoh ho ho ho! bad jokes about wine! oh hohhhoo.
I'm going to lie down now to let my brain get some much needed blood.
Ella
Yeah, that Tokay rot in Lodi is pretty Thunderbird-esque.
ReplyDeleteTrivia note: Two fairly well known Tokay High School graduates are Steve Malkmus and Scott Kannberg of Pavement.
Lord Buckley, aka Grwffydd
Tokay, Lincoln and St. Mary's were the schools all the rich kids went to...
ReplyDeleteLove,
Eckhard Schmidt
good one, ella!
ReplyDelete