Friday, March 30, 2012

A particularly fun bottle of wine





Yes, that bottle is meant to be upside-down.


Movia Puro Rose is a sparking rose wine, made on the border of Slovenia and Italy. It's stored upside-down because its yeasts have never been disgorged.

This bottle, if you can find it, is a perfect conversation piece for a party.

See, when champagne/sparkling wine is made, the winemakers first make a still white wine. Then they put that still wine in bottles and add yeast and sugars. The yeast eats the sugar, creating carbon dioxide, which is trapped in the bottle--that's what creates the bubbles in champagne.

Normally, the bottles are then turned, slowly pulling all the yeast down into the neck of the bottle, into a plug that can be disgorged. The yeast plug shoots out, the winemaker tops off the bottle with a little more grape juice and sugar, and reseals it, leaving the bubbles intact.

But the Puro Rose was never disgorged. That yeast plug was still in there.

For last weekend's dinner party, I got a bottle. (Courtesy of my restaurant, which allows me to buy the wine off their list at cost. This bottle was not in fact on the wine list--it was brought in for a special occasion dinner a few weeks ago, and they graciously allowed me to purchase one of the leftover bottles. Trust me, this stuff is not easy to find.) It comes in a sleeve, which allows you to keep it upside down, keeping that yeast plug intact.

To open it, obviously you have to disgorge the yeast plug. There's a heavy metal clamp holding the cork in;  you'll need a screwdriver or something to pry it off. But be careful--the INSTANT that metal clamp is pried off, the cork will shoot out and you'll have a fountain of expensive sparkling rose all over your floor. Be sure to have enough presence of mind to pull the bottle upright immediately.

I got a fair amount all over my floor, but it was quite a show. The wine itself was lovely--deep, complex, faintly bready. Definitely the best sparkling anything I've ever had. (Which, granted, is not an especially wide category.)

And getting wine all over my living room was never so much fun.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

First dinner party in the new apartment

I had Saturday night off for the first time in months, so I decided to celebrate by throwing a long-overdue housewarming dinner party. It was a lot of fun; we had good food, good wine, and good conversation. I got a crazy bottle of wine from work for everyone to share. Then I had to work a double the next day, and I was very tired and hungover, but it was still worth it.

The new job is hard, and tiring, but also worth it. Once I get fully up to speed, it's going to be a lot of fun (although a lot of effort to get from here to fully up to speed). The hours are much longer, and because of the commute, I don't get home until usually around 1 AM. As of next Friday, I won't be temping at the law office anymore; it's too hard to get home at 1:30 in the morning and then be somewhere by 9 AM the same morning.

Otherwise, there's not much to report. I work all the time, DH works all the time, I'm not pregnant, I read a lot of wine books, the end. I'm listening to books on tape because of the commute, so if anyone has any to recommend, please let me know.

Also, my new nephew is going to be born any day now!

Monday, March 26, 2012

New photos at Broke Foodie!

I have some new photos on my other blog, Broke Foodie! Also on Broke Foodie's Facebook page. Courtesy of Alexandra Nunes Photography.












Pretty awesome, huh? I'm in the process of updating my blog.

Monday, March 19, 2012

86 me!

"86" is restaurant slang for "no more." If we run out of steak, the call goes out: "86 steak!" Or "86 Anchor Steam!" Or "86 clams, sub mussels!" Or whatever.

So, since Saturday night was my last night at the Providence restaurant, 86 me!

It was a long day. I worked a double, but ended up getting out early, since we were slow. (Apparently people don't want to eat a nice meal out on St. Patrick's Day--they just want to go get drunk on green beer. Thankfully, I managed to avoid all the green beer/drunk people shenanigans.) My hubby met me at the bar and we had a drink and a meal out, just like regular people.

It was a nice way to say goodbye. I've really enjoyed working at that particular restaurant, and I'll miss the people and the chef. I'll be back in to eat and/or drink there on a fairly regular basis; I can only hope my new job will prove to be as rewarding.

I start full-time there this week. Somehow, I managed to get Saturday night off this week; a Saturday night off seems like such an impossible luxury at this point that I still can't quite wrap my brain around it. It'll be my first Saturday night off in six months. It might very well be another six months before I see another one. So I'm taking advantage of it, by throwing our first dinner party. And since it's our first shot at entertaining, I guess it's our housewarming, too. Just in time to work a double on Sunday!

Spring has sprung, I think. I put all the really heavy winter stuff away yesterday (yesterday being my first full day off in three weeks; I did laundry for six hours straight)--the hats, gloves, scarves, long johns, snow boots, etc. I washed and put away the heavy winter coats, and got out the spring jackets and some of the summer clothes. Obviously it'll be a while before we can transition fully from sweaters to shorts, but it made me happy to start the process. It'll be over 60 degrees every day this week. My spinach outside is sprouting!

So, wish me luck as I start the new job officially this week. I'm already intimidated.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Everything I know is wrong

The training program at the new restaurant is INTENSE. This place is like the Harvard of restaurants--hard to get into, even harder to excel, and you have to be both super-smart and super-hardworking to make it through. So, challenging. Good thing I'm smarter than the average bear, but my goodness, it's a lot of information to absorb at once.

I'll have to learn everything about the (long and complicated) menu, and re-learn everything I thought I knew about restaurant service. Apparently I've never done anything correctly--never placed silverware correctly, never poured wine correctly, never cleared a table correctly. I was so flustered and self-conscious on my second night of training that I dropped something on a table and broke a customer's water glass. I guess everything I know about breaking glasses is wrong, too.

On top of that, once I learn enough to be able to pour water, then I'll have to learn everything about all the wines on the (long and complicated) wine list in order to make it up to full server status. The good news about that is that I can purchase all the wines on the wine list at cost. Which means I can drink my way through the wine list, a bottle at a time, and call it a tax-deductible business expense.

But I'll miss the casual, fun atmosphere of my current job. I love my fellow employees, the chef, the menu, the drinks (the fact that I can pour water without worrying about whether I'm doing it correctly). I just can't make enough money there. Even at full volume, there's only so much you can pack into a place with 12 tables. And we're not at full volume every night. That's why I'm making the switch to the new restaurant--to make more money, but also to take this whole restaurant thing to the next level, working at a top place.

And let's just pause and appreciate the fact that seven months ago, I hadn't waited tables for almost six years and was just starting out again, working in a glorified pizza parlor. Fast-forward seven months and I get hired at the top restaurant in New England.

Still, the crash-and-burn potential is high here. Pray for me, will you?

Monday, March 5, 2012

I got a bonus! Good news abounds

Yesterday, I got a profit-sharing bonus from my current job. Which I didn't even know I was eligible for! I'm very excited, it means I can actually pay bills this week.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

New job!

That interview I went to on Monday? I got the job!

It's the top restaurant in Boston (really, in all of New England). It has a famous chef (Best Chef in Boston, one of America's Best New Chefs), an eight-course tasting menu, a lengthy wine list that I'm almost entirely unfamiliar with, and a constantly changing menu. Working there will mean making a lot more money, but also working a lot harder. The training process will be intense--I'll have to learn everything there is to know about the menu, the wine, the drinks, then work as a back server while training to become a front server in short order. Plus I'll be driving to Boston, an hour each way.

What does this mean? Well, more money. Enough to make the commute worth it. It also means I'll give up my two jobs here in Providence. I'll be taking the next step up in my newfound restaurant career; I got hired for my brains, not merely my ability to carry a tray, and I'll actually be using my brains in this job. There's homework, quizzes, classes outside of work, you name it. This is not a restaurant that allows its staff to slack off. That's the most exciting part to me--that there will be learning, and intellectual stimulation, and people around me who value my brain.

It also means I'm going to be working A LOT in the coming weeks. Which is fine--my DH has been working his butt off, putting in 16-hour days on a regular basis, and I figure if he's going to be working that much in the coming months, I might as well work that much, too.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

A new job?

On Monday, I took the train up to Boston to interview for a new job--an additional job, I should say. At Boston's top restaurant (well, New England's top restaurant); this place has a national reputation, a famous chef, a tasting menu, the works. I was invited back tonight for a working interview. If I get offered the job, I'm hoping to pick up some additional shifts there, while continuing to work here in Providence, at least for a bit. I'll make more money (enough to make the commute to Boston worth it), and I'll get the experience and exposure of working in a place with a national reputation. If my husband is going to be working all the time for the next few months, I might as well work all the time, too.

After the interview, I went out drinking with a new friend, and got, well, drunk. Good thing I was taking the train home. But it was good to be able to have girl time and blow off steam like that; it had been a while. We went to Drink, Boston's hot new cocktail spot, where I discovered they make their own ginger beer and had a Dark n' Stormy that blew my mind.