Bright Spots

Since I moved here, I've been thinking that I would like to go out more--not to clubs, you know that is not my cup of tea, but to restaurants. At first, I just thought it would be fun, and A. and B. love to go out, too. (They LOVE it. They are ladies of luxury. Their idea of Heaven is a hotel with room service and air conditioning.) Then once I started my wineau training, I thought it would be helpful if I went out and paid particular attention to the beverage service.

Toward that end, whenever my fellow students in the wine classes talked of different restaurants, I often asked for details. One restaurant recommended to me was Firefly, and now I can add my recommendation to theirs. Everything was just what I like in a restaurant. The service was friendly but unobtrusive, and mostly efficient (though it took a lot of effort on our part to get our water glasses re-filled); I love the decor (the walls are red, and there's a lot to look at, lanterns and paintings and an aquarium over the doorway, and the moldings are real wood complete with dents and scratches, as opposed to shiny new pre-fab pieces of junk that you see in a lot of chain restaurants); and the food was fantastic. And not expensive.

As for the wine service, there was nothing for me to learn, unfortunately. Not that kind of restaurant. I tried two glasses, one was the 2007 Twin Vines Vinho Verde, a light, refreshing, high acid, low alcohol dry white wine from Portugal with the characteristic spritziness that is perfect for this weather. It was a good pairing with our first dish, a mushroom tart with boursin cheese. This wine is a solid value--you can pick it up for $10 or less.

My second glass was the 2006 Finca Roja Malbec from Argentina, a wine I am having trouble finding online, which makes me wonder if A) the wine list has an error, and the vintage was actually 2005 or 2007, both of which I could find, or B) the 2006 was not such a great year. This wine, a deeply colored dry red wine, promised a lot on the nose that it did not deliver on the palate. It smelled like all the dark fruits and a bit of cocoa, and seemed rich and a little smoky, but as soon as I sipped it, the taste fell away in a little trail of ashy bitterness. Though there was no finish to speak of. Drinking this wine is like being with someone who is a great kisser but bad in bed. So it's not such a shame that I couldn't find any links, because I can't recommend it. I'm glad I tried it, though. I had been tempted to go with the Zinfandel (which I looked up and people seem to like), to return to the comfort and familiarity of My One True Love, but--again, as part of my education--I'm trying to drink as many different wines as possible in order to expand the inner library of tastes.

After dinner, I convinced one of my companions, a former colleague from Great Big Huge Company who is here visiting S., to come over and float in the pool. I left the colored lights on (and kept my bathing suit on), and we floated and looked at the full moon and chatted for nigh on two hours with no awareness of the passing of time. See, if you came to visit, you could also float in the pool at midnight when it is still in the 90s outside.