The 4th of July has come and gone and this year, no fireworks. Year after year, and it’s been about 15 years that our group has been getting together, it’s become more about just being together and less about making the trek somewhere en masse to look into the night sky and do the ooh’s and aah’s. The kids don’t arrive anymore with floaties and bag loads of extra clothes. Instead they wander in and out, don their eenie weenie’s and trunks, revealing the year’s new ink, and tossing back cold ones. But they’re there, still happy to carry on the tradition of “the 4th at the Jorenson’s”, and for that we are grateful. We missed Corky, but were blessed with sweet baby James. We celebrated the upcoming wedding of Beth, one of the older “kids”. The biggest constant, the one thing that hasn’t changed, is the food. The highlight of the day is the chili cook off. Being that there are so many really good cooks in our group, this event is wonderfully competitive, with 12-15 different chilis all vying for top honors. Over the years every ingredient, combination, meat preparation, chili pepper and spice assortment has been tried and tried again. Vegetarian, buffalo, cinnamon, Coke, chipotle, mole, coffee – the list is endless. And for the most part every year all the entries are pretty good. But it seems that it’s the sweeter chilis that win year after year. Sweet with a little kick at the end. I have yet to win, but I will gladly keep trying.
So, I raise my margarita glass in celebration of our country’s b’day and my dear friends and toast you all. But as the sun goes down and the awning is retracted…..
I’LL DRINK TO THAT!
This year Eric raided the Jorenson’s wine cellar and brought out a Victor Hugo Oppulence ’05, a nice cabernet franc heavy bordeaux blend from Paso Robles. Victor Hugo Winery, owned and operated by Vic and Leslie Roberts, is located in a picturesque renovated barn in Templeton, just outside of Paso Robles in the Central Coast area of California. They are dedicated to creating small hand crafted lots of wine with intense colors and flavors – elegant and rich with excellent longevity. Call ahead for a visit and a tasting of their large offering of bordeaux varietal wines as well as petite sirah, viognier and zinfandel.
Next came another Paso gem from Zenaida Cellars, their 05 Estate Syrah. This fruity, lush wine comes from sustainably farmed vines planted in the Templeton Gap area on the West side of Paso Robles. For your next visit to the area, plan on staying in their gorgeous loft apartment over the winery. 