Janis Joplin and Balloons

Had I read the local paper I would have known that this weekend was the hot air balloon fest. The dogs knew as they barked for most of the morning as nearly a hundred balloons passed over head this morning.

By 10:00 AM the temperatures were already into the low 90 degree range so I spent most of the day inside. We watched a DVD called Festival Express which features a remarkable performance by Janis Joplin singing "Cry Baby" to a huge crowd in Winnipeg so I decided to play around a bit with editing software with the photo of the balloons. I liked the sweep of the roof of the medical center with the balloons above it even before I changed the coloring to somewhat reflect Janis.

Dinner? We grilled veal, loin chops that were marinated in olive oil, garlic, lemon peel and juice and chopped rosemary then added grilled corn on the cob and the rest of the asparagus from yesterday.

I also called San Francisco to wish a happy birthday to a very good friend and I gave him three wines to choose among for dinner tonight and with the temperatures in mind he selected a 2007 Verget de Sud Rose de Syrah.
Verget is one of my favorite producers of French wine with most of it being white Burgundy. Since reading the new edition of The Wines of Burgundy by Clive Coates, MW I cannot drink a bottle with out thinking of his description of 'Maison Verget."

"Jean-Marie Guffens is vociferous, rude and indiscreet, irritating rather than congenial. But he has shown with his own domaine Maconnais wines that he not only loves his metier but knows how to do it."

The syrah rose is a vin de pays Vaucluse and is bright, lively, fruity and very dry. For $11 it is excellent. My friend and his wife are going out to an oyster bar for dinner which made me somewhat jealous until the veal came off the grill and the wine was opened. I'm still jealous that the temperature in Larkspur CA is in the mid 70's and they are eating the oysters outdoors on the patio of a restaurant. Life is good, but sometimes it can be even better.