This early heat wave had us scratching our heads, 104 degrees (heat index) in June ? Anything is possible in Virginia, but this seemed really extreme. And of course, we went from being wait-listed every weekend since we opened to where did everybody go? We could hardly blame anyone, we didn’t want to be outside either. Since outside is our only income producing real estate we knew we had to act quickly.

We had heard about misting systems used in South Florida and California and thought one might be useful for us. But how did one work? Would people feel wet? Would it work in the humidity?

Turns out the technology with misting systems has become very advanced and it can bring down the temperature 15 to 30 degrees when installed properly.

Mist Cooling works by forcing water through specially designed misting nozzles to create a fog of ultra fine water droplets. A common misconception is that misting is meant to get you all wet to cool you off. Rather, the tiny droplets or fog, quickly evaporate, cooling the surrounding air. Properly designed, a mist cooling system will work with prevailing winds and air movement, and are often combined with fans to move mist or cooled air into the cooled zones. Mist cooling can reduce the temperature up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit in very dry climates. And, it can still perform quite effectively even in very humid climates, often reducing temperatures by as much as 8-10 degrees by employing fans to facilitate evaporation.

Leaving work last night I looked around for a wine to grab and have a glass at home. After perusing the usual suspects I grabbed a favorite: the Linden Vidal/Riesling blend, a Virginia wine grown at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This lovely wine is so well-balanced, with just a touch of sweetness, a great acidic back-bone and flavors of citrus, apple, and pear. You can really chill it down and it pairs so well with just about anything. We put it on our wine list by the glass at the wine bar, and it has become a huge seller for us.
Jim Law (pictured), owner and winemaker at Linden has spent years honing his craft and the results are impressive. He has yet to produce a wine I don’t like. He makes food-friendly wines that take their inspiration from the Old World, yet have a distinctly Virginia personality.

Today’s NY Times has an article about a new study that shows resevatrol mimics the effects of a calorie restriction diet. Click here for the whole article.

Serious scientists have long derided the idea of life-extending elixirs, but the door has now been opened to drugs that exploit an ancient biological survival mechanism, that of switching the body’s resources from fertility to tissue maintenance. The improved tissue maintenance seems to extend life by cutting down on the degenerative diseases of aging.

The reflex can be prompted by a faminelike diet, known as caloric restriction, which extends the life of laboratory rodents by up to 30 percent but is far too hard for most people to keep to and in any case has not been proven to work in humans.

The Wisconsin scientists used a dose on mice equivalent to just 35 bottles a day. But red wine contains many other resveratrol-like compounds that may also be beneficial. Taking these into account, as well as mice’s higher metabolic rate, a mere four, five-ounce glasses of wine “starts getting close” to the amount of resveratrol they found effective, Dr. Weindruch said.

Whenever one opens a new business a tidal wave of sales reps descend to propose just about anything you think of. Of course some you really do need, and others not-so-much.

One of the funnier incidents I have had lately involved the reps from Coca Cola coming by to set up an account with us. In their minds it wasn’t even a question as to whether or not we would be offering soda, just which ones. When I explained that we would not be offering any fountain drinks or sodas they just looked at me blankly. Something did not compute. They then inquired what I would be serving and I directed them to the Fizzy Lizzy drinks in our cooler. They must have stood there looking at them for a good 5 minutes shaking their heads, and talking to one another. No sodas? How could it be?

🙂

I happened along this great article about an Australian family who bought a chateau in Normandy and now run a cooking school/B&B out of it. Better yet they split their time between their homes in France and Australia. Sigh.

While my dream doesn’t look exactly like that, it’s pretty close. For me a Paris apartment (cliche, I know) close to a great outdoor food market, restaurants and the metro is the dream. Of course I would split my time with the ‘burg. I would go visit cheesemakers, wineries and spend my time finding the next great thing for kybecca. Hey, a girl can dream right?

Without sounding too much like a wine snob, I have to say I have always loved using good quality stemware. It is always a disappointment to me when I order a glass of wine at a restaurant and it is served in a clunky glass with a thick rim.

So when we began working on the wine bar I knew we had to use a well crafted crystal glass that curved inward enough to capture the lovely aromas of the wine, but not so large that you end up drinking out of a fish bowl (you know what I mean, being trendy doesn’t necessarily make for good function).

After testing out endless stemware choices, we settled on various selections from the Schott Zweisel line of crystal. Two glasses will be from the forte line, and two choices are from the sommelier top ten series. They are sturdy and beautiful, and the dessert wine glass in particular really makes you feel as though your are sipping something special.

Cheers

We have spent months working on our small food menu and finally it has come to test them out on the public.

Lats night we made 4 different panini, all to-go. Pictured to the left is our pulled duck bbq with radichio slaw panino.

What a crazy night! We sold over 50 of them and it was a great practice run for us to help figure out flow, what prep work needs to be done, how well our equipment is working, etc..

Thanks you to all of you who let us use you as guinea pigs, and if you have any feedback for us, please do not hesitate to post it right here.

Cheers

We so wanted to be ready for everyone tomorrow, but it looks like that just won’t be a good idea.

I won’t bore you with stories of badly draining sinks, late deliveries, wrong napkins, and so much more. Please know we are working hard to make sure that when we do open we really have it together and you will have the best experience we can offer.

Our opening day will be announced for all in our next newsletter, and we will be offering some great deals to let us practice on you. Remember, this is a soft opening, meaning we are learning as we go and ask that you have patience with us as we perfect our offerings.

Cheers!

Those of you who read our blog will get the jump on our first day of cafe business. We expect to be open next Wednesday May 14th provided our ABC license isn’t held up (we will let you know here on the blog if there is any delay).

Our opening will be small, with a few tables out under the awning. We will be using the first week or two as a time to practice and get our feet under us before opening at full tilt.

Cheers!

Leave it to my brother Luke, and avid MMA fan (that’s mixed martial arts to you and me) to find a fighter who is a Mensa club member, winemaker and an avid oenophile whose list of recommended Mother’s Day wines reads like a wine geeks wish list. Click here to check it out.