Worth its weight in LSD

Forget about silver, gold, diamonds, precious stones aint got nothing on this juice. This has got to be some of the most expensive stuff on the planet especially when when considered on a weight basis. To make the math remedial lets say this 90mg vial costs nine thousand dollars. In fact i believe it may be slightly more. So that puts it on the order of 100,000$ a gram. Or 100,000,000 $ a kilogram ( a hundred million dollars a kilogram). The handy internet will help me see what comes close. Saffron, the worlds most expensive spice, is about $600 dollars a kilogram, not even close. Almas caviar from Iran is $25,000 a kilogram, that already worth more than its weight in gold. Italian Alba White truffles reportedly have gone for $100,000 a kilogram. Apparently LSD comes in about the same cost as Stelara at 100,000,000$ per kg. However, that is certainly an illusory figure for LSD as its legal status (or lack thereof) is what drives its price up, no? http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/density

Now getting back to psoriasis, which it what stelara is for, i'm certain that its gonna be more effective than LSD. And you only need it four times a year, making it a real bargain. It was pointed out to me that once upon a time psoriasis was treated with gold. I wonder what the rational behind that was - use something very expensive, and hopefully it will work? Though on a weight by weight basis, gold would be cheaper. Though I doubt it would work as well. You get what you pay for.

Psst...check out wines of Roussillon

I had been blowing off this area by in large, until a relatively inexpensive bottle blew me out of the water last weekend. From the Maury appellation in Cotes de Roussillon Villages, i believe it is mostly old vine carignan, grown on schisty soil, which in essence sounds a lot like priorat. No wonder i liked it. In fact the wine reminded me of a cross between priorat and napa cab.

The appelation: http://www.thewinedoctor.com/regionalguides/roussillon1.shtml
The wine I had: http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=957444

Life through the eyes of a child

Photos taken by Aysha and her friends using a rinkydink

FisherPrice digital camera over the past several years

The Dollar remains the hooker with crabs while many other currencies have AIDS

Visit here to read predictions from a real doomer: http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=176132

A Very Important Date?

Serious respect to anyone who can tell me what happened on Sept 7, 1752.

Le Menu

Christmas dinner with Lisa, mom&dad, Susan&James, and joined by the Berzanskys for dessert

Starters: Olive tapenade, crackers, gruyere & a triple creme blue cheese
Wine: 2009 Gianni Gagliardo Fallegro

The olive tapenade was inspired by Evan (who else) and made by blending together olives, olive oil, capers, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, and miso paste. Very good but very salty. The Gagliardo is an aromatic Italian white from the Piedmonte region with ever so light frizzante.

Salad: arugula with pomegranate and sauteed mushroom, seasoned with raspberry vinaigrette
Wine: continuation of the Gagliardo

Soup: winter quash with chilis and mint.
Wine: N.V. Collard-Picard Champagne Cuvée Dom Picard Blanc de Blancs

The soup recipe is adapted from 'The Greens Cookbook' by Deborah Madison. The champagne is from K&L. Love that stuff.

Entree: Imam bayildi (braised eggplant)
Main Course: Barbecue marinated salmon with potato-leek puree
Wine: 2005 Poderi Aldo Conterno Langhe Nebbiolo Il Favot

The imam bayildi was made by mom and delicious. The salmon marinated overnight in a hodge podge of a sauce (wine,soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, olive oil, garlic). I had a tough time getting the charcoal going - clear that i dont really know how to barbecue. The wine was the real wildcard not having had it before, picking it up on a PRIMA recommendation -and it was flat out delicious.

Cheese Plate - an assortment of soft cheeses
Wine: 2007 Hall Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley

The Hall Cabernet is overoaked in my opinion.

Dessert - Lemon bars, Ginger cake, assorted cookies
Wine: Homemade Sparkling Mead (2010)
Wine: 2006 Navarro Vineyards Gewürztraminer Cluster Select Late Harvest

Mmm, good stuff!

Michael Mina

Went to Michael Mina, SF last night. Nice place with a swarm of wait staff. We had the N.V. Gaston Chiquet Champagne Blanc de Blancs d'Aÿ. Wicked good, i love the nuttiness. I had the '5 fish' platter, supposedly a smattering sampling of (cooked) Japanese fish as well as the dungeness crab ravioli.

We brought a bottle of 2002 cos d'estournel which was drinking nice, good mature bordeaux funk present, though a tad less sweet than the 2001 we had last week at Chez Panise. Yet after all the ooh'ing and ahh'ing over these wines, I just opened the homemade production of one of my deli owning patients whose bottling "supertuscan luigi genicolo cellars contra costa county CA" (name affixed via return address label) is smashing it out of the ballpark. This is not a commercially available wine (as far as i can tell). It smells of dark cherries and oak chips, has very visible sediment, and tastes awesome - dark berries, cherries, chocolate, with very dry tannins on the finish. Blinded who knows what i'd guess - Brunello maybe? Certainly not a homemade production from an octogenarian. 93 points at least. And what does that say about wine in general - certainly something.

Bravo Luigi (can i have a case?).