New Exhibit at MFAH

Evening all,
 If you were to hear the names Monet, van Gogh, Manet, Renoir, and Seurat in the same sentence what would you think? 



My first thought was... where and when?  The answer is the Museum of Fine Arts Houston from February 20th to May 23rd.  WOOT!!!  This exhibit is titled "Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art".  It is a collection of some of the finest art from the National Gallery.  I have seen these paintings many times.  Every time I go to Washington I make my way to the National Gallery and hang out with these works for hours.  Go to the web site and view the all to brief slide show (http://www.mfah.org/exhibition/impressionist-and-post-impressionist-masterpieces/).  I never took art history in school, so I don't know all the words to describe these master works.  What I can say is they make me smile.  I can't wait until the show opens.  Hope to see you there!!!!!

Wine of the week

Howdy all,
  My first wine of the week is from WIlson Winery and Vineyards (http://www.wilsonwinery.com/), as I mentioned yesterday...one of my new favorite wineries.  It is the 2008 Ellie's Old Vine Zinfandel, Dry Creek Valley.

We tasted this on our last trip to Sonoma and enjoyed it.  I just opened a bottle we brought home.  It has a nice garnet color.  Upon swirling you notice stout legs...it weighs in at 15.3% alcohol after all.  Lots of fruit on the nose with hints of leather.  Take a sip and the fruit explodes in your mouth.  Black cherry, plum, maybe a bit of nutmeg, smooth finish with good acidity.  It is better balanced than most Zins these days, not too heavy.  Should hold up nicely in the cellar for 5-7 years.  It isn't the best Zin that Wilson makes, but it is very nice...I give it an 88.

I had a great time last night at Rice University for the Houston Friends of Chamber Music series.  The Academy of St. Martin in the Field Chamber Ensemble.  They played as an octet; four violins, two viola and two cellos.  Excellent group, great music selections.  I highly recommend this series for any classical music lovers.

Welcome to my blog

Greetings and welcome to my blog.  This is my first attempt at blogging, so please bear with me.  In this blog I will write about wine, food, and living in the Houston area.  Since I grew up in the Boston area, you will also find a fair amount of discussion regarding the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots and other things "New England".  Here are a few things to get the conversation rolling.

I love traveling to California Wine country, especially Sonoma.  Small, artisan wineries are my favorite.  At the moment these include Enkidu, Wilson, Moshin.  My favorite Napa winery is Rubicon. 

Believe it or not, there are some great restaurants in Houston.  I say this because I didn't believe it when I first moved here.  Since then I have discovered a vibrant restaurant scene, some of which have garnered national attention.  I will do some mini-reviews in the future.

There are also some fine wine bars here...again I'll expand on this topic in the future.

Houston has a theater district called...."The Theater District", clever huh?  The Alley theater is located there and is one of the best regional theaters in the country.  My wife and I have season tickets and I'll blog about various productions as we see them.

That's it for now, have to get ready to go to Rice University and listen to the Academy of St. Martin in the fields chamber ensemble....oh yeah, I'll blog about that too.