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Twisted Few member Michelle and her family showing us their Twisted while hanging out in Seattle and chowing down on oysters.
(Actually, I didn't use any of the pictures that showed them eating oysters. You'll just have to take my word for it!)
Thanks Michelle!
Last Saturday we had a little dinner we called "Release The Spaniard" (you may have noticed the little banner ad that we had to the right for the last month.)
For the main course, we featured barbecued beef brisket and pork butt (which is really the shoulder... I don't pretend to understand pig farmers. They also call it a "Boston Butt" - I won't comment on that one...)
Anyway, this was going to be "real barbecue": slow cooking with low heat. And we've always wanted one, so we dug a barbecue pit near the crush pad - or rather, we hired someone with a backhoe to do it! Then, our buddy Dave Venters (who is the meat guy at Sierra Hills Market in Murphys) came by and lined the pit with concrete blocks.
On the day of the event we convened at the winery at 4:30AM to light the fire for the barbecue. The night before "Wine Harlot" Heather had stacked up the wood nicely so all we had to do was hit it with a match. The fire got going really fast, and by the time the rains came after dawn the fire hardly noticed them (but we did...)
By 11AM we had a nice thick 10 inch bed of coals on which to cook the meat. Dave came back with boxes of brisket and butt, all seasoned and ready to go. The meat was wrapped in several layers of cheesecloth, followed by a layer of burlap.
At 6PM our dinner guests began to arrive (enjoying a nice glass of 2006 Viognier). It was great fun telling them we'd be pulling dinner out of the ground soon! I think most people thought we were blowing smoke out of our (pork) butts - until they saw what was going on up by the crush pad.
Anyway, below are a few pictures showing the cooking process. This is something I had always wanted to do, and it was kind of amazing how easy and foolproof it was!
We'd like to send a HUGE thanks to Dave Venters of Sierra Hills Market in Murphys for ALL of his help preparing the pit, the meat, and everything!
Above: A nice bed o'coals ~ Below: A corrugated steel plate over the coals.
Above: Wrapping the meat with burlap ~ Below: After a quick water soak the meat goes onto the hot steel plate.
Above: The meat is covered with a second steel plate and covered with about a foot of dirt to seal the fire (which also banks it down.) That's Dave with his handiwork!
Above: The rain paused and gave us a nice rainbow in the afternoon. ~ Below: Pulling out the meat (so to speak).
Above: One of our guests decided to help with punchdowns before dinner! ~ Below: Mmmmmm... pork butt!
A few of our readers are already painfully aware that El Jefe is
something of a "social slut" when it comes to social networking (and just about anything else, actually). For
the many who were blissfully unaware of this propensity, the party's over. This post is the first installment describing the places where you may find even
more Twisted-ness out in the wide wonderful "Web2.0"...
#1: Facebook
Facebook seems to be the new MySpace - and if you don't know what that means don't worry about it. This paragraph on the Facebook "About" page says it pretty well:
"Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet."
We have set up a "group" on Facebook for Twisted Oak. If you are on Facebook, or you have been considering it, please consider joining the Twisted Oak Winery Group.
The cool thing about the group is that it creates a space where anyone (this means YOU) can post questions, comments, discussion, photos, and even videos related to Twisted Oak. You don't have to wait for ME to get around to it - it is all up to YOU!
So, why not get on Facebook and share your Twisted with all of us?
(PS: We are currently NOT on MySpace, amazingly enough - If you think we should, please say so!)
Just stumbled into a blog, right up arrrr, er, our alley.
Here's their Talk Like a Pirate Day post.
Funny stuff, check out the days leading up to TLAPD and enjoy!
(report on the "Release the Spaniard!" dinner coming soon!)
Whilest ye Cave Loot Extravaganza be Twisted Oak's own version of "Talk Like a Pirate Day" - there be only one true Talk Like a Pirate Day. Which be today, September 19th. We send a hearty "ARRRRRRRRRR!" out to Ol' Chumbucket, Mad Sally, Jezebel, and dear ol' Cap'n Slappy - for a most excellent TLAPD in 2007! Or I'm a Forked Radish! Or something...
(This just in: A Twisted TLAPD Haiku from five 7 five!)
(photo of the genuine Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket by El Jefe, taken at Cave Loot 2005 at Twisted Oak Winery - looking forward to the next time you guys can come and visit! And for Bog's sake bring Mad Sally and Jezebel this time!)
No, I'm not at all tired of our world famous 2006 Calaveras County 
White Rhone-style blend. Nor am I in any way tired of our equally renowned 2005 Calaveras County 
Red Rhone-style blend.
What I am 1 (see word key at end of rant) sick and tired of is people assuming that these wine names represent the vilest of curse words.
We've had three episodes recently that have brought this 2 situation to the fore:
3 Wall Street Journal about a tasting dinner in Orlando, FL, in which the was listed as a "Marsanne-Roussanne blend" rather than its proper name.4 Twisted Few member that, at the same tasting dinner at which the is served, the label is shown only for a split-second before pouring - as if they were 5 ashamed of something.6 employees was taken to task for daring to bring such 7 obscene things to pour at their event.I'd like to 8 respond now.
First off, both of these labels were approved by the 9 Government. If they were truly obscene, how on 10 Earth would we get them approved by an agency that once made a winery spell cat's urine "Phee". (Really, how chicken 11 is that anyway?)
Second, the use of symbols and punctuation have long been associated in the comics with variations on curse words - all the way back to "Beetle Bailey":
And more recently in "Mother Goose and Grimm" and "Foxtrot":
These are comics that appear in your 12 newspaper, and have been read by children and grownups for decades. Whatever these 13 symbols and punctuation represent are for you to decide, and if you consider them obscene or shameful, it is in your 14 mind is where you should look to deal with the problem.
I hope we are all 15 clear on this matter.
Word key:
1: totally
2: ridiculous
3: fine
4: valued
5: terribly
6: excellent
7: horribly
8: firmly
9: Federal
10: God's Green
11: poo (hah!)
12: daily
13: various
14: big dirty
15: totally
Twisted Few Member Ken, and "Naked Bob":
"Bob (my Twisted Chicken) snuck into my suitcase and followed me to Dubai where I took his photo. Since this was a "nude" shot in a very modest Arabic country we had to be discreet and quick. Here is Bob sun bathing a-la-natural in the Hadimat Souk with the landmark Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubai, UAE (the hotel is located on it's own island and the round structure near the top supports the tennis courts). Just for reference it was August 12, 105 F and about 80% humidity which helps explain why Bob was wearing no clothes."
Thanks Ken!!! (And I would just like to reemphasize that the little round thing at the top right of the white hotel in the back ground is a full sized tennis court!)
.......because it's half way through fricken September already!
Attention Twisted fan base in the Modesto and surrounding area; Appetez in the Roseburg Square is featuring OUR wonderful Twisted Hooch for the entire month of September. These wines are Verdelho, White Rhone, Grenache and Murgatroyd. Go down and have a Damn Yummy glass of wine at a very inexpensive price! Relaxing atmosphere, wonderful food and awesome people. I've even met one of the staff members who is a Pirate and belongs to an ENTIRE group of Pirates! How cool is that?
One more thing. I need some help coming up with a "Twisted " title for the Manager. Can you help me?
And..........
Presenting a very Twisted Dinner - September 19 @ 6:30pm until the cows chickens come home!!! All this fun will take place in one of the lovely dining rooms at Appetez! There will be 5 courses @ $65 per person ( does not include tax and gratuity )Call Appetez for more details! 209-577-5099
Here are a couple pictures of myself and the Appetez staff. Enjoy!
Sarah is the manager in black. Help me give her a Twisted name, would you?
Or at least gets wider... I've wanted to do this for a while, to get more content above the fold. And I've wanted to get more graphical with my links and stuff.
Let me know what you think in the comments!
(And don't forget that we release the 2005 Spaniard on September 22nd! If you are able to get here, why not stay for dinner?)
Hi all, your VERY friendly Wine Harlot here giving you the lowdown (on me) and sharing some great twisted pics!
Being that this is my very first post I'd like to let all you Bloggo readers know who I am and what I do for Twisted Oak. I am the local sales representative for the Foothills and Valley/Sacramento area. Anyone in need of a little (or lot) of Twisted Juice, you just give me a call or drop me an email ~ 209-728-5082 or heather@twistedoak.com
Now, I have some great pictures of silly folks getting twisted at some events we've attended. Enjoy!
Peace out *%#&@!ers ~ Wine Harlot A.K.A ~ H
Pictures combination of Reno Art Museum Fundraiser & Modesto Rotary event.
(Bare with me, I am trying to figure out how to drive this thing.)
Wine Harlot ~ out
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