Dinner with a Kiwi

Few subject lines make my blood run cold like "I know how you felt 2 years ago," which showed up in my inbox today. I wouldn't want my worst enemy to know how I felt two years ago, much less a close friend.

Fortunately, that subject line referred only to my friend getting laid off and while that's plenty to deal with, it's only a fraction of what I was dealt back then, here.

But it's still enough to process that I offered to meet up with him and be an ear and that's how we found ourselves the only customers at Secco late this afternoon.

And Secco was a lovely place to be with that winter weather-threatening sky all around us and our lit candle for ambiance and pseudo-warmth. It was downright cozy.

He told me how it went down and we compared that to my experience. We discussed his future possibilities and how bad events eventually deliver good things (I'm proof of that). He insisted that he was not devastated by it and seemed to be sincere.

On the plus side, he'd already observed that being laid off meant people wanted to buy him drinks, and he was liking that part of all this. I reminded him that now he could stay up as late as he wanted, also a good thing.

Before we knew it, a couple of hours had passed and we both had plans to move on to.

Mine involved a friend who'd invited me to a Clos du Bois wine dinner for four at the Berkeley Hotel with the wine rep and the winemaker, a charming New Zealander who now lives and works in the Alexander Valley.

We began with a couple of social hours with the dining room's manger, sipping Clos du Bois' Reserve Merlot and Marlstone, two outstanding reds that kept the conversation focused on wine and winemaking...except when we were discussing rugby, soccer and Legend brown ale (a brewing mistake, I learned tonight).

The bacon-wrapped housemade country pate and crostini that arrived during our conversation was stellar and the fact that it was served warm noted. The warmth brought out the earthy flavors in the best possible way, causing my friend and I to wonder why pate isn't served warm more often.

We had the pleasure of being joined by Hall of Famer Willy Lanier, who sat down and stole the spotlight while sharing some wine with us.

We had a particularly interesting discussion with him of Bill and Hillary's relationship dynamic and considered at what point it became acceptable to flash one's thong in the Oval Office. Did we just have to wait for the thong to be invented or was it a generational thing?

When our football great of a guest departed, the four of us made our way to the table for dinner, sitting boy/girl/boy/girl for mixing purposes. Our server was a neighbor of mine ("Hey, I know you!"), making for excellent Jackson Ward representation in the room.

After the intense satisfaction of all those bottles of Clos du Bois, we came back to earth with a bottle of Wild Hog Zinfandel to enjoy with our meal. We kicked things off with an amuse bouche of shrimp fritters, then I had the wedge salad. It was followed by the rabbit stew with a spiced pear sorbet arriving in between it and the wedge.

The rabbit stew had a cheese-topped biscuit floating on its sea of veggies and tender, braised rabbit. I couldn't have imagined a better meal for a damp, cold night like the one just outside the windows of the dining room. Sorry, Thumper.

Considering our unlikely group, we had a fascinating night of conversation, ranging from the difference between a state and a Commonwealth (quick, do you know?), how corking decisions are made and the particulars of our local delicacy, Brunswick Stew. No surprise that squirrel talk followed.

Naturally, I had to talk music with the winemaker (causing my friend to say, "I stay out of it when she starts talking music"). The only New Zealanders I could think of were the Finn brothers (whom he'd seen with Eddie Vedder) but he schooled me in some less well-known NZ bands to check out.

I stayed out of the marmite versus Vegemite discussion, but took his recommendation that it's a taste best acquired in childhood. Looks like I missed my chance.

For me it was fortunate that I hadn't missed my chance to spend the evening with my first New Zealand native, a guy who actually said, "When I got out of university I had three career choices: beer, wine or cheese." Luckily for the wine world, the hophead chose the grape.

When our marathon wine party ended, my friend suggested a stop at Comfort for a nightcap. But the gentlemen had to be up and on the road to DC at 7:30 a.m., so we soldiered on without them.

Walking into Comfort, bartender Greg looked at us suspiciously and asked, "What have you been up to?"

Tonight there were a lot of interesting answers to that question. I settled for "Drinking good wine" but that didn't begin to cover what a satisfying night it had been.