From Hollywood to Vine with Vineyard {511}
Adventures in Wine, Food, Film and Travel
Dinner at the Napa Valley Reserve
Ed and I attended a lovely reception and dinner, which was part of the third annual Volley in the Valley Tennis Tournament, at the Napa Valley Reserve. The Reserve is a private wine estate, where members can make wine without the hassles associated with making wine. Members can participate as much or as little as they like. With their membership fee and agreement to purchase a certain amount of wine, they can have terrific wine for their own personal use; they just can't sell it.
The tournament itself was held at Meadowood, in St. Helena, to raise money for the Adventist Heart Institute, which directly benefits St. Helena Hospital. The champagne reception was held in the Reserve's outdoor Pavilion Patio and the dinner in the Pavilion Dining Room. My favorite part of the dinner prepared by Estate Chef Alejandro Ayala was the lovely, light, "sweet" starter Sweet Pea Agnolotti, with pea tendrils, green garlic and lemon.
The highlight of the evening was the featured speakers: Dr. Gan Dinnington, Cardiothorasic Surgeon, St Helena Hospital; Peter Magowan, President and Managing General Partner, San Francisco Giants, 1993-2008; and Jeff Greenwald, MFT, and author of The Best Tennis of Your Life and Fearless Tennis. What I hope I will remember most from Greenwald is that, after missing a point in tennis (as in life) let the windshield wiper totally wipe it away and go on to the next point.
May 12, 2013 at 5:00 PM
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Dinner at Ad Hoc
With our nephew Joel and his fiance Casey, we made our way over to Yountville for terrific dinner, of an arugula/prosciutto salad, lamb sirloin--grilled after it was prepared sous vide, a cheese course of goat gouda with honey and peach jam and an insane flourless chocolate cake in a jar. After giving up a table in a noisy area, we were happy as clams, especially after they turned the music down.
May 12, 2013 at 5:00 PM
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Corduroy Restaurant Washington D.C.
While we were in D.C. for the University of Notre Dame's President's Circle Perspectives on National & Global Issues, Ed and I dined at Corduroy restauant, across the street from the Convention Center. And what a lovely evening we had. First of all, we were offered a comfortable booth, where we able to sit side by side. Second, the room was clean-lined and well insulated, so we had some easy-to-hear conversations. Lastly, the food by Tom Power--a deciple of Michel Richard--friendly service and wine were all stellar. We ordered the 5-course surprise menu, the highlight of which was the lobster carpaccio with drawn butter and chevril. One of our desserts was chocolate, handmade kit kats. Mmmmmmm. And to accompany everything we had an '05 DuNah Pinot Noir from the Sonoma Coast, which was delish. We will certainly try to get more of that wine now that we are back in Napa Valley.
Comments (5)University of Notre Dame Symposium in D.C.
After leaving NYC, the Tribeca Film Festival and our first grandchild, five-month-old Ian, Ed and I headed to Washington DC and to Ed's Alma Mata the University Notre Dame's bi-annual Perspectives on National & Global Issues. As part of the University's President's Circle, Ed and I really look forward to this incredibly interesting event held in the nation's capitol. This year we were lucky to hear from, among others:
- Alan Krueger, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors
- Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida
- Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana
- Denis McDonough, current White House Chief of Staff
- Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin
- Senator Chuck Schumer of New York
- Media panalists Mark Shields, PBS News Hour and Inside Washington; Jerry Seib, Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal; Daniel J. Balz, American jounalist Washington Post; Pete Wehner, Commentary magazine and National Review online; and Jeanne Cummings, Government Team Deputy Editor at Bloomberg News.
Whew, what a line-up of impressive and divergent views; however, one thing everyone seemed to agree on was that demographics was the key to the next election.
The dinner where the guest speaker was Jeb Bush was held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, part of the Donald W. Reynolds Center, a gloriously renovated National Historic Landmark building, where President Abraham Lincoln held his inaugural ball. We were where history was made!
May 8, 2013 at 1:37 PM
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Montmartre French Restaurant in Chelsea
Before going to the screening in Chelsea of "Mr. Jones," which was part of the Tribeca Film Festival, we met up with our good friends Sarah and Jay Sung at Montmartre --a French-American restaurant. Dinner was delicious, prepared by Vietnamese star chef Tien Ho, formerly of Momofuku. The six-month old restaurant was bustling and cozy, with a trendy vibe. Our friends Sarah and Jay live in Manhattan, where he is CEO of Lot 18, a membership by invitation website for wine, which provides high-quality, hard-to-find wines at attractive prices.
May 8, 2013 at 11:27 AM
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"Mr. Jones," The Indie Movie
In April, Ed and I attended a screening of the indie horror movie "Mr. Jones,'" directed by Karl Mueller, at the Tribeca Film Festival, at the Chelsea Cinemas, in my home town of NYC. The film is about a couple played by Jon Foster and Sarah Jones, who rent a house in the middle of nowhere. In the house next door is a creepy artist neighbor, who sends sculptures to people at random with creepy results.
I normally don't watch horror films as I end up either covering my eyes or leaving the room for most of the film, but this film was produced by friend Ross Dinerstein, who produced "The Divide," which we saw at the Southwest by Southwest film festival and liked. "Mr Jones" was eerie, but I made it to the end without any time outs!
May 8, 2013 at 11:06 AM
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David Glasser and Ed Ojdana Join the NVFF Board of Trustees
On April 8, The Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) added two new members to its Board of Trustees: David Glasser and Ed Ojdana.
Currently, David Glasser is Chief Operating Officer and President of International Sales and Distribution for the Weinstein Company, one of the most well-known and successful independent film studios in the world. As the COO of the Weinstein Company, he is responsible for the company's management and development of its growing portfolio of businesses, which include motion pictures, television, home entertainment, library and international film sales and distribution. David's connections and experience will help bring high caliber films to NVFF. Since its inception in 2010, David has brought these terrific Weinstein Company films to NVFF: The King's Speech, Blue Valentine, Butter, Undefeated, Quartet, The Sapphires, and Silver Linings Playbook.
Ed Ojdana brings to NVFF not only his business management and leadership skills, but also his increasing involvement in film. He recently retired as chief executive officer of Experian Interactive. He previously founded and ran ConsumerInfo.com (also known as FreeCreditReport.com.) On the film side, he was an executive producer on the film Rock Slyde, starring Patrick Warburton and Andy Dick, and on the award-winning documentary film Jiro Dreams of Sushi, which was acquired and distributed by Magnolia Pictures and which screened at the 2011 NVFF. Ed currently sits on several boards, which include GoDigital (Executive Chairman), Preferred VenturesLLC, and the UC Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology.
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Apr 12, 2013 at 2:19 PM
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A Las Vegas Culinary Delight
Ed and I were in Las Vegas recently for a leads generation conference and had to try Michael Mina’s Nob Hill Tavern. We had been to Michael Mina’s restaurants in San Francisco and also in Las Vegas before, but none with the name Nob Hill, so had to try it. Mina hasn’t missed a beat with his menu and wine list. We had a delicious appetizer of paper-thin eggplant and zucchini slices – think delicate potato chips – paired with tzatziki (a Greek yogurt, cucumber and garlic dip), and a melt-in-your mouth wood-fired filet mignon and butter-poached Maine lobster – all paired with great Patz and Hall pinot. We topped off the yummy dinner with a crunchy, yet smooth, crème brulee. Michael Mina’s restaurants are never a gamble.
Apr 4, 2013 at 1:58 PM
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Catch Me If You Can - The Musical
On Saint Patrick’s Day, Ed and I navigated our way through all the street closures for the Los Angeles Marathon to see Catch Me If You Can--The Musical, at the Pantages Theater, in Hollywood, near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine. Needless to say, Hollywood was flooded with those wearing green – and green beer!
Catch Me If You Can – The Musical is an adaptation of the Dreamworks motion picture, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as Frank Abagnale, Jr., the real life person on whom the film and musical, as well as the original book (by Abagnale with Stan Redding), was based.
The music, lyrics and dancing were all delightful. For those of you who didn’t see the movie, the plot revolves around how a sixteen year old boy, Frank Abagnale, Jr., (played extremely well by the talented Steven Anthony), leaves home and makes it in the real world by impersonating an airline pilot, lawyer and doctor, forging checks and ID’s, and charming the world. The print ad for the movie says it all: "If you wanna make it, make it up."
Eventually, when Abagnale is eighteen, the law catches up with him via a zealous FBI agent (played by Merritt David Janes in the musical and played by Tom Hanks in the film). Abagnale serves seven years in prison and then, amazingly, is hired by the FBI to help it fight fraud and embezzlement. Currently, Abagnale is one of the world’s leading authorities on secure documents.
When Ed was CEO of Experian Interactive, we met Abagnale a couple of times as he is a world-renowned public speaker on the topics of check fraud, embezzlement and secure documents. Meeting him in person motivated us to see the musical. We weren’t disappointed!
Mar 23, 2013 at 1:50 PM
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Death of a Napa Valley Icon
I just heard the sad news that Jimmy Barrett passed away on Thursday, March 14, at the age of 86. Jimmy is an icon in Napa Valley and best known for producing the 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay that shocked the wine world in 1976, particularly the French, when it won a blind tasting in Paris beating out a lineup of French wines. Now known as the “Judgment of Paris,” this competition helped to put Napa Valley on the map. It was also the basis for the movie Bottle Shock, starring Chris Pine, Bill Pullman and Alan Rickman. Two of the producers of Bottle Shock, Marc and Brenda Lhormer, are the founders of the Napa Valley Film Festival.
I did not know Jimmy very well and first met him playing in the men’s Saturday morning tennis matches at Meadowood Resort. Although in his 80’s and not very agile, the result of several knee operations, if the ball landed anywhere near him, he would return it. Like his underhand serve, his returns had a lot of spin on them. It took me quite a while to adjust to his returns – more than once I could only laugh as the ball curved away from my racket and I was left swinging at air.
Photo: SCOTT MANCHESTER/Press Democrat
A few years back, Irene and I sat with Jimmy and his wife, Judy, at the wedding reception of our friend, neighbor, and Reverie Winery owner Norm Kiken and wife Suzie Donahue. I remembered one scene in Bottle Shock where Jim Barrett (Bill Pullman) and his son, Bo Barrett (Chris Pine), don boxing gloves to settle their father and son differences. Naturally, I had to ask Jimmy if he still boxed. To my disappointment, he said he had never boxed in his life. Unlike movies based on true stories, where fictious events are added to enhance the entertainment value, Jimmy was the real thing in life.
Mar 16, 2013 at 1:21 PM
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