Tuesday

Back in the Deep Freeze here for a couple of days.  Not sure if we got out of single digits today. 

So the die is cast.  The flight schedule for Spain is set for August.  Hello Bilbao!  I'll let 4 work through the details for further publication.  But we will be spending some time at The Guggenheim Museum.

I can disclose that we're flying out of Moline rather than Chicago like 2 and I did for Italy.  I just concluded from a not-too-narrow marginal cost analysis on the Moline segment that the hassle of the drive to ORD, the associated fees and the net time difference combined to make a local departure an easy choice.

My absence here yesterday was due to me joining my pal Roy's small party at the Bass Street Chop House last night to celebrate his brother's successful angioplasty last week.  (I know, angioplasty and Steak House might be medically incompatible for a heart patient, but it's Roy and John, and conventional wisdom is an afterthought, at best.)  The hit of the night was a Frog's Leap Cabernet.  I'm guessing that it was $100+ at the restaurant. ( And a Grgich Hills cab wasn't bad.)  Love going out with Roy when he's picking the wine and picking up the tab.

A humorous little anecdote: on the Frog's Leap cork, rather than reflecting the name of the winery or a logo, one word in block letters printed on opposite sides of the cork read, "RIBBIT!".

The bartender at Bass Street is the former bartender at Biaggi's, whom Corporate let go when she read an ID wrong in a undercover "sting" and gave a drink to an underage patron.  She did tell me last night that Bass Street is doing "half-price-bottles" on Friday nights this Winter.  It's a good wine list.  I may have to make a visit.

In the same vein, Biaggi's is running their February 15th half-price wine night next week.  Last year, we showed up by chance on February 15th, and the place was packed to the rafters.  We had no clue what was going on.  With advance notice this year, they already have the "Reserved" sign going up on my table at 4:30.  We may be talking "cab" come Tuesday.

Spin in the AM.  Hope everyone has a great Wednesday.

BCOT