Art Alfresco

Apparently, the Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has a weekend home in Geyserville, a stone's throw from Chateau Souverain, where he and his wife collect unique, commissioned works of art, primarily large scale pieces of outdoor sculpture (article here). Loved the part about one of the Richard Serra pieces being so heavy that during its trip down from Seattle to Geyserville, three bridges had to be structurally reinforced to accommodate the load. The Oliver Ranch is a mirror of its neighbor to the east in Napa County, di Rosa Preserve (link here). The wine country must have quite a few of these private collections. During a college camping trip to Big Sur with friends, we stumbled across a private sculpture garden in someone's backyard and it was quite an experience. Large colorful contortions of steel sitting alongside the gurgling stream as the steep, fog-encased hills of Big Sur enclosed us in a natural outdoor gallery. It was the perfect "space" for viewing the art. Sadly, we couldn't enjoy the experience for too long. While wading across the stream in knee deep water, Kuangkai slipped on the riverbed. One of his sneakers came loose and began drifting downstream. Needless to say, a long, comic chase involving eight campers ensued.

Mandu Madness

Following Korean tradition, we were fed a thin beef broth-based soup of rice cakes and mandu (meat and vegetable filled dumplings) at my parents' home on Saturday morning. And again at T's parents' on Saturday evening. I must have downed at least thirty of the hearty dumplings over a six hour period. Definitely mandu overkill. But they were tasty and quite addictive. Whenever I think of Korean food nowadays, the following weblog comes to mind (link here). It was recommended to T by a friend of a friend who is an avowed "foodie". The weblogger, an expat working on a project in Seoul, is writing about his various food experiences in the city. His accompanying photos really bring the dishes alive. Literally alive in the case of the nakji (miniature octopus). On a somewhat related sidenote, while stopping at the Andronicos market in Danville, a few streets down from T's parents' home, I perused the wine section and happily found a whopping six different varieties of Chateau Souverain wine. They even carried the Zin.

Won by a Nose (a Nosetackle that is)

And the final tallies are in for our fantasy football league... Dong 1,764 pts, Jeff 1,839 pts, John 1,840 pts (the other six teams all finished below 1,700 and were clearly out of contention in the final week). After seventeen weeks of competitive trash talking, I won by a single point. Thanks to some remarkable play by Larry Johnson, Curtis Martin, and the Bills defense. By far, the closest finish in the history of Sal's numerous fantasy football leagues. With the victory, Texan pride remains intact. Definitely a nice way to ring in the new year.