What’s this? Pinot Grigio salami? Well, this has to be tried out, I think.
Turned out to be rather good, although how it would have tasted without the pinot grigio being involved in the process, I don’t know.
Anyway, as a result of the successful taste test, this has been a component of my lunch sandwich here a lot. (Click for a closer view and to read the details if desired.)
In related news, the real Summer season is finally beginning here in Aspen, on or around this weekend. Several things that have been 
closed (e.g., the buses up to the trailheads of some of my favourite hiking trails, the weekly farmer’s market on the street), or running reduced hours (e.g. the Explore bookstore) up to now are opening up, and some of the major festivals are beginning. Of course, I won’t be around for most of them. That’s life. Among these is the Food and Wine classic which starts Friday. There are giant tents being constructed around town, and lots of portable industrial grade cooking units being installed in them. Quite a remarkable operation. You can see the full schedule here.
To my delight I noticed that among the numerous chefs flying in for it is one of my favourites, Mario Batali! He and Nancy Silverton (another favourite excellent chef and restaurateur) will be doing a number of presentations and demonstrations in the festival under the banner of their wonderful Los Angeles restaurant Osteria Mozza. (I’m so glad that Mozza opened in LA because I’d been missing Babbo, his astonishingly good New York restaurant.) This got me very excited. I also noticed another event (not connected to Batali) concerning another favourite topic of mine: Belgian Beers. Sommelier Marc Stroobandt presenting. Also exciting!
What splendid luck has befallen me! So, how much might one expect to pay to attend the two and a half day festival? Go on, have a guess.
Well, whether you buy a pass as a mere consumer or as a trade attendee, it’ll set you back $1185. No, really. (On the other hand, you can go into full support mode and get the green pass at $3100.) Ah, yes, this is a notable aspect of the Aspen I’ve come to know and love… Well, I’ll just be around for the first day, so I wondered if maybe I could get a day pass, or just attend one of the things Batali is doing. So far, it seems that I can find nothing for lower than $250 and I’m not even sure if that price gets me closer than being allowed to smell the food from the side of the road.
I think I’ll just pretend the event isn’t happening. For around $250 I can just go back to Osteria Mozza and have a wonderful evening with a friend in unhurried culinary bliss. Or, I can buy some ingredients at the Sunday Hollywood farmer’s market (which I miss so much!), invite several friends around, and cook them some tasty food on a long, slow Summer Solstice evening.[1]
You know, I think I’ll do just that.
-cvj
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- It won’t be as wonderful as the master chefs’ output, I know, but… it’ll do. [return]
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I’m so sorry to have offended you. I will try hard to do better.
Now, I could go into a pointless pedantic deconstruction of your interesting use of the English language in exchange for your fixation on my liberal use of “salami” vs “salame”… but that would be unconscionably rude of me.
-cvj
If you really like italian food, please call it the right way. Thanks.
I’ll head there as soon as I’m bitten by the gelato bug…
-cvj
YES! Add wine to basically anything and you’re in good shape. We tried Cabernet sorbet at Al Gelato on Robertson in LA too…check it out sometime, Clifford!
Ruthie, Alexis is wise. No road trip is complete without wine-infused salami.
-cvj
That’s so funny: Alexis and I had tried several of these wine salamis on our trip and really liked them. I was quite skeptical, but glad Alexis convinced me to try it (story of my life….)
(Of course, I’m skating on really thin ice if the singular vs plural is to be more strictly applied to types of sausage, as opposed to quantities within a given type… In which case I fall back on the “borrowed term” defence. 🙂 )
-cvj
You’re absolutely right, and I am familiar with this, but my usage here is consistent with that, in a sense. First, you will notice that I did not say “a pinot grigio salami”. I am, for clarity, consistently adhering to the common/standard usage in an English-speaking culinary context, as far as I am aware. (You can also see it on the label of the product.) There (here), one’s sentences are constructed so that the plural form is used in most contexts. Actually, it sort of works, because one is not really referring to the sausage itself as the item… it is merely a container for a quantity of the product, itself always being thought of as plural. (Sort of analogous to how one uses the term “water”.)
Thanks,
-cvj
FYI: in italian, “salame” singular, “salami” plural.