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I love my Cousin Joe. He’s one of the funniest guys I’ve ever met and his outlook on life has always been incredibly positive. His approach is simply unparalleled. To give you an idea of the kind of guy he is, Joe knocked down the pool in his backyard and put in a professional regulation-size bocce ball court (equipped with floodlights!). It’s a beautiful sight and has inspired me to one day do the same with my backyard. That is, when we have a backyard.

Joe makes wine and has been doing so for several years now. My first taste was taken several years back at the annual Falsone Father-Son Camping Trip just outside Cook Forest State Park. Every year we rent three cabins on the same camp ground and, in a nutshell, it’s two long days of eating, drinking and throwing bocce (and an occasional game of cornhole) with a bunch of Italian guys. Cousin Joe’s first attempt was “Merlot.” “Merlot” is in quotes because, still to this day, any time anyone speaks of that “Merlot,” they still act out “quotation fingers” with their hands as they say it. The tasting notes for Joe’s “Merlot” went something like this:

Boozey. Moonshine with a hint of wet newspaper and tree bark.

Haha! Another wonderful characteristic of my Cousin is that he can take the heat, especially from a tough crowd of loud Italians who aren’t shy. And Joe would agree about that “Merlot.” It was a fantastic family moment.

Joe surprised me a few weeks back at the Falsone Family Picnic in Cleveland, OH. The tradition remains that towards the end of the picnic the entire family sits down to plates of Italian Meats, (really stinky) Stinky Cheese and several bottles of wine, usually homemade by a member of the family. This year Joe brought out his very own Amarone.

May I say this to my Cousin in all sincerity:

Joe, I am well educated in the world of wine and have been trained by some of the the most renowned individuals in the food and wine industry. I’ve tasted gems from all over the world, critiqued them and broke them down to the most defined characteristics. On that particular day and at that particular moment, your Amarone was one of the finest bottles I’ve been privileged to enjoy in all of my life. You’re making some really good stuff these days and I look forward to my next sip.

Cheers Cuz! Love ya!

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At some point in your life you receive a special bottle of wine. When you receive it, you generally determine that you’ll save it for a special day or special occasion. I always do that (in thought). Though I am a firm believer in cellaring and hope to one day accumulate a reasonable cellar, my success rate has been quite low. Why? Well, the safe answer is to say that we don’t have the space in our home to do so properly, but the honest answer is, I tend to open them sooner than originally planned. I love wine and I love to drink it.

Jill and I had received a 2001 Tignanello as a wedding present from wonderful friends of ours who are incredibly educated and well traveled in the world of wine. We both looked at it with intrigue and excitement and deemed that we would  hang on to it for a lengthy period of time and enjoy this intensely fruity and complex bottle on an evening with great significance. We gave it a nice home in our wine tower which was another lovely wedding gift we received from Jill’s sister and her husband. Though it is a tower that could hold 20 bottles, it has seemed to never hold much more than 2 bottles at a time. I think we may have filled it to 3/4 capacity shortly after our wedding reception. That was due to the genorousity of our guests who insured we weren’t going to begin married life without a few bottles. Thank you everyone!! Once we filled the tower, the nights would pass and before too long there was only one bottle remaining in the tower. It was the 2001 Tignanello. The tower never seemed to fill much after the initial inventory. We’d buy two bottles at a time (sometimes 3 or 4 in hopes we’d rebuild inventory), we’d open one and place the rest snug in the tower. We’d wake up and before I even had coffee, I’d be walking out to the recycle bin, look over at the tower and see one bottle remaining, the 2001 Tignanello.

Last month, Jill and I awoke on a beautiful Sunday morning in June each with a slight grin on our face. We didn’t have anything to do that day and we each knew it. It had been the first day in a while where we really didn’t have a single plan lined up and it felt wonderful. Around 2pm, there was slight overcast and the sky was just about to open up and shower us. Jill and I had the thought to bring out the scrabble board and go head to head. I always whoop her ( haha!). I’m a scrabble junky and she enjoys it as well. Truth is, she pounds me in the ground every time we play. For some reason she always gets the good tiles and I’m stuck with a bench showing 2 I’s, 2 O’s, 2 L’s and an N.

We glanced over at the wine tower and decided to open the 2001 Tignanello and let it breathe. Even though it doesn’t sound like the most significant occasion of our lives, I cherish those moments with my wife and why not open a special bottle on a Sunday afternoon while playing scrabble. Actually, I think the wine helped. I was competing for a while before she dropped a bomb of a word that racked up like 3000 points! If I recall correctly it was spelled QZXJKHS. HA! I refuted the word but Jilly found it in a dictionary. Just kidding…

To sum up the wine: Magnificent. I couldn’t get over the legs on this full bodied masterpiece. They hardly moved and the finish ran the Boston Marathon 3 times. We loved it and it was so good we savored it for almost 3 hours. It was the perfect Sunday afternoon.

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Who knew you could smoke meat without a smoker? Phil, of course! The shot above is from last weekend’s barbecue – made effortlessly (well, effortlessly for Phil) in his favorite wedding gift of all, our Weber Charcoal Grill. The following day we sent our guests home with the leftovers (lucky ducks) and walked over to Tex’s Barbecue to eat (I’m dead serious) even more barbecue. We ordered a beef brisket sammy – topped with SAUCE, of course! – and a side of slaw. It was incredible! So if you’re in the mood for some BBQ (and Phil’s not around to cook it), check out Tex’s schedule and head on over to Phoenixville. He’s in town one weekend a month, smokin’ up good eats Friday through Sunday.

And I promise to post a shot of Tex’s Barbecue the next time we walk over. We ate it so darn fast

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And the most important step? Browning half the butter. In doing this, you’re giving your cookies chewiness and a nutty flavor that will knock your socks off. You can also try letting the sugar stand in the butter a bit longer before adding the dry ingredients. This will allow more sugar to dissolve, creating more caramelization during baking and, more importantly, it gives your cookie that classic crisp you look for in every bite.

Check out Cook’s Illustrated’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe for all the details. If you’re not a member, this recipe is pretty close. I’ve added a few twists of my own (milk chocolate chips!), but they’ve got the basics nailed down just “perfectly.”

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