Oversized armoire - 6'11" tall (23"x56") made from red oak wainscotting - $200
hundreds of pieces of silverplated flatware - $72 for an 18 piece service for 6, $96 for a 24-piece service for six
various glassware - 50 cents each
white Irish linen table cloths - $5 each
A Brasilia Portofina America Del-2 two head automatic espresso machine - $3,500
a Lincoln Freshomatic 4000 steamer - $400;
two high-capacity conveyor toasters - $150 each;
Two Bunn two-pot commercial coffee makers - $40 each;
4 new electric chafer heating elements (use in place of sterno fuel) $50 each
A three-piece Adcom stereo system, GCD-575, GTP-500 II, and GFA-545 - $500
A Sonance Sonamp 260 - $75
A Univex MG89 meat grinder, perfect for your sausage-making whims -$600
Angular laptop desk - handmade by Joseph from wine crates - $250
The oversized framed map of France's wine regions that used to hang in the private dining room - $400
And for February pickup, our cars, which are in good condition with just over 100,000 miles each.
A 2001 Volvo V70 station wagon, dark blue, heated leather seats, moon roof, AM/FM/cassette/CD.
A 2002 Volkswagon Beetle, dark blue, heated leather seats, moon roof, AM/FM/5-CD changer
Contact Cheryl by email if you have an oenophile on your holiday gift list. We have some very special gifts available at wholesale prices.
Monte Lauro Update
The first micro-lessees came for a visit in October and stayed in the farmhouse with Monte Lauro President Michael Belanger, while we are still busy in the Unites States getting our affairs in order. The guests traveled to Chateauneuf-du-Pape for winery tours and had an exciting afternoon at a Kart-Racing facility near the vineyard. Most interestingly, the archaeologist in charge of the study of the Chateau de Montlaur allowed some of the guests to participate in a dig along a section of the ninth-century castle's courtyard, which is right behind the farmhouse. Even in the small space they were researching, they found pottery shards and a human arm bone, most likely remnants of the cannon attack on the Chateau by Protestants in 1622.
http://www.chezsophie.com/montelauro.html
Monte Lauro President Michael Belanger also made a lot of progress preparing the first American shipment of Monte Lauro wines. The labels are ready, the American distributor is in place and the wines are delicious. We are looking for investors to underwrite the cost of transporting each container - an $80,000 investment with an expected 15 percent return in one year. Contact Cheryl for more information about investment opportunities.
I have been signing microleases with Chez Sophie fans who are planning to visit Monte Lauro and participate as members in The Chez Sophie Cooking Experience at Monte Lauro Vineyards when we get there early next year, as well as all the other activities at the farm, vineyard and chateau. We'll be contacting those of you who have expressed interest in becoming members of Monte Lauro Vineyard and La Ferme du Vieux Chateau in the South of France individually in the days to come.
The benefits of a three-year micro-lease include membership in perpetuity to the Friends of Montlaur; the chance to participate in the study and restoration of the Chateau de Montlaur, the harvesting and tending of the grapes, the making of the wine, and other daily activities at the farm and Chateau; substantial discounts on accommodations for the three active years of the lease at la Ferme de Vieux Chateau, surrounding B&Bs and delightful gypsy caravans on the property; similar discounts with partner vineyards around the world, as they are negotiated; access to walking, biking and equestrian trails and quick drives to Mediterranean beaches.
The $3,188 three-year membership fee also confers substantial discounts on participation in regional wine dinners in the United States; rights to purchase one-year gift memberships; referral bonuses; substantial discounts on the purchase of additional wines from the vineyard and substantial discounts on the activities of Monte Lauro Vineyards, such as wine tastings, wine blending courses, cooking classes, dinners, art courses, concerts, writing courses, vineyard management courses, archaeological courses and activities and local and regional tours, a case of wine a year for three years, made from your own vines and labeled with your own design; and a bonus case of 2007 Monte Lauro Vineyards "Marquis de Montlaur" Fût de Chêne for the first 1,000 charter members.
After the lease expires, you may choose to renew at the same rate as your recently expired lease, or become an inactive member of the Friends of Montlaur, entitling you in perpetuity to continue visiting and participating in the activities of the estate.
My online sales brochure can be viewed at http://www.chezsophie.com/online%20brochure.pdf
A Nod to Cole...
Our faithful jazz pianist Cole Broderick has found a new gig. He's playing at Dale Miller Restaurant at 30 South Pearl Street in Albany on Friday and Saturday nights.
He also asked me to remind everyone that he still has 100 copies of the collector's item, Chez Sophie Jazz, still available for sale online as well as a fresh batch of his new solo piano release, A Tribute to the Beatles.
All of the art that adorned our walls at Chez Sophie has been safely returned to the Joseph Parker Gallery in Hadley, New York. Joseph would be more than happy to offer tours by appointment. His wife Nancy Griffis, a certified massage therapist, runs a massage studio in the same location, so you can satisfy your body and soul in a single trip. Their phone number is 518.696.2250.
Paul's a sharp guy
Paul has been sharpening knives for our customers. He's doing it so well that he has bald patches all over his left forearm because he keeps proving to me that the knives are now sharp enough to shave with. He will sharpen most knives for $4 a pop (more for severely damaged knives or specialty sharpening) and will make housecalls for a minimum of 10 knives (so gather your neighbors' knives and have them done all at once.)
Notes on Nico and Léo:
I finally realized you can actually try too hard to be a good Mom. This rare period of unemployment in our lives, prompted by the wait for the paperwork to be finished so we can move to France, made me think of all the years that we were working too much to take the kids to simple holiday events, such as holiday festivals and parades and visits with Santa. So Wednesday, Nico, Léo and I went to Nico's school and volunteered to decorate banners for his classmates to carry in this weekend's parade. On Friday night, I made chicken pies so we'd have a quick meal to heat up after the parade, dressed the kids in multi-layered pajamas and robes (theme: Polar Express) and force marched them to the Ballston Spa Holiday Parade. Paul, who had a terrible cold, felt too guilty to leave me on my own with two kids in tow, so he dutifully donned a bathrobe and cap and stuffed his snivelling frame into the Volkswagen Beetle to endure Mommy's whim.
Unfortunately, our group was at the back of the parade, so our lovely children stood in the cold on a dark side street for more than an hour before our end of the parade started to move. Six-year-old Nico realized that all of the bands and horses and firetrucks - and most importantly - the candy thrown from the floats - was happening on the well-lighted streets blocks ahead, and would be over by the time his group dragged the caboose through town. Three-year-old Léo wisely found a friend whose mother had had the foresight to bring a wagon stuffed with blankets and she cuddled with her buddy while the older children jumped and shrieked in an effort to stay warm.
By the time our group reached Wiswall Park to see Santa light the town Christmas tree, the kids were frozen with full bladders, much like every other child in town. I had the brilliant idea that since Santa was heading over to the bank headquarters at the end of Front Street, we could get warm, get a cup of cocoa from the Girl Scouts, and visit a bathroom all in one trip before finding the car, which unwisely, was parked at the head of the parade route, rather than the end. When we got to the bank, there was already a line stretching through the lobby out the back door, with about 30 parents and kids waiting in the cold, scarfing candies they'd picked up off the streets. It turned out there were about 40 more kids in the line inside the bank.
It took more than an hour to reach Santa's lap. Fortunately, there were bathrooms on the sides of the corridors leading to the Christmas tree and stalwart Girl Scouts with snacks, so after another half hour in the cold, we were able to avoid wet pajamas. And the kids really dug the 30 seconds they spent with Jolly Old Saint Nick. The only really weird part was walking the mile back to the car in our pajamas through the nearly deserted streets of Ballston Spa at 9:30 on a Friday night.
The next morning, I had decided it would be a good idea to drive to Proctor's Theatre in Schenectady to use the iWerks passes I'd had in my wallet since last Christmas on a 3-D movie. Paul, who was even sicker on Saturday morning than he had been on Friday night, did not abandon us. Strangely, the kids were kind of cranky and uncooperative after the 45-minute drive. Léo refused to wear the 3D glasses after the first object seemed to fly right at her face and buried her head in my lap because the screen was blurry without them. Afterwards, we decided to walk around the shops on Jay Street, which were deserted because all the sane people had realized it's no fun to stroll with wet gloppy snow falling on your head. I hadn't been able to find the children's gloves before we raced out of the house, and they insisted on sticking their bare fingers in the snow that was piling up on the ledges of the garbage cans and putting it in their mouths while Paul and I threatened them.
Sunday morning, I had planned to take the kids to the tree-lighting festival at the Empire State Plaza in Albany. I looked at poor Paul drooping over his sunnyside-up eggs, and the kids, who had stripped to their underpants and were trading blueberries, and said: "How about we have a stay-at-home day today? We can put our snowsuits on and play, and then come in and have cookies and read."
Six-year-old Nico looked at me gravely and said: "I was kinda thinking that yesterday." And when he saw the look his parents exchanged, he added kindly: "But the movie was fun, too."
Thanks for reading, and keep in touch -
