I am grateful for sunny skies today and in the days ahead, some relief from all the rain. I know my restless daughters are too, after days of boardgames and Bluey, hours of Magna-tiles, Uno, and Set. I have six siblings and I can’t for the life of me remember what rainy days looked like for us as kids back then, how crowded and cabin-feverish we must’ve been.

Most of my early memories at home involve adventures outside, exploring my neighborhood, lots of merrymaking and mischief. And with the family as big as mine, we could divide into two proper teams with relative ease for occasional competitive sport.

I distinctly remember the long football games at the local park or often just out front on our narrow street. My father, playing quarterback for both teams, charged with both advancing the game and drawing up spontaneous plays on each down, harnessing our wild energies, instilling some order. I can still access our huddles around his giant palm, a fat finger trailing the web of lines and creases more intricate than a Thomas Guide map. I hadn't understood then that the assignments were always kind of a charade, there was no comprehensible scale to his palm and everything went to hell anyway with the opposition blitzing 100% of the time. It was really just his way of trying to incorporate every member of the squad, no matter how small or clumsy. And probably to milk the clock a bit to stretch the game to dinner.

I’m not sure why this popped in my head or why I’m sharing it this morning. Especially after my wife said on her way out the door: Don’t write about the Super Bowl....  But I guess, in a silly way, football is on my mind. And I thought it also worth mentioning that, in addition to this Sunday's spectacle, Valentine’s Day (another polarizing celebration), is on Wednesday.

But I guess this memory is a little bit about football. And maybe more a little bit about love.

If you celebrate either of those kind of things, we’ve got all kinds of delightful things here to make that day, or any day (and the memory of it someday), a bit more special.


But first, TONIGHT...THURSDAY NIGHT FLIGHTS: French whites & Austrian Reds
2022 Domaine de Roquefort Petite Salé Blanc
2022 Rocher de Violettes Chenin Blanc 
2020 Phillippe Viallet Savoie Blanc
2020 Birgit Wiederstein "Ein Traum" Carnuntum Red Blend
2021 Felix 'BLAU' Blaufränkisch
2019 Prieler Blaufrankish
Flights $15 from 5-9 and wines by the glass until 9pm

SATURDAY 2/10: SPARKLING Flights - We'll be tail-gating early, popping corks and pouring dry, delightful bubbly from around the globe. 
Hubert Meyer Cremant D'Alsace
Pomalo Debit Pet Nat
Coteaux des Margots Aligoté Pet Nat 
Lise & Bertrand Jousset 'Exilé' Rosé Pétillant
Flights $18 from 2-6pm and wines by the glass until 9pm!

Cheers,
Daniel