In case you hadn’t heard, the long-running Sunday night party at dish was officially cut off a few weeks ago. It was about time, I think: The same lame ’80s music in the same order week after week after week for three or four years, and an increasingly obnoxious, unfamiliar and ill-tipping crowd — it had to go. So it’s time for something new for those who don’t need to be up particularly early on Monday mornings.

DJ Flip and Jack Frost are bringing their “SIN Sundays” service industry weekly to dish starting this weekend. Here’s the catch, though: Admission is by VIP guest list only, so if you should know about it, you probably already do, and if you should know about it but don’t, you need to get on the stick. This weekend’s premiere will be free admission, but subsequent nights will require a cover charge. Flip, Tee Brice and DJ Tree will be the resident deejays. For the high rollers, bottle service will be available (Grey Goose and Patron), and for the rest of us, drink specials will be in effect.

I’m interested to see how this new concept works out. Since transforming from Melange, dish has had to strike a delicate balance: keep the place gay-friendly but not TOO gay, such that it might alienate the straight hipster/food-and-beverage-worker crowd. The old Sunday obviously was moving too far in the latter direction — among other things — so it’s time to change tack. The key will be to strike another balance: Keep the policies restrictive enough that the place remains family-friendly, but not so South Beach/Vegas faux-exclusive that the party people don’t want to go.

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First story: We go to a little Greek restaurant, oops, there’s no wine, so back into the car we get and drive about a mile to a good wine store where I shop frequently and know the people and they know me.
Clerks: Hey, Fredric!
Me: Hey, guys!
Clerks: Whaddaya looking for?
Me: Something to go with Greek food. That little restaurant doesn’t have a license.
Clerks: Hey, we love that place! But right, no wine. So, we’re thinking Rhone grapes, maybe grenache, we have this great Spanish grenache, maybe the best grenache in the store, but it’s like $24.
Me: No problem, I’ll take it.
The wine is the Alto Moncayo Veraton 2004, from Spain’s Campo de Borja region. Heavy bottle, deep punt, fancy label, obviously intended as a wine to be taken seriously.
Back to the restaurant, waiter opens the bottle, pours the wine, out comes this stuff that looks like motor oil. The wine is incredibly oaky and toasty and spicy, with super, over-the-top ripe black fruit, strident smoky, spicy and vanilla qualities. It’s like a late-harvest zinfandel channeling an Amarone, with the hotness and faux sweetness of high alcohol. I look at the alcohol content; 16 percent. What the hell does this have to do with grenache? And who in their right mind would make a wine like this monster in Spain?
What’s interesting, or dismaying, or discouraging, is that this model of exaggeration and lack of balance received rave reviews all over the place. Please, ladies and gentlemen, let’s stop the madness.
Second story: I’m in a wine store near my house, everybody there knows me well and knows that I like odd and out-of-the-way wines, I’ll try almost anything. So the clerk, a longtime wine acquaintance, picks up this Battely Sojourn 2003, from Victoria, South Australia and says, “Whoa, now this is really interesting,” which could mean, “Whoa, this is fantastic” or “Whoa, this is weird.” It’s $35, but I take the plunge.
The blend on this wine is 60 percent syrah — ok, shiraz — and 40 percent durif, a hybrid grape created in France in the 1880s by crossing syrah with the obscure peloursin. In the South of France, the grape, while resistant to disease, produced wines of no distinction whatever, though in California, most of what’s called petite sirah is actually durif; in the Golden State, the grape makes wines of rusticity, robustness and exuberance.
Anyway, the Battely Sojourn ‘03 sits around the house for a few weeks, and one day I pick it up and check the alcohol. Get this: 17.5 percent. This is really close to the alcohol content of port. One would open such a table wine with trepidation, but I wait a few weeks and finally pop the cork.
Whoa, like, no joke, this wine takes hyperbolic ripeness and the heat and sweetness of soaring alcohol to ludicrous extension and stridency, though, once again, here’s an Incredible Hulk of a wine, which I found overdone and unbalanced and actually unpleasant, that received all sorts of rave reviews for its “bigness.” Ladies and gentlemen, please, let’s stop the madness.

Today is day five of Wimbledon. The genesis of the prestigious tournament was a fund-raiser in 1877, put on by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Women’s singles and men’s doubles were added to the burgeoning event in 1884. But not until this year will men and women receive equal prize money. “At Wimbledon, [...]Continue Reading »

I met Lauren McGehee last fall, several months after she’d lived through the worst tragedy a mother can face: The death of her eldest son, Norris Jr., left, in a freak accident on the Spring River near Hardy, Ark. She amazed me then, with her courage and faith. She amazed me again today, when she sent me this note. [...]Continue Reading »

I want everything, and I want it now! So do you, I bet. But my version and your version might not be the same.

I’ll show you mine. Will you show me yours?

There would be a real promenade deck with padded teak chaises, blankets (for colder days) and wait staff who would come by to serve you drinks (yes, I’m willing to pay).

Kids would be invisible.

Eliminate big stage musical productsion and focus on small venue comics, combos, and piano bars.

Have plenty of places to look at the ocean and relax, both inside and outside.

No smoking anywhere except the aft outside decks.

Absolutely no loud speaker announcements unless it has to do with safety (the ship is sinking!) or something like changing ports of call. I don’t want to hear about the next bingo game. Make folks read those daily papers instead!

Replace the current port lectures about shopping with talks about the historical and natural assets of a port.

Have lots of games that involve passengers.And I’m not talking about bingo, but trivia, board, and card games. Something more creative would be even better.

Place cabin seating areas next to the window/balcony, so you can sit and look out. The bed has a pillow top and great, fluffy pillows. There is an in-room refrigerator. You can find out about meal menus and book excursions, etc. through the TV in the room (the only reason we’d turn it on). The shower is big enough that you can pick up your soap if you drop it.

Of course, I would like all the dining to be gourmet, but let’s be reasonable here. Actually, I think for the numbers served, the food on mass market cruise ships is surprisingly good. Just compare those meals to your typical high-end banquet meal. Now, factor in the complexity of multiple dishes for each course. Get the picture? So, I’ll just request one dish way off the beaten path for every dinner (ostrich? elk? something even more exotic?).

Now, what do you want?

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All training walks should be done at an easy pace at which you can talk. Walk at least three times a week.

Warm up and cool down for 5 minutes each run.
Week 1: Powerwalk 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes for a total of 20 minutes.
Week 2: Powerwalk 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 3: Powerwalk 7 minutes, walk 3 minutes for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 4: Powerwalk 8 minutes, walk 2 minutes for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 5: Powerwalk 9 minutes, walk 2 minutes for a total of 35 minutes.
Week 6: Powerwalk 9 minutes, walk 1 minute for a total of 40 minutes.
Week 7: Powerwalk 13 minutes, walk 2 minutes for a total of 45 minutes.
Week 8: Powerwalk 14 minutes, walk 1 minute for a total of 45 minutes.

Graduation : 5k race

You can join the Power Walkers discussion group to find out when others are doing practice walks by clicking here

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All training walks should be done at an easy pace. You should be able to talk while walking. If you can’t, slow down. Walk at least three times a week.

Warm up 5 minutes and cool down 5 minutes with each run.
Week 1: Powerwalk 3 minutes, walk 3 minutes for a total of 20 minutes
Week 2: Powerwalk 4 minutes, walk 3 minutes for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 3: Powerwalk 5 minutes, walk 3 minutes for a total of 30 minutes
Week 4: Powerwalk 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes for a total of 30 minutes.
Week 5: Powerwalk 6 minutes, walk 2 minutes for a total of 35 minutes
Week 6: Powerwalk 6 minutes, walk 1 minute for a total of 40 minutes.
Week 7: Powerwalk 7 minutes, walk 2 minutes for a total of 45 minutes.
Week 8: Powerwalk 7 minutes, walk 1 minute for a total of 45 minutes.

You can join the Power Walkers discussion group to find out when others are doing practice walks by clicking here

Graduation: 5k race

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