A Twist in the story

I have blogged in the past about our local (and loco) winemakers, Sean and Chenin. They take care of me when Mike and Laura leave me for a vacation. I'm not taking it personal, but if I had to live with me, I'd need a vacation too. So back to the winemakers. Their tasting room, Twist, is right here in Pacific City! I don't go over there much, because the bamboo floors are a little too slick for my 3 legs that still work. But I drop in to say hi.

Well, they had another drop in, the guys from BREWPUBLIC.com. They wrote a great story about Twist, the wine, the beer, the winemakers and Pacific City, read it here.

Not much else to say it's a great story. OK, I do have something to say. When you come to Pacific City for the beer and wine, I think you should stay with me, at The Craftsman B&B.

New Year's Eve

As you know, today is the last day of 2008.  With guests staying with us here at The Craftsman B&B, we won't get to crazy.  We will go over to Twist Wine for their champagne tasting.  In addition to the regular wines they pour visitors, Chenin has selected a few bottles of bubbles for tastings.  She has worked in champagne houses before so she knows a thing or two about the sparkling wine.  

Chenin is also an expert in opening a bottle so the pressure just barely releases, known as a nun's fart.  If you pop the cork, you loose the bubbles, who wants that?

On the total opposite of the "fart," Sean is an expert of sabering a bottle.  He uses a special knife, runs it up to the neck of the bottle and breaks the bottle open.  The cork goes flying with the ring of the bottle attached.  Quite a show.

So come on down to our sleepy beach town of Pacific City and ring in the new year.  You can learn about sparkling wine too.

Working on the B&B

Sorry for the lack of blogging, I was busy watching Mike work on The Craftsman B&B.  With the start of our slow season, he applied a coat of oil the woodwork upstairs.  It's amazing how the blond wood, Hemlock, turns a gorgeous shade of red with the oil.  He uses Watco Danish oil.  Laura doesn't like the smell, but Mike and I do.  Wait, there is no smell I don't like.

The Mackintosh Room got it's stencil work done too.  This is the first time Mike has ever stenciled anything, but like everything he does, he figured it out on his own.  He has seen it done on TV, so how hard could it be.  He borrowed a design from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the icon on our brochure.  Mike used flat white ceiling paint for the bedroom and the bedroom green for the bathroom, the bathroom walls are a light shade of green.  It really livens up that room, the dark green walls really pop now.

Mike's parents, Jack and Mary are arriving today from Denver.  They are here for Thanksgiving and will stay for a 11 days.  They like to help around the house during their visits, so Mike has a list going.  Not a lot of stuff, but Jack like to paint, so there are some touch-ups that are needed.  Suitcases and painted walls don't mix very well.  Mary like to walk on the beach, so now that I am "mature," maybe she'll take me out with her, not likely, but it's worth a shot.

We plan on wine tasting this weekend at the wineries around Salem.  They are not open Thanksgiving weekend, so we will hit them and do our other Salem errands too.  Got to stay green and combine our trips to "the city."

We will be wine tasting on Thanksgiving weekend too.  Laura will work a day for Basket Case Wine at their custom crush facility, 12th and Maple in Dundee.  With the Tasting room, Twist, Portland Farmers Market and wine tasting weekend, they will need and appreciate the help.

Another busy weekend here at the B&B, so back to watching the work.