Boston Wine School - Minus Pretentious Adjectives

I attended a class in January, 2015, called "Wine, Cheese and the Pursuit of Happiness". The teacher, Jonathan Alsop, is really informative and wickedly funny.

Jonathan's class left no room for wine tasters who know everything.  No airtime for the pompous.
The class began with his "Seven S" System of Wine Tasting:
See, Sniff, Swirl, Smell, Sip, Swish, Spit

Beginning with "See", he asks, "What does the wine look like? Clear as water, black as ink, or in between?"  He explained that you should hold the glass up to the light. "This magnifies the unbearable pomposity of the wine lover". -- The class laughed and followed him right down the path of the rest of the Seven S's.
The next S is "Sniff". Here, he advised that it's meant to be a quick check. Make sure the wine is not smelling wrong - like jet fuel or an undergraduate era shower curtain.

After bringing the students to the level where we all deployed the same 7S techniques, we then turned to actually tasting the 7 wines, 6 cheeses and 1 dinner that rounded out the Boston Wine School curriculum for that evening. The first wine was NV Bellussi Extra Dry Prosecco, for which Jonathan led with the description: Light Carbonation, Very Soft, Welcoming to People, "Shut up and drink me".

A class at the Boston Wine School teaches to all levels (well, maybe not to winemakers) and is a really nice social experience limited to 14 people per class.
www.bostonwineschool.com

Keens Steakhouse: Only 20,000 of its Pipes are on Display

In Midtown Manhattan, right near Penn Station in the Garment District is a steakhouse called Keens Steakhouse. Also known as Keens Chophouse, it has been in business since 1885. Its low ceilings, dark paneling and cluttered wooden walls suggested to me that it was a traditional small cozy inn. Not so.  With seating for more than 300 diners, Keens hums with bustling waitstaff delivering huge plates of meat. Keens leads with its mutton chop -- a huge slab dominating an oversized plate.

In New York City's crowded field of excellent restaurants featuring steak, Keens stands out. Its food is delicious and large, but that's not why. Keens has stuck with its tradition of keeping pipes for its members. Keens began as a private club where members would leave behind, and Keens would keep, their clay pipes. The tradition of checking one's clay pipe, or a "hard clay churchwarden pipe", as Keens' website refers to them, at an inn, derived from the 1700s in England. Keens' membership swelled over the years, and Keens dutifully stored the members' pipes on the ceilings of all of the restaurant's dining rooms.

According to the website:
The membership roster of the Pipe Club contained over ninety thousand names, including those of Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Will Rogers, Billy Rose, Grace Moore, Albert Einstein, George M. Cohan, J.P. Morgan, Stanford White, John Barrymore, David Belasco, Adlai Stevenson, General Douglas MacArthur and “Buffalo Bill” Cody. 

Pipes a'Plenty on the Ceilings, Everywhere

"Only" 20,000 are on display now. Just inside the entrance to 36th Street are display cases of newer, whiter additions. Autographed pipes signed by celebrities of all sorts are piled in a glass counter and stuck on the wall, with names like Steven Spielberg, Meryl Streep, heads of state, athletes and more.

CONFESSION: I never heard of Keens until my son Max requested to go there for his birthday dinner. Thank you Max!

Turks and Caicos - Hide Away at Taylor Bay

Bring your own chairs, food, fun, babies, and hang out in this paradise without seeing anyone else for hours

Turks and Caicos have lots of beaches to choose from. You could have a perfectly lovely vacation if you just stick with Grace Bay Beach, which is consistently named as one of the best beaches in the Caribbean. Famous Grace Bay is located on the island of Providenciales, which is the most developed and most populated of the islands in the country of Turks and Caicos. The island country's international airport is located on Providenciales, as are the larger resorts such as Club Med and Sandals. If you want the as-advertised Turks and Caicos vacation, by all means, stick with Grace Bay Beach. It is entirely possible to find a somewhat private and somewhat quiet spot, and to stake out a claim on a swath of sand for a perfectly delightful beach day.True, it is a long stretch facing the exquisite turquoise water.  However, it is not the only game in town.
For an off-the-beaten-path experience shared with hardly any other people, seek out Taylor Bay. It's odd that when you read the tourist information listing the beaches, Taylor Bay's name appears in the line up. But, to go from seeing its name on the list to actually getting your feet in the sand can be an adventure.
We had a rental car and followed the map to the cartoon marking of a beach umbrella plunked along a nonspecific road in a nonspecific residential area. Fortunately, a local had briefed us on how to actually get there.
After turning down a small residential street lined with luxurious homes, we found the unmarked entrance to a shady, winding pathway heading in the direction of the water. We parked the car along the sandy shoulder, took our gear with us (knowing that the beach is 100% pristine with no services and little shade). After a few moments down the sandy trail, we came upon a chain link fence. A thoughtful visitor before us had rigged up a stile of sorts. A beach lounge chair laid flat had a sturdy plastic box placed on top, allowing you to climb high enough so that you could swing your leg over the fence. On the other side of the fence, a step ladder was conveniently set up to receive you on the way down, making for an easy descent.

Access to Taylor Beach, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

The fence is low enough that you can even fling your bags/beach chairs over it before you climb. Just steps beyond the fence, the trail opens up onto a breathtakingly beautiful and serene scene. Dazzling turquoise sea over a very long expanse of shallow water. Because of its sheltered location, there is no surf. It's ideal for small children and for setting up your beach chair right in the water.

TIP: do not try to follow my description. Ask a local for directions.