Our flight 's delayed, time for studying & coffee. I want my own bed so bad; I will sleep like a rock tonight.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

She looked so nice up there with all the other bridesmaids. It was really a beautiful ceremony. The reception was a blast, too. My forehead is bumpin' today.

Anne's been growing out her hair for quite a while now.  The stylists did great job on it, actually on all the girls' hair. 
We removed 30 Bobbie pins from her "do" after we stumbled into our hotel room.

Ellen's last name is Margeas now. She married Constantine, "CJ." Nice.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Anne's getting hair and makeup done for her sister's wedding today. It's beautiful weather up here, even though it's a little hot. I love eating Italian sausage sandwiches from Portillo's. I get mine with hot & sweet peppers + fries.

When I passed the Advanced last year, I ate and studied at Portillo's everyday. I'm glad to be back, if only for a moment.

Quite a day for a big fat Greek wedding. All the best to CJ & Ellen!

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com

Since the Theory section for the MS Diploma Exam is oral, I decided to record myself flipping through all of my flashcards. I use my iPhone's Voice Memos app.

I'll blast music while recording. So for Spain, I'm blasting Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain; for Germany it's Wagner (instrumental versions of his Operas); for USA I selected Charlie Parker. The Voice Memos app does a spooky job of honing in on the voice and keeping the music solidly in the background.

After I record, I synch it to iTunes, burn a disc for the car (I have a 12-disc cartridge in the trunk), and I download to my iPod. Now I listen to myself while running around Town Lake and driving around town. I even flip cards while listening to the recordings. This helps me pace and keeps me from daydreaming.

I am a notorious daydreamer. I can read a book, start thinking about something, then twenty pages later, I realize I don't know what's going on. I have to go back to the page the daydream began and start over.

There's another benefit The recording is a snap shot of time, which puts things in perspective. To read through my Burgundy cards it took, fifty-six minutes, Germany fifty-four minutes. Those are the two areas that took the longest. All the other countries or regions took less time. So, just under an hour for the most crucial areas, that's not so bad. I can do this.

If I think I need to up the ante, I'll start sleeping with headphones.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

It's so hot. We're ducking into a cool theater for a couple of hours. Exit Through the Gift Shop & cold beer. Nice.

Tomorrow we head to Chicago for a ridiculous Greek wedding. Hope it's chill.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Having a late lunch. I blind tasted this morning with Greg, then an afternoon meeting with JM, our go-to-guy at Jeffrey's Restaurant. He's finally promoted to server. He wanted some pointers on learning wine. I was happy to help. Congratulations JM!

I am loving this wine, which was presented to me earlier as part of the six bottle lineup. The sandwich is pretty good, too.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

I blind taste three times per week: once with Greg Randle, CWE and twice with my wife Anne. This is Anne's method of bottle concealment.

I go for a bike ride, she opens and pours the wines, then places the bottles in two bags. Voilà.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Austonian, W, 360, Frost & ________?  It's no fun to be forgotten.

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

Last night was fun. It really started early afternoon with a call from Kate, our GM. She's also Deegan's wife, our Executive Chef. I like this dynamic. You have Ron & Peggy, husband & wife, our owners. Then, you have, Deegan & Kate, husband & wife. It makes perfect sense. We had a private party in the Josephine House, Kate wanted to work through some last minute changes to the menu & subsequently the wine pairings. No problem. "Can I email you the new menu?" No problem. So, Kate & I, then Deegan & I worked on the changes over the phone.

I arrived at work early for setup. This was a 17-top, five course menu with wine pairings. The host wanted me to discuss the food and wine as each course was served. Most importantly, this was a celebration. The guest of honor just graduated from UT School of Law. Nice!

Setup is always a little challenging. A hot wool suit is not my friend, this night. There were four of us, so we got the job done: Rodney, JM, Deegan & me. That's Front Waiter, Back Waiter, Chef & Sommelier, respectively. Deegan, personally, cooked all the food. Awesome.

I ran back to the main restaurant to let the staff know, "Hey, guys I'm in the Josephine House tonight. Check the 86 board."

There are always curve balls on any given night of service. As the guests were set to arrive to the Josephine House, while I was polishing the last of the stemware, I got called back to the restaurant.

Ron asked me to visit table 85; Marco asked me to speak with table 34; Johnny said table 41 needed assistance, too. On those three tables, I sold some very nice wines. 34 was particularly gross: a comparison of high caliber Syrah. I opened a 2004 Colgin IX Estate Napa Syrah and a 2004 Chave Hermitage. Both required a candle-cradle decant. Nice.

I returned to the Josephine House 40-minutes later. The guests were seated after their butler-passed starters with Champagne. I met the host and we began the dinner. The timing was perfect, thankfully.

Deegan's food was amazing. My personal favorite of the night was his new Foie Gras Madeleines with Roasted Red Grapes & Almond Butter. Sick! The guests were into it, the pacing was on point, the vibe was bangin, and I was thrilled to be a part of it. A challenging, yet smooth night of service.

Jeffrey's Restaurant

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine

It seemed tonight was less about UT graduation guests and more about regulars & locals. For many upscale ATX restaurants, this weekend normally marks the last truly busy weekend until autumn. After tonight, I'm unconvinced.

We served many elated guests, a handful from out of town, most from here in ATX. The food looked amazing. It was incredibly busy, but we worked as a team and excelled. I even got to cradle decant a 2005 Philip Togni. Yes, a young Napa Cab throwing some sediment. Nice.

Jeffrey's Restaurant

Anthony Garcia
www.wineisdivine.com
http://twitter.com/wineisdivine