The Barn Blog

Mike Santoliquido co-hosted the barn’s first cigar tasting. He invited John, Dave and Brendon, owners of NY Cigar Co here in Eastchester. John gave an highly informative and entertaining talk on cigars as we enjoyed samples of their excellent cigars. We dedicated the evening to David Gutierrez, who passed away this week. David loved coming to the barn events and will be missed dearly. John donated a humidor and organized a raffle to raise some money for David’s childrens’ education. As a further act of generosity, the folks from NY Cigar Co. pledged 50 cigars for every barn night. What a great bunch of guys! Hopefully the barn goers will continue patronize their fine establishment.

Steve Quigley, who grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of New York, conducted a wine tasting of wines from the Finger Lakes.

The wines we tasted are, in order:

1) Dr. Frank Pinot Gris

2) Hosmer Dry Riesling

3) Anthony Road Semi-dry Riesling

4) Castel Grisch Trammentine

5) Miles Pinot Noir

6) Six Mile Creek Ithaca Red

The wines that had the best response from the group were Nos. 1 and 2.

As I mentioned, Finger Lakes wines are difficult to find around here.  However, most, if not all Finger Lakes Winerys will ship.  Some sources to check out are: www.fingerlakeswinegazette.org, www.senecalakewine.com, www.cayugawinetrail.com, and www.keukawinetrail.com.

Phil DeSantis, an accomplished carpenter and contractor led a practical discussion on home improvements, renovations, remodeling, etc. He began with a very inspiring story about how he discovered his calling to be a carpenter while in high school wood shop. Phil gave us the inside scoop on local contractors, touching on some controversial topics such as overcharging, illegal immigrant workers, and organized crime. Phil shared the saga of Ben’s Barn renovation project, which he spearheaded. The barn was about to collapse before he shored up the foundation and reinforced the walls and floor. Besides becoming emotionally attached to barn, Phil had a scaffolding accident in the barn which almost killed him. Whenever we enjoy the barn we can be grateful for Phil’s hard work and dedication to the restoration of this historic neighborhood landmark.

Jerry Ragano came up with the radical idea of bringing man’s best friends to the barn with us. He brought in a dog trainer named Ken Beronson who gave us a group lesson in dog training.  There were 12 dogs up to age 3 of all sizes and breeds. Along with their masters, they formed a large circle around trainer Ken and his lead pupil Sammy Dimarco. Ken gave a 1 1/2 hour lesson in obedience 101 while using dog treats as a reward system. After the dogs were returned home, usual barn festivities followed until the AM.

Brian Bull took us on a journey down under with Australian food, beer and music led us in a tasting of Australian wines. The wines we sampled were:

Jacobs Creek Chardonnay 2005Houghton Sauvignon Blanc 2005

Khalil Shalabi had just returned from a vacation in Dubai. He used his turn as host to transport the barn to the Middle East. Home-made Middle Eastern delicacies were served as we drank Moroccan beer and puffed on a Houka pipe. Khalil gave us a primer on the ancient game of Backgammon, and then organized a tournament. Three boards were set up and beginers and experienced players competed side by side with great enthusiasm. As if that weren’t enough, we had a surprise visit by a belly dancer named Zaina, complete with veiled outfit and Middle Eastern music. Her excellent dancing was enjoyable and entertaining.

Greg Rosner led a discussion on the controversial topic of Global Warming. It started with a viewing of “An Inconvienient Truth” which was views by about 20 men in the quiet attic of the barn (also known as the Theatre) while some men stood below the attic eating the food and trying to whisper as to not disturb the movie (or perhaps to disturb the movie). After the movie, we ate and drank for a few minutes until we all took seats in a semi circle, with Greg standing on a chair in the front of the room. 3 playing cards were passed around to each man. The ground-rules were simple: If you had a picture card (King, Queen, Jack) you can speak uninterupted for 3 minutes about any thing you wanted pertaining to the issue of Global Warming. If you had a number card (Ace through 10) you can make a comment – like “That’s Bullshit!”. This discussion went on for an hour and a half. Most of the discussion stayed on the level of whether or not Global Warming was real – but only late in the conversation did it turn to – whether it’s real or not, the markets are changing as a result, so therefore what should we as business owners, fathers, americans – do about it? Time was called at 10:05 – at which time the drinking, debating continued in a total free-form way. It was very thought provoking – and real.