Islay, Scotland

Once we had completed our work at the Academy at Bruichladdich (and had smapled LOTS of their wonderful Scotch whisky!) we were ready to see more of Scotland.
One day while staying at Bruichladdich, we went to the Port Charlotte Hotel for their oysters. Our classmates had told us how amazing they were and we couldn't wait to try them.
The Port Charlotte hotel is a lovely little treasure just a few miles down the road from Bruichladdich. We arrived there around 4 in the afternoon, ordered our Scotch and asked for 6 oysters each. The barman told us that the kitchen normally only prepares the oysters at lunchtime as they get too busy in the kitchen after that. We grovelled and begged and said how we had made the trip from America ONLY to have their wonderful oysters. He soon took pity on us and convinced the chef to prepare some for us.
These are no normal oysters, mind you. Each one was the size of a large pierogi. And they were so sweet and delicious! When we finished, we went outside and took some lovely photos of the area around Port Charlotte. Ree, our cook from Bruichladdich, then came to pick us up.

Poppy is growing up!

I thought it was time for an updated photo of Poppy, our little Papillon. She is now 8 months old and is almost a "dog" instead of a puppy!

More photos of the Scotch making process

Mixing the mash


Adding the Yeast to the fermentation tank









Filling the barrels




Checking the alcohol level at the Spirit Safe

Making Scotch Whisky

PEAT THAT HAS BEEN CUT & PILED TO DRY DIGGING THE PEAT

It's hard to believe, but in a matter of days, we learned how to make Scotch whisky. We did this while attending The Academy at Bruichladdich distillery on the island of Islay of the western coast of Scotland. Islay lies just north of Ireland so with the combination of the Scots and the Irish, whom I both think of as people who know their whisky, it's easy to see why Bruichladdich does all right in that location!
There are six students in the academy at a time. Don & I were the only Americans. At the beginning of the week everyone is divided up into pairs to learn the various processes involved in making the Scotch. Don was paired with Patrik from Sweden and I was paired with Johann,also from Sweden.
We did everything from going to the peat bog to cut the peat for the toasting of the malt to a visit to the water source, milling of the malt, making the "mash" from malt & water, fermentation with yeast of the "wort" or sweet water that is the runnoff of the mash, distilling the whisky and filling barrels, storing barrels, bottling the whisky and shipping it off to its destination. Whew! If you think that was a long sentence, you should be there actually DOING all those things!
The pictures attached represent each step of the process.

Beverly Hills - a break from Scotland

Since we are taking a little break in Beverly Hills, I thought I'd use the opportunity to write about something different today.
Having never been to Beverly Hills before, I decided to join Don on his trip here for a meeting. It has been most interesting.
By far the most unique shop on Rodeo Drive is Prada. Nowhere is there a sign to tell passersby what store it is. All you see from the sidewalk are the glass covered caverns with displays of luggage, handbags and clothing. If you "know" your Prada, I guess you would be able to identify the store from that. I'm not so astute -- I had to go in and look at a label!
One surprise about Rodeo Drive is the Village Gallery. We found some Michael Godard items there for less than we have seen them elsewhere. Apparently, that is because of the large volume of sales the gallery has.
My favorite restaurants are the Grill on the Alley and McCormick & Schmick's. Dining outside at M & S is great. Not only do you sit at the top of Two Rodeo to see al the shoppers there but you also look down on the Beverly Wilshire and their outdoor tables.
Monday we were treated to a great Studio tour at Sony Pictures, courtesy of Stephanie, the daughter of one of my golfing buddies. After the tour she also took us to the private dining room on the lot at Sony. What a treat!