Our Not-So-Random Choices

Sitting on Main street, post-dinner with a cup of delectable gelato, I pointed out that we hadn't been to most of the restaurants even though we live within a mile and eat out every weekend. I went a step further and blamed Yelp for destroying the joy of randomly walking into a restaurant that looked clean and crowded. Now, we only go to places with 4 or more stars with 50+ reviews and those places are few and far in between even in the Bay Area. We have one favorite place for each cuisine and that my friend is where we go.

This loss of randomness is not just from our culinary sojourns. As we browse movies on Netflix, hubby opens up Imdb and picks out movies with high ratings for our weekend watches. We have never walked into a movie theatre without knowing what rottentomatoes thinks of our movie pick.

We have rarely been disappointed in our following-the-herd choices. There are always exceptions - like that 4.5 star Sushi place that gave us food poisoning and the 89% rated Bridesmaid movie that bored us to tears. But other than those - our safe choices have made for delicious dinners and intellectually stimulating movies.

So, here is the question - are we missing out by being less spontaneous ? Or is spontanity really over-rated? Afterall who would want to find that their random pick Thai place was a terrible idea the hard way.

As I mulled over the importance of randomness - hubby gently pointed out that I always order the same thing at all the restaurants. Touche - I really shouldn't be the one complaining about loss of randomness.

Things I don't know about Wine.

Here is what tripadvisor.com should tell you about your upcoming trip to Wine Country, Napa & Sonoma. They should tell you to scour the internet for wine-small talk and start pouring over the Food&Wine magazine. Otherwise, you might end up with a vacant look when someone mentions Robert Mondavi , and that is unforgivable mistake. Worse still, you could be like me and offend the high-and-mighty wine pourers at the famous tasting-rooms with what you think is a perfectly intelligent question. Whoever said - "There's no stupid question" - was misguided. Here is a snippet on my Domaine Chandon conversation.

ME: What wine is this?

WINE POURER: This is the etoile Rose. You will taste the flavors of plum, red raspberries, truffle and cocoa. (Looks patiently and expectantly at me as I take my sip)

ME: Ahh, umm cocoa u say. So - when in the wine making process are these fruits etc added for the flavor. (In my head - yay for smart question)

WINE POURER: (Look of utter horror and disappointment) NO NO NO we don't ADD ANYTHING to the wine. NOTHING. These flavors are just descriptors of what you should be tasting. (Walks away)

We finished our tasting, with another wine-pourer who we hoped hadn't listened to the above snippet. We left as fast as we could and jumped on the Napa Wine Train where the waitress regaled us with scandalous stories of famous Napa people. She spoke lovingly of Mondavi's eccentricities and though I didn't know who he was - I nodded sagely with the required look of interest and awe. The food was delicious and I stayed away from all wine-talk for the rest of the evening.

The next day, we skipped the wine and headed to the Russian River for some canoeing. Here, thank goodness, there was no mention of Chardonnay, Sauvigon or the cocoa flavor of wines.