The Faculty Club Newsletter

January 07

          Dear Members!
I am writing this note as the Club closes down for the holiday break. We will be open again for full service at the beginning of January. Meanwhile, I hope you are all enjoying peaceful and happy times during this season. With last month’s Newsletter you received a list of member events planned for 2007. Watch for additions as the Events Committee finds other reasons for our coming together. One of the Club’s purposes is to provide a setting where people from all departments and divisions of the University can come together. Our member events – whether for wine tastings or informative discussion programs – provide a great chance to meet and re-meet colleagues from outside your own circle. I enjoy receiving your comments and suggestions so feel free to contact me. Meanwhile, accept my wishes for a good New Year.

       Our January 26th winemaker’s dinner will feature Sean Thackrey’s boutique winery in Bolinas. We rarely encounter a winemaker who derives a lot of his techniques from medieval tests. After the grapes are picked, for example, he lets them sit and “rest” at least 24 hours outside his home, a technique that one UC Davis professor says nobody else does today. Thackrey says the idea goes back at least to the Greek poet Hesiod’s book “Work and Day” (circa 700 B.C.). He does use a machine to crush the grapes, but he pours the juice into open-top vats to ferment beneath the stars and eucalyptus trees – a technique that fell out of fashion 200 years ago. And the resulting production is very small. But influential critic Robert M. Parker Jr. sees his wines as well worth seeking out, as do a lot of Bay Area wine connoisseurs. Parker gave the 2001 Sirius Mendocino County Eaglepoint Ranch Petite Sirah 96 points and the 2002 Orion Rossi Ranch St. Helena California Native Red Wine 94-plus points. Thackrey is proud of the scores, yet insists he doesn’t care about ratings? He’ll bring some special selections from his products for us to enjoy. For an intimate view of this idiosyncratic winemaker, see his website at wine-maker.net. As usual, our chef will plan a fine, coordinated meal. The cost will be $65 per person, all-inclusive. Seating is limited, so please make your reservations early, at 540-5678, ext. 224.

       Finally the crab boats are coming in and the terrible longings can be requited. What would a Bay Area winter be like without at least one gluttonous indulgence in crabs, crabs and more fresh crabs? Our Crab Festivals have been a great success. Plan now for the 2007 version, on January 18th. Enjoy a great crab and seafood buffet with your friends. Reception at 6 p.m., dinner at 7. The cost: $40 per person. Make your reservations now!

       Once again Patrick Hayashi will be our featured artist in January. Pat has see all sides of the UC system, rising from mail carrier to Associate President under Dick Atkinson. Before his retirement in 2004 he started studying art through UC Extension, working in many mediums from pen/ink, graphite and pastel, to watercolor and oil. He says, “What I lack in depth, I make up for in breadth.” He winces when he looks at some early works, but put them in to show that someone who starts late in life can improve through hard work. Pat can be reached at pathayashi@earthlink.net. His work can also be seen at the Lafayette Gallery.

       Well, February 9th is a few days before Valentine’s Day, but it’s not too soon to start thinking about the one you are going to invite to this annual event – an elegant evening with a four-course dinner, with wine, and music and dancing for the rest of the evening. Of course, there’s no rule that you have to come as a couple. Why not simply gather a group of friends and enjoy the evening, perhaps indulging in a few fond reminiscences? The reception will begin at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7. The all-inclusive cost is $60 per person.

       Remember that all of our food services begin again on January 2nd, including happy hour in the bar and meals before all home basketball games. Watch the Club notice board for the menu for the special early bird dinner (come before 6:30 p.m.) in the Kerr Dining Room.

       We are continuing the Club’s bargain breakfast special. From 7 to 10 a.m. you can come by the Kerr Room and for $2.99 enjoy juice, eggs, coffee, and toast. Pick up a newspaper on the way to the campus and relax after that commute or uphill bike ride. And tell your friends! You do not have to be a member to take advantage of this special.