The Dirty (Half) Dozen

Wednesday, 1 July, 2015

Wait, there could not be another utility failure? Yep, Sure Can. In the night we discover that there is no Water. In the morning we find out that Georgia Water has closed down water to several streets in Tbilisi including ours. The water does not return before we leave. At Breakfast I christen the 6 tour guests – The Dirty (Half) Dozen.

After a good breakfast, we start out for the village of Sighnaghi in the Kakheti region. This is where John lives, has his winery and also shop/restaurant. John joins us with his three friends and gets on our bus leaving one of the others to drive the car. As we get to the town we stop for a photo stop at the hill above it.

It is decided that the guys would walk down into the town. I elect to stay on the bus as we head to John’s restaurant / shop.

The three visitors out side the restaurant

As the tour happens, we learn more and more about John. He is an American who came to Georgia around 21 years ago on the basis that he liked the music he heard on a CD of a Georgian band. In time, he has done more and more things and seems to be loved by everyone. He has a house in the village, opposite the hotel where we will stay, a wine shop / cellar / art store, another restaurant in Tbilisi etc. etc. His brand name for the wines and restaurants is “Pheasants Tears”.

John is married to a local Georgian musician, more about her in later Posts and has two children, a boy and a girl. And no there will not be a John Henry VI. One thing in this vein, he does a weekly cooking class on Georgian TV and it is on for today. Furthermore, us tour guys will be participating in the live TV show. Thus it can be said that the Dirty (Half) Dozen are TV stars.

We did not have time to check-in the Hotel so we had a couple of wines instead

The Cooking class in action. To John's left is Gia the head cook and next to him is the Sous Chef — The Cooking class in action. To John’s left is Gia the head cook and next to him is the Sous Chef

Eventually most of the group gave it a try

If you would like to see the action, watch this link to a video. A lot of the talk is in Georgian but there is some English too. Note that the group was making dumplings – first potato dumplings then mushroom dumplings and finally was to be cheese herb dumplings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izmxiKk3GYg&list=PLvH9znMEyNxGZlKdIPRN8YS-g60CcRLYy&index=348

Watching this video, near the end, it shows that I have been quite remiss in not mentioning Chacha, a Georgian “moonshine” that is served at the end or during almost every meal. Bryn was especially keen on it. To learn more about Chacha refer to the following link.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chacha_(brandy)

I extract the following from this article primarily for the Dirty (Half) Dozen since we missed out.

The “Chacha Tower” spirit fountain was opened on 18 October 2012 in Batumi, Georgia’s Black Sea resort town. Free chacha flows every night at 7pm for 10 minutes.

This was supposed to be part of the cooking lesson but the camera left before it could be started

With the TV gone, it is time for lunch which includes the dumplings made during the show

After lunch we check-in to our Hotel. When our room is to be opened, none of the keys worked (another utility failure?) We are given another (nice) room on the 3rd floor and I immediately have a nap. I am sleeping peacefully when Julie comes and wakes me up to say we were moving back to the original room as they had found the keys. I was grumpy about it but eventually moved – it was a smaller room but OK.

Presumably all of the six, and others, finally had their shower during this period so it looks like the end of the qualifications for the Dirty (Half) Dozen.

Later in the afternoon we make a visit to John’s Pheasant Tears winery.