Wine Giques

"If you can't be skinny...

... you should be rich." That's what my very sage girlfriend, Karen, said the other day. I'd have to agree with her. That whole, "you can never be too rich or too thin" thang sounds great, but we are neither.

You see, it is so easy to come home from work and have a glass of wine or two... and the impetus to exercise is shot-to-hell. That's Karen's woe. I work out in the morning after a cup of coffee, so that's not my problem. What I do succumb to is the other pitfall of imbibing - no willpower. I eat too much when I've had some wine to drink. I get a huge case of the "fuck-its". It is at those weak moments when I book some of the (no-holes-barred) best vacations ever. Which gets me back to the (you should be rich) part. It costs money to drink great wine... and book great vacations.

A great wine to drink while you book your next trip (or after a workout) is Brown Estate Zinfandel from Napa Valley. Complex and mouth-filling, it's on Zin's spicier side.

I know I have Kosher wine in here somewhere...

If you're gonna do Passover, might as well have fun with it;-)

This is the most I've ever liked that grapey stuff.

Literary Lube

It's so much easier to post, glass in hand - or by the keyboard, rather. Some days I don't feel like drinking and the thoughts don't spill out quite so fast.

I have to be candid - I don't always feel like drinking wine. Sometimes, when it's been a hot day I want a gin and tonic with a splash of fresh ruby grapefruit. I just squeeze it right into the glass. Those days are also right for a cold beer - I love Stella Artois because it's refreshing but I love other Belgians as well. Vodka is versatile because I can add it to Campari and tonic or Framboise and soda with a splash of vodka. Those hot days are also perfect for Sauvignon Blanc. I love just about anything from New Zealand.

On cooler days I want a Dark and Stormy. That's Black Seal Rum and Ginger Beer. My favorite ginger beer is Barritts. The beer for those days (and for me) is Rogue Dead Guy - it's rich and has great flavor. Every once and a while I like a Black and Tan. My cold weather wine is red, of course.

Girls,  you have to be versatile. That hot guy that you just met could be a (God forbid) Coors drinker. But drink responsibly (we do want to promote drinking responsibly, right Angela?) and if you can't, don't blame anyone else.

Pusher

I've been drinking a lot of wine lately. You see, I need a bit of sedating. My dog is on medication - lots of medication - and anyone who has given a pet meds knows that it is tricky business.
Our pet sitter said that my animals "ate faster than any pets I have seen". One of the cats was the pickiest eater - and extremely skittish, but since I have been feeding a new, no filler, pet food, all of the animals eat like there is no tomorrow. Okay, so, now I have to give my dog 3 antibiotics, an anti inflammatory and a pill to contain her incontinence. Twice a day. That's 5 and 1/2 pills for 3 weeks - very tricky business. I'm thinking  how easy this is going to be since she inhales everything she can find - including "kitty rocca".

The first day I throw the pills into her kibble - no problem, she eats it all in a flash. Second time - no go - she picks through the kibble and  takes out the pills, placing them on the side of her dish. Then I try mayonnaise - good for one go. Peanut butter (her favorite) is also good for one shot. My vet suggests liverwurst. I love liverwurst. When I was eighteen I ate liverwurst (the poor woman's fois gras) while traveling through Europe. Well, Maya liked liverwurst, too... for a day. Now we are onto those beef pill pockets. They are working okay - we have to load them when she is not looking and then place them throughout the house. She has to find them rather than having me hand them to her like a treat. She's onto that trick as well.

So, this new part of my life, along with packing my daughter's lunch and paying the bills is more than I want to deal with. Hungry animals at 6am is one thing - playing reluctant pusher to one of them is another.

Maybe I should switch to martinis.

Green

This morning I dug through my closet looking for something with green in it. Not totally green. Not Kelly green or Forest green or that unnatural hue that golfers prefer, just something subtle, yet green. I had debated this wearing-of-the-green since my eyes are naturally that color and I imagine that (in a pinch - pardon the pun) that would do. But I decided to face this St. Patrick's Day head on. I settled on this really great No-Iron shirt with pink, and coal, and asparagus stripes.

After dressing for the day I picked my daughter up and took her to lunch. She was much more interested in the bakery next door than the lunch spot I had chosen so we went in to get some dessert to enjoy after lunch. The very cute, very "Martha" Shamrock cookie she chose was green and... FOUR DOLLARS AND FIFTEEN CENTS!!! I am sorry, but there is nothing in me that is willing to pay that much for a single cookie - even if it is very "Martha". Even if it is for @$#^&% St. Patrick's day. I apologized to my daughter and took her out for an over-cooked burger.

I have had more gray, dry, beef patties than I care to mention. And I know the culprit. It's the underpaid, undertrained, grill cook that has to press on the meat every few minutes, pressing all of the juicy goodness out of the patty.  And  he  waits until the meat is completely cooked before he puts the cheese on it - and then he has to let the cheese melt - either on the fire or under the salamander. And then the burger is cooked to death. Sometimes the bun isn't toasted yet so the burger stays on the fire a little bit longer. AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGG. This whole procedure makes me squirm. It makes me absolutely crazy as it did today since I was sitting at the counter inwardly chanting "take it off now" ,  "take it off now", "it's a perfect medium rare, now it's medium, now it's... no, don't squash the meat again!..".
I couldn't even pay attention to my poor daughter who was giving me a blow-by-blow on one of her games. Tragic really, that I am so tortured by gray matter.

After lunch we went to Petaluma to check out a Dressage barn. Petaluma. So bucolic, so green.

The day ended with a traditional Patty's Day dinner with my husband's family. Partly to celebrate the day and to celebrate our neice's birthday. I brought the wine to accompany the corned beef and cabbage. Not green wine per se, but a lovely little Mosel Riesling in a traditional (green) hock bottle.
Try Saint M from Germany or it's American counterpart, (and one of my favorites) Chateau St. Michelle Eroica.

Occasionally, we think about other things.

So, our lives aren't TOTALLY consumed with fine food, wine and boys.  Well, yes they are, and this thing involves a boy.  His name is John Ondrasik, and his band is Five for Fighting.  He released a hit single last fall --"What Kind of World Do You Want?" -- and was inspired to create a venue for people to upload videos about the kind of world THEY want, and to support a small group of great charities in the process.

Go check out the website, watch some videos, feel good.  And in the meantime, we'll get together our warm fuzzy video about a world full of nothing but tasty vino, handsome men and teddy bears.  Anyone want to audition for a cameo role?

Dorito Burrito

Okay, so sometimes you gotta mix it up a little.  I love Jack Black almost as much as I love good wine.  Now I gotta go find something to drink with the "Dorito Burrito."