On My Own

What does a Saturday on your own look like? Here's mine:

• Drink coffee, kiss husband and kids goodbye and watch them drive away to camp.
• Check emails, twitter, facebook
• Drink more coffee
• Tidy kitchen, throw in laundry, load dishwasher
• Morning run, followed by hot shower and more coffee, on back steps, facing the warm morning sun
• Figure out what to wear to a writer's conference on a day that is neither cool enough for pants or warm enough for bare legs
• Writer's Conference, hang out at library
• Treat myself to a Cafe Latte and lunch, read a book on my kobo at the coffee shop before heading home
• Hang laundry, do a garden reconaissance, figure out what needs to be done, make a list
• Read on the deck in a lawnchair for a blissful, precious hour.
• Write
• Decide some work is in order so head back to garden to rake away some of last year's foliage and reveal new shoots :)
• Walk the dog through the fields, shout back at the nosiy snow geese, wish I had my camera
• Read
• Write
• Open Wine
• Listen to opera. Loudly. While having a long lesisurely bubble bath
• Eat scrambled eggs
• Blog
• Watch a chick flick - Eat Pray Love tonight. Will it hold up to the book (which I quite enjoyed)?

The End

(my plans to have dinner with a friend and then head to the arts evening fizzled after I raked my gardens and realized that what I really wanted was some down time. So lovely.)

24 Glasses

There were 24 empty wine glasses on my dining room table on Saturday night. 24 wine glasses for six of us to taste test four bottles of Shiraz ranging from a bottle I had on my wine rack (around $14) to a higher end $100 bottle.

For the most part, I know I can tell the difference between a $8 and $12 bottle of wine. If I'm really feeling like splurging, my favourite wine is a $17 Wolf Blass, but I usually buy wine around the $10-12 range. But I have long wanted to know if I could tell the difference between a $14 wine and a $50 or $100 bottle. And would it be worth it?

A casual mention around a campfire spurred a friend of mine into action and we rounded up a taste-testing party of people who would be willing participants in our experiment.

Truthfully, it wasn't difficult to find volunteers.

Andrew stuck to beer and scotch so he was Master of Ceremonies, delivering us a glass of each to taste and swirl and discuss over bread and local cheese (from Glengarry Fine Cheese).

Some of the party are true conoisseurs. Talk of lingering aroma of cherry, and aftertaste of dark chocolate, fruity undertones, and base notes. I just know what I like. But we all in the end were able to agree. The first wine was the best. I described it as friendly. The second was the worst. The third was lovely, but it took a while to grow on us and it wasn't until after dinner that we agreed it was a close second. The fourth was generally agreed to be good as well.

And when the labels on the four Shiraz bottles (all Australian, I should add) were uncovered:

#1: Two Hands - Samantha's Gate 2008 Clare Valley (South Australia) $56

#2: The Octavius - Yalumba 2004, Australia $100

#3: Red Belly Black - Angove's 2007, South Australia $15 (any local liquor store - my regular quaffing Shiraz)

#4: Pillar Box Reserve - Padthaway 2007, Australia $22

Personally, I was jsut thankful that the $100 bottle wasn't my favourite - weekends would have become a whole lot more expensive!

Incredibly Drunk On Whiskey

Then you looked at me
Pointed out that I was drunk on whiskey
You looked at me
Said, “let's get incredibly drunk on whiskey"...

This is the catchy chorus of a great song I've heard a couple of times on CBC radio 2 by (Canadian) band Memphis. Can't make head or tails of what the rest of the song means, but it's the kind of tune that sticks in your head.

I don't drink scotch. I leave that to Andrew who enjoys a glass or two of single malt, and who has been known, particularly in the company of my brother-in-law Stephen, to indulge in more than just a glass or two while my sister and I responsibly sip quaff wine.

I don't drink it, I said. But I love scotch. At least I love the smell of it. I don't say this lightly - in all honesty, I would rather sniff a good quality single malt scotch  (such as The Macallan 15 year, pictured here) all evening than drink a glass of cheap wine. It makes me feel light headed, and pleasantly disposed towards the universe.

So I'm wondering what it would be like to have the chance to sniff a glass of the 55 year old Macallan I was reading about? At a (mere) $14,000 a bottle, I don't think I'm ever going to find out!

Oh, How It Sparkles...

I came home last night exhausted. Actually, I feel I’ve spent most of the week in that state. An early night, I told myself. But once the kids were in bed I thought a glass of white wine would be a nice treat first. I opened one (Gazela - Spain) that’s been sitting in the fridge for six weeks now, only to discover it was a sparkling wine.

Usually I’m a fan of hearty reds. A cool refreshing pinot grigio is always tasty too. But sparkling wine hasn’t been my wine of choice since high school (baby duck, anyone?). Still, I’m an environmentalist so “waste not, want not.” I dug out a flute and poured a glass.

It was delicious. Light. Fruity. Bubbly, but not popping like a newly opened can of cola. I sat on my serenity couch in the dusk and savoured my drink. After the heat and humidity of this rainy day, it was a heady moment, like slipping into a cool and refreshing lake. You could drink this all day, I thought to myself...as I poured a second glass. It made me feel quite hedonistic drinking sparkling wine on a weeknight (oh, the thrilling life I lead).

DH came in from stacking hay and topped my glass up. I think Gazela is Spanish for sparkling, I informed him, feeling witty now that I’ve had a couple of glasses. And when that went down – so smoothly, so easily – I had another. Sparkling wine, after all, needs to be drunk while it’s still, well, sparkling.

I did not drink the whole bottle. Neither did I have that early night I had planned. But relaxing – oh my, yes.

I joke with my bookclub pals (also mostly mothers of young children) that no matter how tough a day you’ve had with the kids, there’s nothing a glass of chardonnay won’t cure once they’re all tucked in.

I’ll amend that now. Sparkling wine is the new cure.

Today is grocery day. Also my wine rack needs replenishing. And among the cabernets and melots, I think I’ll slip in another bottle of Gazela. For a rainy day.