Life of Wry

Wanted to post some pictures from the weekend’s wine tasting party. The evening’s low light gives everything a glowy, blurry effect, but maybe it still looks fun and tasty, ya?

This was a jointly-thrown party. John, Tamala, Frances, Jim and I went in together on a bid for a wine tasting dinner during the silent auction at last spring’s benefit dinner for David’s Compassion Tour, which I’m sure I mentioned earlier.  We won. Jim and I offered the venue. We all shared dinner duties. Andy Waterhouse, chemist and professor in the enology and viticulture department at UCD brought the wine (and his wife)–all local, numerous varieties. Win, win, win, win. Wine.

Here’re the pics:

We didn’t drink in this order, but here’s what we drank:

Harbor 1984, Mission del Sol (dessert wine)

Turkovich 2012, The Boss

Revolution Wines, 2013, Chenin Blanc

Putah Creek 2013, Sangiovese

Capay Valley 2012, Sparkling Vioginer

Matchbook 2010, Tampranillo

And, also, not pictured above:

Berryessa Gap, 2013, Chardonnay

Berryessa Gap, 2011, Cobel Rnach Blend

Heringer 2010, Teroldego

Senders 2007, Julia’s Cuvee

Bodega Tolo 2013, Zinfandel Vaca Mountain (Andy’s own)

Casey Flat Ranch, 2012, Estate Red

Here’s Andy pouring for Tobin, Catherine, Margie and Tara:

Here are Margie and Tara and the appetizers… cheeses, bread, crackers, olives, nuts, taramosalata, tzadziki and baba ghanoush:

Oh, and these, official wine tasting crackers (more like cookies) that are designed to cleanse the palate:

Here are Tamala, Jim and Frances, listening to Andy introduce the next wine…

Here’s the dinner spread… chicken souvlaki and vegetable skewers, lemon rice, lentils with cumin and roasted vegetables, and an arugula, pomegranate, almond salad with shaved parmesan (Frances, John, Wes, Andy, Tara, Margie):

Here we are (Andy, Dave, Frances, Wes,Tamala, John, Tobin, Tara, Margie, Catherine, Jim):

This is the dessert Tara made, a three-layer spice cake with salted caramel glaze and pecans (yup):

Andy talking about the last couple wines of the night (Dave and Frances):

And this was my favorite of all of them, the last one (the Harbor 1984, 30-year-old dessert wine):

Get it?

I’m in that window between party prep and party start. I especially love it when that window is big, like now.

We’ve entertained large numbers in our home, like 140-ish when we got married, and I-don’t-remember-how-many-but-it-was-a-lot when Jim turned 50. During my DCTV days, we used to host large-ish Christmas parties. But we’ve never tried to seat more than about eight for dinner. For obvious reasons (space and matching supplies for the main two).

Tonight we’ll be twelve for dinner.  It’s a wine tasting party a few of us group-bid on in the silent auction at the benefit dinner for David’s Compassion Tour.. way back in May.

I had most of the stuff, but not tables, chairs, plates or silverware. (That’s supposed to be funny…)

It’s nice to be the venue person because other people are supplying food (except we’re doing the chicken souvlaki and lemon rice, and all the appetizers..including the subject of yesterday’s post, that great baba ghanoush… but lots more is coming!), and Andy the wine professor will handle all sommelier duties (is that what it’s called at something like this?).

My work’s over; now I get to kick back and enjoy. And maybe drink a lot of wine. I’m starving.

So… about an hour ’til folks show; twiddling my thumbs. Here’s my goofy hodge podge table. (Who’s got table cloths for a twelve foot table??) (I did come up with twelve matching napkins, and twelve matching placemats that, while redundant, were needed to cover the mismatched table cloths.).

Our cups so runneth over with eggplant.

It seemed a token effort at first… we were filling a space in the front yard that was created when we’d removed our huge old tangelo tree.  We had a few months to kill before planting another tree, so decided to fill the space with a small, temporary garden. Tomatoes, a few varieties of peppers, basil, more tomatoes and just two eggplant plants. (That was fun to say.)

Apparently conditions were perfect and we’ve been swimming in eggplants all fall. Which is great because two out of three of us love eggplant.

Okay, so tonight’s eggplant adventure: Baba Ghanoush.

I forgot to take pictures. I got a couple, but had to borrow a couple others:

First, you prick a couple of medium eggplants with a fork. Then Jim charred them over a flame on the stove. One can grill the eggplants on a BBQ, which may be somewhat easier but more of an undertaking. The idea is to sort of blacken them much the same way you do when roasting peppers, which eases skin removal later and gives them a very smokey flavor. It’s awesome.

Then you put them in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes to make sure they are cooked all the way through. They look very sorry after all this (this is a borrowed photo):

Then, after resting awhile, you can peel them, which is messy, but easy. They look like this:

See, messy:

Then, you mash them to a slimy little pulp, add about 1/4 c of tahini, 3 minced garlic cloves, 1/4 c of lemon juice, and a pinch of cumin.  We then put it in the blender to make it smooth. I picked a Williams Sonoma recipe, which doesn’t blend, but others do and I prefer the smoother texture.

It is incredible.  To serve, you create a shallow well with the back of a large spoon, drizzle olive oil over it, sprinkle flat leaf parsley on top, and surround with kalamata olives. Or whatever. Serve with pita or crackers. Here’s a picture of what it might look like tomorrow (again, a borrowed pic):

I am not a patient patient, no siree.

I was undeterred by this bug when it appeared on Monday. It came in the form of a sore throat… a raging sore throat, but that was all it was. All the pain and discomfort was in an area about 3″ by 3″. Just an itty bitty bug. No respect required. A couple days went by and I completely thought I had beat it. (I didn’t beat it so much as ignore it, which usually works just fine.)  Two blissful, mostly symptom-free days of successful ignoring. Yay me. But, yesterday’s sore throat is today’s headache and nausea, as they say. Maybe they don’t say that, but that’s what happened.

And wow, what a headache.

I’ve spent most of my time today, more or less, here.. on the couch in my office. Hurting. Bummed.

Sigh. My terrible, terrible can’t-move-my-head headache goes perfectly well with this terrible week. Terrible headache, terrible week. Great.

*Rant alert* *Rant alert*

Tuesday’s horrible, face-palm of an election has left me feeling utterly hopeless about the future of this stupid country.  What in the world is wrong with people? What are people thinking to vote into office some of these guys? Where is their memory? Where is anybody’s integrity? The wash of red across the country makes me despair. I understand midterms, I understand throw the bums out, I understand media control and manipulation. But I can’t understand stupid. I can’t understand voting in someone else’s interest at the expense of the collective good, and especially at the expense of your own.

I was mostly prepared for republican crowing. But not that prepared. I kept the radio off mostly, and didn’t read the articles. Really didn’t have the stomach. I only read a couple of the progressive-leaning post mortems. And even that was too much despair, and then too much cheerleading. Really people, give it a rest. Can’t go to the pick-selves-up-by-bootstraps and rally-the-troops part yet. Not ready. (I’m sick, remember?)

But a guy’s gotta drive. Had an errand to run yesterday. And when driving.. the radio’s right there. I listened.

And wow, I yelled. I was listening to a guy talk about how we can now, finally, turn our country around and get it going in the right direction. And I’m thinking, “ARE YOU INSANE!?” Unemployment’s down, the debt’s hugely reduced, gas prices are down (I know, the president cannot really take credit for this, but they always pin it on him when gas prices rise). “HOW IS THIS NOT THE RIGHT DIRECTION?! What in the world are you planning to turn around?” I am certain that were it a republican president at the helm, this would most definitely be the right direction.

He (a senator, by the way, about to take chairmanship of a key committee, can’t remember his name or which committee)(AND this was an NPR interview, not AM Talk Radio) goes on to say how obstructionist Obama’s been. At that point, I violently slammed off the radio and wailed, “Are you f**cking kidding me? It was YOUR republican leadership that decided, before he even took office, that your strategy would be to stand in the way of absolutely EVERYTHING he would ever propose, EVER, even if it had been YOUR idea to begin with. That was YOUR great idea for moving this country forward and governing in our best interest. That’s what passed for representation and professionalism in your book. You even TOLD everyone that was your brilliant plan. You made no secret of your desire to ensure his failure. You morally bankrupt, treasonous piece of sh*t!”

Or something to that effect.

Earlier, I was stairmastering in the garage, listening to the radio, as I do–forgetting I wasn’t gonna–and a guy says, “People want to get something done, that’s why we voted republican. That’s what this election was about.”

And I just about had a coronary. 

I can’t reach the radio from the stairmaster so couldn’t do anything but scream at the radio and the smug voice coming out of it. But with my iPad handy, wrote on my cousin’s Facebook page things like, “We don’t deserve Bernie Sanders” (when Bob said that’s who he wanted to vote for for president in 2016), “If we want to live in a civil society, we need to move to Norway,” “We’ve lost to forces greater than we have the power to fight,” and finally,”I have a beautiful garden to tend, that is what I can do.” “Bye.”

Last night, in an email conversation with a friend about the sorry state of politics, governance and democracy, she said something like, yeah, it’s going to get worse before it gets better, it’s bad, but I’m hopeful.  To which I replied (pasting it here because my headache’s too throbbing to say it all fresh again):

well, i’m one of  those who thinks this great experiment in a capitalist democracy is proving to be a huge failure. we are inextricably controlled and governed by corporate money… and i’m pretty sure we’ll never undo all the damage that’s been done. i don’t see us getting off this path without a palace coup…  or a massive, massive populist movement (like Occupy might have become).  And people keep voting against their own interests, fooled by loudmouths paid by the Kochs. The campaign finance stuff, the interference with people’s voting, not to mention fundamental racism that’s poisoned obama’s presidency… it’s a bad cocktail.

On Wednesday, People for the American Way–very grateful for their work–calmly assured us, its faithful contributors, that this has happened before… in 2002, 2010. These things swing wildly in one direction and then the other, Michael Keegan PFAW’s president said, among many other rational things. (I am not convinced.)

I do recall being dead serious about moving to Scandinavia when Bush was re-elected and then things, somehow, sometime later (after Bush), sort of improved. I also recall being encouraged, even pleasantly surprised, by the momentum, if brief, of the Occupy movement. Would that winter hadn’t come along just then, just before momentum REALLY took hold. Would that the voices, so right on, were not shut down, belittled by mainstream media (who controls that media??). So, there is some truth in the fickle ups and downs of our democracy.  The dark cloud over the heads of progressives right now could turn to sunshine and rainbows somewhere down the line. It could.

But I don’t think so. I am not happy. Not happy at all with the state of things and don’t really think this is a quaint little pendulum thing. I really do believe we’re past the point of return to something smarter, something better, because the forces are too great. And getting more entrenched with each passing year, each passing election, each supreme court judge appointment. Money is control. People are uninformed because that’s exactly how the people in control want them. They can’t get to the polls because the people in control don’t want them to. The people with the money control the message. They own the process–from media, to elections, to lobbying, to law writing, to selection of justices. All of it functions perfectly to keep power and money in their hands. And why not? Who gives that up? I don’t even want to know the full extent of the power they hold, I think it’s considerable and on an unfathomable scale. I think the corruption runs far deeper than we know, and it’s not just reps. I think the system is very very broken and I just cannot imagine how we fix it, entrenched as we are. People are beholden and drunk with power.

Oh my head hurts.

I actually do have a hope, and that is demographics. The old white geezers will move on and take with them their intolerance and greed. I’m hoping that maybe the systems are not so deeply, deeply corrupt that, under modern leadership, they may be turned around. But I’m not sure on this one. It’s bad. I’m cynical.

It’s midterm election week under a democratic president. A black one, at that. Who’s surprised by Tuesday? Well, maybe not surprised but totally defeated and in despair over our country. Unattractive, I know, but there it is.

I’m also hurting. It’s hard to be hopeful today.

Postscript. In the When It Rains It Pours department….  evidently, while I was ranting away, these news bits were rolling in:

– On the findings of chemical weapons in Iraq: “This previously untold chapter of the occupation became public after an investigation by The New York Times revealed last month that while troops did not find an active weapons of mass destruction program, they did encounter degraded chemical weapons from the 1980s that had been hidden in caches or used in makeshift bombs.”  This will likely play giddily into the hands of republicans.

– “By a two-to-one vote, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the right of the states to ban same-sex marriage, overturning lower court decisions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee that found such restrictions to be unconstitutional.  The long-awaited decision, written by Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, an appointee of President George W. Bush…” (nuff said).

Sigh.

We’ve entered that part of the year when it get darks at weirdly early hours. This was shot as I came out of All-Star Rents this evening. The time stamp on the picture is 4:08.

(Shooting into the sun makes the foreground appear a lot darker than it actually was, and I added some contrast in order to remove those pesky cars driving along F Street. But still.)

I think I got into my PJs at about 9:00 and I’m falling asleep here.

Going to be a long, sleepy winter…

No idea what this is all over my sample ballot. Somebody in the house used it to calculate something…

Poring over the choices on the ballot was no less challenging.

Happy voting! Wish I was more optimistic about the outcome.

I can speak out of both sides of my mouth on this one… this business of assisted living. The 58-year-old version of me feels pretty darn resolute about the idea of aging in place, that is, staying in one’s home, thriving on one’s own sense of independence and surrounded by familiarity and serenity.

But there was no question, sitting down today with the 93-year-old version of June, that assisted living is the place to be, at least for June, at least now. She sat in her favorite chair (the motorized one that can be raised to help her stand) in a sparsely (though totally adequately) furnished apartment, thermostat set to 74 (but thermometer registering 78), sun streaming in. She fell contentedly to sleep a couple of times as we spoke. We’d put a load of laundry in (just down the hall!), re-hung the clock, reset the levels on her hearing aids, hunted for a couple of misplaced items and then settled in to chat. Before nodding off, she said (a couple of times), “I really like it here.”

She gets a lot of exercise walking the halls, she loves the food, she’s started to reach out to a couple of folks.  It’s quiet and easy. She’s happy. I’m happy for her.

My mom? Come hell or high water, she’s never leaving her house.

For me, us?  I just can’t imagine being anywhere but home. But I allow that there may very well come a time when simple and accessible is best. Not passing judgment at all.

… despite appearances to the contrary. (Just kidding, nobody looks or was even close to blotto.)

I usually don’t go in for straight-up posed people pictures on my blog. On the other hand, heck, it’s fun to see my buddies, all smiles and wine glasses. Looks like something right outta Facebook, no?

Here are Darlene, Susan and Dave.

And here I am with Frances.

Frances isn’t holding a glass because she works for Sender’s Wines and was one of the main organizers of their annual Harvest Release Party. It looked like a big success.

Any event that offers bottomless wine and mountains of cheese is a success in my book.

I always just love returning home after having been gone, love the first Saturday I’m home, and especially love a bright and crispy fall day at the Farmer’s Market.  I love the park, the people, the coffee and muffin, the sounds, the smells, the weird outfits, the music, sitting on a bench with Jim, fetching Peter an elephant ear. All of it.

Cool enough to wear my pink barn coat today. Sunny enough to still need sunscreen and sun specs. That’s a nice day.

Not like I was gone a long time… but still.

I love the prospect of a nice long fall stretched out in front of me with no planned travel. And I love that there are still lots of red and yellow leaves left on the trees that will soon come spinning down to the ground and get flattened and pressed onto the sidewalks by occasional rain. Yippee!

The trees, here on this first day of November, are just getting ready to think about dropping those reds and yellows..

For eventual flattening..