The Wine Commonsewer™

Jim on White Wine

Gentle Readers,

Had Jim not taken on the telephone pole and lost he'd be celebrating a birthday today with a bottle of good red wine. Plus my kids would still have a godfather.

We once had the following conversation......

TWC: Lips that touch white wine shall never touch mine.

JIM: Which is why I make a point of drinking a glass of the white stuff from time to time.

Those who avoid white wine are missing some very lovely experiences (says me). I can think of nothing more glorious than lobster coupled with a great white Burgundy (Chardonnay, for the vinificationally impaired), or a good sauvignon blanc with poultry.

......a truly great chard – as expressed by Chalone in California or in France with an exquisite Montrachet - is a pleasure in and of itself. Swirling and sniffing and sipping a good glass of the white stuff is every bit as rewarding as the same done with a good cabernet, merlot, or zin. 

Of course, TWC is deathly (no hyperbole, I mean deathly) allergic to lobster so there's no incentive there.

Another conversation on another day went something like this....

TWC: White wine is what they do with those other grapes rather than sell them off for hog food. Hogs don't like white either, which may explain why they make wine outta them.

JIM: I had no idea that you were raised by wolves.

Here's one reason why he and I got along famously. Please note: That ain't white wine.

As Evoir, TWC

Better Than The Other Alternative

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Burnt out. Just absolutely burnt out. So I shut down the moisture evaporators, poured a beaker of house wine, and fired up Mrs TWC's hang-on-the-wall TV. Nothing much on but I didn't care. Channel surfing with the House Blond; Pukes of Hazzard, Country Count Down, 100 Top Teen Stars. The boy was half watching between death matches between those Lego monsters. He's good with sound effects. My better half bailed with a migraine sometime between Daisy Duke and Brittany Spears. The House Blond and That Boy didn't let any grass grow neither.

Turns out that Ms Sixteen Candles is the number one all time top teen idol. Even if she's old. That's harsh reality but, boy howdy, it gets worse. Breakfast Club, John Hughes, and the Brat Pack is two decades past. What does that say about Sammy and the Rat Pack? It just sucks when the new stuff is old.

I don't want to know any more about that, so I flip over to Cream doing White Room at Royal Albert Hall last year (I double checked with the headphones on just now, and the last 45 seconds of bass, Clapton, and Baker's drums, well, awesome...still).

Ginger Baker looks like he just came off a gig for the Corpse Bride. I'm morbidly fascinated because Cream was the hot ticket and it's only been a couple of years since Ed Allerton corralled me in the hallway at Pacifica bellering in my face.....Sunshine of Your Love. Ed's dead these days and rumor has it that he went the way guys all think they'd like to go out. Born Naked, hope to die that way. Men really are just pigs.

Back to now and Jack Bruce looks like congestive heart failure waiting to happen but the bass is dancing like the old days and I'm not sure until half way thru the video that it's really Clapton, but then he does the guitar thing and there's no question about it.

Believe I'm Sinking Down regards,

TWC

And now a word from our sponsor.........

Super Bowl Ads

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

For those of you who, like TWC, worked right through the Super Bowl (I'll take some cheese with that whine) and missed some of the entertainment, you can click here to see the ads you missed, the ads that didn't make the cut, and perhaps, some other stuff. The Go Daddy Dot Com stuff is definitely a little on the steamy side.

As Ever,

TWC

tip of the glass to Del Mar Dave. His fav? The Fed Ex Stick.

Fire! (I'll Teach You To Burn)Marmalade Skies In Downtown LA

Gentle Readers,

Although chained to my desk, I've been monitoring the dense pall of smoke a few miles west of here from my office window for several days. No offense, but I'm grateful that the persistent breezes are pushing the billowing smoke and raining ash somewhere besides here.

With a dismal rainy season where about zero wet stuff has fallen since November, one has to wonder why the Forest Service would spark a controlled burn in the first place. My guess? Same reason the county chip-sealed the near-pristine macadam road in front of the casa two years ago. It was scheduled.

The FS apologizes yet denies blame, pointing out that nobody forecast a week's worth of hot, dry Santa Ana winds. That may be technically accurate, but high pressure over the high desert and/or the Great Basin coupled with temps in the high 70's to low 80's here are suggestive of a Santa Ana condition. Besides, nobody should be burning anything this time of year unless there's a dense marine layer moderating the temperatures. Otherwise you're likely to end up with more than 6,500 acres of virgin land torched, a couple of thousand evacuations, and marmalade skies from the OC to downtown LA.

It's what I love about California. You can't have two days of gorgeous weather in a row without a fire.

More photos here.

UPDATE from Ken F: OK, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but it occurred to me that instead of "prescribed burns" why not have "prescribed grazing" some animals will nibble the grass right down to the ground. What could it hurt?

As Ever,

TWC

tip of the glass to Ken F for making me grumpier about the fire than I already was

Hippo Birdees Two Ewes

Dude, I'm already tired and the day is still young on this coast. Can't think of anything even close to clever, so let's just say Linda C celebrates today. She's a good one. 

Happy Happy, TWC

From Casa de las Rocas GrandeSunset Sunday Night

Steelers Do It

Shepard,

Your beloved Steelers came through and you missed it.

As the Drill Instructors used to say about dang near everything,

There's only one excuse for missing it, a death in the family.

Yours.

Guess they were right.

BTW, run into Wayne over there yet?

As Ever,

TWC