The Wine Commonsewer™

Happy New Year to You. Happy Birthday to Me.

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

This particular New Year's Eve birthday is a milestone birthday. I'm keeping quiet about which one, but it does seem like it's been but a few weeks since I was looking at twenty-one with wild anticipation.

I can see the freight train of death down the tracks, now close enough to see that the headlight has an elliptical wobble. I wonder how many people realize that about locomotives. The elliptical wobble of the headlamp I mean.

I don't find any of this to be depressing, mind you. What it does, however, is to remind me that the clock is inevitably moving on. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.  Ticking relentlessly onward, faster now. Maybe as fast now as the bio-clock of a thirty-something chick who has realized she wants kids after all.

Lotta people don't like that certain birthdays. Thirty. Forty-five. Sixty. The only one that bothered me at all was twenty-nine. A twenty-something is still young enough to be fun loving and cool, yet old enough to be a real grown up. Twenty-nine marked the end of an era for me. You'd think it should have been thirty, like so many of my friends of the female gender. Thirty was a breeze and I've never looked back.

Life Magazine published a special New Year's Eve issue the year that TWC was born and I've got an original copy of the magazine.

I also want to take the time to thank all of you who took the time to wish me a happy birthday. I appreciate it. May your lives be blessed and the new year be kind to you.

I'll leave you with this thought from Hamilton Wright Mabie.....

There is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights. 

As Always,

TWC

Bonus:

Opening Champagne With A Sword

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Awesome way to impress your party guests.

Please, do try this at home, just don't sue me when you cut off your MIL's forearm and she bleeds to death on the new rug.

Happy New Year!

As Always.

TWC

Tip of the glass to John R

Good To The Last Drop (That Was A Great Malbec!)

 

Uncle Rick Enjoys a Glass of Malbec at the Family Christmas Shindig 12-22-11

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

 

The water tower across Lake Mathews is about four miles distant

Lileks On Christmas Past

 

I’m never happy to see Christmas pass; it makes all the decorations and holiday gear suddenly seem sad and out of date. It shouldn’t be so, as we are celebrating The Season, and that lasts beyond The Day, right? But we all know better. Santa is a symbol of hope and delight on Dec. 23rd; on the 26th he’s heaped in clearance bins. Even his most fervent constituency, children, has moved on.

We're Done Here

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

I love this Christmas parody of Edward Hopper's Nighthawks. It distills the essence of that quiet few moments on Christmas Eve, when the stockings are stuffed and the gifts are arranged under the tree just so. The night is still and cold. The kids have knocked off the pretense of sleep and have actually succumbed to their visions of sugar plums. Santa has already been by the house and you're ready for down pillows and a comforter. But you sit for just a bit, admiring your handiwork. Merry Christmas, Indeed. 

As Always,

TWC

 

America's Christmas Song

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Often covered. Never duplicated. The king, Nat King Cole that is, first recorded this quintessential modern American Christmas classic in 1946.

As Ever,

TWC

The Perfect Gift

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

This one never, ever gets old. 45 seconds of your day. Enjoy.

As Ever,

TWC

Christmas Cheer, Christmas Cleavage, & Leo's Egg Nog

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

TWC is done with the shopping and about to whip out a batch of Leo's egg nog. Recipe to follow.

Considering that we've been assured that this recession borders on the dregs of 1933, I have seen nothing short of relentless cheerfulism (I made that word up) this holiday season. There has been no shortage of big smiles, from proprietors, clerks, and customers alike.

I kept count: Hundreds wished me a Merry Christmas (even the ordinarily indifferent). At a distant second, I heard scores of Happy Holiday greetings. At least a dozen people encouraged me to Have a Good One. A half dozen others wished that I'd Have a Nice Day. One long-haired, surfer-lookin'-guy grinned and said, Have a Nice One, Gramps. An old biker-lookin' guy nodded; Have a Good One, Broh. Happy Kwanza? Nope. Happy Hanukkah? Only my Jewish friends. There was also a Watch Out For the Wall from the chick at BevMo, who assured me that nobody had Christmas Eve off and that by noon the lines would stretch to the beer section at the back of the store. And, Lordy, what is up with the inordinate amount of cleavage, complementing all the warm smiles? This is why they hate us; for our beautiful women.

Have you noticed that there are some people whose smile lights up a room? Three of the four Santa Snells have megawatt smiles. Not moi, but I'm good at drinking wine.

I'm ordinarily a glass-half-empy kind of guy, but not today. 

Leo's Eggnog

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 pint milk
• 1 pint brandy
• 1 ounce dark rum
• 3/4 cup sugar

Methodology:

• separate eggs, beat whites until stiff
• add 1/4 cup sugar, beat until well mixed
• beat egg yolks until creamy
• add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until well mixed
• add milk, heavy cream, brandy and rum to egg yolks. Mix well. Then add egg whites and mix well.

Drink and be Merry!

Warmest wishes to y'all.

UPDATE: Leo's egg nog is muy bueno. My only deviation from the recipe was to add fresh nutmeg to the mix and as a garnish. I also made some NA egg nog for the kids, substituting an equal portion of cream and milk to sub out for the booze.

This egg nog is stout, lightweights should cut back on the alcohol somewhat.

As Always,

TWC

 

Rockin' This Christmas.......