The Wine Commonsewer™

Adventures At Graduation

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Sir! Sir! Sir!

By then, the first security guy was back with his boss and there were two security guards screaming at me from down below. Seems they wanted me to move along and I was pointedly ignoring them. I'd already flashed them the index finger, which was the wrong finger, and mouthed:  just one more minute. They were doing tit-for-tat, and both pointedly ignored it. 

Nobody was complaining, but security guy number one had been hassling me for several minutes. Just me, though. Not the fifteen high school kids on the steps or the woman next to me with the lens she needed to carry in a violin case like Bugs Moran's Tommy Gun. Talk about lens envy. Dude, that was a fine lens. I tried wandering from place to place, but, apparently, never far enough to suit them.

Then, *Jacob Snell! Honors!*, booms out across the stadium and I'm snapping pictures like a mad man while these two security guys heads are exploding. Click. Click. Click. Except. There was no correlation between the calling of the names and the handing of the diplomas.

AND ITS NOT EVEN MY KID. Good Lord. As I walked away I scowled at them and, in my best Curly Bill voice.....

 

For the rest of the night, a guard was posted, who blocked the view they claimed I was blocking, so as to keep any other parent from blocking the view while taking a pic of their kid graduating. Did you follow that? We're going to block your view in order to protect you from jerks who might block your view. 

At the pre-graduation dinner, Mrs TWC kept the wine flowing. She said it would keep me mellow during the ceremony. I expect she was right.

As Ever,

TWC 🍷

McNamara's Memorial Day Legacy

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

None of these 58,000 some-odd people got away for the weekend at Lake Havasu. They won't be tipping a cold frosty while grilling burgers with friends and family. You won't find them chilling at the beach, the park, or running a 10K on this CONgressionally mandated, three day weekend that mostly marks the first onset of summer.

That's not a scold or a guilt trip..... I don't fault anyone for spending time with family and friends. We all work hard and it's a three day weekend. Enjoying life in the face if what is meant as a somber occasion doesn't mean that people don't care about the war dead, most do.

That said, Robert McNamara, the idea man and purveyor of the Viet Nam War, died at 93. He lived decades longer than any of the people whose names are etched upon this wall. He was called a Wunderkind, but his real contribution to our culture was to ensure that none of these people would ever hold a grandchild in their arms. He, along with LBJ, JFK, and Nixon, bears the moral responsibility for financing the carnage and putting into place economic policies that set the stage for the ruinous inflation of the 1970's and Jimmy Carter's recession.

Sending young men off to die in old men's foreign wars is a time honored tradition. Next time let's send the McNamara's to the front lines. With M-16's that malfunction regularly*. 

As Always,

TWC 🍷

*Despite being described as “the best individual infantry weapon ever made” in 1965, the XM16E1 began to exhibit catastrophic problems in 1966. Reports from the field indicated that U.S. troops in Vietnam were experiencing chronic failures to extract. In the malfunctions, a cartridge’s brass case would seize fast in the chamber and the extractor would tear through the rim. Such a stoppage could only be cleared by pounding the case out of the chamber from the muzzle end using a cleaning rod—something that was terribly impractical and dangerous to do in the middle of a firefight. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that XM16E1s were not issued with cleaning rods at this stage in production. In fact, they even lacked compartments for cleaning kits in the buttstocks. When a cleaning rod could even be scrounged at all, troops resorted to taping them to the forward handguards of their rifles. Through the end of 1966 and into 1967 these malfunctions reached chronic levels and resulted in lives lost on the battlefield. After one especially violent battle, a Marine wrote home to his mother saying “Before we left Okinawa, we were all issued this new rifle, the M16 … practically every one of our dead was found with his rifle torn down next to him where he had been trying to fix it.”

 

Mandated Manic Monday

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Someone mentioned that today is NOT National BBQ day. I appreciate the sentiment, but, decades ago, your CONgress decreed that Memorial Day *is* a three day holiday. The main reasons given at the time were to facilitate partying and to give federal employees more three day weekends. Sure, they used big words, but the result is what you see today. The unintended consequence of that mandate is gridlocked highways and oversubscribed recreational facilities. It's the main reason why I stay home.

Sundance, Back In The Day

That and Memorial Day 1977. I realized, too late, that the river was an absolute zoo. My little hot rod was a retired circle racer, a Raysoncraft flatbottom with very little freeboard. The Saturday morning ride up river wasn't bad, but getting back was nuts. The water was choppy and crowded, which meant plowing through at a fast idle, making it impossible to keep enough forward momentum to prevent the sloppy, three foot swells from washing over the transom. There was way too much water for the bilge pump to handle and the damn thing sunk right in front of Sundance Saloon, on the Parker Strip. Sundance is where the wet tee shirt contest was pretty much invented. Ironically, I had just rescued a guy from the same fate. Apparently, no good deed remains unpunished.

BONUS: An outstanding live version of Manic Monday

 

As Always,

TWC 🍷

Bees & Lemons

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

TWC owns a green thumb, but it remains a tough row to hoe to get anything to grow on this godforsaken chunk of granite. One exception is a young Meyer Lemon tree which is in full bloom at the moment.

Photo Credit: TWC © All Rights Reserved

As Ever,

TWC 🍷

 

 

Celebrating Red

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

While I love a good glass of red, some people take the passion to a new level. Across the world, festivals are held where the guest of honor isn't an accomplished professional or world leader, but instead, a sinfully delicious drink.

In early November the small beach town of Seaside, Florida hosts the 24th annual Seeing Red Wine Festival. The four-day extravaganza includes wine tastings, a bounty of seafood, gourmet meals, and entertainment. Music for this year's upcoming event will even be provided by the jazz group Grapevine.

The real wine spectacle takes place in Italy during Carnival. Poker player Kara Scott is constantly traveling and follows poker tours across the globe. Despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to enjoy some very unique experiences, including the Carnival of Venice, which she wrote about her blog. 

 

Carnevale di Venezia takes place each spring near San Marco Square and, like Carnival everywhere, it ends on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). Carnival features participants adorned in elaborate costumes and masks, designed in 18th-century Venetian style. Red lights illuminate the streets in a soft glow and street performers entertain guest as they make their way through the square.

Red wine was the drink of choice throughout the festival, but it wasn't served from a boring bottle. To add to the event's extravagance, the piazza fountain flowed with red wine instead of water. Why? Because as Hitchens once intoned.....

Wine. Is. Red.

As Ever,

TWC 🍷

Happy Birthday Pop

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Today is Dad's birthday. Though he was born just a few months before Black Tuesday in 1929 he wears his age well. He's thin, healthy, lucid, and still splits his own firewood. It just takes him a while to get it done.

TWC and Dad at Big Bear Lake, camping in a surplus Army tent circa 1953

Like most of us who've been around the block a few times, he's seen some stunning changes. He grew up in St Paul where milk was still delivered door to door by horse drawn dairy wagons. Buck Rogers was a childhood fantasy, but Dad would live to see the reality of the moon landing. Ultimately the world left mechanical behind for digital, radio for cable and internet, and natural fabrics for synthetics and back to natural again. It was number please, rotary dial mechanical phones, private lines, extensions in other rooms, push button technology, and then cellular phones. And, of all the technological innovation of the last eighty years, he is most amazed by cell phones.

If someone would have told me fifty years ago that people would walk around the grocery store talking on a phone I would have told them they were out of their mind. 

Happy Birthday, Dad.

As Always,

TWC

Odd Thomas, The Movie

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Spent a pleasant Sunday evening with my son watching Odd Thomas. The movie is pretty well done and there is no question that Oddie fans will enjoy it~~available from Amazon Instant Video.

Granted, It's not going to be on the short list of Academy Award nominees, but it is a solid movie, a particularly welcome change after the tragic and total butchering of Dean Koontz' incredibly awesome novel, Watchers, and pretty much every other film adaptation of his books.  

Slight quibble: No Dead Elvis. It worked in the book, but might be hard to pull off Dead Elvis in a film without it going to corn pone right quick. [shrugs]

Dean Koontz on Odd Thomas (the film) here.

Happy Mundane Morning,

TWC 🍷

 

2012 Compania de Vinedos Iberian Yaso Toro

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

In Greek mythology, Yaso is one of the lesser healing goddesses, the goddess of recuperation. I can't say if that's an intentionally well chosen name for the wine or not, but as Proverbs 31:6 instructs.....

Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts

Ralph Waldo Emerson put it a bit more succinctly.....

Give me wine to wash me clean from the weather stains of care

Parker likes this wine 93 points and it is a wonderful, medium bodied Tempranillo (Tinta de Toro) from the Toro region of Spain. The hot summers and cold winters in southeastern Zamora suit the forty year old vines well.

In the glass, the wine is cherry red with garnet hues. It is rich and dry with some black cherry and spice that doesn't overwhelm the wine. It's nice on the palate and the finish lingers.

Best of all, it's under ten bucks at Costco. Considerably more elsewhere.

As Always,

TWC 🍷

 

What We Think Cinco de Mayo Is

 

 

 

TWC's Mango Margarita

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

The Margarita is pretty much synonymous with Cinco de Mayo, at least here in the Great Southwest. However, the ubiquitous Margarita only dates to the early 1940's and was probably invented by Don Carlos Orozco at Hussongs Cantina in Ensenada.

Although decried by purists. frozen Margaritas were served from the beginning, initially using crushed ice, and later poured from a blender. In 1971, Mariano Martinez adapted a soft serve ice cream maker and invented the first frozen Margarita machine, which eventually led to the widespread Slurpee-ization of the drink. Slurpee-ization is when a Slurpee-like Margarita, made in a vat using low-end ingredients, is served from a machine where the bartender has contributed no more to its preparation than a man with a slot handle in his hand. This unfortunate turn of events is now the norm in most chain Mexican restaurants across the country.

Though TWC prefers a rocks Margarita, there is nothing inherently wrong with a frozen Margarita, provided it is made with proper ingredients.

Mrs TWC enjoying TWC's Mango Margarita, a tropical twist on a Cinco de Mayo favorite.

TWC's Mango Margarita

• 1.5 Oz Gold Tequila
• 1.5 Oz Triple Sec (Cointreau or other orange liqueur)
  
• 1 ripe Mango (or equivalent canned)
• Juice of 1/2 Lime
• 2 Tablespoons of Agave Nectar (or sugar, Splenda or honey)
• 1/2 Oz Grenadine (optional)
• Combine in blender with an equal amount of crushed ice
• Blend until smooth
• Serve in salt-rimmed Margarita or Martooni glasses

As Always,

TWC 🍷