[Wine] McCrea 2001 Syrah

Last night, fallenpegasus wandered over for halibut and wine, which he brought. The wine was a $35 bottle of McCrea 2001 Syrah blend, and I have to say that, as wines go, it was, um, worth $35. I like average wines and at the same time am harsh on them; I had the Jacob's Creek I praised and panned last week with dinner tonight since it's what I had, and comparing it to McCrea is a bit like comparing a third-year conservatory quartet to Kronos. The McCrea was just amazing, sharp, vivid, fruity, with an aftertaste that came and went in delicious waves. This was no supermarket wine, and it showed.

At one point, the girls were asking what we were all talking about, and I said, "We're talking about the wine. We're finally growing up and learning how to talk about it."

It's a funny thing. I read recently that Americans prefer beer because wine was too intimidating: once too often, we had suffered the embarassment of not knowing enough about wine, not being able to pronounce the French names, to feel confident when faced with the sommelier. Well, let me tell you something: fuck the sommelier. Drink a whole bunch of different things and find what you like. It's good for your heart, too, once a day-- but skipping six days and doing seven glasses on the weekends doesn't cut it. And there's good evidence now that it's good for your brain, too. I mean, if you're gonna have a vice, for Horus' sake have one with good taste, even if it costs a little more.

Well, Bleah

Kouryou-chan has a fever and the sniffles. This makes her cranky, which is not a fun thing to see.

Omaha and I spent most of yesterday over a friend of hers, trying to get him moving on his latest life project, which is to move back to California. He came up here with high hopes for both work and love, neither of which have panned out, and back down there he has a bigger safety net and more job opportunities. But doing that and keeping the girls from going mad with boredom was quite the chore.

We had lunch at Noah's bagels, which is the best bagel place in the city.

When we got home around five, I lay down for just a few minutes and I guess I fell asleep for about half an hour. Kouryou-chan wouldn't nap, however, so I didn't sleep any longer than that. Omaha sent me out on a couple of errands that kept me out over dinner, and then I had to settle down to a three-hour debugging session with one of her co-workers, after which I spent an hour or so cleaning the kitchen, and then finally tottered off to bed.

One of those weekends where I need a life.

Keeping up with my lessons!

So, I've been a bad Elf. Bad, naughty Elf. I've been doing my Kanji-of-the-day, but not documenting it properly. So, now I'm going to try and make up for it. Let's see if this works.

手

"Hand," pronounced "しゅ" standalone, and "て" in combination with other characters. Examples of use: 手中に (しゅちゅうに) "in the hands"; 手がみ (てがみ), "letter". When used as a "て" suffix, it may mean "occupation," "what one does with his hands:" 語リ手、(かたりて), "writer."

目

"Eye," pronounced "もく"or "め". Examples of use: "注目" (ちゅうもく), "attention."

白

"White," pronounced "しろ"in combination and "ハク"when standalone. Example word:白米 (はくまい), "white (polished) rice."