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Oct. 19th, 2003 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
weaktwosIt is nearly 8:30 in the morning. My efforts at sleep have been thwarated by the Flying Walenda kittens. Perhaps I should get up and go work out? Probably so. I should do something, at least.
Harvest yesterday was magnificent. It's so cool to see a large family that enjoys making wine together. Picking the grapes has some therapeutic properties.
Ms Tao and I arrived a little late to the harvest festivities due to receiving a poor map from one of the hosts. It was very bad. Very bad considering he's so familiar with that area. I told him that his map should have just had the phone number on it. Yes, I insulted him but damn! Maps are not that hard to draw. Including good, meaningful landmarks is also not too much to ask. Yes, I'm hypercritical.
Despite my enmity towards bad maps, the morning was simply lovely. I wish I was a morning person, so I could see more sunrises. But honestly, I'm just not made for that, yet.
We harvested two kinds of grapes: Sangiovese and Zinfindel. The the grapes should reflect a deep dark purple color when they are considered "good grapes". Raisins are good, because they are a concentrated sugar. If a grape appears lighter in color, then it is called a "water grape", for it may lack some sweetness. However, you should validate this by tasting the grape. I did a lot of validation.
So we clipped bunches of grapes off the vine. A tractor pulling a trailer would collect our buckets, give us empty ones, and take the grapes off to the crushing area. The grapes were crushed, and much of the stemps were spit off to the side, but the skins and small stem parts remained. Two tons of grapes were harvested yesterday morning.
After the harvest, we ate. And ate. And talked. And laughed. And drank family wine. Ah, the simple epicurean joy of it all.
After that, I rushed home to bathe. Up in Shingle Springs, the dirt is red. combine that with grape juice and sweat, and you get a lot of ruddy filth on shoes, shirts, etc.
Then it was off to the Libra birthday barbeque, which was quite fun.
Barbeque pulled pork and hot wings were the primary meats supplied. Many beverages were appropriated and consumed. Open bar, hot tub, swimming pool, pool table. I had some delightful conversations, and occupied my time chatting with friends.
The Cutie was there, and we chit-chatted for a bit. We have no meaningful conversations, however. He's just not capable of it. Hopefully he'll grow out of that. He keeps so much from even his closest friends. However, I suspect he allows those who are geographically separated from him become closer, because he can open up more when he's chatting online than face to face.
I brought stuffed mushrooms and a pear tart. Both were scarfed up by the masses. Another successful potluck experience. I love it when people ask me if I considered cooking as a career. But no. Then I wouldn't enjoy it as much.
I still need to have that Beef Wellington party...
Harvest yesterday was magnificent. It's so cool to see a large family that enjoys making wine together. Picking the grapes has some therapeutic properties.
Ms Tao and I arrived a little late to the harvest festivities due to receiving a poor map from one of the hosts. It was very bad. Very bad considering he's so familiar with that area. I told him that his map should have just had the phone number on it. Yes, I insulted him but damn! Maps are not that hard to draw. Including good, meaningful landmarks is also not too much to ask. Yes, I'm hypercritical.
Despite my enmity towards bad maps, the morning was simply lovely. I wish I was a morning person, so I could see more sunrises. But honestly, I'm just not made for that, yet.
We harvested two kinds of grapes: Sangiovese and Zinfindel. The the grapes should reflect a deep dark purple color when they are considered "good grapes". Raisins are good, because they are a concentrated sugar. If a grape appears lighter in color, then it is called a "water grape", for it may lack some sweetness. However, you should validate this by tasting the grape. I did a lot of validation.
So we clipped bunches of grapes off the vine. A tractor pulling a trailer would collect our buckets, give us empty ones, and take the grapes off to the crushing area. The grapes were crushed, and much of the stemps were spit off to the side, but the skins and small stem parts remained. Two tons of grapes were harvested yesterday morning.
After the harvest, we ate. And ate. And talked. And laughed. And drank family wine. Ah, the simple epicurean joy of it all.
After that, I rushed home to bathe. Up in Shingle Springs, the dirt is red. combine that with grape juice and sweat, and you get a lot of ruddy filth on shoes, shirts, etc.
Then it was off to the Libra birthday barbeque, which was quite fun.
Barbeque pulled pork and hot wings were the primary meats supplied. Many beverages were appropriated and consumed. Open bar, hot tub, swimming pool, pool table. I had some delightful conversations, and occupied my time chatting with friends.
The Cutie was there, and we chit-chatted for a bit. We have no meaningful conversations, however. He's just not capable of it. Hopefully he'll grow out of that. He keeps so much from even his closest friends. However, I suspect he allows those who are geographically separated from him become closer, because he can open up more when he's chatting online than face to face.
I brought stuffed mushrooms and a pear tart. Both were scarfed up by the masses. Another successful potluck experience. I love it when people ask me if I considered cooking as a career. But no. Then I wouldn't enjoy it as much.
I still need to have that Beef Wellington party...
