Bowl of Sushi (Painting by Hiroshige) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s National Poetry Month! Celebrate with me this Friday, April 12, 2013, when I will be leading a haiku writing workshop at a sushi bar in Ojai–which means I’ll be stopping by Ojai Vineyards while I’m in town!

That’s right, you can get your haiku and eat it too!

Well, maybe not, but that sounds fun, doesn’t it?

Either way, it will be a fun time for 12 on 4/12 at 12 when we gather in Ojai during WordFest’s “Foodie Friday” for a sushi lunch with a side of haiku. Or maybe that’s haiku with a side of sushi?

So if you don’t mind the soy sauce on your writing notebook, bring a fast pen, and join us as we practice taking  lessons learned from Haiku (expressing emotion through observations of nature) and seeing how we can apply them to other forms of writing. We’ll also talk about how to transform writing (prose) into poetry. Only $39 which includes a handout and sushi lunch. Another $10 that day will get you a copy of my book, Middle of the Night Poems from Daughter to Mother ::Mother to Son (en theos press 2011).

Sign up for this Writing Workshop now!

Maybe you’ll write something to enter in the Haiku Poetry Contest at the E.P. Foster Library. Enter your original Haiku poem from April 9 to April 16 at 5 pm. Prize awarded to the winner! Submit your poem at the library or online www.tiny.cc/haikucontest.

After the sushi and haiku extravaganza, I’m going to wander over to the Ojai Vineyards tasting room (where I’m a member) and pick up a bottle or two (or three!) of their newly bottled and always delightful dry Rose and, while I’m there,  taste through their current selections of course!

Just in case your only experience with “pink” wines is a Beringer white zin, think again: a dry Rose like this syrah based wine is the perfect summertime complement to many picnics, brunches or summer dishes like salmon and other fish, ham, chicken salad, turkey, quiche, charcuterie, cheeses, salami, you name it: if you’d pair a white wine with it, this rose might surprise you with its zest!

And that’s because at The Ojai Vineyard for their dry Rose they use all the same techniques that they use on their whites: grapes that aren’t too ripe, whole cluster press, then ferment the juice in older French oak barrels on the lees with a partial malo-lactic fermentation to soften the acidity.

Ojai Vineyard describes the wine as  having “delicate floral aromatics and zingy natural acidity” which “makes this wine a perfect match for every imaginable cuisine from hot and peppery to rich and creamy. It is totally dry and utterly delicious to drink today.”

The Syrah in this wine is 52% Roll Ranch plus 19% Bien Nacido. It’s also got 15% grenache from Bien Nacido and 8% grenache from John Sebastiano Vineyard  located  just outside of Santa Rita, AND 3% chardonnay, 1.5% viognier and 1.5% riesling.

It retails for $20 but it’s on special right now.

Now that sounds like some mighty pretty poetry!

PS If you follow me to the tasting, be warned it’s $15 per person…unless you buy two bottles of wine or join their wine club!

Read here for a review of Ojai Vineyard’s Roll Ranch Syrah and Roll Ranch Viognier! It’s one of my favorite blog posts from 2012!

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