The gift of wine… and a gift of wine. When I learned in December that the Winophiles prompt for January 2024 was French wines received as a gift, I rolled my eyes: no one other than Sue gives me wine. And when Sue gives me wine, it’s from wineries she’s visited that she wants me to know about, and I usually tuck them away so we can write about them later.
You say it’s your birthday It’s my birthday too, yeah They say it’s your birthday We’re gonna have a good time I’m glad it’s your birthday Happy birthday to you
So sing the Beatles, today and yesterday, and even though two of the Beatles have passed on, their art, their music remains, their gifts of song live on to inspire us. Anne Lamont points out that
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again.”
This week I’m reflecting on gifts, the gifts of wine, the gifts of birthdays and cassoulets, the gifts of inspiration, how we keep from being squashed to keep on dancing.
At a transitional time in my life, Patrick Duffy had a big impact: he was someone who helped me find the permission to be truer to who I am and discover my path. Patrick and I shared many passions and connections, including being born within 24 hours of each other but in different decades leading us to call each other our evil twin; we called each other our doppelgänger.
the always magical Patrick G Duffy by Linda Kale Hamm
Did we meet first at a Burning Man event or at a Geography conference?
Birthday Wishes and Gifts: Cassoulet with Côtes du Rhône Villages
“I love skiing!” piped up the young girl from the next stall at the mid-mountain SnowFlake Lodge at Diamond Peak, Incline Nevada on a sunny but brisk January day.
“I do too!” I chimed in. “How old are you?”
“I’m five but I’m going to be six on my birthday January 9!”
“Well, happy birthday to you! My birthday is January 11!”
SnowFlake Lodge at Diamond Peak, Incline Nevada
While young Juniper loves skiing and wanted nothing more than to go skiing for her birthday, I love cassoulet and wanted cassoulet for my birthday. I didn’t tell young Juniper but her birthday is the same day as a very important one: CASSOULET DAY! Fortunately for me, my birthday and Cassoulet Day are so close Sue has almost no choice but to make it for me as a birthday gift and we had the gift of three samples of three AOC Côtes du Rhône wines to pair with it tying this post into this month’s Winophiles prompt; I’ll add links to participants.
So Happy Cassoulet Day today January 9! And Happy Birthday to Juniper, and to me too!
2023 on the run with 2024 on its heels (aka Moose my foster dog)
As I reflect on 2023, I marvel at the amazing experiences I had with wine, food, and travel abroad for three weeks in Italy and 10 days in Portugal. I’ve barely scratched the surface of the stories I want to tell. Continue reading →
According to Hedonistas de las Fe, curanderos are healers “with an evolved consciousness who use herbs, plants, magic, and spiritualism to treat illness, induce visions, and impart traditional wisdom” — people who embody the paradox of life to bridge “the divide between individual joy and the elevation of the collective.” They are “of the Faith” or in Spanish, de la Fe.
three Hedonistas de la Fe take in the huge surf in Ventura recently
To Hedonistas de las Fe, “Of the Faith” also means making random acts of kindness an everyday experience. Like fostering a dog like I am with Moose wearing my Hedonistas de la Fe hat during beach walk to the Ventura River during the recent high surf. A hedonist or hedonista sees the pursuit of pleasure as possibly the highest purpose in life, so a hedonistas de la Fe also means Hedonists “Of the Faith” — someone who is pursuing pleasure as important while making random acts of kindness. At least tat’s my take on it!
That’s right! After all these definitions we’re getting down to the nitty gritty–three of Hedonistas de la Fe mezcal are made from WILD AGAVE harvested from three kinds of agave growing wild in the the Matatlan countryside:
As 2023 comes to a close, we reflect on the year that’s passed and look forward to the year to come. So far in 2023 we’ve published 80 articles and over 111k words, and I asked my fellow Wine Predator Sue Hill to share with us some of her favorite wines or posts from 2023. As usual, it’s not just the wine for Sue, but the pairing AND the experience of creating the menu to go with the wines. So Sue went through each post we did in the previous 12 months to chose her favorites from each month. Some months she could narrow it to one post, and a couple months she had two or three to total 21 standout posts in for 2023.
Domaine Bousquet Organic Red Wines with Argentine Christmas cuisine
If it seems like we’ve been on a Domaine Bousquet organic wine kick lately, well, we have! Why? Well, the wines are certifiably affordable, accessible, and awesome for the planet and people because they are actually certified organic, certified regenerative agriculture, and a certified B Corp. All of that adds up to wines we want to share with friends and family this holiday season! Most of the wines are under $20 and as they are the number one organic Argentine winery exported, you should be able to find them, too.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 