It's A Brand New Day

Last evening we witnessed a beautiful golden sunset where we are staying at a friend's (Linda Carroll's) family beach house in Ventura. And this morning we witnessed a shiny new day. We couldn't help making symbollic connections. We finally saw the sunset on the Bush years, and the glorious beginning of this new hope-filled day. Even the porpoises seemed happy as they playfully swam along the coastline, and then we saw several of them riding the waves. What fun!

And what a day it has been!

We had the kleenex box handy as the President-elect became The President of the United States of America. Things are different -- a seismic shift has happened this day.

Barak Obama was definitely presidential today. His smile so genuine. His humility so real. His poise and grace so remarkable. His speech so terrific with great word images and thoughtful rhetoric. It was inclusive (speaking to all faiths, all nations, all ages, all men and women, youth and children, military and civilian, the powerful and the unknown.) It was personal (speaking about the condition of our society during his father's adulthood) and political (reclaiming a new direction for our nation); thoughtful and tough; historic and forward-looking. He appealled to all of us to become better human beings, and to the world to join in common humanity.

We are so happy we were a tiny part of helping this day happen!

Volunteering for the SF Chronicle's Wine Competition

I've learned a few things about wine this last week. I was a volunteer at the judging of the SF Chronicle's Wine Competition. All the judging took place in Cloverdale (about 45 minutes away), so I would leave before dark and get home after dark on most days.

This competition has a 25 year history, starting at the Citrus Fairgrounds in Cloverdale with a few local wineries. But it has grown so large that it is now the SF Chronicle Wine Competition. It is the largest American wine competition anywhere. This year there were 4753 wine entries -- that's a LOT of wine! The profits go to the Santa Rosa Junior College's Culinary and Wine Department. (I'm taking a couple culinary classes this term, so I helped support my own interests!)

I was part of a 4-person "back room" team. (We're the ones with aprons) We would pour 10 glasses of wine at a time for a panel of judges to taste. Our 3 judges (seated in white coats) were great. One was the "Wine Guy" on a local radio station; one was a wine consultant to local wineries; and one was--are you ready for this?--the executive chef for the Playboy Mansion in So. California! He gave everyone on our team Playboy pins -- just what I needed!!

The judges were great to work with, though. Their job was to rate the wine in each category for gold, silver and bronze awards, or no award, obviously without knowing which winery they're rating. The best of class awards are then entered into the final day's judging when all 50 judges taste all 100 best of class wines. Five sweepstakes are then awarded: sparkling, rose, white, red, dessert wine. All the awards are announced on their website: http://www.winejudging.com/


This year was a real shock. The only award for a Sonoma County wine was a dessert wine from Geyser Peak. (Sonoma is noted for lots of wines, but not necessarily dessert wine!) None came from Napa area--another big surprise. The sweepstakes were wines from New York, New Mexico, and two from other areas of California. Quite interesting. The public can taste all the wines at Fort Mason on Sat., Feb 28. It's expensive to get in, but I get a free pass for myself and a friend. (John is happy to be my friend!)


The pay for the week? A case of opened wine bottles that had been used each day in the tasting, and the last day, we each received 3 cases of unopened wine. All of the wine is better than what we're used to drinking, with a couple bottles in the "above $45 category". So the bad part? Our cheap wine just doesn't cut it anymore!!!


It was lots of work, but it was lots of fun, too.