A day in the life

Well, maybe, just maybe, we’ve seen the last of precipitation that lingers on the ground.. and once again I don’t have very much intelligent to say about food.. 

Less than intelligent, but interesting

There was an interesting article from one of my list serves on “How to detect a bad bottle of wine”.  These come along every so often and they pretty much tell the same story.  Sommeliers commonly report they get about one “bad” bottle a night.  Of course reputable ones will evaluate the wine before bringing it to the table.  The big problem is that us consumers are reluctant to claim the wine is “bad”, assuming they are inexperienced and hesitate to question a wine in a restaurant.  Instead, they’ll drink it and decide that they will never buy “that bad tasting wine again”.  “Corked” is the kind of catchall term that is used to describe flaws that put the wine “off”.   The effect can be anywhere from mild to overpowering (wet dog) further complicating matters.  Once you have experienced a corked bottle you will never doubt your nose again.  I was most grateful to finally run across a “bad” bottle which was confirmed and replaced at the point of sale.  Anyway, it’s something to keep in mind, and if you think it isn’t right, ask the server (hazardous – “Tastes fine to me!”) or the Sommelier.  Take it back to the store and ask politely.  Most reputable wine stores and restaurants don’t want you leaving without being satisfied..

Better

Sorry, didn’t mean to get off on a bunny trail, because I had a delightful afternoon today and need to talk about it.  After coffee and conversation with a friend, I went down to St. Mary’s College for another Brian Ganz piano talk.  I hate to keep writing about him, but darn it I just can’t help myself; his talent and personality just can’t be ignored.  The program today was all Chopin, part of his ten year long journey to perform every one of Frederic’s compositions.  He called it a “Chopin Buffet” because it presented a smorgasbord of different “styles” (sorry my good classical music friend), from Mazurkas, to Waltzes, Etudes, Preludes, a Scherzo, and a Ballade.  The Ballade was No. 4 in F minor, Op. 12.  Some consider this to be Chopin’s finest composition, if not the supreme piece of classical music ever written.  Brian is of this opinion.  I had heard it before but you never get tired of hearing it (sort of like the Dead’s “truckin’”).  It is beautiful.

There wasn’t much talking this time due to the number of pieces, but when Brian finished the program, he said he had received an email today requesting he play Chopin’s Funeral (something) or Fantasy Impromptu.  So here’s this world class artist asking if so and so is in the audience.  Yes, he was.  Okay, says Brian, if people are willing to stick around I’ll play the Fantasy for you, otherwise anybody who has to leave may.  About three people left (assumed they were students making a class).  Brian briefly disappeared back stage briefly, came back with a music book, and asked if anybody wanted to turn pages for him. from the audience:  “You don’t have it memorized?” (all eleven pieces previously were) … “well, not quite”  So some gentleman from the audience went up on stage, and said “nod your head when you want me to turn the page”.  Well, Brian said, I tend to nod my head a lot when I play (true statement), so I’ll go side to side when I want the page turned.

So with amateur page guy standing next to him (refused a chair) Brian played the beautiful Fantasy Impromptu… You would recognize it if you heard it.  Page guy had his hand on the page about a minute (my guess) before it needed to turn..

What a lovely experience.  We are so lucky to have him and live in this place..

Sport

In just a quick turn before closing, I hope you had a chance to see the USA/Russia Olympic hockey game Saturday.   What drama. And the (then) unknown kid from the Blues will go down in the annals of Olympic history along with the miracle on ice.  A lot of the (middle of the night) know it all, sports talk radio guys extolled how good this was for Hockey, on and on.  Well STRG guys, it’s a different game.  Larger ice surface, rules of overtime are different, and (thank God) they seem to concentrate on playing hockey instead of pandering to the blood thirsty American fans who only want to see fights.  Refreshing.  With no commercials, the game takes much less time to play.

And amazingly, I found myself fascinated by the Ice Dancing competition..  Talk about athletes.. wow. And the good ones are REALLY good. Flowing effortless motion in tight quarters, concentration, complicated maneuvers (and I learned the word “Twizzles”), including tosses, and so forth.  Great stuff.

Okay time for dinner and have to go get
DFD