Driste

Random Pic #1

Blogger has simplified uploading photos. I no longer am required to upload onto a separate website, then post. So, in celebration I will begin posting random photos from my iPhoto library. So here goes. Random Pic #1. This is me, with dark hair, after skiing and before falling asleep at the table at the all-you-can-eat sushi joint. On a stool. Not an easy feat.

All About Italian

No yoga in this post. Just wine. Wine wine wine. And a little food. And a lot of Italian.

Pineapple Bitch (or PB, as she prefers to be called in public) convinced me to take a few wine classes through our local community college. So I registered for one weekend class on Italian wines, and one on French wines. This weekend was the Italian wines. The class was from 8 to 5 in Solvang, the strange Danish village featured in "The Movie" (I prefer not to call it by name. I'm sick of hearing the name.) a little over an hour south of San Luis Obispo. I offered to drive on day one, so at 6:30 a.m. I stumbled into Starbucks (which I usually avoid like the plague, preferring to support local businesses over complex corporations), ordered the very necessary soy latte (double, mind you), and picked up the troops. Our lab tech and his roommie, who also works in vino production, were also taking the class with us, so I picked them up first.

Over the course of two days, I took 26 pages of notes. 26. And I feel like I barely scratched the surface. The Italian government has formed a somewhat complicated classification system, not unlike that of the French.

DOCG (Denominazione Origine Contollata Garantita): Only 21 in Italy. These are the "first class" wines of Italy. They are considered by the Italian Government to be the best representative wines of the regions. A region must have five very well received consecutive vintages as DOC before they can be considered for DOCG status.

DOC (same as above, sans Garantita): About 297 in Italy. These wines are made under government specifications, aged for government specified amounts of time before release. They are made with these specifications in order to preserve the wine's character uniquely derived from it's region.

IGT (Indicatzione Geographica Typica): About 130 in Italy. This is basically the equivalent to America's AVA. While this is considered just a step up from table wine by Italian government, many IGT's are finding incredible recognition and high accolades internationally. IGT wines such as Antinori's Solaia, Sassicaia, and Ornellaia (among others), known as "Super Tuscans" retail for over $150 here in the U.S. and have received top rated scores from Steven Tanzer and Robert Parker, two of the most well respected wine journalists in the biz.

Vino di Tavola: Table wine. Consumed locally, no production or time requirements are imposed. These are very inexpensive, and not usually exported.

Italian wine is very different than French and American wines in so many ways, but the most significant difference is in the philosophy. American wines are made to pair with your food, to be at the same level as your food, or to enjoy by itself. We have sommeliers in our restaurants to help us find the perfect wine so as not to overshadow our steak or get lost in the process. You wouldn't drink a Cab with a white fish, and you wouldn't drink Sauvignon Blanc with Filet Mignon. French wines (especially in the Bordeaux regions) were made to overpower your food, which was not always very fresh. Hence: Beef Bourgignone and Coq au Vin. Italian wines are meant to accompany the meal, to be a backdrop to your food, not to compete in any way with it. So they are lighter, but more acidic and tannic than both French and American wines.

By the end of day one, I was convinced I was not cut out to enjoy Italian wines. We tasted 12 wines. Among these wines, I liked 3.

My faves of day 1:

1997 Montesole "Taurasi", $30: From Campania, 100% Aglianico. I've decided I love Aglianico. Great, mouth filling wine, I got hints of anise, brandied cherries, dark fruit, and tobacco.

2000 Castello di Ama "Chianti Classico", $40: A DOCG from Tuscany; Sangiovese, Canaiolo, Trebbiano, and Malvasia. Chianti classico is a sub region of the Chianti region. The DOCG wines from this region are, in the Italian government's eyes, the most representative of the entire Chianti region. Castello di Ama is a well known producer of great Chianti and Super Tuscan wines. My tasting notes from this wine: Cloves, cherry, herb, and earth. The palate is extremely well balanced, good acidity, round tannins, and is consistent with the bouquet.

2000 Altesino "Alte d'Altesi", $42: This is an IGT from Tuscany. This was the last wine of the day, my wrists hurt, so I didn't take any notes besides "brick red" and two stars.

(I should note that these three wines were the most expensive of all the wines we tasted. And we weren't given the price until after we'd tasted and analyzed it. Typical of my palette. Why can't I enjoy 2 buck chuck and turning leaf like millions of other americans?)

Day two was a bit more relaxed. Our instructor started class at 9, so we got to sleep in a bit. Today's class was a horse of a different color. I liked 8 of the 12 wines we tasted. I probably would have liked 9, but the 1996 Prunotto Barrolo had cork taint. Darn that TCA. One of our very wealthy classmates (she must have been from Montecito) brought in a 1989 Brezza Barolo to share with 13 of her new found friends. Bless her, it was amazing. Black licorice, black fruits, and a silky texture.

Other highlights:
2004 Argiolas "Costamolino - Vermintino di Sardegna" $15: From the island of Sardinia. Good body, good acidity, melon, honey, pear, citrus, kiwi, and a lingering vanilla component. I really liked all the wines from Sardinia, and I'm looking forward to visiting some day.

2003 Tramin "Nussbaumer" $40: Gewurztraminer from Trentino, one of the best Gewurtzraminers I've ever tasted. And I'd even pay $40 for it.

2003 Cerreto "B Lange" $22: Arneis from Alto-Adige. I love Arneis. This is a pretty, well balanced, full bodied white with a nose of mineral, hay, and lemon peel. Soft flint, honey, stonefuits on the palate. Good stuff.

2004 Cerreto "Moscato D'Asti - S. Stefano" $23: This slightly sweet wine from Piedmont underwent a second fermentation in the bottle, resulting in a slight "Frizze," or subtle carbonation. This would be a great wine for an apertif, for a celebration, for toasting, hell, for anything! It smelled distinctly of lychees, and danced around in your mouth. Plus, with only 5.5% alcohol, you could drink it all night and only slightly embarrass yourself.

Class was dismissed a bit early, so we headed down to Los Olivos for some more wine tasting. First we stopped at Los Olivos Wine and Spirits, and this was a bit of a boo boo. Bob Senn, the owner, and quite a name in the wine industry here on the central coast, died May 1st of cancer, and they were closing down the shop. Very sad. We chatted for a bit, as some of my friends from Talley were there helping out, then headed over to the Los Olivos Tasting Room downtown. We found a great bargain Merlot from Santa Ynez, and a great dry rose made from Pinot Noir from Kathy Joseph called Pink Fiddle.

The four of us had decided that after class we would go to the Hitching Post (also featured in The Movie) for dinner, so I was to bring a bottle to share and the boys would bring one, too. Only problem was at 7 in the morning I couldn't decide what to bring, so I brought 4 bottles. A 97 Rodney Strong single vineyard cab, 2002 L'Aventure Syrah, 2002 L'Aventure Cab, 2001 Stolpman Angeli. And PB and I hadn't properly communicated, so she had brought a bottle as well. So we walked in to the restaurant with a half case of wine. We had considered making reservations, but thought we would be there early enough to beat the crowd. We were wrong. There was crowds of folks inside and out of the entry, and the bar was completely packed. All thanks to The Movie. Luckily, the woman who was working up front often heads up the catering for Hitching Post, someone I've worked with on a number of occasions, so she had us at a table in less than 5 minutes. I guess I know people! Who knew?

Dinner was so fun. The guys had brown-bagged a bottle (meaning we weren't allowed to see it until we'd tasted it and talked about it) of 95 Ridge York Mountain Petite Sirah. When we finished that, we stared down at the other 5 wines in utter confusion. What to have next? We solved the problem by making our waiter reach in and grab a bottle at random. The winner was: The Stolpman Angeli, which was excellent. It probably could have used a little more time to soften the tannins, and I felt a little guilty drinking it without the friends who gave it to me, but I'll make it up to them in other ways.

I got into a political discussion with the Lab Tech's roommie. Wine + Politics + Jenna usually = bad news. This night was different. We had a great discussion, and he brought up a few points I hadn't heard. Hopefully I brought up some good points for him as well.

The drive home was just an hour of laughs, tears rolling down my cheeks, gasping for air.... My abs are still sore from it.

All in all, a great weekend, but I'm exhausted and ready for Friday. (and it's only Tuesday!

More yoga news another time.

strange things

Thursdays are not a good day for pseudo-vegetarianism. These are our catered lunch days here at the winery, and we get spoiled by Sara, our chef extraordinaire. Coq au Vin, Chicken Cacciatore, Pork Tenderloin with port cherry sauce.... so many temptations. Yesterday's lunch was my all time fave, fried chicken with potato salad, asian cole slaw and corn bread. I cracked, and ate a little drumstick. But not without some guilt.

I made vegetable korma last night for dinner. It was a lot spicier than I remember.... So not doing a good job in balancing my dosha.

And there was a big BIG spider in our room last night at bedtime just waiting for me to fall asleep so it could crawl all over me. Ick. So when he made his move, I pointed it out to my pup, and she took care of it, as in "Yeah Boss, I took care of it". Then I felt guilty again.

This morning I got up at 5 and drove over to the gym to use the class room. I had a good hour of peace and quiet before the spin class across the hall started, so as soon as I heard that familiar techo bass start up, I pressed play on my iPod and tried to drown out the distractions with Cinematic Orchestra. Not easy. I felt pretty good today, although I'm still having trouble focusing on my bandhas throughout practice. I'm not sure when I fell out of the habit, but lately I'll just be going along, and then I realize, "Oh! Bandhas!" Then I'll engage them. Then a few more poses down the line, "Doh! Bandhas!" and engage them again. So this will become my new focus over the next few practices until it's second nature again. The room was warm, so I heated up quickly. I actually sweat, which is usually rare for my morning practices. My left hamstring (at the attachment point) was tender at first, so my internal alarm went off immediately. But it behaved once I bribed it with an extra surya namaskara B and a gentle and long Paschimottanasana A. Navasanas were pathetic. I was a shaky, sinking boat with bent legs. I left my hands by my head in Setu Bandhasana instead of crossing them over my chest. I was just feeling a little shaky. Backbends felt GREAT today, stood up and dropped back a few times til I noticed folks were watching, as the walls in the room are made of glass. Then I lost my concentration and sat down for my forward bend. Yoga is not a spectator sport. They need some curtains in there or something. They have some of those folding gymnastics mats.... I've thought about screening myself in with those. Then I wouldn't have to stare at myself in the mirrors, either. But I think I'm a little claustrophobic for those drastic measures. Plus it might draw even more attention than my pathetic jump-throughs do.

My knees are still injured (!!!!!!) so still modifying. I read somewhere that when you think you've healed you should wait a month to resume lotus and/or half lotus, even if there's no pain. So I'm trying to be conservative here.

After my practice, I returned home, showered, changed, ate a very small breakfast of Kashi, soymilk, and strawberries, then promptly threw it all up. Huh? Everything was going peachy, then all the sudden..... get out of my way, I gotta get this out of my stomach NOW. Since then, I've been stomaching food just fine, just made up a little miso soup for lunch, but I am feeling a little faint and weak. I'm at work for now, but may leave early to get some rest. My coworkers' reaction to my recounts of the morning? "Oh, you're pregnant! That's great! We need another Talley baby!"

I am NOT pregnant. (I hope.... *gulp*)

and that would NOT be great.

If you want another baby at Talley, YOU have one.

When the going gets tough....

..... this not so tough one starts pouting and generally feeling sorry for herself.

Finding self-motivation has been difficult these past few weeks. I want to practice, I think about my practice and Ashtanga in general pretty much 65% of the time all day. But once I step on my mat, I lose steam. And it's only going to get more difficult, I'm afraid. Jenn is leaving at the end of July, the studio may be closing, no one has stepped up to take over her class. The owner of another yoga studio is drooling to get the Ashtanga group back over to her place, but there's a lot of negativity and cut throat business tactics going on over there so a lot of us aren't to jazzed to practice with her. And this is my one class!!!!! My only class. I've debated making treks down to Santa Barbara to practice Mysore every Sunday, but that's a total of 3 hours in the car each week for one class. Is it worth it? Come February, I'm moving to Paso Robles, which means a longer commute to work each day, which means earlier self practices, which means I'll need more self motivation. Maybe I need to start practicing with the Dental Assistant again. I have to start earlier than she likes to, but she can just come and do her own thing, I guess. That means back to the gym and back to tuning out the spin classes and back to practicing with music. Ick.

WANTED (desperately): qualified ashtanga instructor to teach in beautiful San Luis Obispo, California. C'mon people, there's got to be someone out there.

Fishy

I thought I heard a man's voice this morning just before my dog started snarling and barking like crazy in the kitchen. This was 4:45 a.m. *Not* a feel-good wake up. I made Tay go check things out while I huddled in bed, trying to calculate which was the closest "weapon" I could grab. Books? I've got some heavy ones, but my aim is a little shoddy. Shoes? Those Italian stilletos might do the trick a la Single White Female. I used to keep a crow bar under my bed for situations such as these. Perhaps I'll have to reinstate that preventative measure. In the end, Tay came back to bed unharmed. If there was someone there, Kula scared the hell out of him. Our house is not the most secure. It's set way off the street, so a burglar is pretty protected from passer-bys noticing them. Our doors are almost all sliding glass. We have one wooden one that we don't even use. We've had a bunch of strangers over to the house in the past few months while interviewing for roommates. And with all Tay's film and editing equipment, there's a lot of stuff to plunder. All of the equipment is insured, and we also have renter's insurance.... but who wants to be robbed? NOT ME. I'm just being my mother, worrying away. There probably wasn't anyone there....

I figured I may as well get up since the alarm was gonna sound off in 15 minutes anyway. I was still a little spooked, so finding any semblance of quiet in my mind was very difficult. My hamstrings were so tight that even touching the floor in Uttanasana was a strain. Must have been from the 108 sun salutations. They loosened up a bit as I moved through my Surya Namaskaras, but I had a difficult time getting warm. I didn't break a sweat until Utthita Hasta Padungustasana. In an afternoon practice, I've rolled out my rug by then. I finished standing poses, and went right into finishing. My stomach was burning burning burning, and last night's dinner was still digesting, so I was having a tough go of it.

I think I've got a little pitta imbalance. And I've been eating too much fish. Tacos de camarones on Monday for lunch. Seared Ahi on Tuesday night, ceviche for lunch yesterday, king salmon for dinner. Since everyone's been on vacation this week at work, we've been having our own vacation by eating lunch potluck style with the boys in the cellar. This means tacos de carne asada (but not for me), grilled camarones, rice, beans, salsa picante, cilantro, and most notably, tostadas con ceviche. I love ceviche. This was yesterday's lunch. One of the cellar-rats wives made it with love, and it was wonderful. Then Don Talley (the big BIG boss) came by the office with pounds and pounds of fresh-frozen king salmon and alaskan halibut from his vacation to Alaska, and just starts handing them out. The filet of salmon I vied for was huge! Almost 4 inches thick, and so fresh. Tay grilled it up last night, I made up a little lemon-parsley gremolata, and I pulled out a bottle of 2001 Talley Rincon Chardonnay from my "cellar" which paired very nicely. It had needed a little time when it was released, but now it's there. Lovely. But today I'm paying for all of this week's culinary splurges. Too much acid. Too much spice. And.... too much fish???

O Me of Little Faith

My public apologies to The Pelt and The Feisty One, who were at my house just after I pressed "publish."

We moved through 108 surya namaskara A's, but shortened our stay in downward dog to just 3 breaths to make it a little more manageable.

And now I'm grimacing as my wrists are cramping up and my shoulders are heavy and sore.

Maybe I'll honor the moon day by not practicing tomorrow.

Oh, and you've all been a wealth of recipe suggestions in the past. So I'm counting on you to bring it home for me this time around. What should I do with all that Italian chard in my fridge? Dazzle me, folks.

108.... maybe.

It's 5:30 a.m. on a moon day. I should be sleeping. Why am I up? Yesterday The Pelt approached me about the 108 sun salutations for summer solstice. "So, are you doing that crazy 100 something sun salutations?" He wanted to join me (???). What a nut. We mentioned this to The Feisty One, and now she's on the bandwagon, too. Of course, this is not to say that they'll actually show up. Shocker: Normal people don't drag themselves up at 5 a.m. for yoga. I know. What gives. Nothing left to do now but wait.

What do you do if the summer solstice lands on a moon day?!

Tattoo!~~

My husband is setting up his appointment to meet with his tattoo artist to talk about reworking his tat. He's decided on a scene inspired by Baja, his first love (I could never hold a candleto this place).

We camp at Punto San Carlos (about 6 hours past the border on the Pacific side) about twice a year to windsurf, ride bikes, kick back, and relax. Taylor's been making the trip for years. We took a day-long hike one time up to the point of this mesa where there are petroglyphs dating back just a few hundred years (to about the 16th century). One of the petroglyphs shows a spanish galleon ship. Next to it, there's a strong face carved out of the rock blowing away the ship. Archaeologists and anthropologists who have studied the petroglyphs and the area around it guess that this was the home of a tribe's shaman. The ground around the red rocks is covered with oyster shells, bleached white by the sun and rain. And this is miles up from the ocean. The theory is that tribesmen brought the abalone as offerings to the shaman.

This isn't one of my pictures, maybe I can post my pictures later. Don't have them handy at the moment. In any case, Tay wants to do a piece that is a half sleeve up around his shoulder, then continues onto his back of the ship and the rock carving. Pretty cool.

As for me, I'm still debating a bit. I've pretty much figured out what I want and where I want it, I'm just gonna give it a few months to sink in. Plus, I'm in a wedding coming up, and I'd like to be tattoo-free for Yellow's conservative Aunt and Uncle. It's going to be hard enough for them since Yellow's wearing a purple and gold beautiful indian inspired dress, her bridesmaids are wearing white, and my mother is officiating (not her Aunt and Uncle's pastor from Bakersfield). My dress is cut beneath where I want the tattoo on my back, so we'll wait til after September before I actually have it inked. (Don't worry, Mom.... I can still cover it up when I want to)
I want the Mangala Mantra in sanskrit

surrounded by some nature artwork.
Here's the artwork I'm inspired by:

That, but a little less "Disney." But I love the wildness of it. It reminds me so much of some of the property I grew up on in the Santa Cruz mountains. Isn't it "pretty?"

Me, Praying

I'm so proud of myself. My husband only had to nudge me once to get me out of bed this morning. I rolled out my mat at 5:20. I made it through standing without even thinking of stopping, although I was battling some serious resistance from my hamstrings. I didn't fall over in Parsvottanasana. I don't know what it is about this pose that is so different from the other standing poses, but I often feel so out of balance and dizzy the whole time I'm leaning out over my leg. And every once in a while, I fall over.

My knees have been hurting as of late, and I'm not really sure why. It's my LCL on both sides, so no half padmasana, not even in Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana. I wonder if it's some sort of strength issue? Maybe one muscle is overdeveloped or another is underdeveloped. Dunno. I've been contemplating some accupuncture. My insurance gives me a discounted rate with approved accupuncturists. I could go to a physical therapist, but they'll give me exercises that I'll forget to do. Oh the dilemma. For now I'll continue to baby them and take lots of ibuprofen and wrap them up with some castor oil. And think good thoughts. Lots of good thoughts. Back bends were hell today. I kept waiting for them to feel good, but I never got to that point. My fifth breath couldn't come quickly enough. I didn't even try to stand up. Or drop back.

Tay came out while I was finishing Uth Pluthi this morning. He just watched with a funny smile as I finished, went through my last vinyasa and laid down for savasana. He was in the kitchen, making coffee and making me very self conscious while I whispered my closing prayer. He said, "Did you just pray?" Well, kind of. It's more of a blessing to me. "Who are you?" I showed him the prayer in English. "But were you praying in English?" No, Sanskrit. He just laughed. He thinks I'm a yoga nerd. And, well, I am.

I got my veggies today! And they're beautiful. I have a ton of zucchini, and like 3 lbs. of carrots, so it's either time for some bread making, some soup making, or some stock making. The Pineapple Bitch also subscribed to the flower share, and once I saw her flowers I was instantly envious. They were gorgeous! Maybe I'll do that next year. For now, produce is my limit. And I've discovered something delicious: Garlic Scape! Can't wait til next week: Golden Beets!

WANTED: MOTIVATION

I did not dream about animated veggies last night. I did, however, have such great dreams that I could not be torn away from them when the alarm interrupted them at 5 this morning. So I slept in. No asana. Of course, now I have no recollection of these dreams. But Kula made a guest appearance. She seems to have a returning role. Everyone loves Kula.

I've asked the husband to start kicking me out of bed again.

Oh, and if the newspaper came like this everyday, I'd read it more often.