I went to Ottawa, watched kitties get their teeth brushed, and then I went to an awesome gay wedding in a barn in Port Hope

It's all true. In that order. Here's some photos to show off the short but fun trip!

 R soothes 18 in preparation for the procedure

mmmm... chicken flavour toothpaste!

the product

BEG brings 12 in for treatment

vampira!

center: me and the two happy grooms. clockwise from top left: km's happy mama, beet hummus, old friends from Kingston days, first dance, R being the grumpy cat (unknowingly - he'd never heard of grumpy cat before), R being his more normal self, blue grass band, really weird wine ingredients, BEG wearing the fun hat

Drunk Bug

Well, the story isn't very good, but the bug kept me occupied for an extended period of time one morning, and this is what happened.

J had several people over for dinner, and left pretty much one sole item out on the deck area. A small plastic cup with a small quantity of warmish wine in it.

In the morning, I saw a substantial (Bermuda cockroach size, only without the big wide cockroach top - it looked kindof like what I would imagine a naked cockroach to look like I guess) bug inside the cup. The bug, now established as a drunk, naked and clearly disoriented cockroach, did not look particularly comfortable in the cup. Well, I'm sure that many have awoken disoriented, still drunk, and possibly even naked, in an unknown locale...

Anyway, back to the bug. We thought we'd help it out by tipping the cup over so that the bug could walk (stagger) out to freedom. After an inordinately long period of time the bug made its way to the edge of the cup and started to lick (not sure if bugs CAN lick... but this is what it looked like) each and every leg and antennae, slowly and deliberately, but still inside the cup. Whenever a soft breeze blew by (frequently) the cup rolled around in circles and the bug would cling on until it stopped, then continue the licking. I was figuring that the bug was drying itself off from the overnight wine bath.

Eventually the bug made it to the outside of the cup, but it did not actually get off the cup, instead it perched on the lip and obsessively began "licking" its right antenna. Then a breeze would blow and the cup would roll around - on top of - the bug, which kept on hanging on (even though now it was outside the cup and getting onto the deck would have been very easy and convenient).

This went on. And on. Finally the bug lost its grip on the cup and I took it away, but even so, the bug kept on licking that one antenna... weird.

Bug. Continuing to lick? its right antenna.

sneak peak

My Jeep has a new "geo-mobile" decal that I drew up several months ago, ordered, and even put on the back window... but only now actually took a photo of it. I'm quite pleased, too bad its location in the carport means that the photo is dominated by reflections of the apartments...


Fresh and ready for the next expedition, I cleaned, waxed & buffed my boots and gave them sexy new red laces! I'm stupidly excited about this, obviously.


Finally, the pièce-de-résistance, coming soon to Bakersfield College and amazon.com! I mailed in my contract and submitted the manuscript, it should be available this fall. Pre-order your autographed copy now... just kidding!

Wine and Buddhists on a Sunday

In prospecting for how to spice up my Geology of Kern County (and wine) community class for the fall, I decided to add the "and wine" component. This came easily after being introduced to the wine of Sagebrush Annie's and the location of Triassic Legacy. Not having tasted any Triassic Legacy wines, and knowing that they only opened in December of 2009, it was imperative that I take a pre-field-trip field trip. That occurred today.

The place is charming and owned by a charming man, a retired geologist, and a conservationist. These three owners are in fact one person who decided to save a gorgeous piece of the Cummings Valley from strip malls by buying it and planting wine grapes. I was impressed before I even tasted the wine. The grapes used currently are grown in Paso Robles because their grape vines are still a wee bit young (and are being ravaged by gophers and blackbirds), but I hope they pull through and have a successful first harvest this fall. They are growing Zinfandel, Syrah and Viognier grapes, and I am thoroughly impressed with the creatively delicious Syrah-Viognier blend. So, if you're in the Tehachapi neighbourhood, you should definitely pop in for a taste, and tell Chuck & Sherry that I sent you!


After wine, a lemongrassy (read: yummy) lunch at Blue Ginger was consumed and followed up by a jaunt to find the mysterious Mountain Spirit Center; a Korean Buddhist retreat of some sort. Once it was found, there was nothing by silence and wind - it must have been prayer time or something. Perhaps "or something" means "poke around and take photos of stuff with your cell phone". Well, that's what I took it to mean anyway.

the sign for the road in... almost as cute as the map on their nearly indecipherable website

more signage...

apparently Buddha's birthday is coming up on the 16th... who knew?

peace bell - I'm interpreting based on their website where they list "peace bell" as a project - though it suddenly occurs to me that a bell of that size might not be all that peaceful

mural - there were lots, but I figured I'd just show this one

The Great Becky and Natalie Adventure 2010 - - - Part 4

To contrast the desert, we then ventured to the Central Coast for a little wine tasting and some Pacific Ocean.

Tobin James started the day off right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) with 18 tastes... GAH!

after more than enough wine, we made our way to Cambria and had a delicious dinner concocted from all things local, including, apparently, flowers

and finally made it to the beach - but it was a very gloomy, foggy, overcast day... so I guess these photos look somewhat ominous

A Special Tribute to Some 'Dam' Fine Wine!

Even though I'm not using this winery in my wine class, it still remains one of my favourite wineries and I feel like they deserve some props and free blog advertising too :) maybe someone at Castoro will stumble across this and send me some love in return...

So, here's my top 5 reasons that Castoro is great:

1. They make grape juice. And it's divine! Never been anywhere near, come remotely close to, and never will touch a concord grape!
2. They recycle. And they are anti plastic water bottles. They offer filtered water in their tasting room, but refuse to provide plastic water bottles.
3. They offer organic wines, which is cool and trendy - but they do it because they practice sustainable agriculture in many of their vineyards, and organic wines just happen to be a by-product of this.
4. They installed a photo-voltaic system in one of their vineyards and on their events room several years ago to offset their energy consumption in both wine production and the tastier side of the industry.
5. The obvious... wine! I tend to favour whites because I'm less prone to headaches from them - Castoro delivers consistently good whites, and that is a rarity in this area for sure. They also make nice reds - but so do so many other Paso Robles area wineries, that's not a "make or break" factor!

So if you're in the area, go check them out. If you have some magical connection and can hook me up with a sweet sweet deal (aka free wine), I promise I won't say no!

Tasting the Terroir - sneak peak!

After much research, both of the reading kind AND the drinking kind, I almost have a finalized list of committed vineyards to feature in my class this fall. All are estate single varietals, and all are truly unique from each other. This is looking like a fabulous line-up and I'm so excited!!!

If you're in the area, go and check these wineries out - tell them I sent you! They are really working with my limited budget, and I wouldn't be using any of them if I didn't think their wine was great. Of course, what really makes a wine "great", is that you love it!

The For Sures (as in, I actually have the wine in my possession)

Pretty-Smith

Penman Springs

Cinnabar

Caparone

The Almost Certain (as in, I have a price worked out, but no wine in my possession yet)

Clautiere

The Anticipated and Greatly Hopeful (as in, things look good, but nothing "set in stone" yet)

Adelaida

Meatfest: wine tasting goes deliciously awry

For a VERY belated birthday (Emarathoner) we scooted over to the coast to try out a few wineries and eat dinner at a restaurant her parents had given her a gift certificate for.

making a purchase at Robert Hall

Hot Hands makes his "I want a nap" face at Garretson

This awesome (and cute) goat licks his leg at Lone Madrone

The 5 of us after we had stuffed ourselves silly on dinner at Villa Creek (main courses featured below, for appetizers, deserts and cappucino you'll have to ask!)

Emarathoner de-vegetarianized herself for the evening in order to eat ANTELOPE with rosemary pesto.

Texas Gal experienced buffalo for the first time, and finally realized what she had been missing.

Extreme Chef had natural veal, which tasted like cow, because natural veal is baby cow that is allowed to live like a cow rather than like a veal in a box with a milk spout to drink from.

Hot Hands had salmon, which was a difficult thing for me to pass up - especially when it is topped with avocado and resting upon more deliciousness.

And I had pan-seared Ahi tuna, which was as good as expected - and I happily tasted everyone else's meals too. Actually, we all tasted everyone else's meals.

And of course the best part! The bill! Ack! Can you believe it???

Love You Berry Much (Don't Drink Me Berry Fast)

1/2 bottle Rioja (drink other 1/2 while making Sangria)
1/3 carton lemonade (0.6 litre)
1 shot Triple Sec
2 shots Bacardi CoCo
3/4 apple, sliced
couple handfuls blueberries
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
1/2 mango, diced
squeeze lime juice

Sinfully Sexy Citrus Segments Sangria (Say it 3x Fast to Get a Glass!)

1 bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
1/3 carton lemonade (0.6 litre)
1.5 shots lime juice (to taste)
splash 7-up (1.8 litre)
2 (or 3) shots Triple Sec
1 orange, peeled, sliced into squares - yes, squares
1 + lemon, sliced
1 + lime, sliced
some diced mango
some diced pineapple

Make Your Mango Wild (After You Get Home)

1 bottle Sauvignon Blanc
2 shots Bacardi CoCo
1 shot Triple Sec
splash 7-up (1/8 litre)
1/3 carton lemonade (0.6 litre)
1 mango, diced
1/4 pineapple, diced
1 lemon, sliced thinly
1 lime, sliced thinly

Sangria!

In preparation for her birthday, which is now today, last night JoJo and I had a blast stirring up some deliciousness in the form of Sangria. We looked at recipes and neglected to follow them. Instead we made up our own, and will now be sorely disappointed in future at places when we are served inferior Sangria. On that note, and for posterity, above I am posting our "recipes" from what we can remember we threw in there so that others can create as well! Yum! We also made up names for our creations, because that's what we do.

Appropriately named wine

Pi and Irish Girl glammed it up appropriately for the party and then Pi found a wine bottle that gives his true name away... He was pretty excited. This was before the war-whooping came out. Did you know Blockbuster gives Indian cards?