Resolvable Resolutions and a Comittment to Champagne

The year now is swiftly drawing to a close. As we sit here and chronicle the year's passings and watch as the clock continues to tick life away, we face the emotional undertaking of the coming and going of another year.

I embrace the widespread optimism running at an all time high during this time.

I welcome the much needed time for reflection, and the moments to dream that are free from harm.

The turning of the tide.

In doing so, I have come to realize that I am through with short lived resolutions. In determining how to become the best version of my self, because I believe that I am reaching my capacity to do so with each moving lesson, with each fleeting day, and with each passing year.

So instead, I resolve to drink more Champagne.

I'm committing to drinking more bubbly, yes the giggle juice.

I commit to indulge in its spritzy acidity, its crisp and refreshing fizz.

From the big, juicy fruit rockets demolishing everything in their sugary wake, to the yeasty oxidative varieties. I'm laying the groundwork for a zippy safari of unbridled exploration, with more happy-go-luck than a effervescent pink elephant could ever harness.

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...and the instant Bon Vivant to accompany it.

I shall have it in flutes,

in cupcakes, 

in popsicles, 

and over baked pears.

For my wine education, for my taste buds, but above all,

to give myself more reasons to celebrate.

I do hope you'll excuse me as I now strap my taste buds into a harness for the upcoming whatnots where I intend to celebrate ALL THE THINGS.

As the stroke of midnight ushers in the new year, I hope that you too have many reasons to celebrate, many approaching occasions to commemorate, many friends to fawn over, many loved ones to adore.

...and an abundance of reasons to raise your glass to.

2014 is the next chapter of our lives, it's time to write a better story.

Here's to 365 new fair shakes.

Be safe out there and make certain to make it to 2014 unscathed.

Cheers to the new year,

but most of all, to you my friends.

Make certain to leave a lil' sparkled Hansel and Gretel breadcrumb trail behind you in 2014.

x
        

Wise partridge in a magic pear tree

This lovely old Christmas,

with its ambient glow,

made from starlight and plucked ripe from the skies.

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This lovely old tree

dressed in a prism of trimmings,

for the warm and much welcomed winter morning.

 

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Oh, this old trinket,

made adoringly by tiny hands,

to perfectly adorn the holiday sapling.

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This old dream,

tucked beneath the glossy sphere of a snowy globe,

longing to crash through and take flight.

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These grateful old bones,

filled with sweet dances of joy,

from a lifetime of lessons and love.

 

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I do hope the day waves a magic wand over your world, making everything sweeter, softer and all the more beautiful.

Now go wrap yourself up in loved ones and smiles.

Happy Christmas

x

        

November Rain

Early morning, coastal fog, and grey skies above, the onset of an early San Diego winter. This uncharacteristic weather tends to sneak upon us like a feline cat in the gloss of night despite our typically warmer climate.

 photo credit: tiana-marie-arnoco.tumblr.com

It's enough to swing the pendulum into cheerlessness.

I am quite fond of gloomy days however, and all that accompanies them. The steaming cups of delightful tea, the afternoons filled with sad piano songs that writhe with passion, the drizzle of rain dancing atop the lapping waves before they break onto the shore.

photo credit: cinderellaws.tumblr.com

I welcome the rain as it gives me good excuse to tuck away into a bookstore and nose through the aisles to catch up on my bookjunkie-based freeloading. This of course, always concludes with me slapping down the plastic and depleting a significant amount of funds from my bank account.

For the record, I am not to be trusted in a bookstore with a credit card.

I've a fine umbrella which permits me to spend much time outside to enjoy the little nuances of the rare Southern Californian rainy day, the splish-splash of cars slowly proceeding through puddles (this is California after all, and we haven't the slightest as to how to behave while driving in the rain), and the clickety-clack of high-heeled women taking to the sidewalks that seethe with aromas of wet asphalt.

photo credit: http://shootingstaaarr.co.cc/

I do enjoy the warm feeling that musters deep within me on these brooding sort of grey days. I also happen to keep a lovely poem up my sleeve for such occasions. There's really nothing like the encouragement one receives from reading a nice poem, and November is a perfect time of year for reading poetry. This one happens to be wonderfully dreary.

The Rainy Day
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall
And the day is dark and dreary

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart, and cease repining,
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining,
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall
Some days must be dark and dreary.

 photo credit: jurasepromessas.tumblr.com

Perhaps somewhere there is a creature robed in a black, sashy sort of gown taking command of the skies. I do hope he or she has a moment or two for a whisk into a pile of blankets to rest and catch up on some poetry.

Happy gray day

x

        

Curdled Clabber and Trick or Treatment

The spooky season is well underway, and the Queso Diegans gathered for a delicious and frightful bash for the 'darker' part of the year.

Scaring up my own contributions to the seasonal affair, I dressed up a board of cheese offerings, piled high with a double-aged Gouda, a stiltonesque Bay Blue, and Delice de Bourgogne, a triple creme cheese topped with pumpkin butter and roasted almond sliverbits, (which served well as 'fingernails' for my mozzarella fingersticks). 

Wrapped it up with carrot-ginger crisps and an old bottle of Vampire Merlot, a very scary wine, for those who dare to scoff at the face of danger.

cheesy finger foods?

We slated and plated the harvest milk offerings of Cranberry Brillat Savarin, Pave du Nord, apple walnut smoked cheddar, and Penacorada blues

for a fantastical feast fit for the curd-adoring masses.

Cheese, brews, and pumpkin flavored everything were abound.

 The holy trinity of fall food.

'gruesome' foods

spiced pumpkin apple dippers

a apple-cinammon rolled chevre

Bottled pumpkin pie ales and our fair share of candied, sweetoothy fixes.

Fresh, dazzling dragonfruit 

...and some homemade varieties to include this here German whey cheese bathed in red wine.

Now a proper cheeseup is never complete without a fine motley of accompanying beverages.

We made certain to supply a whole lot of sudsy and winetastic holiday treats and treasures perfectly fitting of a 'cheesy' club. 

No tricks here!

Happy Halloween, cheesers.

x

        

Season of the Witch

Halloween is the holiday closest to my heart. A season without the hustle and bustle of other far more celebrated holidays. The ones highly associated with commercialism, a gaggle of stressors, the swift loss of patience, and skyrocketing bank account balances.

With Halloween comes little stress, and heaps of spooky musings

the tricks and treats

the unsuspecting scares 

the tender lumplings everywhere

the witching hours

the warm jack-o'-lanterns glow

an eerie tale of Poe just short of the evening's rest

those flickering lights

the sounds of ghosts, ghouls

and bumps in the night

a black and orange frosted cake

the haunty houses

sprinkled with golden leaves to rake

the spooks, hobgoblins, 

and long-legged beasts

saddle up to the banquet and indulge in the feast

a late night stroll
beneath a full Hunters moon
a season to go mad for, as it shall cease fairly soon

the fun and abandon

a rich, dark cabernet

leave the world behind you
to be an 'otherbeing' this day

Enjoy the remainder of the month long celebration, my Fall-weathered treasures.

Don't let the spooks get to you, and don't forget to pick up every stitch.

x
        

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice

Well, we're well into October, and the golden spell has been cast upon us. With it comes the exit of bees, the season of the witch, the goodness of pumpkin flavored everything, the turning and falling of chestnuts, oaks, and maples as they spread a carpet of scattered leaves for us to happily crunch beneath our feet.

As the days and temperatures start to wane and cool off, we prepare for the cooler months ahead, the comforting sweater weather. A celebration of the coming of the cold north wind and the change of seasons.

For your fall cup of tea:

acorns
apple orchards
pumpkin patches
butternut squash
hats
scarves
gloves
spice and everything nice
the turning of leaves
maple breads
hot apple ciders

Not for your fall cup of tea:

letting go of summer
noticeably shorter days

seasonal allergies
 snow blowers
southbound geese

Looking forward to dancing beneath the harvest moon as it heralds in the blustery season.
I do hope you'll join me.

Fall-la-la-la-la

 x