For a while now, I have been going for Wednesday evening (sometimes on Saturdays too) wine tasting at Bermans Liquor store, Lexington. If you are in the neighborhood and like to taste some incredibly great wines or beer swing by and you will not be disappointed! Joel Berman, and his staff are extremely professional, friendly and really know their alcohol. I personally like wines more than beer. The store has an fantastic collection of beers from Britain, Belgium, and other remote small microbreweries. I also subscribe to their newsletter, which is sent by Joel Berman, and has fantastically detailed information on different wines, their tasting schedule for the month.

I thought, I must start writing up a bit more regularly about what we tasted and what I liked or didn't. So, here is to my first Wine Tasting Series (WTS).

2005 Domaine Long Depaquit Chablis
Producer: Albert Bichot: Domaine Long Depaquit (Chablis, Burgundy, France)
Grape/Varietal: 100% Chardonnay
Notes: Rich dry wines, citrus and mineral fruits along with lime and white blossoms (flowers). Good body, quite lively and fresh.

2001 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo "Chronicon" Azienda Agricola Zaccagnini
Producer: Zaccagnini family, Abruzzi, Italy.
Grape/Varietal: Montepulciano
Notes: I have grown to like the wines made from the Montepulciano d'Abruzzo's. This wine is ruby red, smooth, velvetty, medium bodied. This will go quite well with poultry with herb recipes.

We (a bunch of us) celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday.

First day of vacation and it is snowing! It is not a sad feeling, but one that makes my heart sing! I love it! It is the first snow of the season, and feeling is just inexplicably euphoric. Of course, with the snow, pretty much all that was planned is out the window and it being changed to enjoy the first of the flaky white-stuff.

Today {EDIT: oops! It is already Nov 11th, please read this as Nov 10th blog!) has been incredibly long, yet incredibly happy day. I want to bottle this feeling and use it when I am down in the pits and need a pick me up.  It has been a long day simply because, I have been up from around 5:00am  (nothing new) and it is way past midnight (whoa, this is new) and into the wee hours of the next day, and I am still up jotting a few words (mubble really!) . All day I have driven around..... allow me to elaborate.

1. 7:00am: Drove from home to Starbucks along Route 3N (en route) to North Reading to be at a one of the weight watcher meetings. Ja, I work some of these meetings to help others lose and maintain good healthy lifestyles.
2. 7:45am-10:45am: Completed meeting, closed all the accounting for the meeting, faxed in all the relevant documents for processing around 50+ members and then hopped back into the car.
3. 10:45am-1:00pm: I drove down from North Reading to Burlington Mall, to pick up a gift for Doug's Birthday Party. Thank goodness, I knew what I wanted to pick, just did not know whether it was going to be Lord & Taylor or Macy's or something else. At the mall, I picked up my yearly Swarovski's Christmas ornament, and couldn't resist the snowflake brooch. Also, picked up the long budgetted ear plugs from Bose. Of course, picked the scarf from Lord & Taylor. This was an event of its own. I liked three and could not decide between the three. One was a brilliant red and gray, the other standard green and blue and lastly the gorgeous gray. The more I drove myself nuts, the more I liked the gray one. It was lovely, and I loved it. So, there, Doug gets this one! Of course, all the while, I was reiterating to myself, that Doug may or may not like it at all. So, got it gift receipted just in case he wanted to return it. Anyways, I hope (I really do!) he likes it.
4. 1:00pm-1:20pm: Realized that there is no gift wrapping done as yet at the mall! WHHHAATT! God gracious. I drove home, and within the next twenty minutes gift wrapped the gift, and wrote out the card. Thank god, I had picked the card up!
5. 1:20pm-1:55pm: Just enough time to drive up to Methuen! Argh! Through all the traffic of I-95 and I-93, for the second time this day.
6. 2:00pm-5:00pm: GOD! I had hoped to get to Dougs Party by 4ish. Darn! I had mentioned in the email, that I would be there by 4pm. I think he is laid back and cool enough not to be bothered, if I was late. 3-hour seminar! yuck! People! Shorten that damn presentation! Sorry I am just annoyed.
7. 5:00pm-<don't know the time>: It is dark when I leave the seminar (ARRHGGHH!), I am driving down from Methuen down to Bellerica. I have never done this before. Couple of wrong turns..... and stops later, I arrive at Dougs place.
8. <don't know the time>-12:00midnight: I don't think I remember having so much fun at Doug's place as I did today. Is it because, I am incredibly happy? I don't even know what is making me feel incredibly happy. We pieced together a 750 piece puzzle. I love puzzles, I think, more than some board games. I have a whole bunch at home and my kitties love to 'help'. Yep! They help by watching me piece something together and then paw me with their soft little paws, and then run off with a piece in their mouth. I have to physically lock my puzzle in one of the spare bedrooms. But then the kitties sit out side the locked door, meowing pathetically, until I let them in. I wonder when I can really do these. I have just got a new Ravensburger puzzle which I want to do.
9. 1:30am the next day! Holy molly, I am still awake. This always happens, if I am awake past a certain time, I can keep awake all night.... which is going to be tonight! My only concern is that tomorrow plans to be wicked busy too! I have another meeting at 8:00am and then Innovations meeting at 11:00am to 4:00pm and past that, I am pretty sure I am going to be dead to the world.

---- Must go to sleep ----

Great evening talking about wines, wine webs and their futures. I met Arun this evening at the local Arlington Heights Starbucks to talk about wines, wineries and websites dedicated to them.

Already, I have spent way too much time reading, researching and acquiring some really cool wines. And I wish all the information that Bermans sends out in the newsletter was on their websites. I have been chatting with Arun for a while about this, and this evening we got together to chat more outside the Bermans store atmosphere. It was indeed fun to chat about something I am so passionate about with someone who is equally passionate about.

This obsession with wine research has already made me design my own little database of the wines, producer information, reviewer information, grape/varietal, cellaring, pairing (food and cheese) and so much more. I am pretty sure that some point in the near future, I will have added the wine application to this site. This site should really stop being kirti-glass-accents and become more of kirti-multiple-hobby site. Ah, but that is far far away.

Besides all the wine, Arun is such a good company.

I feel just incredibly happy and elated. Don't know why, but I do. There is a sense of peace, direction, and happiness. Something that I have not felt in a long while. Thinking about what could have made me feel this way and finding none, has simply led me to the conclusion that I must be growing up. Things that would simply drive me batty before, scarcely raise an eyebrow anymore. Still there are things that drive me completly batty.

So, I put together the Batty-ness list:

1. Dishonesty. Yep, it drives me quite pots, or batty or annoyed to know someone has been dishonest with me. Weird, though I have to know to turn batty, otherwise I am live in blissful ignorance. So, in summary, if you want to be dishonest with me, just take it outside and leave me out of it. 
2. Computerized sales dialing. In the same light, business that don't pay attention to 'Do not call lists'. Annoying bums!
3. False flattery.  In the same vein as the dishonesty. Some people live under the illusion that if they flatter someone, then it will all work out. Flash News: No siree bob! If you want to compliment, then do sincerely or don't do it at all.
4. Folks who bluff when they have no business talking about the subject in the first place.
5. Being re-gifted. I really do like to take the time to find something really nice and perfect for the folks I truly care about. It drives me completly nuts, if my gift is re-gifted... and perhaps more batty if I actually told about the same.

I realize that some of the items in my batty list are silly and weird. But then they are on my batty list (make one for yourself!). Most of them I am working on to make me less batty. But should I really be working on them? Aren't these the quirks that really go to define who I am?

I have a face book!

Hey guys! I am now on face book. I highly recommend it, it is awesome. Already, have found a whole bunch of folks on it that I work with and also friends that I used to work with in past jobs. It is nice to catch up with all of them.

A very very long while ago, about ten years ago, I had put in an application for an enviable position. Over the years, I entertained the thought, that perhaps, I would get a hearing or an audition or at least a trial. Today, I learned that the application has been summarily dismissed without a second thought. Something broke! All I can think is: "That what does not break you only makes you stronger!" Does it really? I mean it is so easy to say it, but does it really mend?

For the past week or so, I have been on a hunt for that gadgetty thing that pipes music to my ears. This morning, as I browse through, I read the horoscope for the day!

"The shopping bug has bitten, and it's not letting go -- but this fascination with material goods is not going to be good for you right now. All signs still point to save, save, save! Not only is throwing your cash around going to drain your resources, but it's distracting you from things that matter most. There's more delight to be found in the people around you than in some silly new gadget or trendy accessory. Put yourself on a budget and avoid the mall for a while" 

Right! Thanks! (Shaking my fist at providence, if it exists!)

For the past month, I have blogged more about wine, wine tasting and wine related, than anything else. A casual visitor to the site would simply wonder about my obsessiveness.

Sometimes, I wonder myself, where does this obsessiveness (read: passion) for wines stem from? Do I blame my father for introducing me to this fascinating world of wines? A long long while ago, (1960's to be exxact), my father and his friend (as doctors in Europe), drove around in Europe (France, in particular), wine tasting. As kids we (my sister and me) grew up listening to stories about the same and seeing picture slides of his trip. For whatever reason, this seemingly simple pasttime back home, has left a very lasting impression on me. I want to do the same. I want to spend some time 'bumming around' in France. Travelling down rural areas, through vineyards, smelling the air, feeling the soils, tasting the grapes that all go into making some great wines. I know this will happen, it is just a matter of time.

Back to reality, back home, I have also come to realize, that it is the first sight, the first sniff, the first swirl, and the first sip that makes me smile. It is connection of what I have read and what I am tasting, that makes me forget all worries, all concerns. It is those few minutes, when it is the wine and me and nothing else that matters. I have pretty much found myself tune out to all chatter around me. Few days ago, as I tasted the Chateauneuf, Arun (at Bermans) was explaining something to me, as I swirled, sniffed and sipped the wine, there are distinct gaps in my understanding of what he was saying. This was weird, hope I am forgiven. I am not ignoring, it is just that with all my senses, I am essentially somewhere else. After these first sniff(s), swirl(s), and sip(s), it is pretty much downhill from then on. It usually takes a truly exceptional wine, that I proceed to pour out a glass. Note, exceptional has nothing to do with cost of the bottle, but for some blooming reason, they are pretty darn interrelated.

As I write this, I am enjoying a rather spritzy portugese white wine Casal Garcia Vinho Verde. At $8 a bottle it is a decent dry, citrusy, and crisp wine. I should have opened this on a warm summer day with a fruit salad. But, today, I just wanted something light, airy and this delivers.

Besides, it is the evening to break open the Settlers of Catan or Ingeniuos or something or the other to celebrate the fall back of the clocks!

I want one of those things!

Those things that pipe music to your ears at a drop of a hat pin or less. Right, I need a small portable music player. Before you say iPod, allow me to say, I don't want to deal with iTunes (well, if I don't have to :) ).  My criteria:

1. It should be Flash Card (not hard drive), as I will be using as I workout.
2. It should play mp3 and wma formats, and please have an FM tuner. I am hooked on radio in my car!
3. It should have re-chargable batteries.... I am not spending on new batteries and I am good at making sure batteries are all charged.
4. It should play..... ah!.... well!.... great!

Any ideas?

My current reigning favorite is: The 8GB Zen by Creative Labs. Any others? Please do suggest!

Watched this movie on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) today. I think I liked this one completely. I think (or like to think) I had heard about this movie ages ago and never watched it. As it was announced, I just sat down to catch couple glimpses of the movie. But, after a while, I just had to know about the prisoner of Zenda. I think it was fantastic! With Deborah Kerr and Stewart Granger. Spectacular sets, lavish gowns and swash-buckling heros. It was rather fun. Watch it, it is a good one, although a remake of the 1937 one and it will be remade again in 1988. Ah! but what the heck, watch it anyways.

My colleague at work mentioned to me yesterday, that I should check out the Arlington, MA's drama scene at Arlington Friends of Drama. So, we (my colleague, my boss and me) check out the website, and it showing "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum". It took me by complete surprise and shock (if I may add). For those who don't know, December every year, is my company's annual national forum in Orlando, Florida, whereto the entire company (or most of us) travel and pretty much work as blue-shirting-staff in different roles to make the event a successful one. Anyways, the title just seemed so close to the what we are facing...... funnies on the way to the forum. On further chat with my boss, he mentioned that it was indeed a movie too!

Of course, my reaction to this all, is to put it on the netflix queue and have it delivered today! I couldn't wait, I had to see what could possibly be funny on the way to the forum! I found it absurd, idiotic, hilarious, side-spliting stupid and wacky. This movie was made in 1966 and it still holds its charm in absurdity. For a friday night laugh it was worth it. 

It has made me think, what could be the funny thing(s) on the way to 'our' forum?  I cannot wait to catalog that? There are tones of what can be funny at the forum, but on the way? I am going to keep my eyes and ears peeled.