I celebrated by 56th birthday on November 27, 2010. I've been thinking for some time about creating a blog that would chronicle (for lack of a better word) my experiences this year. Why 56 and not 55…not really sure I can answer that. I have been having so much fun, learning so many new things, hanging out with some incredibly fabulous people, traveling to some absolutely amazing places that I don't ever want to forget these days. A little self serving maybe and maybe I should just write these things in a journal and move on. I just know that as I continue to move through this experience of life, I find myself thinking a lot about a lot of different things.
I always think I will remember everything that happens to me. But, I'm realizing that I really can't remember a lot of things that happened.
Just last night I was trying to remember what kind of adult beverages my husband and I enjoyed when we were first married. I didn't start drinking martinis until about 10 years ago. I remember a particular dinner party we had at our home where we were drinking green apple martinis, French martinis and I am sure some other sorts of martinis.
We have a nice little wine collection now, filled with the wines we discovered on our one and only trip to Napa in 2008, like Luna, Zcichichi, Hagafen, Darioush, Peju. But I can't even begin to remember what kind of wine we drank a long time ago. I do remember an incident with my Dad and my husband (back in 1986 right after Joe was born) and some bottles of super dusty, super dry Chianti at a beautiful Italian restaurant in Minneapolis. My step mother drinks this awful Gallo Rhine wine (I wonder if they still make that).
I have always liked to drink beer - Shiner, Lone Star, Guinness, Newcastle, Negro Modelo - that list I have not forgotten. Drinking beer is definitely a benefit from growing up in Texas. And, my favorite way to drink beer is from a keg. A keg party was never, never wasted on me! In fact, my son wanted to have a Thanksgiving keg this year. We found a Newcastle Brown Ale 5L mini keg. We tapped it but did not nearly drink it all. I guess I have something to look forward to this evening…well at least a glass or two. We used to pack a cooler of Lone Star and head to the beach. There is nothing better after being in the salt water and sun alllll day long and then cracking open an icy, icy cold Lone Star.
I remember one summer, I think it was 1980, drinking MaiTai's on Lake Minnetonka. That was my first summer in Minneapolis and we had an awful lot of fun.
Over the last couple of years I've gotten into apertifs. It all started in Villars, France in 2008. We went to a community festival that included these enormous pieces of undercooked beef with gravy and french-fries. This gentleman walked by our table and asked us if we wanted to try some of the eau de vie he was pouring from a gallon milk jug. We said sure - it was pear flavored and was supposed to help with digestion - with the huge slabs of beef we had just eaten, it was important to try to aid our digestion. It was fabulous. A few days later I experienced my first Armagnac - a truly amazing experience. I have tasted 27 year old Guatemalan Rum (at the Guatemalan Ambassador's home in DC), aguardiente on the side of a mountain with no name in Bogota, Raki in Turkey (also in DC and also drunk during dinner). There's always sipping Tequila that has a hint of vanilla flavor…it's definitely a wonderful world of apertifs.
I think this will be fun. 56 is going to be an absolutely, amazing, wonderful year!
