Wine around the world

Another delicious and prosperous onam has passed by. This onam seemed special to me, not because of the fact that kerala had put a new record in drinking rum and brandy. This onam gave me a flavour of traditionality compared to the past five onams. If I am to say about onam, I must go back to “attham” and then 10 days up to thiruvonam. Just want to write about the remarkable achievements that made this onam traditional to me.

Day 1 – Attham

There was a long journey from Trivandrum to Thrissur.

Achievement 1:- Atthappookkalam@Home

 Managed to collect some flowers from the “muttam” or courtyard and make a small but nice “atthappookkalam” which is a floral design we do starting from this day to “thiruvonam”. Parents were happy enough to let me purchase my “onakkodi” the new dress to wear in onam celebrations, even though they had warned me on previous month not to buy any dress this year as I purchased something very expensive. As I felt guilty of myself for that, I decided to buy a shirt only, but later added a wrist watch to it which in total came up to the same amount that I spent the other day! As I have a bright white Ramraj cotton mundu /dhoti (from Tamil Nadu), with a kasavu (golden) lining. I can use it this time as it hadn’t been used after the previous onam celebration.

Achivement 2:- Traditional Dress

Was able to say no to Jubba or Kurtha which is widely known to be kerala traditional dress, but infact arabic or north indian. Kerala doesn’t have a traditional dress to cover the upper-half of the body for men. But I need to cover my well-built chest and six pack abs to avoid girls going crazy! So spent some bucks on a designer wear. And the watch was a fast track product, a biggie that didn’t suit my skinny wrist, but bought it because of my love for that kind.

Achievement 3: Atthappookkalam@Vadakkumnadhan

I saw a big atthappookkalam infront of the Vadakkumnadhan temple, in thrissur. Also got some snaps of the same and Panchavadyam, one of my favorite traditional temple art. But I’m a bit depressed to know that Kozhikode overtook us at this time with their massive pookkalam. But I love this one as it is infront of the majestic “gopura kavadam” or entrance of the Vadakkumnadhan temple.

The next few days don’t have much significance as I returned back to Trivandrum. So I’m jumping to day 7.

Day 7 – Moolam

This day was special as it was onam celebration in the office, Lot of programs were arranged like vadam vali, pulikkali, pookkalam competition, thiruvathirakkali etc. Had a Trivandrum style sadya with different courses and three types of paayasams(ada pradaman,paal payasam, the next I don’t remember ). The same day after celebrations, I went back to Thrissur as it was holidays until moonnaam onam.

Day 8 – Pooraadam

Nothing traditional this day, as It was a busy one in the process of buying my brand new Yamaha R15, got it and drove it all the day.

Day 9 – Utthraadam

Utthrada paacchil is famous which is the rush for shopping inorder to prepare for thiruvonam, but was different for me, only thing I did was to help the preparations for the onam celebrations infront of Eravu Sree Mahavishnu temple conducted by our club- “Select Team”.

Achievement 4:- Stay with Family

Turned down a suggestion of going for a tour for a whole day to Chimney dam as it was a blunder to stay away from the family on a special day. Also avoided the possibility of taking any kind of alcohol as part of the trip.

Achievement 5 – “No” to alcohol

There was a get together with my collage mates. In the party after the get together, I could control my instincts inorder to restrict myself from taking even a sip of beer, while sitting between all of my friends drinking in a bar! That was a great feeling!

Day 10 – Thiruvonam

Well, this one was a very special thiruvonam.

Achievement 6:- Traditional Meal

This time, I managed to convince my mom to prepare the traditional meal for thiruvonam after buying some groceries required, instead of the fried rice planned. Also suggested the traditional pulissery (or mooru koottaan in Thrissur slang) instead of sambhar. The result was that I enjoyed every bit of it. Pulissery, Inchitthairu (which is said to be equialent to 1000 curries), payarupperi, acchaaru, pappadam, and finally semiya paayasam, All served on a plantain leaf!

Achievement 7:- Vahana pooja

As it is a custom to have the brand new vehicles done pooja, which gives good fortune, I took the same special day for it: Thiruvonam. Visited the temple and took the coupon for it (tipping the “poojari” or priest with some money, oh sorry thats not tip, It is called “dakshina” a sacred giving, is also a custom). So that’s it! I got my R15 decorated with Flowers, sprinkled with “theertham” or the sacred water, and painted with “chandanam” or sandal wood paste.

Achievement 8:- ”No” to TV Channels

This day was also a busy one for the preparations for the meal, also the onam celebrations at the temple etc. So TV channels couldn’t give a lazy affect on me with its onam special programs and movies. Really, really happy about it!

Achievement 9:- Palada payasam

This is my favorite payasam. On the thiruvonam day, I had a chance to have it as the same was there on my grandfather’s home. It was highly delicious as it normally will be! I had two glasses of it.

Day 11 – Moonnaam onam

Onam was like over this day, I had to return back again to Trivandrum afternoon. Completed about 230 pages of “The White Tiger” by Aravind Adiga, on train. Could get down at Kazhakkuttom where the train don’t have a stop but slowed down as it was early.

So thats how I celebrated my onam. It was on this onam that I rediscovered the delicacies of the traditional sadya which is somewhat different from the current definitions of a sadya. The only thing I missed was the “thrikkaakkarappan” pooja which is done on five piramid shaped objects which is considered as the lord vamana moorthi (vishnu) residing in thrikkaakkara. But I’m getting a feeling like I did something and made a difference this time, which is giving me an inspiration for making the next one more traditional. Wish everyone have future Onams free from Alchohol and TV Channels (as both are harmful) and celebrate it with the true spirit!

In a follow up on my posting about the banning of alcohol during election voting, I wanted to detail a very odd ban on the sale of alcohol in Thailand.

It is illegal to buy alcohol in shops and supermarkets- meaning for private, personal consumption- from 2:00pm until 5:00pm. Shops cannot sell alcohol from midnight until 11:00am.

Yes, this is odd. I understand the desire for shops and supermarkets to cut off sales from midnight through 11:00am, this is common in many countries, but why the mid-afternoon ban? It is very odd if you happen to be in a 7-11 or supermarket in the middle of the afternoon and want to buy a few beers for the evening- you cannot.

To make things more odd- you can drink in a bar or restaurant all day.

Even more odd? If you are buying 10 liters of alcohol, you can buy make the purchase anytime, as it is a larger quantity, like wholesale. Now this is very strange- it is okay to purchase a large quantity and possibly get very drunk, but if you want to buy a few beers then you are subject to restrictions as to when you can make the purchase.

There is nothing published about the logic of this ban or the reason. I have been told it is to prevent Thai people from drinking all afternoon. This would appear to be the reason- many Thai people cannot afford the “bar” price of beer and spirits. I don’t think this is prevention, but just makes it inconvenient to find a bottle of beer in a store in the middle of the afternoon.

You can beat the ban- generally a local store that is not part of a chain or large grocery store will sell you alcohol, at anytime.

If you cannot buy a few bottles and need a fix, don’t worry. Bars are open close to 24 hours a day. There are bars that open at 9am, most close at 2am during the week and 4am on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There are sidewalk bars- literally temporary bars set up on a sidewalk- that will stay open as long as you want to pay.

One lesson of Thailand, where there is a rule, there is generally a way to work around the rule. Just smile and ask, there is a good chance someone will help you.

In the US I don’t trust my body much. Sure, sometimes I call upon it to perform extraordinary feats when I am late for a bus or trying to make a meeting on time. But for the most part, my feeling is that I am relatively physically limited, and I plan my behavior accordingly.

I will only drink at bars that I know well, when I know the way home. That way I can trust my body to figure out the specifics of finding a safe (hopeully home) place to sleep for the night.

China is an exercise in trust of one’s body. Everyday I task it with new challenges: digest this dog flesh, walk to this park with despite dehydration, navigate without sleep, function when drunk. Somehow in China my body rises to the challenge.

I capped off my trip in Suzhou with a hot pot lunch. Izzie, a friend of a friend, invited one of her friends who sells “white wine” (read Chinese high-proof liquor) to the meal. We’d tried to get him to come to the bar the previous night, but to no avail. After he met me, even though we weren’t able to communicate very well, he took a shine to me and expressed his regret at not going drinking with me the night before. He went to his car and brought in some “white wine” for me to try. The hot pot was great and wine was so smooth! I couldn’t believe I was drinking 120 proof liquor like it was a rum and coke. Pretty quickly it stacked up and for the first time I was drunk in China. Izzie’s friend admitted that he wanted me to get buzzed enough so that I would miss my train and we could hang out at the bar that night. As much as that sounded fun, I already had made arrangements to meet a friend in the train station at Hangzhou, but and part of me still wishes I had audibled
my China adventure at that point to hang out for a little longer in Suzhou.

We lost track of time at lunch and didn’t really realize it until about 5 minutes to 1. Unfortunately my train was scheduled to depart for Hangzhou at ten after 1. I still needed to get my luggage from my hostel, and we didn’t really have a plan. Earlier in the day Izzie had promised that she’d get me to the train station on time, a very resolute assurance that she didn’t really need to make, but she seemed duty-bound to keep it.

We weren’t sure how we were going to make it.

I had such a wonderful time in Suzhou. The city reminds me a bit of Venice, except it smells much better and the people are nicer. Also, even though you probably wouldn’t want to swim in it, the canals that crisscross the city are from freshwater, which I for whatever reason prefer to the salty brine of Venice.

Izzie, Jing’s friend, was unimaginably sweet and friendly. I had a fantastic time hanging out with her and talking about life, work, and travel. The food I had in Suzhou was also among the most consistently tasty I had while in China. I think in Suzhou I got closest to the native pace of life in mainland China. When visiting friends elsewhere, I was either hanging out with upper middle class people doing middle class things or visiting expat friends. Although in these places I still got to see some awesome stuff, in Suzhou I spent a lot of time just walking around poor neighborhoods, poking around construction sites, and eating at random stands on sparsely populated streets.

On my final day I got to live out one China fantasy and drive a motorized scooter while Izzie rode on the back. It probably made more sense for her to drive and me to ride, but perhaps gender roles do matter in China or Izzie sensed how excited I was to drive her bike. It was pretty exhilirating, even though probably not totally safe as we buzzed along, unhelmeted, crossing ancient bridges and skittering along next to green canals. We were racing down one side street past old homes inhabited by elderly folks who were sitting outside, in the thin thoroughfare, watching us go by, drying laundry, or washing dishes and chamber pots in the river. As we discovered the path we had been zipping down for the past 5 minutes or so was a dead end, the battery in the scooter began to die. I did my best to pedal to keep us going but quickly discovered that it was more efficient to just get off and walk.

It is amazing the depth of perception you miss when you pass through areas at high speed. I remember skimming a piece that got reblogged in my Tumblr feed (I’m thinking Tragos or Mills) about how rapid transit has dramatically altered the way we view space, and I think I got a taste of it.

I suppose my first pass was all the more shallow as I was still figuring out the mechanics of this scooter. I bike a fair deal in Ann Arbor, but at this time we were just coming out of winter and my bike had been abandoned for the season at the covered parking of my office, so it had been some time since I’d had to exercise any agility or balance on a vehicle.

As our pace slowed, a great many more details floated to the fore.

I wanted to (also) call this post ‘what a difference a day makes’ because after being so smug and self-congratulatory on Monday evening, I came crashing down to earth yesterday with a resounding thud! 

Because I was up late watching the Emmy Awards on Monday night, I over-indulged a little in alcohol.  I have been quite good lately (while on hols), having some wines, but with no real interest in drinking too much.  Generally I have been sitting on a few red wines or champagnes and haven’t been in the mood for more.  I don’t know what happened Monday night, but I went off to the bath to finish reading a book and came downstairs a couple of times to top up my glass…

As a result, Tuesday dawned and I didn’t!  I stayed in bed for almost all of the morning with a dull headache and feeling very tired.  It set the tone for the day.  When I eventually emerged from the cocoon of my doona I felt compelled to go and buy corn chips and grazed on those all afternoon.  I suffered from a general malaise and felt miserable all day.   The corn chips offered no comfort at all and I almost wished I had succumbed to chocolate as well.

By evening I decided I needed real food and ate a fairly healthy dinner, but couldn’t shake the guilt and frustration of having wasted some precious holiday time and lost some of the momentum from the day before. 

So, Wednesday is now upon us (here in Oz) and I am restarting my diet YET AGAIN, with my post-holiday weigh-in only 3 sleeps away.  I cringe to think of the damage I have done…

Yes, I sabered a bottle of champagne. But no, it was not as graceful and smooth as youtube.com or any other member of my class would have you think. All week-long the instructor of my wine immersion class kept talking about how we would be sabering champagne. Unlike apparently everyone else in my class I had never heard or seen sabering done that I could remember. It’s done by running the blade along the seam of the champagne bottle and whacking the lip so theoretically the glass breaks and the champagne shoots out the end. The instructor kept stressing the dangers if you turn it towards someone (and one girl did actually have the cork shoot out prematurely on its own) and that if the wine was too cold the whole bottle might explode. But each person who went in class stressed how much easier it was than it seemed. One guy in my class even stated “I usually do it with a butter knife.”

Then it was my turn. It took me two bottles of champagne and all 4 seams.

First bottle, first seam: I nicked part of the lip off

First bottle, second seam: I couldn’t get anything. then my instructor took it from me, hit it and the entire neck flew off. He then explained I must have made a small hole on the other side so air was leaking so when it went it was going to explode. So of course now I’m even more nervous…

Second bottle, countless hits. Everyone told me I was doing it too weakly-well I am too weak! Additionally the bottle was too big for my hand and the condensation made it threaten to slip out of my hand so I couldn’t get a good grip. Somehow on the second bottle though I did manage to crack the glass but for some reason the cork didn’t shoot off as its supposed to. But after a second whack it finally did. Unfortuantely due to the 1 million attempts I made no one got a photo at the exact moment I got it:

Another weekend flew by again, just like that.

Wine – At Fresh, a cosy little Thai/Sushi cafe, right under the Wellington train tracks. The sushi was tasty and fresh, and went down well with the wines that we brought (a Pacific Rim Riesling, and a Groth Sauvignon Blanc – which didn’t stand up to the other two SBs we had this week, the most outstanding being the Duckhorn, followed by a cheap but solidly good Kim Crawford)

Karaoke – large raucous bunch of Q’s friends and friends of friends crammed into a private karaoke bar yelling out songs

Sailing – Sailing with the (hungover) Rs, and K, who was in town for her birthday weekend. Best wind conditions yet (although the Rs might beg to differ)!!!!! It was just glorious to be out.

Hot pot – Noisy hot pot dinner with 6 girls and J. Opened the trusty Nora Albarino, followed by L’s Kim Crawford. The other girls weren’t big drinkers (though K was somewhat uncharacteristically pounding down beer), so we brewed lots of agave-sweetened roasted rice green tea instead

Climbing – K and H joined us at the gym to see what it was all about. Put in three solid hours there… gotta train up for the upcoming trip down to KY

Chinatown – Met up with my new coworker for some Cantonese dinner, even though we were feeling quite stuffed from the whole weekend of feasting

Wine – Strolled over to the Rs, to admire their new deck furniture while knocking back two bottles of chilled white (Terleto Chardonnay – crisp and refreshing, but could do with a fuller body; and the Grgich Chardonnay – oaky, buttery, and yeasty)

Right, so before you ask, I know winter here in OZ is now a day old, but needless to say last weekend in order to satisfy a menu requirement I needed to rustle up a new batch of mulled wine for the bar, and in the process it got me thinking of the basic recipe I adopt when brewing such a delight. I know there are a myriad of variations on the mulled wine recipe, rather like the bloody mary every bar seems to have their own take on it, but here is my version for a simple, no fuss, but dam tasty brew, which is open for variation and further experimentation…

The following measurements are based on the premise of one bottle of wine, which roughly offers up a dozen glasses of mulled wine, depending on your serving vessel. Obviously if you’re going to use this as a guide, simply multiply the ingredients in line with the number of bottles you use per batch.

What you will need:
one bottle of a good full-bodied red (I use Hunter Valley shiraz)
80-100ml water
30g sugar
half an orange, cut in reasonably thick slices
whole lemon, cut into wheel slices
2 tsp cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
3 whole star anise

Method:
simply add the wine, water and sugar to a stainless steel pan, dissolving the sugar on a low heat. Add the spices, studding the lemon and orange slices with 3-4 cloves each (as pictured). Simmer it on a steady heat for around 15mins, do let it boil as otherwise you’ll not only bitter the sweet spices but also unnecessarily burn off the alcohol. Once complete take it off the heat, strain the mix and serve in heated glasses to waiting imbibers.

mulled wine

Tips:
* I work on the premise that by adding the water, it allows you to mull the wine but not lose any quantiy of liquid through the cooking, therefore by using the above rough measurements you should still end up with a bottle of wine in volume at the end. This helps if you’re making this ahead of time and reheating it, as you can simply store the mulled wine in the original bottle it came from.
* As I say be careful not to boil the mix, you’ll not only reduce your quantity proportionally but also bitter the sweet spices used. After around 15mins at a steady heat you’ll notice the citrus flesh will start to peel away from the slices, this is a sign cooking time is up.
* Play around with the types of sugar you use, demerara works well, as does raw or brown sugar, caster or white have less of an impact.
* Also play around with the type of red you use, but make sure it’s not too light. Shiraz I find works best, but tempranillo would work well. Do not just treat mulled wine as a way to dump any forgotten or old wine, using a bad base will only lead to a less than exciting end result.

I’m from rusty mailboxes,
from Super Mario Brothers and red clay.
I’m from a dead end road.
I’m from cherry blossoms and pine trees
whose sap was an eternal annoyance to a mother of four.
I’m from squash casserole and smart remarks,
from Fanny, Irene and Marvin.
I’m from the better late than nevers
and the glasses of wine poured
to watch the sunset over the bay.
From you’re not made of glass and
get your elbows off the table.
I’m from may the Lord be with you,
and also with you.
I’m from the Highway 247,
from broccoli and instant coffee.
From fireworks launched from John’s cast,
the hearing aids Milly won’t wear,
and Amy’s secret smokes behind the barn.
I’m from the walls and closets
of my parents and grandparents,
from boxes kept safe from Katrina in a shed.
I’m from the stories the pictures can’t tell,
to my grandmother’s great relief.
Stories she retells every forth of July.

     I started this blog four weeks ago today. In a month’s time, I’ve received one hundred and ninety visits, and two comments. Much love to those of you who give a shit. Next month, I do anticipate a greater presence. I have no idea how to achieve that, but somehow, I’ll think of something as the days turn into nights, and back again. Perhaps I’ll act a bit nicer. I’ve noticed that a lot of blogs by writers have this sensitive, overly polite demeanor about them. Everybody who is hopeful, who is a prospective author appears to have a good attitude about life. Such optimism…where do these people find inspiration? On second thought, I’ll do me, and not act like the sun shines everyday.

     I thought that it would be a cutesy wootsy idea to review a cigar today, this being something of a special occasion. Four weeks blogging, but I’m sort of broke today, and as much as I love cigars, they are but a luxury for me to have and to savor every now and then. Not always. So in light of my weekend excursion to banal and scenic Iowa, I just wrote this poem in the last twenty minutes or so. Not revised. Far from refined. Sounds like a great addition to my “Special Reserve”.

     I wrote that last sentence over an hour ago, having been sidetracked by many other things. I forgot what I was getting at. Happy one month anniversary, blog! Not that anybody gives a fuck…If you do care, contact me, for I will gladly be accepting gifts  in the form of wine and rum.