Pop Champagne III

2008 to the curb! It is time for a New Year. As for me, I welcome it...

Obviously this is the night where countless corks will take flight and sail into the New Year. Nothing - nothing - nothing is better than Champagne for this occasion.

I have but one recommendation for tonight...

Now, granted you can have whatever you like...


and "you can pop bottles all night" (thank, T.I.)...but I think you should try and make sure you buy a bubbly that is prepared Méthode Champenoise. Sometimes the label will state "French Method" - this always makes me giggle - I am so juvenile - or the label might read "Fermentation in this bottle."

Why?

Because I think this process is a pretty good approach to us and who we are and what we should celebrate today...

First, you start with your base wine (la cuvee). This is where we start with the grapes that we have...what is surviving our winters...where we are just us...where we just have to be "brave and leave our doubts."

Next, life happens...you take the base wine in the bottle and things start being added...sometimes it is sweet...sometimes not so sweet...

but it all has to be added...because this is the tirage and it is a slow fermentation in a sealed bottle...it is a cool time, but this is where the sparkle of Champagne is produced so that we can "be walking on air"


as the wine ferments the yeast cells split open and start spilling their guts...and from this sharing we get our flavor...


but here comes the riddler...riddling (le remuage) is where your bottle is literally turned completely UPSIDE DOWN and placed in a rack...then daily someone is going to come by grab you, shake you, roughly twist you back and forth, and put you right back on the rack - but at a slightly different tilt...here you start "looking for a reason why you set my world in motion...






but it "all just a bunch of matter" because with every twist and turn the dead sediment rises to the top of the bottle which gives us an opportunity to remove it...

of course, it does require an icy-cold salt bath to freeze the sediment so that the bottle can be uncorked and the sediment removed...but my point is it is removed...

Finally, we get our dosage...this is where the last bit of wine, sugar or brandy is added to polish off our sweetness level...some of us will be very dry others very sweet...but we all find ourselves in the range...

From here our bottle is corked one last time, wired down for security and ready for just the right moment to pop the cork! Here our adventure continues or begins (I guess depending on your perspective)...regardless, remember it takes a while to get going (much like this video)...but worth it...



So, shawty, get ready and...



hey, lolli lolli lolli, let me see you "pop that body...
because as Barack Obama says yeah, it is time for a change..."


Alright you shiny wonderful people, drink your shooting stars
and go get your glow on tonight...

Happy New Year!

Ahem, Ethiodyssey, ahem...

Pop Champage II

(*warning I am having blog formatting problems...again...)

Times right now are tough...
and probably getting tougher...

• but that doesn't change our soul's desire

  to still cling to our celebratory champagne this time of year...

  it is an exciting and wonderful time...the holidays.

  
  

  Nothing better exhibits our joys, our hopes, our lifted spirits,

  our desire to be better and do better,

  than a golden, sparkling, bubbly glass of champagne...

  
  
  
  Without going into too much detail...because I have other things I need to do today...the history of this amazing celebratory beverage is in itself a rebirth and triumph over adversity. Some of you know this, so I apologize in advance, but Champagne is not a grape but a region of France. This is why "the only thing that can call itself Champagne is from Champagne...everything else is just sparkling..." You can see how much we respect that here in the Americas.
• So your Christmas story - short and sweet version because I have a ton of work to do, then presents to wrap, etc. - is that the soil in Champagne is quite chalky...okay ridiculously chalky and their wine had these annoying bubbles that would crop up. In a still wine (non-sparkly) bubbles are obviously unwanted. Eventually, as the boots of time marched on folks in Champagne started to embrace the bubbles and then started adding sugar to their bubbly wine (thus, sec). Then they started to reduce the sugar (thus, extra dry, brut).
• So Champagne is the wine equivalent of of lemons to lemonade...only in this case, it is chalk to Champagne...or something like that...
• Now, Champagne unlike any other wine is all about the blending. (I know there are blended reds and white...but this is different.) The skill required to understand the perfect combination of still wines from different varietals and vintages is truly an art. One that continues to evolve and improve.

These are the faces of some of the most notable contributors to the great art form of Champagne. May I introduce you to Madame Clicquot and a lil ole monk Don Perignon...

Bon Jour!

Who have given us (respectively)...






Again...I am shooting for brevity today...but my naturally long-winded nature is compromising me...in their own lives, both the widow Cliquot (widowed at age 27 and took over her in-law's business and turned it into a generational dynasty) and Don P (a monk sent to wrestle with the devil's brew - no he did not "invent" champagne) have interesting stories of overcoming adversity and defying the chalk in their own soil to blossom into true art...

Christmas is a time of presents and love. It is also a time of reflection. A time to remember that many of things we love and appreciate today were first chalk in soil...and look at what we have now...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

Yule Thank Me Later

Are you looking for a fun group activity where different generations can get together, hang out, enjoy Christmas festivities and make fun holiday gifts?

Then look no further...and welcome to our Yule Log Extravaganza...

You will need the gather up the following ingredients:

Wood

Acorns

Buckeyes

Greenery, Berries and Such

Glue Gun

(Also Nails and Staple Gun - if you are confident)

Glitter, Snow and Clear Spray

(Optional - you can go without)

Ribbon

Ahem...
(what are we barbarians)

Sharp Things for Cutting

A Good Work Area

Then, Craft Wizards, you do the following:

Nail in the nail to the area that you want to center the bow

Apply greenery

You can wire to the nail or just hot glue it.

Find nephew entertaining himself...

(please he was safe and supervised the entire time)

Hot glue on your focal points

Make your Bow and wire it to the nail...

if your nail sticks up too high then shove a buckeye on it...

and ta-da!

After you have the bow on, you can elect to spray your glitter, glaze or snow...

Hang out and make a bunch to give as gifts...

(I opt to make smaller ones - desk size if you will)

Print up your Yule Log explanation sheets on fake parchment...

Roll them up and hand them with your logs or slip into one of the loops on your bow...

Load up the car and deliver the merriment...

Some of the others final products (not mine)...more merriment...

Elf-Me

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf-Me

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Pop Champagne I

Things have been very busy around here lately and I am running around like mad...

So today's Wino Wednesday is a bit different...and will come in phases.

if you don't know
(because you are one of those haters, I understand, but keep an open mind)
...because I wanna see you dance, see you dance

how we ball in the club I know you hate it
oh...pop champagne...

oh...pop champagne...

oh...pop champagne...

oh...we pop champagne

pop champagne

For all you teetotallers

Turn, Turn, Turn

Love never disappears, for death is a non-event.

I have merely retired to the room next door.

You and I are the same; what we were for each other, we still are.

Speak to me as you always have,

do not use a different tone, do not be sad.

Continue to laugh at what made us laugh.

Smile and think of me.

Life means what is has always meant.

The link is not severed.

Why should I be out of your soul if I am out of your sight?

I will wait for you. I am not here, but just on the other side of this path.

You see, all is well.

- St. Augustine

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

September 1936 - November 2008
- Grandma Perfect -

(Alpha's Aunt)