Discovering rosés...

Brix, in my opinion is one of Boston's best wine stores. From decoration to wine selection to wine tastings... I actually think it is officially in the Best of Boston, Citysearch guide. So for those of you Bostonians, who have not been there and would like to learn about wine/buy good wine should definitely pay a visit.

The cover of Wine Spectator this month was rosés, much to my surprise. I did not think to pay much attention to roses until I tried one at the Brix wine tasting and was very pleasantly surprised.

Rosés are a forgotten wine. When I think rosé, I think of white zin or other American blush wines. Sweet and almost desert wine tasting... Which has been the trend until now. Apparently, rosés are shifting towards a drier style, which makes them the perfect summer drink.

And unless you are an expert, I think one simple yet dumb to ask question (in my head) has always been, what is rosé? Is it a blend of white and red? Here's the answer according to wikipedia

There are three major ways to produce rosé.
1. Skin contact
Red-skinned grapes are crushed and the skins are allowed to remain in contact with the juice for a short period. The grapes are then pressed, and the skins are discarded rather than left in contact throughout fermentation as with red wine making. Because the skins contain much of the strongly flavored tannin and other compounds, this leaves the wine tasting more similar to a white wine. The longer that the skins are left in contact with the juice, the more intense the color of the final wine.
2. Saignée
The second way called saignée, or bleeding, is used when the winemaker desires to impart more tannin and color to a red wine, and removes some pink juice from the must at an early stage, in a process known as bleeding the vats. The removed juice is then fermented separately, producing the rosé as a by-product of the red wine.
3. Blending
The third method, the simple adding of red wine to a white to impart color, is discouraged in most wine growing regions now except for pink Champagne (wine region).

When you feel like a white burgundy, try a rosé instead. I think you will be pleasantly suprised.

Why haven't I thought of this?

Last night I did not feel like going out but everyone did! So I was sitting at home trying to find something to do. It never fails to amaze me that we have over 800 channels on cable and still consistently cannot find a single thing to watch. So instead, I turned to my friend internet and started Googling. I came across a really cool website:

http://www.livepersonalshoppers.com/


It is not what you initially think it is. It is not a website of personal shoppers who charge you for shopping instead of you. (By the way, I always wanted to have that as a profession! Get paid to shop? Sweet!!!!)

First of all, the business genius lies under the fact that this website is completely free!!! It is such a great business idea! They are a website that have partnered with a bunch of retailers. They have online shopping experts that could help you find the right wine, book, music, movies, tech gadgets, gift for people, baby stuff, high end fashion and budget apparel... etc. They chat with you to understand what you like and help you find it online! And they are very helpful and friendly people.

Now I was chatting with them at 10pm or so. I do not know how easy it would be to chat during the week at their peak hours. But you can also leave them an email and they get back to you with shopping ideas.

Wow, if I was an entrepreneur, this is the type of company I would LOVE to start. Why haven't I thought of this one?

I highly recommend checking it out.

Spencer Krug's Dream

Yesterday, I have discovered one of the merits of Cambridge: Middle East. It is an interesting place. A restaurant run by a couple of cute grandparentsy middle eastern peeps who serve yummy middle eastern food. And sometime after 8-10 pm it is also a music venue. It is a weird scene: The juxtaposition of these dipped-in-sugar grandparents dancing to alternative music along with Boston's alt crowd, who is surprisingly stripped from hipster bingo elements.

Anyways, I was there last night, due to a late night greasy food crave. I then discovered that in an hour, Sunset Rubdown was playing at the venue. It was an awesome food for body and mind combo.

And Sunset Rubdown was actually pretty cool. Much cooler than I gave them credit for when I listened to them months ago when their album Shut up I am dreaming came out. I still think that Spencer Krug did not stray too far from his Wolf Parade days but he is still a genius with plenty of talent to spare for two bands. I thought that the difference between Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown is a touch of Decemberists that Sunset seems to channel. Shut up I am dreaming is a hip swinging, head bobbing glam pop hit. I love it! The band is excellent at taking an almost Avril Lavigne worthy (in a good way I promise) catchy tune and adding a wealth of instrumental goodness, that is enchanting and addicting.

They are a humble band with a few jokes up their sleeve as well. They were very engaged with the audience and were funny without being cocky. Spencer sounds like your nerdy alternative best friend. They are awesome to see live.

Pop Culture and the Art of Blogging

So I am secretly addicted to Perezhilton.com
He is my guilty pleasure. He is one of those people you read while pretending to read NY Times. The funniest blogger ever.
Everyone (ok huge generalization, I should say a whole lotta people) like reading celeb gossip for one reason or another. It passes time while waiting in grocery line, you like looking at celebrity styles before shopping, find it extremely entertaining or eat that gossip up. Whatever the reason is we just LIKE it (apparently TOO much).

And I think Perez was like that initially. He wanted to keep a blog about celebrities because he had stuff to say about them. But then he became one of the most popular bloggers of all times. If you have not checked out his website, you really should. I am telling you. He draws coke traces and buggers on celebrity faces he publishes and cracks you up.

Well I wanted to write about him because I just realized how addicted we are to celebrity gossip. Perez, the other day had to post an apology letter for having pneumonia and not being able to keep up with his posts. Wow, the dude must say he is sorry for being seriously sick. Even in the most intense job, you can take a sick leave but someone writing about celebrities can't. Because celebrity news is addictive. We have to get them no matter what. We need them now It makes the world a better place.
I almost think that people would be less frustrated if CNN.com was under maintenance for a day.

Get well soon Perez!

Faithfully departing from the Oscar Phenomena

There is a reason why I do not watch the Oscars... And a reason why I resist watching movies associated with the Oscars... Because they piss me off... It upsets me to see these movies "buying" the limelight from real talent. Marketing and availability unfortunately makes some movies get popular and get rewarded. If I were a film director, I would be so discouraged...

The Departed was a pretty good Mafia movie... It was good fun. Scorsese is awesome, he really makes you engaged in his mafia stories but win an Oscar? Best Director? Really? Best Motion picture? Seriously? The acting was awesome. It was really amazing. I mean Scorsese had a budget to afford Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson and Mark Wahlberg. But what about that movie (aside from acting which actually won nothing) was such a talent display that it won two Oscars?

I think the Academy mentality is that he has a unique and good style. And he has done a series of really good movies. So at this point he has a cumulative credit/reputation to win him an Oscar. The Departed is not necessarily better than Gangs of New York or Goodfellas in my opinion. It is a really well done classic Scorsese. If The Departed wins 2 Oscars, then I think all of his movies deserve a couple. Scorsese won an Oscar for being nominated 10 times and producing good quality work consistently. Well, that's fair. I was actually happy to see him win. More appropriately, he should win "life time achievement" in a couple of years.

I am still frustrated that he did not really push himself. He is in his comfort zone and milking it.

Next year I expect Tarantino to win an Oscar for Grindhouse. Now that's an inspiration for the Academy. Because you never know what their criteria is...