8 July
2017
6 July
2017
From the bartender’s corner – Zio’s Coupe
5 July
2017
From the bartender’s corner: Gin #15 – Uncle Val’s Botanical Gin
Everyone is aware of wine from Sonoma, California. Now get this – this gin is made in Sonoma too! If any one of you have ever like Hendrick’s (a favorite of Sharmila’s and mine), you are bound to like this gin.
This gin derives its name from the company’s chairman’s uncle – Uncle Val from back in Italy who had a penchant for great cooking. And the nephew focused on his uncle’s favorite ingredients to create this gin.
The base alcohol is made from gin and is distilled as many as five times. The botanicals used includes juniper, cucumber, lemon, sage and lavender. This gin is difficult to categorize. It is not a traditional London Dry gin in the sense that the juniper is far more understated. In fact, I would say this is closer to the American style gin. But the strength of cucumber leaves a strong hint of Scottish kind of gin (like Hendricks).
The nose is clearly very floral with the citrus making its presence felt a little later. As I said, not much of juniper strength. The palette almost makes it feel like a weak gin. What it is – is that the lack of juniper is made up by the strong floral effects (especially lavender) and the cucumber makes it lot more cool and soothing as it goes down.
Highly recommend to anybody who is looking for a nice and mild gin but can hold its own with some tonic water.
4 July
2017
Enjoying the day out with old friends…
4 July
2017
Summer Lily in full bloom
4 July
2017
Could he be any angrier?
2 July
2017
Who would have guessed?
There was no way any of us would have ever guessed on the day after our tenth standard when the three of us went three different ways that we would actually come together under the same roof thirty four years later. With our spouses with us! In a country on the other side of the world!! In a winery up in the mountains!!
We were barely sixteen years then. The gap in between has been more than twice the number of years we had lived till then!!! As you can see from the middle picture, there was a lot of catching up to do!!!
That was a great afternoon with Manny (Manbir), Virginia, Subrata, Sharmistha, Sharmila. We also got to meet Manny’s daughter Simran and his niece Harneet!!
2 July
2017
First run of July
2 July
2017
Friday session postponed for a day…
The last time I played the Tabla with Subrata was in 1980 in school. He had played a Runa Laila number on his guitar and I had played the tabla. They was eighth grade.
In between, he has picked up a lot more instruments including the piano and the drums. Also he got married to Sharmistha with the incredible voice and talent for singing. My tabla has not improved much from those days…
That said, it was a great evening.
Actually, it was beyond great!!!
1 July
2017
My first guest writer: A profile in courage
By now, you probably have read my previous post. I met Jessica yesterday again, after a week, since I am in her city to pick Nikita from her college camp.
I had asked her if she would like to be my first guest writer on my blog. She had agreed to. Over dinner, I picked up her write up.
Here is her writing. (with very minor edits from me)…
She wrote:
”
When I was growing up I dreamed of being a princess, having a family, becoming a CEO, scuba diving, traveling, and overall living a fairytale life. I never put “victim” in that category. A victim was someone who put himself or herself in a bad situation and who I watched on “Law and Order”.
And then one night I added “victim” to my list. The assault was not the worst part (and I was somewhere I should have been safe.) The worst part was the tears, people asking if I was telling the truth, and not knowing who to trust or what to do. It was the panic attacks and absolute fear to be in public (I was too afraid to even go into a Starbucks to order a coffee alone). That feeling did not go away after 48 hours. That feeling did not go away after 1 year … or 3 years.
It took a solid 5+ years of an incredible support system (including friends, family, therapy) before I held my head up again and looked forward to another day. I am beyond lucky it only took me 5 years to regain some of the strength back but to be honest there are still days 7 years later I would rather stay in bed all day and pretend the world did not continue to spin. In those years I have lost touch with friends and relationships were ended because I could not open myself up to trust or love.
But I have removed “victim” and I am now a “survivor”. I am someone who lost herself and honestly there were days (still are) I get infuriated with what happened and I ask why? But I now know that the why is so I can be me today. I am blessed to have the support system I do who have held me up physically and emotionally. The path I am on was to lead me to today and what I can give back to my community and others.
I am getting there now.
I am a survivor.
Yours,
Jessica
”
