Creative Blogger Award

Lazarinth of the blog Fantasy and Anime has honored me with a nomination for the Creative Blogger Award.  I truly appreciate the award, and I would encourage all of my dear readers to take a look at this aspiring fantasy author’s blog, which boasts a fun blend of articles on fantasy books and anime.  The rules for accepting the award are as follows:

• Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog.
• Share 5 facts about yourself.
• Nominate 10 – 20 bloggers and add their links.
• Notify the bloggers you included.
• Keep the rules in your post to make it easy for everyone to know what to do!

I’ve shared so many facts about myself through awards like this that it is difficult for me to come up with new ones.  However, I’ll follow Lazarinth’s lead and group these facts around a specific subject.  In the early days of this blog, many posts of mine were dedicated to trying new alcoholic beverages, which you’ll find under the subject “fine drinks“; so, why not five facts about my enjoyment of alcohol?

1. My all time favorite wine and food pairing is port and pumpkin pie.

I have mentioned before that my favorite wine is that delicious dessert wine known as port.  Mind you, I mean real port, the kind hailing from Portugal, not the knock offs from America or Australia.  Australian port can be very tasty indeed, but it’s mouthfeel and flavors have much more in common with sherry–another favorite drink of mine.

Yet, wine by itself can taste rather incomplete.  Few culinary experiences do I look forward to as much as several hours after Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner when the pies and port make their appearance to cap off a splendid feast.

2. Zinfandel provides a better metaphor for the Church Militant than any other wine.

While in the seminary, I read an article on Zinfandel and remarked to another seminarian that this wine reminded me of the Church in the way the Zinfandel grapes are harvested.  You see, Zinfandel ripens very unevenly: by harvest time, green and unripe grapes, perfectly ripe grapes, and raisins hang from the vine.  Vintners have tried to create better wine by cutting out the under- and overripe grapes but found that the final product had less character.  So, they eventually decided to stop being picky about which grapes they tossed into the crusher/destemmer.

In the same way, God throws all sorts of people into the Church: sinners and saints, the practical and the mystical, the weak and the strong, the fervent and the tepid, etc.  Then, in a manner which escapes the human intellect, God produces a better and stronger Church than if He had included only saints.  That seminarian told me that I should keep that metaphor for a future homily, but may he at least still remember it for one of his own!

3. Despite widely tasting numerous craft beer and fine spirits, wine still remains my favorite type of alcoholic beverage.

For years now, I have made a concerted effort to understand exactly what I drink.  I have poured over works like The Wine Bible, The Book of Spirits, Michael Jackson’s Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch, and many magazines on the subject besides.  Despite tasting some great cognac and scotch and craft and old world beer, I would still prefer a wine of equal or slightly lesser quality over them on most days.  I suppose blame must be placed on the Hispanic, Gallic, and Mediterranean roots facets of my ethnic background.  (I’m kind of a mutt.)

4.  Moving to Alabama has made me interested in branching out from Old World wines to try wine made from American grape species.

While flipping through a brochure on Alabama wine (yes, this actually exists), I discovered that fifteen wineries exist in this state.  Most of these produce muscadine, fruit wine, or Norton (aka cynthiana).  Muscadine and Norton are native to the United States.  I’ve read that muscadine produces a wine as saccharine as the sweet tea imbibed down here.  Occasionally, this sweetness is cut with lemon-lime soda to produce a wine spritzer or cooler.  (I hope it tastes good enough that I won’t have to do that.)  On the other hand, Norton is capable of producing a fine dry wine, especially those from Virginian wineries.  As neither costs an arm and a leg, I hope to be able to satisfy my curiosity about these wines of the South soon.

I also notice that certain Alabama wineries sell Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.  Those I refuse to touch with a thirty foot pole.

5. My favorite poem referencing beer and wine is “The Englishman” by G. K. Chesterton

St George he was for England,
And before he killed the dragon
He drank a pint of English ale
Out of an English flagon.
For though he fast right readily
In hair-shirt or in mail,
It isn’t safe to give him cakes
Unless you give him ale.

St George he was for England,
And right gallantly set free
The lady left for dragon’s meat
And tied up to a tree;
But since he stood for England
And knew what England means,
Unless you give him bacon
You mustn’t give him beans.

St George he is for England,
And shall wear the shield he wore
When we go out in armour
With battle-cross before.
But though he is jolly company
And very pleased to dine,
It isn’t safe to give him nuts
Unless you give him wine.

My nominations in no particular order:

1. Jeko Jeko of UEM!
2. Jamie of Jamie Talks Anime
3. Jusuchin of A Journey Through Life
4. Jo-shu of Castle Shadenfreude
5. nlnrose of Famous Rose
6. Earthoak of Earth and Oak
7. Langsend of The Anime Harvest
8. Taylor Ramage
9. John Samuel of The Pirates of the Burley Griffin
10. NastjaChan of Can I Take Your Order?
11. Miharusshi of Anime Vios
12. dmdutcher of Cacao, Put down the Shovel!
13. Lady Teresa Christina
14. Cytrus of Yaranakya
15. Lee Relph of MIB’s Instant Headache
16. Jubilare
17. Josh W of Res Studiorum et Ludorum
18. Nami of The Budding Philosopher
19. Samuru of Gaming and God
20. Aqilaqamar of Iconography Incomplete

There you have my nominees.  All of them are awesome in different ways, and my dear readers might find a new favorite blog among them.  Cheers!