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:
- Jeko Jeko of UEM!
- Jamie of Jamie Talks Anime
- Jusuchin of A Journey Through Life
- Jo-shu of Castle Shadenfreude
- nlnrose of Famous Rose
- Earthoak of Earth and Oak
- Langsend of The Anime Harvest
- Taylor Ramage
- John Samuel of The Pirates of the Burley Griffin
- NastjaChan of Can I Take Your Order?
- Miharusshi of Anime Vios
- dmdutcher of Cacao, Put down the Shovel!
- Lady Teresa Christina
- Cytrus of Yaranakya
- Lee Relph of MIB’s Instant Headache
- Jubilare
- Josh W of Res Studiorum et Ludorum
- Nami of The Budding Philosopher
- Samuru of Gaming and God
- 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!
Congrats on your award and many thanks for my nomination. I am humbled as ever. 🙂
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Thanks, and you’re welcome! I love the wide variety of foreign films and anime you cover. The title of creative blogger fits you to a tee.
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Too kind. Thanks again! 🙂
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Thanks for the nomination!
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You’re welcome!
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Thanks for adding me to the nomination list 🙂 I’m truly honored, and grateful to God for it.
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I’m quite happy to nominate you. You uncover more substance in video games than most would see, which always makes your articles interesting.
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Thanks! I truly appreciate that. It is very fun to find those hidden gems in gaming, as do you in anime.
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Thanks for the nomination! ^~^
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You’re welcome!
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thank you for nominating me!! 😀
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No problem, looking forward to your post!
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Wow, thank you! OMG I have never really been nominated before for anything! Thank you so much! BTW I saw Psycho-Pass 2 recently 😀
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You’re welcome! How’d you like Psycho-Pass 2?
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I actually loved it because of reasons I will tell you via email 😀
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Looking forward to it. 🙂
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P.S. I am so happy that God gave me the honour for it. I mean I have been blogging a long time now and it is fun to be finally nominated for something :”D
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These award posts are a lot of fun. Some get a little tedious, but five facts is just about the right number. May God continue to bless you in your blogging!
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Thanks man
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[…] I got tagged by Medieval Otaku with The Creative Blogger Award, and since I won’t have my Prison School post done by this […]
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Thanks for nominating me! ^_^
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You’re welcome! I’m looking forward to your acceptance post. 🙂
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Thank you for the nomination! I’m really honored that you thought of my blog for this, when I’ve barely written anything these days.
This was an interesting post, by the way. Can you say you have fine sense of taste for wines to consider yourself a connoisseur?
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You’re welcome! I hope that you start writing more soon.
And yes, I’m a connoisseur. Not exactly the best kind though. If you handed me a glass of wine, there’s an 85% chance I’d guess the varietal, a 70% chance I’d guess the country it’s from, a 25% chance I’d figure out the region, 2% chance of figuring out the vineyard, and forget about me guessing the vintage. All in all, it’s a fun pursuit. 🙂
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That’s amazing. Have you ever been invited for a winery’s sensory evaluation of their market-ready products?
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Nope, but curiously, a cigar dealer asked me to review some cigars for them. It was awesome getting four free cigars in the mail: https://medievalotaku.wordpress.com/2014/11/25/a-first-for-medieval-otaku-cigar-reviews/. If only a winery would do the same!
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Thanks for the nomination but it’s Pirates of the Burley Griffin. 🙂 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Burley_Griffin
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Oops, I fixed it. You’re welcome!
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Congrats on the nomination! I know I didn’t get nominated, but you still run an awesome blog. 😛
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And you as well. I tried to nominate some people who’ve recently followed me. Let’s see if another award comes my way–then you might get a nomination.
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I forgot to add this for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_YxauHnpyg
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Ah! I remember that! One of the most hilarious scenes from the show. Thanks!
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I haven’t forgotten about this, and I am not ignoring it! I’m honored, and will respond soon. I’ve just been run off my feet between work and a manic muse.
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I know what you mean. I’m looking forward to your post.
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Thank you for the nomination, by the way! Oh, and here’s some advice from a Southerner regarding sweet tea and wine:
“I’ve read that muscadine produces a wine as saccharine as the sweet tea imbibed down here.” If you want to know what sweet-tea SHOULD taste like, order half-sweet half-unsweet at a restaurant and make sure to mix it well. It should be just a little sweet and very refreshing. Sweet tea shouldn’t be sickeningly sweet… I think that’s something that came along with fast food. 😛
Also, muscadines are best eaten as fruit. They have seeds and tough skins, but oh man their flavors are complex and wonderful. They’re native to the U.S., still rather wild and very different from their grapey cousins from abroad. The thought of drinking them as wine, though, sickens me. No. Just… no.
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You’re welcome! I’ll remember your advice about the sweet tea. I still intend to give muscadine wine a shot–maybe I’ll search for a dry version where most of the sugar has been converted into alcohol. And, I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the grapes. 🙂
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