California Girls

"California Girls" by The Beach Boys


Shalom all, greetings!

Actually, right now, I'm sitting in my Mom's office while she has a meeting. Yes, I am in Syracuse, NY!! Rockin'! She won't let me go visit JR with her car *ahem*, so, I'm doing a bit of homework. See?



I look pretty sloppy, like I haven't slept in 24+ and she's introducing me to all of her coworkers. I'm sure that's a great first impression! ;-)

So, yep, took off from Oakland last night around 11:15 pm PST. Was originally going to spend a few days in NYC with Alison, but I decided just to come home direct from NY. the flight from OAK was delayed....so I ended up literally sprinting to JFK to get to my connecting flight with all of my luggage. I was late and overweight (what else is new lol) with my bag, so I had to pay the guy off in wine at the ticketing counter. It worked like a charm, my bag was first off in Syracuse. As far as plans while I am in Penn Yan? I PLAN ON SEEING ALL OF YOU! And trying to stay warm (it was 3 F this AM. THREE. That's all.)

A good friend of mine, JR (she's standing next to me in Gilroy), was in a pretty serious car wreck last week. I planned on seeing her anyway, but I will definitely be seeing her more than once now! For any of you on facebook, you can check this out. I have been thinking of JR and her family a lot this week, and praying! I'm pretty sure the lord is probably sick of hearing me say "Please help JR get better...ya gotta!" I think things are going fairly well (knock on wood), but I will continue to pray and try to get up to Roch to see JR ASAP! She's my girl and one of my favorites. She's one of those rare people that has so much joie de vive that it just spills over on you and makes you happy as well. She, and her family, are fantastic to be around!

Other than visiting JR and Christmas, I have no specific plans. So, get at me! I wanna do some drinking and some socializing...and I want to stay out of this cold!!! Maybe I am turning into a California girl after all...at least with respect to the weather!

Cheers!

Editorial Rant: The Holidays

I'm considered, by some I know, to be a scrooge. I don't want to hear Christmas music before December 20th. I don't think decorating my apartment, where I won't spend the holiday, is needed. I don't have anything plastic and large and Santa or Rudolph looking. Christmas carols in November? Vomit. Walmarts holiday section? Looks like Santa's puke. I am just NOT into the shiny plastic parts of Christmas. If you are, I'm glad for you. If everyone in the world were like me, they would never play "Baby It's Cold Outside" on the radio or no one would decorate their houses.

But I am NOT a Scrooge. What I like to excel at is gift giving and trying to go out of my way to do nice things for people. I love picking out thoughtful and useful gifts for people. I like to make their lives richer and more pleasant or help them out by making things easier. As many of you know, I have many many people that I love and care about, and I try to tell them as frequently as possible, not just during the holidays. I try to be good to people and care about them and give love willing and often. That's what the season is all about, for me. It's an opportunity to cherish your loved ones and show them how much you care (and pay a TON for airline travel! woohoo!).

Part of "being good to people" is being good to ALL people. This is sometimes a challenge for me...I don't know many people who it is NOT a challenge for. But what bothers me most about the holidays...here it is...is how SURLY and MEAN people get. I was walking in Walmart yesterday and every other person I passed was scowling. A deep scowl. The CHRISTMAS scowl. It was the same way at the mall. And at Old Navy. Lots of Christmas scowling. I get it. There's extra stress. You have 10 million extra things to do. You have family around or coming that you may or may not care for. Sometimes the holidays SUCK.

But, is that any reason to take it out on those around you...specifically store clerks? For example, I went to the store the night before Thanksgiving Eve day to get fruit for the fruit salad. I was chilling in the canned foods isle, looking for canned pineapple. There was a man who worked for Safeway trying to help a woman. Their exchange went something like this:
Man: how can I help you?
Woman: I need some of that stuff. For dinner. You know? It comes in the turkey...you add water....don't you know what I'm talking about?
Man: What sort of stuff, ma'am? (She was a ma'am, trust me.)
Woman: You know, it has celery, and onions, and bread crumbs, and spices...
Man: Oh, stuffing. Well, if you want to make it, the onion and celery are over in produce, and right here--
Woman: *up in this dude's face* Did you not hear me? Are you stupid? I want the kind you add water too!
Man: *blank stare, possible tears*
Woman: Well, can't you help me? YOU'RE USELESS!!
Me: Ma'am, the bagged stuffing is right there on the end of the isle. (Literally, 5 feet away.)
Woman: God, these people are incompetent! I want to talk to your manager! *huff huff huff*

I honestly had no idea she meant bagged stuffing until the near end. The gentleman was NOT a native of the US, so his thanksgiving experiences were probably limited. But she tore into him like he had just stolen her last dollar! Dude! I wanted to like run in front of the guy and be like "Back up lady, or I will lay you out!" but, I resisted, she may have killed me.

This happens most frequently during the holidays and it REALLY bothers me. It totally misses the point of the holidays! Love, joy, comfort...none of the above when I see so much mean-ness going on out there!

To try to make up for the mean-ness, I'm going to try to be extra good to service folks. My cousin Miranda, when she was out here last October, taught me a very valuable lesson: be NICE, EXTRA NICE, to those that help you out with things you buy...you will be rewarded. And it is totally true! Not only are their monetary benefits, but I feel much better about myself when I make other people happy. Who doesn't?

So, that's what I'll try to do. Be good to people everywhere (regardless of how horrible they've been to me in the past!) and stay cool with service people, no matter how frustrating the situation.

The Thanksgiving Song

"The Thanksgiving Song" by Adam Sandler

Hey all! Happy Thanksgiving. I know I know, the day has already passed, but, I know I'm still thankful for everything I was thankful for on the 26th!

After finishing a marathon week at work (too many ML ferments calling my name to watch them right now...like naughty children!), I happily lit off for Napa for some R and R. First, a quick story. So, we all know I'm in school, right? I'm doing two programs concurently, one in enology and one in viticulture. As you can imagine, this means two classes at once. I finished a big marathon when classes in both programs in late October (everything was due 31 October). Before I went to DC, I logged on a wrote down all of my upcoming due dates. We were in a short course for viticulture...Nematodes of Grapevines...which I knew close to little about. From what I wrote down on the 6th, my final paper was due on November 28th. I put it in my blackberry....all good, all ready. So, I sit down last weekend with the intent of getting ahead for the week because I was going to be able to put in 0 time during the week...only to discover....that my nematode final paper was due the 23rd. This was a 4 pm PST on the 22nd. AWESOME. But no worries kids, I rocked it. I was just up rockin' later than I wanted for the 0530 start monday morning! Reading comprehension is key. I'm a fool.

So, Napa for the holiday was GREAT. I arrived to a house full of dogs...big and small...white and dark...they were amazing! Here are some of them relaxing on the couch...Life at Wheeler Pet Sitting is really tough!


Looks tough, right? Anyway, we cooked and played Euchre (and drank...)the night before, and then awoke the next morning and continued cooking mania. My cousins, Mat and Jennifer, who live in Oakland and are from Missouri arrived later that morning, heritage turkey in hand. I don't have a photo of the special heritage turkey, but I can tell you it had very small breasts! LOL! No, really, it had much more rich dark meat and very limited breast meat...ahhh consumer driven animal selection.

Mat and Jennifer brought 3 friends from Oakland and we all had a very nice time! Good wine, good friends, good food...good times! We ate dinner on my aunt's collection of our family's china. A few generations ago on my Mom's side, our family owned a china mill in England called Hammersley and my Aunt Deb has made herself quite a collection over the years. Most of the women in our family possess pieces that they have accumulated over the years. Before the days of eBay, my mom and I used to go to antique shows and look for it...I clearly remember flipping over cups and saucers and reading the stamps...hoping it was Hammersley. It's our family heritage...in pretty painted cups!

Here's the table all decked out (all photos are Aunt Deb and Uncle Ed's! Thanks guys):



Dinner was fantastic, check out our spread:


A feast!!! Sweet potatoes, mashed white potatoes, turkey, apricot-grand marinier stuffing (complete with giblets), Gramma North's fruit salad, fresh baked rolls, homemade cranberry sauce, spinach salad, roasted veggies....I could go on and on!!

Unfortunately, I pulled a totally ROOKIE gastric bypass patient mistake and was able to eat about zippo of my meal (don't worry, I had left overs). So, our number one food rule is no drinking while eating. #2 is...protein first. If you have a plate full of food, you're supposed to eat your protein, then veggies, then if you have space left, carbs. Well, I'm an idiot and a carbohead. So, there were these amazing little rolls, homemade and warm and amazing, that we made in mini-muffin tins for dinner. So, I figured, I want that roll, so I'm eating it first, end of story. So, I buttered it, and ate it. Well, as you can imagine, once you wet carbohydrates like bread, they expand! (I will have to explain my now VERY complicated relationship with sandwiches at another time!) I ate that whole roll and BANGO, full pouch...sick Catrina...no more thanksgiving food or drink for ~1 hour. It's not the end of the world, but it does show me that I'm a moron!

Later in the evening, because I was hungry as hell, I got to eat some turkey and some roasted veggies. My cousins are professional veggie people, and Mat roasted these veggies...carrots, beets, other roots...they were amazing!!!! I took quite a few home with me.

Here is a photo for me to leave you with!


That's all she wrote about Thanksgiving! More soon! Sorry this is probably riddled with typos!

A bientot!!

All These Things I've Done

"All These Things I've Done" by the Killers

I've got soul but I'm not a soldier...

Howdy Howdy from chilly Northern California. I know, all of you east coasters are rolling your eyes at me. I'm that person you see while traveling that is wearing the scarf in 60 degree sunshine. Yep. I'm there. Acclimation at its best, I suppose. One of my major "side effects" from surgery is that I am literally the coldest human in the universe. Even 113 lbs ago, I was freezing. (Clearly, I am defective.) Now it's WORSE. Picture this: right now, I'm sitting in my bed in the following situation: mattress warmers cranked up to high, which is the temperate equivalent of a low heat frying pan, long fleece pj pants, 3 shirts including a hooded sweatshirt with hood on, and 2 pairs of socks (trust me, the second pair makes a huge difference!) and count them....4 blankets. I'm a freak of nature. Somethings I will never understand. I spent most of the 100+ degree summer feeling cold to the bone. Like, New York February chilled. And I'm not anemic. Just a wierdo. :-)

Other than being freezing, things are going very well. Harvest is done... pretty much, we're pressing off the last of our reds on Thursday, they say. Now I can have weekends...whatever will I do? Homework? Learn guitar? Bike? Run? Empty out my DVR? (Don't worry, I've been on top of GLEE!) I have a fairly extensive bucket list lately...I've been feeling ambitious. Luckily I have the energy to match.

Oh, all of you should most definitely check out my pal Sarah's blog here. She's connected to me through a co-worker (Debbie, the one who took wonderful care of me after surgery and on my birthday and beyond) and she is a stylish and well-spoken chick! She blogs about food, fashion, wine, life! She and I share many of the same food philosophies, so I appreciate her ideas. She is responsible for my burgeoning Luna bar habit! She's a much more frequent blogger than me, too, so that's much more enjoyable for you all.

Traveled to DC this past weekend because, well, I could. I try to make it a habit to travel to see the people I miss (duh....) and that is exactly what I got to do. Good food, good wine, good people. All amazing. Here is a pic from dinner out in DC, my college room mates and some of my favorite people in the world.



Many good drinks were had. At this meal, which was at a restaurant called Momiji DC, I ordered a mixed drink that I could smell from the bar...it smelled so strongly of passionfruit, yet it contained none. Psssssychhhh. Not too sugary. And plenty alcoholic. It was fantastic to catch up with the girls...who seem, like me, to be adults. Frightening.

I'm currently reading the book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I resisted reading it for a long time, but I found it at a library book sale for 50c early in the fall and I thought...what the hell. The book is literally changing my life. Good books do change your life, right? They change your perspective by expanding it...introducing new.



It explores the pursuit of pleasure, spirituality, and balance. I struggle with all of those things. Mostly, I found her quest for spirituality and how it intertwines into her life most intriguing. Up to this point, I thought I was fairly alone in not finding an organized religion that I could really...you know...go all in for and get behind. I had always found myself wishing that I could bespiritually "cherry picking", a practice which seemed as though it should be unacceptable to me. I had some pretty regular "deal-breakers" with many organized religions: women's right to chose, all other religions go to hell, and well, I don't hate homosexuals in the least...love is love, it is all good with me....so I never felt at "home" with any of the organized religions that I know anything about. Sparing you any further spirituality talk, this book suggests that spiritual cherry picking is alright...as long as you aim to live your life in a loving and good manner. Now that I will have more idle time, I will have a little time to mediate on things like these!

Time for some sleep, I think. Thanksgiving soon! Hopefully I will give into my narcissism and blog more frequently, but nothing in life is certain!

Cheers all, see you soon!

Say Hey (I Love You)

"Say Hey (I Love You)" by Michael Franti and Spearhead

The above is a happy-go-lucky tune I discovered at the beginning of harvest that I often bump in my ipod when I'm outside checking tanks at the winery. It matches my mood...most of the time.

I wouldn't have blogged this evening but I am just so damn excited because the YANKEES ARE GOING TO TO WORLD SERIES!!! The game didn't end until 9 pm my time, which is late in New York, but I'm all wound up because of it. :-) And I spent the night making chili...high protein, high fiber, yum yum!

Anyway, it has been harvest pretty much since I got back from New York. In September, I spent two weekends in a row in Washington State doing the required "camps" for my certificate programs. They were lots of fun! I have been kind of dragging my feet waiting for the pictures to appear...but to no avail. I learned a lot about viticulture in the viticulture weekend. The enology weekend was....a nice review. I do enology-type work fairly, um, regularly, so, it was mostly a .....review. My classmates were excellent. I was surprised at how different the enology class was when compared to the viticulture class. There were more women in the viticulture class, which I was somewhat surprised by. I got a harsh reminder in the wine industry of often an old boys club when I left for my first weekend, so it was refreshing to see the abundance of XX chromosomes in the viticulture certificate program.

The harvest at Wente has been different then any harvest I have experienced. It was a slow start...with a trickle just enough to keep us marginally busy, but easily distracted. The sugars were slow to rise in the vineyard samples that I saw come across my bench. Then suddenly, the chardonnay was ready and BAM! It has been mania ever since. Six days a week crazy crazy. Don't get me wrong, that is exactly how I like it, but, it does a girl in!

In other news, I love 100 lbs! 108, now, actually. That's like...an entire person. It is a strange place that I'm in right now, I can honestly say, I feel like I'm the same size as I was when I went into surgery....maybe larger. My rational brain knows that that is not the case, but every time I look into the mirror I see...fat. What a strange reversal in the way that I think. I can't figure it out, but I don't have too much time to dwell on it either. My clothes certainly fit "better"....if better is defined by ridiculously large. My jeans are especially annoying because I spend the entire day hiking them up! Oh well. I think my hair is done falling out....it had been falling out since June and ceased last week. I'm still freezing cold though. Interesting new life I'm leading.

I'm DC bound fairly soon for a little weekend away (208 $ plane ticket...non-stop). I am excited to be the heck out of California for a few days. I went to Napa to spend the night with Deb and Ed last weekend, and a few dogs, and it was incredibly therapeutic! I enjoyed being away and with people I love so much. I got back to Livermore and was actually disappointed when I returned home.

Quick update. Sorry there are no pics, but I'm having a hard time finding some that looks like I've lost 100 lbs. That's probably because I'm having trouble seeing it myself. I will find something suitable hopefully. Be patient!

Til next time.

Cheers
Catrina

'Til Summer Comes Around

'Til Summer Comes Around, Keith Urban

Okay, so I just made a very very tasty meatloaf. Mushrooms, onions, 93% lean beef, fresh parsley, garlic, bread crumbs...very yum (24g protein per 3 oz serving, 220 cals). I got one broccoli floret and three bites of meatloaf in and BAM, no more. I think people think I'm nuts, but, this means that I'm having a "small pouch day". It always seems to happen when I have something delicious to eat! A small trade off for -90 lbs, but, occasionally frustrating.

Anyway, it has been about a month since I updated. I've been HOME since I last wrote. Being home was absolutely fabulous. Not only were the people from PY there, but my chicks from Gettysburg came too! I got to see beautiful Kate get married, and it was AWESOME! Here's a photo of the two of us:


She was a beautiful bride! :-)

The G-burg girls rented a boat, which was, of course, very much fun. Very therapeutic to spend time on my lake. Ahhhh. We had a good party at Casa North on Friday night. I hear the food was great, but I think the company was great. It was so fabulous to see you guys, enjoy the weather (hot and humid lol) and a few adult beverages! Being home is such a treat. I will be back at Christmas time! :-)

Anyway, then Kourteney came out for a visit, which was right at the beginning of HARVEST! Yay! How excited am I! Well, I'm excited to be making wine, but doubly excited to be making MONEY! Here's a photo of the first load of grapes (Chardonnay Cuvee) to hit the presses.


Upcoming, I go to WA for school! I'm excited, but not for all of the travel. I hate airports (think twice before you're rude to an obese person in the airport...we're not having fun either). I'll keep you posted on how my hands-on learning weekends go.

Sorry this is brief. Time to run back to Wine Chemistry. Boo.

Sympathique

Sympathique, by Pink Martini

Sorry guys, long time no blog! No excuses, but I've been a busy girl. Two of my classes ended at the same time (Growing Grapes and Wine Production I) so I was hella swamped with those. Anyway.

Let's see, let me bring you quickly up to speed. Since the wedding, I've seen quite a few people. The first were Maelina and Ela, friends of mine from college, who were out visiting SF. Thankfully, I was able to spend an afternoon with them in the city. It was VERY nice to catch up with both of them. We ate lunch at a restaurant called the Stinking Rose, which is in North Beach, the Italian Neighborhood of SF. We then we off on a walking tour-ish of downtown...we saw Chinatown, did a tea tasting, and walked, basically. I attempted to take them to my favorite Chinatown stop, a bakery called the Golden Gate Bakery, which has Chinese pastries to die for. Unfortunately, the bakery was closed.

Chinatown is a favorite of mine in SF. It doesn't smell like NYC's Chinatown and it reminds me very much of Sydney. It's one of my happy places, and I go there as often as I can. If anyone wants to go...let me know!

Anyway, some photos:


Maelina and I posing in front of the Port of SF/Embarcadero...in cartoon motion!


Ela and I in front of the Bay Bridge

Thanks to she and Maelina, these are their photos!

Upon arrival home that evening, I had house guests! My friends from Fox Run, Mike and JR, came out from their new home in Healdsburg to visit so that we could make the trip to Gilroy for the mother of all Garlic Festivals. Also arriving that evening was Gianna, another Fox Run alum who is on temporary assignment in LA. Reunion! We drank some FL riesling (home it's home i'd like to be!) and ate some pizza. There is something very special about spending time with people who know where you come from.

The next day we were off to Gilroy for the less than awesome garlic fest. Numero uno: it was FREAKIN' HOT! Fox Run puts on a much more garlic centered festival! Gilroy's fest was over commercialized, and I was surprised at how little raw garlic there was there! One of my favorite memories of the Fox Run garlic fest was sneaking out from behind the tasting room bar and doing a "garlic tasting" of all of the different types of garlic. Nothing of the sort in Gilroy! Most everything was cooked garlic. And, don't get me wrong, I loved my garlic fries, but, totally missed Fox Run. First full weekend in August people, remember!

Took Gianna to the airport and JR and Mike to Wente for some barrel surfing. It was nice to see their reactions to the sheer size of Wente. I have adjusted, but it was a nice reminder of the wonder I once felt. Now I just need to work on restoring that sense of wonder!

Here we are with the Foster Farms chicken people, saying "No" to plumping....and YES to sunscreen!



And...the coolest thing in Gilroy...the Olympic torch of garlic...amazing.




The next weekend, my old friend Sara Marian visited! She is amazing! I hadn't seen her since I visited her in Boulder, CO. She's now in med school and kicking ass! She's pretty much my shopping soulmate...and it was so nice to see her! We did Wente, climb Mt Diablo (yes, I mean climbed...we took a wrong turn and took a very long and steep path up the mountain!), toured around in the city, and had ray-ban wayfarer and dress up day in Napa. She, of course, is one of the only people who can talk me into wearing a dress where jeans are perfectly appropriate. ;-)


The vista from the summit of Mt. Diablo. Yes, it was sunset. This resulted in some running back down said steep mountain.


Extra-circular dress wearing day.

And finally, this past weekend, we had a weekend outing just the Wente labbies! Chris has a cabin near Lake Alpine, CA. OMG! It was amazing. It reminded me of how much I missed green. I accomplished the first of my "skinny" goals: kayaking. Turns out, I freaking love it! Chris has promised before we left that he would teach me, so I held him to his word.



Ahhhh...Nirvana. I will be kayaking a lot more in the future.

It was a fantastic weekend. I admit I was a little anxious to go away someplace for an extended amount of time with my coworkers, but my anxiety was not grounded. I think we all agree we had a great time! On my first day at Wente, one of the winemakers said to me "Welcome to the Family", and he wasn't kidding. They are a big part of my Cali family. :-)

Speaking of family...I GET TO SEE MINE IN THREE DAYS! Family of the east coast variety, of course. I am so ridiculously excited. I haven't been to NY in 14 months...since Miranda's wedding! I could just about dance up and down I am so excited. I get to see my grandparents, cousins, friends, ahhhhh! So pumped!

For any of you in the PY metro, I expect you to stop by my house for a hot dog and a beer on Friday (the 14th) after 7 pm. Party up in 289 E. Lake Road. Come on now, put it in your GPS.

More pics on facebook from the last few weeks.

Cheers
Catrina