I mean I want to see

View from Mt Faber

Lovely light

Lovely architecture

Sunset

Family

Giant 1m-tall lallang

New dress

THE weather’s been so warm lately, and this frock is perfect for the blazing heat! I love the breezy fabric and the cut, the neckline goes well with a delicate gold and diamond necklace, and it’s oh so flattering. :)

Old dress

Have been wearing light cotton dresses such as the one above quite a lot.

Prosciutto and rocket

And ooh, lazy evenings out with friends by the pool…One of the easiest things to bring to potlucks is parma-wrapped melon — just hold the babies together with toothpicks and you get an easy, yummy appetiser. You can also wrap the ham around bundles of asparagus or rocket for variety…or make little foccacia sandwiches with basil and ricotta cheese…mmm.

Maintenant je suis un peu paresseux, et non le négatif paresseux, paresseux, mais dans le sens que je suis fatigué et je veux arrêter, de la réflexion et de repos.

A: I can’t stay out too late. I’m going to church.
B: You can actually cross the threshold of a church?

B: He didn’t need mountains to climb. He can rappel off his own ego.

A (on someone she tried to teach Singlish to for four years): He didn’t even grasp the fundamentals of “lah”. He put a comma before it!

A: B’s the ablest student of Singlish I’ve ever had. He zaojued (造句ed）: “Uncle, bring coffee to my room, can?”
B: But I’ve been told not to speak it at the hotel or I’ll lose respect.

B: Once A tried to make me tea using lime Perrier.
A squawks, denies this vehemently, and goes into lengthy explanation.

C: So we had a barbeque, and the fire went out, and the charcoal was lousy, and we had mountains of uncooked food. But the person who was hosting it didn’t have pots, pans, or even a microwave. He has never cooked. We ended up tarpaoing chicken rice.

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I love people with a zest for every sort of knowledge. Smart, pushy, individual, original, full of energy.

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To try: Central Otago Pinot Noir. Gibbston Valley. Olssens Jackson Barry. Drumsara. Wild Earth. Felton Road. Chard Farm.

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So what is the difference between a good vintage and one its makers would qualify with explanations? A full mouth is one short way of expressing it. Really ripe grapes give the wine a sense of full veins pulsing, a texture gorged with matter, the sweetness of warm fruit and the flow of alcohol. Overripe means the taste of raisins, tannin that takes hold and a burn rather than a glow. Really underripe means scrawny, watery, weakly sweet and briefly sharp as it fades.

A good vintage in Bordeaux is by definition a warm, dry, sunny one. All the great vintages have been years of exceptional heat. Personnellement, je n’ai eu à ce jour que des bonnes surprises en achetant des médailles d’Or provenant de ce concours.

Hugh Johnson: “Lafite is a tenor; Latour a bass. Lafite is a lyric; Latour an epic. Lafite is a dance; Latour a parade.” Lafite tastes of cedar, Latour of iron. If I were looking for a typical Pauillac I would choose Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste: it speaks the Pauillac language of Cabernet fruit and deep warm soil, and it seems to transmit energy. Vitality is the most important quality in wine. Medoc at its best: firm, focused and slow to express itself.

St-Julien: Leoville-Barton. Lynch-Bages: Jean-Michel Cazes. Right bank: Claret is spoken with a different accent here, and rounder vowels. Young wines are less harsh, old wines more caressing. Great wines begin as ripe plums and mature into uninhibited excesses of honeyed cream. Moueix & Pomerol. Petrus.

Five, ten, fifteen years in bottle gives them more than just a patina of age. It does what age does to individuals: makes them more themselves. “To taste wines as old as this and find them still alive, still individual and true to their natures, is like meeting some gifted and fortunate soul whose old age is expressed in a gentle sort of sweet vitality never found in youth.”

Burgundy: Pinot is a fussier plant than the Cabernet. Like Riesling, it is a lens that brings the soil into focus. It captures soil, climate and vintage weather and reveals them without mercy. The Cabernet family blended together cover for each other. Pinot Noir is transparent, it has thinner skin, hence less pigment and less tannin. There is less of a veil to see through. The truffled violet silk of a Musigny, the oriental opulence of Romanee-Conti, the martial splendour of a Chambertin.

Cote de Nuits: darker, more tannic. Cote de Beaune: lighter. Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey St Denis: Stern and meaty. Chambolle-Musigny: lightish, scented. Clos de Vougeot: middle of the road. Vosne-Romanee: best belnd. Nuit-St-Georges: Tannic. Chambolle-Musigny Les Amoureuses.

Barolo, Barbaresco. Andrew Pirie’s Pinot Noirs in Tasmania. Yarra Valley. New Zealand will be kept busy staking out the best soils and aspects. Already in Martinborough and Marlborough and Christchurch and Central Otago a spectrum of vivid new Pinot flavours, some more luscious than any in Burgundy, some stressing the earthy note, are the start of a new chapter. Coldstream Hills.

Rhone: Syrah. Tannic grape: Cote Rotie: raspberry, Aussie: blackberries. In the North wines are about intellectual rigour, purity, patience; in the south they produce the smoothest flowing wine they can and incorporate as much punch, spice and grip as they dare. Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Barossa Shiraz: sometimes lacks focus.

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Chile: “It bears a strong family resemblance to bordeaux, and yet its flavour is sweet, ripe and open in a way that is rare in claret. It is very male wine, pungent and earthy, dense in texture, hinting of resin, yet with a strong tannic cut that leaves your mouth braced and ready for more.”

Had my first taste of Malbec (Terrazas de los Andes reserva), which goes well with grilled meat. Comment le décrire? Il est d’une densité assez impressionnante, et surtout d’une rare pureté de fruit. C’est velouté, charnel, avec un goût de revienzy assez impressionnant. I love the colour of the wine, deep, ruby-red with purple hints — still alluring though we drank it from plastic cups. Very rich, very fruity, and pretty good value for money.

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Aussie: The medical men went to Margaret River in the 1960s. By the 1970s three of them had the wine world talking. Most of the world settles down to do one or two things well in a style it hopes people will recognise. Australians are encyclopaedic.

Petaluma: South Australia. Coonawarra: Shiraz — terroir with a character potential. Only particular spots on Earth are capable of giving wine a recognisable and consistent flavour. A good vinter with a singular terroir helps consumers to understand the extraordinary complexities of which only Nature is capable, and how these can be miraculously expressed from those little berries if man remains modestly satisfied with observing, understanding and assisting.

Italy: What characterises a good Chianti can be expressed as restraint. It is not a naturally fruity open wine but something with texture and structure. Its tannin is deliberately abrasive and its acidity fresh and appetising. In a good Riserva this is all filled out with flavour, warm and round, but still bracingly firm in your mouth — the character it shares with claret. It needs, if not the same length of years to mature, at least three or four. Radda, Castellina, Rufina hills. Montalcino: different Sangiovese: smaller grapes, thicker skins. Darker, stronger, beefier wine.

Sori Tildin, Sori San Lorenzo, Costa Russi.

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We’re beginning to see what Chile can do with Cabernet, New Zealand with Pinot Noir, Argentina with Malbec and Australia with Riesling. Italy, Greece, Spain are parading their ancient varieties, unknown elsewhere, for the first time.

Kakhetian — vivid and generous and smelling of berries and rousing your mouth with a diamond edge of tannin. Saperavi is the grape.

To read: Africa Uncorked, Platter.

SHE’S one of my heroines: the sort of woman who could do pretty well anything she put her mind to, hunting tigers, bewitching men, throwing elegant dinner parties, winning literary fame, raising small children.

Isak Dinesen said: “All sorrows can be borne, if you put them into a story.”

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It’s all I have to bring today (26)
Dickinson

It’s all I have to bring today—
This, and my heart beside—
This, and my heart, and all the fields—
And all the meadows wide—
Be sure you count—should I forget—
Some one the sum could tell—
This, and my heart, and all the Bees
Which in the Clover dwell.

A: “Thank you. You have given me a memory that will truly make my flesh creep.”

A: “I refuse to kiss and tell.”
B: “Come on people, help me drag the truth kicking and screaming out into the light of day.”

A: “Just ask her out lah.”
B: “I’m laboriously making my way to it, as Sam and Frodo made their painful way to Mordor.”
A: “That’s a specious analogy. It’s just a date. It’s not going to meet Sauron.”
B: “You know, you put the word ‘anal’ in analogy. It sounds dramatic enough lah.”
A: “The kicking and screaming truth is: ‘I’m laboriously making my way to it, as I’m a wuss’!!”

And stories of monkeys that grab glasses, break them apart and throw them down, and the orang utan that stripped a tourist.

C: We were in the forest when we came across a python.
D: And you ran away screaming?
C: No, we got very excited and caught it and took it back to the lab.
E: You can see the difference between Singaporeans and Malaysians. One would run away screaming, the other would make python steak…

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Et puis j’ai des amis. Toujours là, comme sont là mes livres, les journaux en ligne, la couleur rouge, je veux aimer. C’est cela qui me tient.

Bon repas et gens charmants at Au Petit Salut and Jaan par Andre — Jaan’s set lunch was exquisite, a real feast for the senses. The seafood panache was gorgeous to look at, I loved the braised short rib, and oooooh the desserts.

APS is a good old staple for decent French food at decent prices, and had a good time catching up with a foodie friend over a three-hour lunch. We were wondering: Who are these other people who can take three hours off work in the middle of the week?

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And work, work, work. Putting past and current experience in context, defining short-term and long-term career goals, which are realistic and based on experience and interest. Thinking about the impact you would like to have, and breaking it down into stages of how to achieve it. Assessing the gaps in my education and experience. Translating convictions into meaningful action.

I really do like the work of David Harvey. Plus am memorising this most beautiful Yeats poem:

The light of evening, Lissadell,
Great windows open to the south,
Two girls in silk kimonos, both
Beautiful, one a gazelle.

Just listen to it. The sheer beauty of the words is making me swoon.

Image © Maria Eugenia

“There is no sure-proof scientific formula for making great wines. Over the years I have learned to communicate with the wines and how to nurture them. I realized that you don’t make wine only with your head and your senses. You make wine with your heart. You have to pour your heart and your love into the wine. To me, wines are like my children. You have to love them and guide them like children, and you have to transmit to them the richness of your spirit.”

- Mike Grgich

READING about the 1976 Paris Tasting, how Chateau Montelena and the rest of them not only run with the best of the pack but often lead, and the globalisation of wine, and the Australian wine juggernaut. The country setting the pace in world wine today is Australia, a producer unlike any the world has ever seen. It is the first major wine country that has focused on exports rather than on its domestic market, and the producers and government have been going after the international market in an aggressive and systematic way. The international wine business has never had brands that could compare with other alcohol products such as Budweiser beer, Johnnie Walker scotch, or Smirnoff vodka. Australian producers are in the process of changing that, thanks to intensive branding and marketing campaigns.

This is the golden age of international wine. Never before in history have consumers enjoyed such high-quality wines at generally good prices.

Information below from George M. Taber’s Judgment Of Paris (un livre transportant qui nous fait découvrir la fierté et la passion qui animent des hommes et des femmes du vin. On y découvre leurs joies, leurs peines, leurs inquiétudes, leurs visions.). –

- Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

- Barossa Valley Shiraz
How Max Schubert, the determined chief winemaker at Penfolds, literally willed Grange into existence more than half a century ago. He had to overcome a long and loud chorus of criticism, and it took years for this wine to find its place in the pantheon of world wines. He travelled to Europe in 1950, and came home with the goal of producing in Australia a wine that would be as rich and intense as those of Bordeaux and would also last twenty or more years. The classic Bordeaux grapes were not available in sufficient quantities, so he used the country’s most widely available grape, Shiraz. He couldn’t get enough French oak, so he used American oak…One critic called the wine “a concoction of wild fruits and sundry berries with crushed ants predominating”. The top management at Penfolds gave him instructions to halt the Grange project and cut off all funding for it, but undeterred and unbowing, he stealthily continued his work. The Grange wines eventually started to mature nicely and some of the rougher edges smoothed out, and the Penfolds board told Schubert he could start making Grange Hermitage once again.
The 1955 Grange won a number of golds before being retired from the wine show circuit in the late 1970s. After these early victories in Australia, Grange slowly rose in stature on the international wine scene until today, when it is now recognised as perhaps the world’s greatest Shiraz. Only four winemakers have had the final authority over Grange since the wine was first made in 1951. Schubert made it until 1973. Don Ditter made it from 1974 to 1986. John Duval made it between 1986 and 2002. Peter Gago took over as the chief Penfolds winemaker in July 2002. Originally trained as a science-and-math teacher, he taught and was a school administrator for nearly nine years.

Henschke’s Hill of Grace. The highly revered and much sought-after Hill of Grace is the pinnacle of the red wines — but another shiraz first made by Cyril, the Mount Edelstone, and the Cyril Henschke Cabernet Sauvignon introduced by Stephen as a tribute to his father — have forged their own niche with red wine lovers the world over.

- Margaret River, Leeuwin Estate etc
Young Aussie winemakers moving out in the 1970s, mirroring the amateur development of northern California. Keith Mugford, of Moss Wood, remembers hearing the results of the Paris Tasting while a student at the Roseworthy winemaking programme at the University of Adelaide. That convinced him that great wine could be made outside of France and inspired him to try to do it in Margaret River. In December 1978, he visited Napa Valley, whose winemakers explained their philosophies of bringing balance and complexity to Cabernet Sauvignon. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he was part of a group of about two dozen Margaret River winemakers who got together once a month in Perth to sample some of the world’s great wines. Just as Napa Valley winemakers had done in the 1960s, the Australians a decade later tasted great wines — now from France and California — and then tried to match them in what would become a period of great experimentation and sharing of winemaking experience.

In 1980, Leeuwin Estate bottled its first Chardonnay, the wine that has made it famous around the world.

- Stellenbosch, South Africa

- Pinhao, Portugal
Luper’s Quinta da Carolina.

- Puente Alto, Chile
Just as Australia before it, Chile has a laser focus on exports. Exports grew from $9 million in 1984 to $267 million in 2000. The leader is Concha y Toro, with Almaviva. Tasted side by side, anyone can note the difference between a Mouton Rothschild and an Almaviva. A Mouton is more tannic and the flavours more intense than an Almaviva of the same vintage. To be best appreciated, the Mouton is best enjoyed at least five years after its vintage, perhaps even longer. The Almaviva reaches its peak more quickly and can be enjoyed earlier

- Willamette Valley, Oregon
Eyrie Vineyards. David Lett’s Pinot Noir. Domaine Drouhin.

- France again
Marcel Guigal

The most important part of the global market, where the coming battle will be fought, is in the $10-$20 range.

Goodness me, I’m turning obsessive.

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“What has impressed me most about the great wines of the world — aside from the immense pleasure of drinking them — is the deeply rooted, fiercely held philosophies of the people who create them. The great winemakers I have met invariably possess a clear concept in their minds — before the first grape is picked — of what their wines should be. It’s a vision that places terroir over technology, and grape quality over quantity. Their wines are great because they share a dedication to producing intense, concentrated wines that proudly proclaim their heritage.”

- Dr Loosen

I basically cut my teeth on Aussie Rieslings before I really got this wine bug. We would have flasks of chilled Rieslings for picnics with emping chips, and curries, and Thai dinners. Riesling remains the most versatile white in the world, the truest conduit for the expression of place and simply an immensely enjoyable wine.

The hills east and north of Barossa, Eden Valley and Clare Valley have fine-tuned their Rieslings to take on the Fatherland. Hugh Johnson compares Riesling to a fine instrument, he says, that “sings in such different keys with the same lyrical voice”.

To try: Clare Valley Rieslings (Polish Hill, Mount Horrocks), Eden Valley Rieslings (Yalumba, Seppelt)

The Rheingau, where the great institutions were abbayes and their successors aristocrats, compared to the Medoc. The wine is a tougher proposition than the bracing freshness of the Moselle and the plump cushion of the Pflaz. The 1540 Steinwein, which was most definitely alive, and that life ticked over quietly for longer than the life of any creature.

Egon Müller, Scharzhofberger Riesling Spätlese 2005 Saar

Alsace: Hugel’s Vendanges Tardives, Trimbach (steely dry Rieslings), Clos des Capucins Gewurztraminer Reserve.

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Austria: Langerlois Gruner Veltliner

Photo: Dinner party yonks ago.

UPDATING my recipes, and feeling the madeleine syndrome.

There are these bachelorette/student ones that I perfected with my rice-cooker, for instance, which brought me straight back to the days of hitching rides from kids with cars to supermarkets, stocking up on the sake and mirin in Boston, and making these dishes with a simple spinach stir-fry/soup on the side.

- Salmon mushroom rice
- Oyako don
- Steamed rice with clams
- Silken tofu salad
- Grilled miso chicken breasts
- Coriander mint chicken curry

And the cha-pa-lang omelette I used to make for breakfast and down with orange juice! Yummm. Plus my favourite scrambled eggs recipe which I made whenever I got hold of rich cream.

Then the pesto, cooked by the pot and served from the saucepan onto plates people had to bring themselves as we were short of flatware…

And the chèvre grape salad I made for a picnic by the river, when we put white wine into a thermos to keep it cold, and had sandwiches and pears and cheese…

And my favourite shellfish recipes for dinner parties, yummy, fuss-free, easy to cook…

Photo: forgotten where I snitched it from. Note to self: note where I get these photos so I can credit them properly.

READING about Robert Mondavi, and I’m so inspired! Superb winemakers who are open and hungry and eager to learn, people with the guts to put Napa Valley on the world map of great wines, who cut the way for the other New World winemakers to go up against the best of Burgundy and Bordeaux.

And how you respect terroir, or soil and climate, with the art of wine today being a blend of science and technology and the art and intuition of the wine maker. But the essence of great wine remains terroir, expressing the best that the land has to offer.

And it’s interesting that the vines that are stressed produce the best berries. There’s so much to learn about wine! Opus One will actually be here for the World Gourmet Summit, but tickets have been snapped up.

In these stories are lessons on life, on family, on business too. How you give your best to whatever field you’ve chosen, and give it heart and soul and expertise and vision.

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Of course I’m not going to go all sentimental about wine — most budget wine is as much an industrial product as most beers.

But there’s a bit of magic in it. Hugh Johnson wrote:

Proust had his madeleine, and I have my claret. And burgundy and champagne and Moselle and Chianti and Coonawarra. Every bottle, every glass of wine connects with bottles and glasses that went before, leads back in memory, forwards in anticipation and sideways in reverie…

Wine is first and foremost a social game; only secondarily an interest like music or collecting. It is about human relations, hospitality, bonding, ritual…all the manoeuvres of social life — and all under the influence, however mild and benign, of alcohol.

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Watched The Importance Of Being Earnest with H, enjoyed it, with the music by T’ang Quartet. A fun production, a bit over the top, but enjoyable as Wilde is. And a nice afternoon browsing in second-hand bookstores, and then going for tea at my favourite tea place.

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There’s going to be a lot of work ahead, but I’m raring to go. Reading Hugh Kenner and David Harvey — that’s the kind of scholarship I want to work towards. And I want to teach, and to teach well. Pruning my interests: so far I have to work on the languages, prepare for the GREs, do some calligraphy at least once every two days, keep up with the exercise.

Interest is not enough — you must give the work passion, and put the best of what you have into it.

Photo: S.

APRIL 11: It was on this day in 1945 that American troops entered the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany. About 56,000 prisoners died there. Even though many of the American soldiers had fought in the worst battles of WWII, they were unprepared for the horrors they saw there. Edward R. Murrow was one of the reporters covering the event, and he was so disturbed that he couldn’t even talk about it for days. One of the inmates in the camp that day was a teenager named Elie Wiesel, who went on to write more than 50 books, including his memoir, Night (1958). In 1986, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He said:

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”

From Vogue Korea

Kate Spade ad

From Vogue Korea

LUSCIOUS photos. Thank god for frivolous, delightful things like candy colours, butterflies, and impractical shoes.

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I’d neglected my main site for the longest time (other than regularly updating the list of books read), but I’ve put up a couple of new recipes and a page on calligraphy. This website’s been a fun project since I started it two years back to teach myself to handcode HTML. And oh, I’ve met such delightful people through it as well! :)

BEETHOVEN’S Fifth: it opens with just two clarinets against the strings — the darker coloration with the strings, for that note of sonority. I’ve never heard the clarinets till now. It would be too bright with the brass, and wouldn’t seem as powerful, with dynamics that important part of tone colour.

Why do we listen, and go to concerts? We can probably find ourselves somewhere here, among the characters of E. M. Forster’s Howard’s End:

Whether you are like Mrs. Munt, and tap surreptitiously when the tunes come—of course not so as to disturb the others; or like Helen, who can see heroes and shipwrecks in the music’s flood; or like Margaret, who can only see the music; or like Tibby, who is profoundly versed in counterpoint, and holds the full score open on his knee; or like their cousin, Fräulein Mosebach, who remembers all the time that Beethoven is “echt Deutsch”; or like Fräulein Mosebach’s young man, who can remember nothing but Fräulein Mosebach: in any case, the passion of your life becomes more vivid, and you are bound to admit that such a noise is cheap at two shillings.

Rhythm, harmony, melody, tone colour, originality.

Things I’m grateful to have grown up with, or that found me early: Books, tea, music, Chinese. Appreciation for them only deepens with time. It’s a neverending journey, interesting and rich, with neverending complexities to appreciate. Such pleasure, too, though you can be as intellectual and rigorous with it as you want. Once your curiosity’s whetted it goes on, and it goes on. How can anyone be bored with life when there are your own versions of these passions to learn about?

Doors open, worlds, for those of us who were touched by some Damscene moment, or are lucky enough to have parents or teachers or friends who opened our eyes to things. And because they’ve taught you well, because you begin to see, then hunger, you learn that the ability to love something this much and this deeply makes a difference in who you are. And this is why I feel so passionately about education, because every child should have access to these things.

From T a long time back:

“Those were also the days where my teacher really opened my ears to music, we listened to music together, score in hand, ears glued to the music that filled the air. She lent me scores, books, CDs, and even gave me her entire (a few hundred!) cassette collection of recorded music from the library in the Royal College when she was there, because she claimed since she was going into CDs, the she didn’t need the cassettes any more. I think it’s this gesture of generosity, of how much she really cared for my musical education, of the potential she had seen in me, that made me feel the way I do for music today. And maybe subconsciously it’s why I feel ever so strongly to share this passion with everyone I know….I still love music. I love it so I want to create it, to create the sounds that I have in my head. That’s why I still play. I love it so I want to share it. That’s why I go round like a crazed idiot at times insisting that people listen to this and that. I love it that in spite of all my obvious failings as a musician, of all my self-doubts, I try to ignore them to keep my passions alive. Music is beyond exams, beyond competition, beyond being a profession. Music is an art, and with it comes all the wonderful implications that art brings with it. It’s about feeling, about thought, about passion, about reason, about life, about death, about rebirth. It’s about being human. And if I had to discover it the painful way, I’m glad that at least I was lucky enough to do so.”

Things that came to me later, but are so exciting to discover: Calligraphy and other visual art, movies, wine & beer, other languages. And the vocabulary is richer — the analogies — this is the stuff life is made of.

And there’s no other way than to plunge head in. You learn appreciation for music by listening, by going for concerts, by research — you learn wine and tea by tasting everything you get your hand on and enjoying it and then thinking about it — you run a marathon by, well, running.

The richness of it all, the artistry and balance, the balance between desire and intellectuality: South American tango, 冻顶乌龙, Mosel Rieslings, Cloud Gate dancers. Life is good!

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Fun wine to try: Brown Brother’s Tarrango for the poolside bbq.

A: At least he’s good-looking.
B: But that’s not enough.
A (looks down at her 小锅面 or “small wok noodle” that comes with a tealight under the soup in a mini-wok): Oh the fire’s gone out.
B: Yes. That’s what happens when someone’s just good-looking. The fire goes out.

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From McInerney:

“Wine is an intoxicant, and we shouldn’t pretend otherwise, I’ve gotten far less pleasure out of expensive Bordeaux than that first one I had. It can provide intellectual as well as sensual pleasure, it’s an inexhaustible subject, a nexus of subjects, which leads us into the realms of geology, botany, history, aesthetics, literature. Ideally, the appreciation of wine — as with arts of complexity such as literature and music — is balanced between consumption and pleasure on the one hand and contemplation and analysis on the other.

“Wine people are as a rule gregarious, generous, and passionate…Our love of wine is the fraternal bond that brings us together, and it is the lubricant that stimulates our conversation, but it’s a polygamous relationship that encourages and enhances our other passions. It leads us to other subjects and leads us back to the world. It lifts us up and delivers us from the mundane circumstances of daily life, inspires contemplation, and, ultimately, returns us to that very world, refreshed, with enriched understanding and appreciation.

“Wine is as serious or as frivolous as we wish to make it. Like sex, it has far too often been shrouded in mystery, hemmed in by taboo, obfuscated by technical blather, and assailed by puritans, though its enjoyment is, or should be, simple, accessible, and entertaining. “The brain is a pleasure killer. You don’t need to be a gynecologist to make love.” In Europe, where wine has been a part of daily life for thousands of years, American oenophiles are sometimes viewed as monomaniacs — zealous and somewhat narrowminded converts to a generous and pantheistic faith. Wine lovers need to broaden their vision and relax: to see wine as just another aspect of the well-lived life.

“Bordeaux was my first love, and it remains a kind of touchstone. But increasingly I am drawn to its rival Burgundy, the Turgenev to Bordeaux’s Tolstoy, and when I’m looking for sheer power and exuberance and less finesse, to the Dostoyevskian southern Rhone.

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Riesling is the carrier not just of its own grapey DNA but the signature of the soil, subsoil and even bedrock in which it was raised. Germany’s major wine regions present huge variations in geology, providing endless sources of study and tasting debate among well-lubricated professionals. But anyone with taste buds can easily detect, in various combinations, such fruit flavours as lemon, lime, green apple, grapefruit, apricot, and even pineapple in the glass — the latter flavours more likely in the later-harvest Spaetlese and Auslese. But what makes Riesling profound, like great Chablis, are the permutations of minerality. All have a vibrating, zingy acidity that focuses the other flavours in the wine as well as in your food.

Kabinetts are great aperitifs. Spaetlesen and Auslesen go well with most Asian food, white fish, pork, chicken, and almost anything in a cream-based sauce or cooked with fruit.

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Not the least pleasure of wine is its mnemonic quality — its madeleine-like ability to reawaken previous pleasures, to transport us back in time and place. If I fail, as seems likely, to make it physically to Provence this summer, I will revisit it often in memory — whenever I open a bottle of rose.

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Argentinian Malbec
Barossa Valley Shiraz

Bouillabaisse and rose
Sancerre and chevre
Chablis and oysters
Tocai and prosciutto
Bordeaux with rack of lamb
Sauternes with terrine of foie gras
Barolo with brasato
Champagne with sushi and Japanese food: yeast in champagne and in soy sauce, and high acidity cuts through the saltiness, as with caviar. For the same reason, champagne works well with dim sum.
Riesling is especially companionable with Cantonese cooking, as with Pinot Gris and Peking duck. The one thing that makes them so successful with somewhat sweet and spicy food is their residual sugar. A touch of sugar is the perfect counterpoint to spice; these wines are also high in acidity, which balances out the sweetness of a sauce like hoisin. Zinfandel also works with Chinese food.
Rioja with Indian — something to do with the earthiness of the wine. Hunter Valley Semillon or Sauvignon Blancs with Thai.

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And oh, the mad scientists and the poets in the industry. The perfectionists, and the opionionated and driven competitors.

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To read: Waugh On Wine. In a Tatler column, he described his cousin’s house wine as a drink of “stupendous horror…the foul beverage itself tasted of vinegar, blue ink, and curry powder.” Not content with this, he said that it reminded him of “a bunch of dead chrysanthemums on the grave of a stillborn West Indian baby”.

Adventures On The Wine Route, Kermit Lynch

GOT some help from a friend who knows wines, and reading people such as Jancis Robinson. Fascinating stuff. This started when I first met N, who talked so eloquently of her love of wine, and spending time in the vineyards. Then Jancis Robinson has such a compelling story of how a burgundy changed her life when she was out for a meal in Oxford where she was studying maths and philosophy, and watching her BBC series on wine got me fascinated.

It’s a delicious, varied and complex drink, speaking of places, of people, of terroir. And it’s so exciting to see how the old world and no-nonsense new world producers compete, of the traditions, of the science, of the pioneering spirit and how the wine tradition takes root. At the heart of it, making wines to give people pleasure. To sell happiness. Wine that’s a good moment in people’s lives.

Love. It. Love the stories.

- Chablis:
Chablis Grand Cru Grenouille 2001 La Chablisienne

From Robinson:

“Burgundy’s white wine outpost is one of France’s most northern and it is hardly surprising therefore that the wines are naturally relatively sinewy, high in acidity and steely rather than luscious and oaky. This is an archetypally refreshing, long-lived style of white wine which very few wine regions, possibly none other than Chablis, can produce.

We Chablis enthusiasts treasure the purity of flavour, the modest dimensions and the rapier-like effect on the palate of the region’s better examples, and cannot understand how the word Chablis ever came to be used, particularly in the United States, for sweetened up blends of the most basic white.

Chablis comes in four very distinct quality levels. Petit Chablis is the principal, often vapid, product of the plantings on the outskirts of Chablis proper undertaken when the Chablis growers found they were unable to keep up with international demand. Most wine produced around the pretty little village of Chablis qualifies for the straightforward Chablis appellation, which can vary considerably in quality (beware of Chablis bottled outside the region) but should usually be drunk young. Some particularly well-sited vineyards, comprising about a quarter of total Chablis production, are designated Chablis Premier Cru and represent some of the district’s most reliable buys. The very best vineyards are on the west-facing hill immediately above the village and qualify as Chablis Grand Cru. These are the vineyards, particularly Les Clos, that have made Chablis’ reputation as offering a remarkable combination of refreshment and longevity.

Grand Cru and some of the best Premier Cru Chablis can improve in bottle for more than a decade. Indeed its extra acid can make top-quality Chablis a better candidate for ageing than many Côte d’Or whites. But such wines can sometimes smell almost dirty in youth, or if not dirty then at least reminiscent of wet wool or dogs. Wet stones is what I like to smell from young Chablis.

St-Bris is regarded administratively as part of greater Chablis but the razor-sharp style of this Sauvignon Blanc is pure Loire in taste.

Some favourite producers: La Chablisienne co-operative’s top bottlings, Dauvissat, Defaix, Droin, Laroche, Louis Michel, Christian Moreau, René et Vincent Raveneau.”

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And oh, the story of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc! The stuff novels are made of.

“Not too long ago, in a faraway place now best known as Middle Eart, a wine was born. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc appeared suddenly, as if it had sprung fully formed from Zeus’ head, and in the past decade it has taken its place alongside Barossa Shiraz and Napa Cabernet as a kind of instant classic.”

In 1985, David Hohnen, owner of Cape Mentelle Vineyards in the Margaret River region, flew to New Zealand, convinced that the cool climate of the South Island could produce great Sauvignon Blanc. In fact, Montana, a big company based on the North, had already ventured there to plant Sauv in Marlborough in ‘76, and its early bottlings were promising. Hohnen met winemaker Kevin Judd, hired him on the spot, and bought land in the Marlborough district, on the northeast corner of the island. Within a year the first vintage of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, made from locally purchased grapes, was creating a buzz and winning prizes in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Within a decade Cloudy Bay has spawned numerous imitators and had helped create a new style of wine. For some reason, Sauvignon Blanc grown in cool, sunny Marlborough tastes like nothing else — certainly not like the lean, stony, lemony Sauvignons from Sancerre and Pouilly-Fume. These Marlborough Sauvignons are fruit cocktails suggestive of lime, mango, grapefruit, and, especially for those who have encountered them, gooseberries. What holds it all together is a wire-mesh foundation of acidity that comes from the long, cool growing season in this marginal climate.

Chardonnay also does well in marlborough, producing lean, racy versions. The most exotic Chardonnay seems to come from the warmer North Island — Kumeu River Wines, for instance.

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Got some bottles of Chimay Rouge with me if anyone wants to come over for a drink. I’m actually drinking it out of the goblet now, with its lovely bittersweet aftertaste, yeasty goodness and dark nutty fruit flavours. Douce mais solide.

There’s the strong taste of malt, which gives way to the subtler fruity flavours that make the beer so distinctive. There’s also caramel and honey as it’s slightly sweet and the more the drink warms the more flavours and aromas become apparent. It’s soft and smooth drink, with a crisp fizz to it, and leaves a dry fruity aftertaste in the mouth.

Ouyang Xun 欧阳询 《九成宫醴泉铭》

Yan Zhenqing 颜真卿 《颜勤礼碑》

CENTURIES ON, beginners still go to the works of Ouyang Xun 欧阳询 （557-641), Yan Zhenqing 颜真卿 (709-785) and Liu Gongquan 柳公权 (778-865) for examples of the regular script (kaishu 楷书) that we can practise.

I’m more familiar with 颜体 (writing in the style of Yan) and am starting to look at 欧体 (Ou’s style) — 颜体字的特点是丰满柔美，雄劲浑厚，大方隽秀, 探源篆隶，楷法谨严，放而不流，拘而不拙，结字方圆，笔法肥劲； 欧体字的特点是奇峻峭丽，刚强遒劲, 正书结字，易方为长，以就姿媚，四面停匀，八方平正，翰墨洒脱。

You can see how different the styles are — Ouyang Xun’s is refined, elegant, Yan Zhenqing vigorous, and is considered the epitome of firmness and strength.

欧阳询与颜真卿，个性与共性千变万化的书法艺术成为了中华文明不可或缺的一支奇芭。从开始书写字体，书法走过了很长很长的一段路。唐代书法被誉为是书法历史上的一座高峰；从虞世南到赵孟頫，从初唐到盛唐，无不影响着当时甚至以后几百，一千年中国人的书写形式。欧阳询与颜真卿，是唐代四大书法家中的其中两位。他们的书法，被通称为“欧体”和“颜体”。初学书法者，一欧一颜，是最好的选择对象。欧体的铦利森森，颜体的丰腴雄浑；标志了中国的书法高度境界。

欧阳询是隋末唐初的历史变幻见证者。他的书法，秉承了隶书结构的庄重，同时又吸收了王羲之的灵活多变。于稳重中见大气，于森严中见潇洒；于平正中见险绝，于规矩中见飘逸；笔画穿插，安排妥贴。“询八体尽能，笔力险劲，篆体尤精，飞白冠绝，峻于古人，犹龙蛇战斗之象，云雾轻宠之势，风旋雷激，操举若神。真行之朽出于大令，别成一体，森森然若武库矛戟，风神严于智水，润色寡于虞世南。其草书迭荡流通，视之二王，可为动色，然惊其跳骏，不避危险，伤于清雅之致。”堪称一代大师。

颜真卿出生在唐代，经历了唐玄宗鼎盛繁荣的歌声燕舞时期。他的书法，正正体现了盛唐恢宏庞大的历史情景。他的楷书一反初唐书风，行以篆籀之笔，化瘦硬为丰腴雄浑，结体宽博而气势恢宏，骨力遒劲而气概凛然，这种风格体现了大唐帝国繁盛的风度，并与他高尚的人格契合，是书法美与人格美完美结合的典例。他的书体被称为“颜体”，与柳公权并称“颜柳”，有“颜筋柳骨”之誉。朱长文赞其书：“点如坠石，画如夏云，钩如屈金，戈如发弩，纵横有象，低昂有志，自羲、献以来，未有如公者也。”

两人出生在不同时代，各自体现了不同的风格特征。但恰恰是两者的与别不同，才有了书法艺术的两个殿堂。然而，世间的万事万物既有各自的特点，同时还存在共有的，为大家所一致认可的特点。喜欢欧体的认为欧体的很出色，喜欢颜体的认为颜体很出色。但无可否认的是两者都是书法艺术上的一代宗师，无法用别人来替代，也不可能有其他人可以替代。他们的造诣，开创了书法的一个境界，堆积了书法的两座高峰。

在书法国度里，每个人通过自己对字体艺术的不同理解，写出了自己所认为的美。但美并不是矫揉造作，不是生搬硬套，而是认识自然，取法自然，感悟自然，最后回归自然。在大众所认可的美的基础上，发展自己独特的，不失自然体态美的书法艺术。然而，现在许多所谓的书法工作者，离开了自然的领域，追求所谓的，不为大众所认可，所认知的美。这种美，是丑的，其实就是扭曲了的自然，根本不能算是美。对前人书写形式的不求甚解，对人民群众审美认识的无礼漠视。其实，写书法就像是人化妆一样。字本来就是存在在这的；我们只不过是在骨架的基础之上对其进行粉刷，修饰的行为；为字赋予一件美丽的外衣。我们创作美的事物，不能脱离了大众的认可。正是因为有了大家的认同，美的东西才有它所存在的意义，不然任何的再创造都不可能是美的，不可能是脱离了低级趣味的，纯粹的美；只能是庸俗的，有瑕疵的一种形式美。

SPEAKING of C.S. Lewis, Spufford writes:

“A deeply carnal individual, Lewis always imagined heaven in carnal, you might say hypercarnal, terms. It was not just the place where we will encounter immortal love, and see the true stars shine by comparison with which the stars of our own familiar sky are dim, sad glowworms. It was also the home of the immortal sausage, more brown, more popping, more savoury in its skin than the shadow sausages we know now; of immortal beer, and immortal tobacco, and all the other things lewis enjoyed. It was the place where feeling would reach its fruition, its consummation. there, when you did the Keatsian thing, and burst joy’s grape against your palate fine, a hand grenade of true grapishness would go off in your mouth, and send its total message of cool pale green flesh, sweet yet acidic, to overwhelm every nerve in your body.”

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Oh yesss! :))_)))) I’m ecstatic. I’ve debugged Wordpress so it can display Chinese characters again! I’ve missed blogging in Chinese!!

I’ve been talking to oenophile friends, and am feeling inspired to learn more, to make full use of all the senses. I’ve started drinking my stash of Chinese tea again. Like wine, tea has its own traditions, rituals, trivia, and communities. There are “vintage” teas, and teas that are sourced from a single tea estate. There are different flushes. There are various brewing methods and vessels and and tea cultures to familiarise oneself with. And collecting tea and teaware can be just as fun as stocking a wine cellar and acquiring specialized stemware.

Am sipping my 铁观音 (tie guan yin) now, and greatly enjoying it a lot.

我能算是个茶罐子， 现在在喝安溪铁观音。

铁观音最迷人的地方就是其高扬的兰花香，我们所说的兰花香其实只是一种类似兰香的特殊茶香、给人以很深刻的印象。但是，并不是所有铁观音茶都会有兰花香，只有少数制作成功的优质产品才会出现明显而馥郁的兰香 — 一般来说，常见的兰花香有两种风格：一为尖锐、霸气，具有很强的冲力，刚性十足，令人印象极深，普遍被茶友作为衡量产品是否高档铁观音的基准，这类茶基本上都属于轻发酵制法；但它的缺陷是产品的回韵可能不会特别绵长，而且也比较容易出现强苦味。

　　另一种为高雅、含蓄，但清幽的兰香也非常明显，显得具有阴柔性、渗透力强，其优胜之处在于茶汤口感较有亲和力，茶汤回韵十足–当然，这并不是绝对的。

　　这两种风格不同的兰花茶香其实并没有什么高下之分，二者只不过分别属于不同风格流派而已、可视为同一个质量等级。

口感:

　　毫无疑问，品饮口感是衡量铁观音品质的第二个关键指标。品饮口感可以包括这几个方面：入口亲和力（苦、涩还是香纯）、口中感受（让茶汤在口腔流动、仔细感觉，是否会有什么放大的缺陷，所指主要为苦、涩、粗）与吞咽感受（滑口还是会有阻滞感）。

入口亲和力：

　　虽说好茶不怕苦，但要是太苦的话无疑让人难以接受，但微有苦感还是可以接受的；几乎无苦亲和力更佳；而涩感是最为忌讳的，好茶怕涩–如果又苦又涩，这种茶质量绝对劣等；优质产品应该无苦或微苦、无明显涩感。茶汤入口，感觉茶香四溢，给人甘醇之感，此为好茶第一要素也。

口中感受：

　　茶汤入口后，先不急于入腹，可在口中轻转，让茶水流遍整个口腔，让所有味觉神经仔细感受，这个时候，茶的优点和缺点都会被放大，如果品饮好茶，会让人觉得妙不可言、口中满扬茶香；倘若苦涩明显，则会进一步放大；另外，不少铁观音会有一种粗感，就是感觉口中某处仿佛被蒙上粗粗的一层（一般为舌头、舌根部），如果粗感不明显且短时间消失，那么应该无妨；但如果粗感强且经久不退，便会令人感觉不适，这也难成好茶。

吞咽感受：

　　茶汤滑口还是有阻滞感往往可以在吞咽时感受，高档铁观音茶汤要求滑口、吞咽时毫不拖泥带水，感觉瞬时入腹，干净利落；而阻滞感强的茶汤在入喉时就没有此等美妙体验了，一般会觉得微有粗糙感，此类茶也难有高等级。

回甘回韵

　　回甘回韵是铁观音最迷人的特性之一，好茶回甘绵长、数小时内仍然齿颊生香，令人大呼美妙！然而，铁观音的回甘回韵有多种风格：

回甘：

　　不管是轻发酵茶还是中发酵茶，优质产品在饮后都会立刻喉头泛甘、而后上升扩散到整个口腔，经久不退；但回甘有强有弱、有短有长，一般来说，回甘强则优，但只要可明显感觉出来即可，这种回甘给人感觉是非常自然的；关键在于持久度如何–有些铁观音，茶香、口感等指标都表现不错，但是回甘时间短，基本上喝完就完了，此种茶的等级也不会高到哪去。

回甜：

　　优质的中发酵铁观音会有非常明显的回甜味，然轻发酵产品就不会有此项特色；回甜与回甘同时生成，给人以醇厚之感，这正是传统观音的迷人之处；但现在优质中发酵产品很少，大家不必苛求，知道即可。

生津：

　　好茶饮后会有明显的生津效果，即便饮完数个小时、口中之津仍是源源而出、令人感觉十分之美妙，但不是所有茶都这样，只有少数品质好的产品才会有此表现；品质越好，生津时间约为持久 — 倘若有幸品饮到货真价实铁观音王，你便会发现在饮完数个小时之后，口中都是甘香存留、津液滋生，初接触此茶，多半是久久都难以忘怀…

# Aroma: in the technical language of tasting, aroma should be reserved for the olfactory sensations felt in the mouth during retro-olfaction. But the word is also frequently used to describe smells in general.
# In the mouth: the group of characteristics perceived in the mouth, comprising smell, touch and taste.
# Bouquet: all the characteristics of smell that are perceived through the nose when one sniffs the tea, then in the mouth known as aromas.
# Infusion: this refers both to the act of infusion and to the soaked leaves which one then retrieves. For tea it is never used to describe the liquid that is obtained by infusion, this is called the liqueur.
# Liqueur: see above.
# In the nose: see bouquet
# Scent: smell
# Smell: perceived directly by the nose, as opposed to the aromas that are felt in the mouth.
# Flavour: sensation (sweet, salty, sour, bitter, glutinous) perceived on the tongue.

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Description of taste

# Aromatic: this is said of a liqueur that is strong and high in flavour.
# Astringent: having a rather harsh and rough quality in the mouth, caused by tannins.
# Biting: this denotes a tea which is both astringent and sour and that leaves a strong and lasting impression.
# Bitter: one of the five flavours. Normal for some teas that are high in tannin. Bitterness has the tendency to develop if the tea is left to infuse for too long.
# Body: characteristic of a beverage that marries a good constitution (robust) with warm aromas.
# Complex: this denotes a very rich mix of aromas, of great subtlety.
# Creamy: see mellow.
# Delicacy: the quality of a delicate liqueur with many, subtle aromas.
# Flavourful: this is said of a liqueur with strong, rich flavours.
# Flowing: denotes a smooth, pleasant beverage, with no harshness. Used to refer to teas with a low tannin content.
# Frank: this denotes teas whose characteristics (colour, scent, flavours, aromas�) are well defined and express themselves unfailingly and without ambiguity.
# Fresh: this is said of slightly sour teas that give a feeling of freshness.
# Frivolous: this is said of teas that are both rich in aromas and short in the mouth. They give a feeling of fleetingness.
# Full in the mouth: giving a very pleasant sensation and filling the mouth well. See also round.
# Full-bodied: said of a beverage that has body.
# Generous: rich in aromas, while not being tiring, which can be the case with heady teas.
# Glutinous: one of the five flavours, never found in tea. It can be detected above all in a majority of Asian dishes since it is associated with the presence of glutamates in food.
# Greenness: a fresh and green quality.
# Harsh: a biting sensation, a little rough, caused by tannins.
# Heady: this is said of a beverage that is high in spicy and flowery aromas.
# Invigorating: a characteristic of young, green tea, where there is a pronounced sour note.
# Iodised: a note found in certain teas such as Japanese green teas.
# Light: this is said of a tea that is not very full-bodied, with a low tannin content.
# Lively: this is said of a tea whose characteristics are well defined, with a slight hint of sourness.
# Long in the mouth: this is said of a tea in which the aromas leave a pleasant and long-lasting impression in the front and the back of the mouth after tasting.
# Mellow: this is said of a tea that is both round in the mouth and slightly sour. See also creamy, silky.
# Mild: this is said of beverages whose flavour is slightly sweet, punctured perhaps by a hint of acidity, but which have no astringency. See mellow, velvety, silky.
# Odorous: this is said of a beverage or an infusion with many strong scents.
# Pointed: see sharp.
# Powerful: denotes a full-bodied, long-lasting liqueur.
# Raw: green and sourer than the average.
# Refined: this is said of a tea whose scents, flavours and aromas are both delicate and subtle.
# Robust: this is said of a predominantly tannic beverage, which fills the mouth well. See round, full.
# Rough: this is said of a tea that is very astringent, often of bad quality or else has been infused for far too long.
# Round: this is said of a liqueur in which the smoothness and mellowness give an impression of roundness in the mouth.
# Roundness: the quality of a liqueur that fills the mouth in a spherical way.
# Salted: one of the five senses. Non-existent in tea that contains absolutely no sodium.
# Sharp: this is used to refer to a very lively beverage, in which there is an obvious fresh and sour note, almost spicy, and in which each aroma is delicately expressed.
# Short in the mouth: leaving few traces in the front or the back of the mouth after tasting.
# Silky: this denotes a smooth and mellow tea, with a touch of harmony, bringing to mind the smoothness of silk.
# Slippery: see flowing
# Smooth: denotes a beverage without harshness, owing to the lack of tannins. See slippery, flowing.
# Sour: this is one of the five flavours. It is found in some green teas, Wu Long (oolong) and spring Darjeeling, to which it gives freshness and liveliness.
# Strong: a rather vague term, which usually denotes a full-bodied, highly coloured liqueur.
# Sturdy: denotes a tea whose constitution is very robust. A quality that can be softened with milk.
# Subtle: this denotes a tea with delicate and complex scents and aromas.
# Supple: this is said of a liqueur where the mellowness overcomes the astringency. See slippery, flowing.
# Sustained: this denotes an aroma that stays in the mouth for a long time.
# Sweet: one of the five flavours, which can be detected sometimes in certain very light, green teas from China. Rather rare, except in Ama Cha.
# Tannic: this is said of a liqueur with a high tannin content.
# Velvety: this is said of a smooth, velvety liqueur, almost sweet.
# Vigorous: this is said of a tea that is both astringent and lively, whose presence is immediately felt in the mouth.
# Vivacious: this is said of a fresh, light beverage with a hint of sourness that is slightly, but not excessively, dominant. All in all very pleasant.
# Voluptuous: used to refer to a beverage that is full, round and long-lasting in the mouth.
# Warm: denotes spicy, woody aromas married to flavour that is totally lacking in acidity; by extension it is used to describe beverages having these qualities.
# Young: this denotes teas that were plucked early and which have a green, slightly sour character.

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Description of scents

Here is a list of terms commonly used to describe the olfactory and retro-olfactory impressions that occur during tea tasting and that allow us to express these sensations with reference to known aromas.

Hesperian notes:
These refer to citrus fruit aromas.
# Orangey
# Lemony
# Zesty

Fruity notes:
# Bitter almond
# Green almond
# Ripe fruit
# Black fruit
# Red fruit
# Dried fruit
# Fruity
# Muscat grape
# Peach
# Green apple
# Ripe grape

Floral notes:
All flowery notes and in particular:
# Freesia
# Iris
# Jasmine
# Narcissus
# Orchid
# Rose

Spicy notes:
# Aniseed
# Cocoa
# Malt
# Nutmeg
# Menthol
# Honey
# Pepper
# Liquorice

Vegetable and woodland notes:
These are the woody, balsamic, musty notes.
# Dry wood
# Green wood
# Bark
# Chestnut
# Peat
# Herb
# Moss
# Rocky
# Undergrowth
# Damp earth after a storm
# Woody

Empyreal notes:
Denoting a series of aromas and smells which bring to mind smoke, burning, caramelising.
# Burnt
# Grilled
# Smoked

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Grade refers to the size of the tea-leaf pieces used; the larger the pieces, the higher the quality. Smaller fragments are more exposed to air, causing them to lose their flavour quickly if they aren�t stored properly. Leaves stay freshest when stored in a dry, cool, dark place in an airtight container. In the case of green tea, refrigeration or freezing is recommended. Tea bags, especially cheaper varieties, tend to use very low-grade leaves, so if you choose these, be sure to keep them in an airtight container to maintain their potency.

Information about the flush and estate are generally only of interest to a connoisseur. Tea is harvested several times per season from each plant and each successive picking is a �flush�. The first and second flushes are higher in caffeine, and some say that they have a fresher, sweeter taste. Estates are areas from which tea is picked, and the differing growing conditions can subtly alter the flavour of the finished product. Both of these are very subjective qualities and don�t tend to have significant bearing on the average palate.

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All types of tea are made from the same basic raw material, freshly picked tea leaves. There are slightly different strains of tea bush, but they are not important for understanding the processes involved. The green leaves contain two important constituents, separated from each other in the cell structure. How these two groups interact is the critical factor in determining what type of tea is finally produced. The groups are polyphenols and and an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase. If these groups come into contact, the polyphenols start to oxidise, changing their colours and flavours and eventually creating black tea. The production of all tea types is built around preventing or controlling this reaction.

For some reason this oxidation reaction is usually referred to in the trade as ‘fermentation’, and we have used this word on our diagram. We know it’s not really a fermentation reaction. Just to confuse things, one type of tea does undergo a genuine fermentation - Pu Erh from Yunnan.

White Tea

White tea is the simplest form of tea, but authentic production is limited to Fujian province in China, and to a specific strain of tea bush. The young shoots on these bushes are very large, and covered with soft white hairs. The shoots and young leaves are picked and left to dry naturally, before being baked gently to bring out their flavour. The leaves are then separated into different grades. Because the leaves are not rolled or broken, the cells remain intact as the leaves dry and the flavour is mild and mellow. Producers in other countries are now experimenting with this style of manufacture, and producing some interesting results.

Green Tea

There are hundreds of different varieties of green tea, and in China every district has its own specialities. All green teas have one thing in common - the fresh leaves are heated or steamed to disable the cell enzymes, allowing the leaves to be pressed, rolled and twisted without losing their natural inherent flavours. This is the art of green tea making, affecting both the appearance of the leaf and its flavour. The final baking process varies according to how the green leaves have been initially handled.

Oolong Tea

Oolong (or Wu Long) teas have a sense of mystery and almost magic about them, and are the most highly prized teas in China. The methods of manufacture vary, but all are based on bruising the green leaves slightly to allow oxidation and the development of flavour. In some cases, the leaves are gently rolled and squeezed in large cotton sacks for several hours, during which the leaves are twisted into small balls. The degree of oxidation determines whether the resulting tea is light or dark, and a final critical baking process brings out the rich flavour. In some cases the teas are re-baked to intensify this flavour.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Oolong teas is their unique ability to be re-infused repeatedly, with no adverse impact on the taste. In fact the third and fourth infusions usually have the best flavour, and the leaves can be infused up to seven times in most cases; in China the first infusion is usually discarded.

Black Tea

The familiar taste of black tea comes from the fermentation (oxidation) stage, which the manufacturing process is designed to optimise. The wilted green leaves are rolled or crushed to rupture the cells, allowing the release of the enzyme and starting the oxidation process. During this stage, the leaves change from bright green to orange and finally reddish-brown in colour, and new flavours develop. These flavours can vary widely, depending on the green leaves, the rolling or crushing process and the length of time the leaves are allowed to oxidise. This process is stopped by oven-drying the tea.

Because the rolling (�orthodox’) process is quite gentle, the flavours develop slowly and become subtle and complex; the skill of the tea maker is the key element in the production of top quality large leaf teas.

Small leaf teas are made using a crushing (’CTC’) process, which creates a much higher degree of cell rupture. The leaves oxidise much more quickly and completely, resulting in stronger flavours.

Pu Erh

Pu Erh (or Puer) tea sits in a category of its own. Pu Erh starts its life as a green tea, but is then moistened, starting a secondary fermentation process which makes the tea warm and develops very different flavours. This tea is then pressed and dried, and left to mature for as long as possible. In China, well-aged Pu Erh is extremely valuable (we are talking 10-20 years or more). Generally speaking, the older the tea, the milder and sweeter the flavour, but ultimately it all depends on the quality of the initial tea and processing. We would describe the flavour of Pu Erh as mild, slightly sweet and slightly musty.

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Pairing tea with food is an individual choice as every person’s palate and taste is different.

Natural whole leaf teas are as complex as fine wines due to the fact that teas are an agricultural product and are affected by soil and weather conditions, or terroir, as well as how the leaf is processed by the tea master.

Here are a few points to remember when choosing your teas:

*Match not only the flavour of the tea with the food but the intensity of each. Are you working with delicate or rich flavours and textures? You don’t want to overpower a subtle dish with an intense tea or vice versa.
*Take sauces and gravies into account when searching for your dominant flavour of each dish.
*It is the dominant flavour profile that you will look at to choose your complimentary tea. Is it savoury, fruity, sweet, acidy, floral, vegetative or spicy?
*Try using light teas and evolve into heavier tasting teas as the meal goes on. In general, whites are the lightest, greens and oolongs have both light and dark properties depending on the style of leaf, black teas are usually heavier in tannins and puerh is heavy with no tannins.
*Food choices with acidic tendencies like tomatoes and lemon need a more tannic tea to balance them.
*Richness can be cut with tannins or matched with a full flavoured tea.
*Consider the sweetness of a food. Extremely sweet dishes are best served by a tea that will counterbalance the sweetness rather than add to the sweetness scale.
*Pastry dulls the palate and will be complimented best with a more subtle tea.

Suggested Pairings:

Appetizers
Jing Shang Tian Hua
Jasmine Mao Feng

Red Meat
Yunnan Black Needle
Young Puerh
Honey Dan Chong

Poultry
Dragonwell Lung Ching
Jasmine Dragon Tears
Magnolia Oolong

Seafood
Genmaicha Satsuki
Sencha Fuka-midori
Gyokuro Kin

Vegetarian
Organic Chun Mee
Organic Rooibos
Hoiji Kukicha

Spicy Foods
Tie Guan Yin
Houji Kukicha
Imperial Keemun
Indian Spice chai

Cheese
Apricot black
Hao Ya A
Sencha with Matcha

Desserts
Soom Darjeeling
Meleng Assam
New Vithanakande

A: So you’re just going to accumulate useless degree after degree.
B: I worry for my future too. But there’s always winning the lottery, or saving a billionaire from drowning, or catching the eye of the prince of Denmark.

A (after being laughed at): Maybe I’ll just put myself on an iceberg and float myself out to sea so that no one will have to deal with my suffering.
B: Darling, you’re in the tropics. Try a raft made from coconut husks.

B (eating kangkong with very spicy sambal): Oh my god my life just flashed before my eyes.
A: This is a religious experience.

A: WHAT IS HIS NAME? WHAT ARE *THEIR* NAMES?
B: A, get out the interrogation lamp, won’t you? And the polygraph.

B: Nothing that came out of your mouth today might, in any universe visited by Kirk or Spock, be construed as constructive.

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Came across this:

Ah Beng’s Guide To Geographical Terminology

(Contributed by Wyman Lye)

GORGES adj. stunningly beautiful
(”That ger (girl) is gorges!”)

BEACH noun. a derogatory term for a disliked woman
(”That Bee Lian is such a beach, man!”)

CORAL verb.
1. to bicker
(”Want to coral, is it?”)
2. (followed by reef) to argue with
(”Want to coral reef me, is it?”)

DAM noun. a swear word to express disgust or dismay
(”Dam it, call her go Zouk, she doe wan.”)

VALLEY adverb. extremely
(”That Versachee belt, valley nice!”)

THERMOMETER phrase. to meet the next day
(”Cindy say thermometer at Taka.”)

LATITUDE adjective. a disagreeable demeanour
(” She really got latitude problem man!”)

CIRRUS adjective. certain
(”Cirrus or not? Don’ bluff!”)

CANOPY phrase. impossible
(”He bought new handphone? Canopy!”)

Heh. If any of my children don’t speak Singlish and can’t write Chinese I shall disown them.

Nice new bottles of Zhonghua Mozhi and golden lights and freesias in yellow and purple make me very happy.

- Yummy Chimay red with moules frites. I do love Chimay Rouge, it’s a rich, sweet, well-balanced beer from the Trappist monks in Belgium.
- Brahms piano trios on the stereo
- Authentic izakaya experience. Good company over drinks. We laughed and laughed over SQ’s stories of nationalities and girls.
- Kazu’s scallops, eggplant, mushrooms, gyu tongue etc etc…mmmm….
- Smelling good
- Mixing and mingling friends: I love it when they hit it off with one another
- Meeting fellow bibliolatrous folk. A heap of books to read. I want that new Vintage translation of War And Peace.
- Work, work, work
- Learning more about beer and wine at the bookstore and by talking with friends.
- Identifying and dating literary works, sigh, I have to plough through the American writers.
- Long letters and picture postcards

“Oh sweetheart. You’ve such capacity for joy. Not that you’re just one of those song-and-dance purveyors of sunshine and cheer and looking-on-the-bright-side. With all of that infectious love of life and humour, you’ve grace and compassion and are as wise as if you’ve been on the earth for eighty years. You’re wonderful, my dear. Giving and passionate, and the last part is probably the one that can make life tempestuous for you emotionally, but it also makes you so alive. You’ve the inner fire and the courage to go with the ability and the talent, and know that we believe in you deeply.”

From T, who mirrored some of what I said to him once and then added some more.

“What are they afraid of? What do they want? Know that and you’ll have a story.”

From J