 A new president will be sworn in on January 20, 2021.
I’ve never celebrated a presidential inauguration; in fact, I’ve never really thought anything about them except it is a lot of money to spend on a ceremony for an already-elected person. Agree or disagree with Trump, he’s gotten most of us to pay attention to our government and patriotism like never before. So in light of this new interest, I will be tuned in on the 20th and, I wanted to share what wine I’ll be using to toast to this amazing country we live in. This type of wine has a heady pedigree: (Info taken from Kirsten Georgi, www.ArmchairSommlier.com.)
“It” is not some American hybrid wine, or a Finger Lakes ice wine made from Riesling. Those weren’t being produced in the late 1700s. Americans, like those above, who drank wine had to depend on imports from Europe that by English law were delivered exclusively by English ships and were taxed accordingly. But there was a loophole that our wine-loving Americans figured out. Madeira. In the mid-1600s, a Portuguese princess named Catherine of Braganza was to marry Charles II, King of England. This is not a love story, however; this is a story of a pre-nuptial agreement. Madeira, a small island of off the coast of Northern Africa, was Portuguese, (and it still is today.) In the pre-nup for the 1662 marriage of Cathy and Chuck, Portugal prevented England from taxing any of the exports from any of their land holdings. So the wine from Madeira couldn’t be taxed by the English. Enter our crafty, future Americans. It became a mainstay of American life, especially those who favored an independent future. Ordering Madeira at a bar became code for support for the revolution. Our forefathers and mothers loved it so much that by the end of the 1700s, they were buying between 25-30% of all the Madeira produced. It is a wine that is produced in styles that range from dry to sweet, from traditional grapes called Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malvasia; in lower end versions, it is made from the local Tinta Negra Mole grape. After making the base wine, it is fortified with grape spirit which raises the alcohol level to 17-18%. Then the wine sits exposed in the sun… for 20, 40 or even 100 years or more. It is the only wine that it is fortified, oxidized, and heated - an extremely unique combination. Depending on which type of wine you buy, the aromas and flavors will remind you of raisins, nuts, perhaps smoke. Find a Madeira at your local liquor store and pour a chilled glass on January 20th. This will be the most emotional inauguration in over 200 years. I want to be drinking something that fills my veins with the same wine that helped inspire the birth of our amazing country.
0 Comments
 The kids dressed up as black labs. We pick up the soft, yellow-blonde puppy on a Sunday afternoon. My daughter, almost four, and my son, 18 months, can’t help but reach their chubby arms into the cardboard box between their car seats, shrieking happily every time the puppy moves, or licks them, or lays down.
By Monday morning, the puppy—now named “Cuervo” after Cuervo Gold tequila—has become a pariah. There are no longer happy sounds coming from the kids. Rather they are crying with despair each time they come upon... MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  As I wait to start my interview with Devin Thorpe of Forbes, I sit back from the webcam on my desk, close my eyes and become still. Deep breaths in and out. I try to calm my racing mind.
Will he ask me to show him a gift box? Do I know my financials well enough? Is there lipstick on my teeth? “Hello everyone and welcome to Make Your Mark on the World show. I’m your host, Devin Thorpe, I’m a Forbes contributor covering social entrepreneurship,” he begins and I smile, waiting for the camera to turn on. How far cancer has brought me. I know the Benedictine monks in the late 1600s... MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  Radiation is the sneakiest of all the cancer treatments I go through.
I meet with the friendly, smiling radiation doc. It’s hard to see her as a doctor—she looks like a P.E. teacher. With her pixie cut and glowing skin, she talks about beams of radiation, percentages of tissue damage versus effectiveness of the treatment and decreases in the likelihood of cancer recurrence. With my Stage Two situation and family history of breast cancer, she explains, she would like to treat this “aggressively.” I agree, so she schedules me for my radiation run-through and tattooing. Tattooing?... MORE (You'd be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  When studying red wines, people in the know use categories like the following to describe them:
MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  As I sit topless in front of a complete stranger—a handsome, 40-something, Indian-from-India plastic surgeon—I have thoughts running through my mind:
MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog at HuffPost.)  Have you ever driven at night in the mountains? If so, you know that you should watch for deer. They often lurk just off the sides of the road, in the forest — the cute, soft brown creatures. Your kids scan the trees and gleefully point them out as you drive carefully, with your high beams on, trying to anticipate where they are moving.
You keep your fingers crossed that they don’t jump into your path. But now and then, you run into bad luck, one jumps into the road in front of you and BAM, you hit it. Poor deer. Your kids freak out. You shake. You call the authorities. And now you have the inconvenience of having to do bodywork on your car. I always thought of my family history of breast cancer like the deer... MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  My “George Winston” Pandora station quietly plays piano in the living room. The orange blossom aroma-therapy candle wafts soft fragrances through the house. The cats snuggle next to each other on the couch. The dog is asleep on her bed. I sit in a comfortable, living-room chair, computer on my lap, writing, wine glass on the table next to me.
My family is gone. And I am so happy. Moms aren’t really supposed to say those kinds of things, but it’s true. I treasure... MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  In honor of all the waxing clients filling salons right now in preparation for Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share my ideas for wines to pair with this underground fashion trend.
Actually, I found out how popular waxing is from a friend, Stacy Dymalski, a comedian and writing coach, when we drove to Vegas for a well-deserved girls’ trip. We had high hopes of letting loose, just the two of us in Sin City. No children. No men or husbands. Spanx in our suitcases. Visions of sophisticated drinks... MORE (You'll be directed to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.)  I’ve engaged in three genres of laundry so far in my life. Well, I guess you could say four because when I was young our family had a maid who did my laundry. But since I was too young to drink then, I’m setting it aside in my quest to give an overview of the best wines to pair with laundry.
My adult laundry experience has been a far cry from the leave-it-on-the-floor-and-the-maid-will-pick-it-up-launder-it-fold it-and-place-it-back-in-your-drawer kind. Traveling Laundry is the first genre I was exposed to after my parents’ house. This is the kind of laundry that goes outside for field trips to get cleaned. This is probably the happiest... MORE (You'll be redirected to Kirsten's blog on HuffPost.) |
AuthorKirsten Fox is headmistress of our alma mater. After surviving a plane crash, two divorces, a child with cancer and her own cancer, she finds that wine and a sense of humor can buoy even the darkest of times. Her first question is always, "What wine would I pair with this?..." Grab a glass and laugh with Kirsten. Archives
January 2021
Categories |
RSS Feed