Sunday, July 30, 2006

Rudi's version

during my recent visit from a celebrity exmo, you may recall that I wasn't too thrilled with how I looked in the picture.

Well, Rudi sent me his version (the same pose, but taken with his camera), and I'm trying to decide if it's better or worse:



I think maybe it's a little better.

Especially because of that guy in the background on the left. Remember this was right in the middle of the World Cup tournament, and -- though it's a bit hard to see since I shrunk the photo to fit on this blog -- it looks like he's really passionately describing how France is going to win. Little does this shapshot-back-in-time guy know what was going to happen!!! Hehe!! Those guys on the right are funny too -- they look like they're posing for the photo.

I'm bringing this up again because I just discovered Rudi's family wine the other day.

When Rudi first told me he was from Bordeaux, I asked him if he was from a winemaking family (since I'm kind of curious about the whole winemaking tradition), and he said he wasn't. Yet, there in the wine section of the supermarket, what should I find but "Chateau Cazeaux" red Bordeaux wine? So even if Rudi's immediate family isn't in the wine business, it looks like there's a high probability that his family tree isn't so far removed from the vineyard...

I picked up a bottle of Rudi's cousins' wine and tasted it, and I can report to you that it seems pretty good. Of course I really don't know anything about wine except that in general I like it, so I can't give you a precise description of this wine. One of these days I should go take a course in Oenology (Wineology) at the University of Bordeaux...

I bought this wine a few times so I could take a picture of the bottle for my blog (so you can all see that I'm not just making this up), but I thought it would be prettier to photograph it while the bottle was still full, and the timing never really worked out on that.

So here's a picture of me playing with play-doh with my kids instead:

9 comments:

C. L. Hanson said...

Hey Eric!!!

I know they have play-doh in the stores here in France, but -- come to think of it -- I can't remember if it's called "Play-Doh" on the packaging or not. I'll have to get back to you on that.

That should happen fairly soon since all of our current supply of play-doh is completely mixed together (it's all light purple now), plus it's been left out enough times that it's all dried out. So we need to restock...

The play-doh in the picture is imported play-doh. My sister's kids picked out that set with all of the cookie cutters as a present for my kids (which she passed along to me when we were in Scotland for my brother's wedding).

C. L. Hanson said...

Hey JLO!!!

That's so funny -- it reminds me of Homer too!!!

We haven't completely made the transition from play-doh to real dough for cookies, but we did make Christmas cookies (with the rolling pin, cookie cutters, frosting, sprinkles, the works!) this past December. The boys had a lot of fun, and they'll be even more skilled at it this year!! :D

Anonymous said...

hey chanson - speaking of play -doh - I actually know of a "make your own" play doh recipe and I have it at home.

This play doh (salt/flour dough) is actually edible (although it doesn't taste very good). It's still just as messy as regular play doh though.

I got it from my mom's enormous child development book from her BYU days.

My husband actually knows quite a bit about wine from his days at a liquor store here in Indy. Not necessarily french wine though.

I'm about where you are with wine knowledge but I will say - homemade fresh wine is not always a good option. And I would stay away from the Night train (I highly doubt they have Boone's or Night train in France).

Cyn Bagley said...

Yes... I enjoyed some of those French wines when we were near Ramstein. Our landlord would buy their favorites and we would trade bottles. We would buy the white German wine. Umm.. good.

(sad) I remember the days of wine.. and roses?

La said...

I'm with JLO, I love both pics. And I love, Love, LOVE that you notice things in the background. Like the planter coming out of your head, for instance. You are very observant. Or just obsessive.

:)

Kalv1n said...

Nice playdoh. And thanks for teaching me a new word, which I do love. Although, I have to admit that I feel like soi-disant sommeliers (can't spell) are artists of chicanery.

C. L. Hanson said...

Hey Rachel!!!

Homemade play-doh sounds like a fun idea -- maybe I'll try that out.

As far as wine is concerned, even though I'm not a specialist I know how to avoid the really cheap stuff. I always think of France as having only fancy wine, but you can also buy big plastic jugs of really cheap wine here...

Hey Cynthia!!!

Mmm, sounds delicions!!!

Hey La!!! Thanks!!!

Hey Kalvin!!!

Sometimes I wonder how much wine experts really can tell about a wine by smell and taste, i.e. without reading the bottle. ;-)

I'm kind of tempted to take a wine class for real, but I'd hate for it to ruin my taste in such a way that I start craving wine that costs $100+ per bottle...

Unknown said...

You are looking fine in the picture, Chanson. It looks better uncropped.

Rudi sounds like an interesting guy.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Hellmut!!!

Yeah, Rudi's cool. You should meet him -- I'm sure you'd like him.