This month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday host, Jennifer Hamilton of The Domestic Goddess asks us to think about dessert FIRST and presents participants with a wine pairing challenge– which wine would you pair with which dessert? Thanks, Jennifer for hosting and offering us such a challenge! From her blog post, Your Tenderest Twosome:
“Most meals end with dessert and coffee or a glass of liqueur. The focus on the meal is long since gone, as is the wine. Guests are getting sleepy, hosts are getting antsy about the clean-up ahead of them and no one is paying attention to what they’re eating or drinking anymore. I think this is shameful. Every once in a while, dessert deserves the attention given to a main course…
The proper pairing of a sugary confection with a good wine is a difficult thing to maneuver. I have seen it done a few times in restaurants, once or twice at dinner parties and maybe done it once myself – and I almost certainly managed it by accident. Do you go sweeter with the wine than the dessert or match it? Do you go red or white or ice? Do you try to harmonize regions or go completely off the map (so to speak) with your choice…?
You have the chance to decide all this and more for yourself this month with the first ever joint SHF-WBW Dessert-Wine Pairing Event! All bloggers (food, wine or otherwise) are welcome to participate. Post your entry on Wednesday, February 24.”
So what should I choose? Something familiar, like a Port, say Twisted Oak Pig Stai? or Kachina Port? Or something different like a 2002 or a 2006 Lillypilly Noble Blend from AUS? Or should I go with a familiar and local winery, Old Creek Ranch Winery, and try their ice wine, a type of wine I’ve never had before?
So what will I be in the mood for? Something familiar? or something brand new? Guess now I need to do some research in the dessert department to figure out what I want to pair with what! What do you suggest?
10 Steps to Business Success from Zhena Muzyka of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea
Yesterday I attended a daylong seminar by WEV aka Women’s Economic Ventures facilitated by local social media maven Tea Silvestre of Social Good (and of the Social Good blog and Planet Good radio). The Santa Barbara event featured sessions on finances, marketing, and a keynote by Zhena Muzyka founder of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea.
I took notes on all three sessions and with any luck will post on all three. Here’s my blog post on the first session, “Start Your Business Venture on the Right Foot” or “Credit & Its Importance to You & Your Business” by Nina Erickson of Sure Path Financial Solutions.
Read on to learn how Zhena Muzyka got her Gypsy Tea business off the ground along with ideas on how to get YOURS going and growing. Then, with any luck, I’ll get a post up based on Maggie Dennison’s session on marketing.
Zhena Muzyka is an amazing storyteller plus she has a powerful story to tell! After graduating from high school in Lompoc, just north of Santa Barbara, she did some globe trotting in pursuit of her interests in botanicals including aromatherapy and healing herbs. She studied in Peru and wherever she was given the opportunity, plus she learned more about her gypsy heritage and her culture’s use of traditional medicinal herbs.
About nine years ago, she gave birth to her son Sage, who needed a very expensive operation. A single mom with few resources, she racked her brains, meditated and walked, looking for inspiration, looking for a path that would allow her to take care of her son.
After a walk in the mountains around her Ojai home, she realized she could put her interests together in the form of a tea house. But the costs were formidable so instead she bought an espresso cart and began to make tea lattes using her own blends.
Nine years later, her teas can be found in grocery stores, restaurants and natural food stores. She just raised 3.2 million from new investors. As her company grew, she stayed committed to her vision of providing a healthful drink which is sustainable for the planet and for the people who work the tea fields:
A commitment to social responsibility and the well-being of others has grown Zhena’s Gypsy Tea from a small humble band of loyal Gypsy Tea consumers to a growing successful brand and we are grateful. Our mission is to enrich the lives of people everywhere through our offerings of only the healthiest and freshest teas, herbs and botanicals available.
A community minded, pro-active company and one of the pioneer supporters of the Fair Trade Model, we work directly with small growers and out of the way tea gardens to affect change by providing these workers with healthcare, guaranteed maternity leave, childcare, literacy, better working conditions, and autonomy.
Fair Trade certification is a market-based model of international trade that benefits over one million farmers and farm workers in 58 developing countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Fair Trade certification enables consumers to vote for a better world with their dollars, simply by looking for the Fair Trade Certified label on the products they buy.
Zhena’s Gypsy Tea stands in solidarity with the tea workers and empowers them by paying a pro-active premium which provides and supports fair wages and added benefits such as better housing, healthcare, education and a sustainable environment.
After sharing her personal path to success, Zhena passed on to us “Ten Steps to Business Success” Read more…
Women’s Economic Ventures Workshop on how to get money to make money
I’d heard about WEV aka Women’s Economic Ventures here and there over the years. But when local social media maven Tea Silvestre of Social Good (and of the Social Good blog and Planet Good radio) started working for them, I became more interested in taking one of their classes, so I attended an orientation, and I actually signed up on Friday February 5 for the next class Tea was teaching starting the following Monday in Thousand Oaks, about a 30 minute drive from home.
Of course the evening of Friday February 5 is when my whole world went upside down when my husband did and landed on his neck. With the sup
port of my sister Laurie and my friend Kathy, I made it to class the past two Mondays as well as today, Saturday for an all day workshop in Santa Barbara featuring sessions on finances, marketing, and a keynote by Zhena Muzyka founder of Zhena’s Gypsy Tea.
I took notes on all three sessions and with any luck, I’ll post them here starting with the session on credit and financing, “Start Your Business Venture on the Right Foot” or “Credit & Its Importance to You & Your Business” by Nina Erickson of Sure Path Financial Solutions and followed by Zhena’s talk on how her Gypsy Tea business got off the ground and ideas on how to get YOURS, then Maggie Dennison on marketing.
Personally, I read the financial section of the paper regularly as well as financial info on-line and from other sources. So there really was nothing new here for me in the financial session but there might be valuable info for YOU so I’m posting it. Unlike most people it seems, I have never gone overboard on credit and had to find my way to financial shore. I am conservative with my money (what little that I have). Still, I was surprised when I applied for a car loan recently to discover I have such a good credit score because it had been a challenge getting my home loan nine years ago. Amazing how nine years of on-time mortgage and home equity line payments will rehab a person’s credit!
Of most importance, here’s where to get a free credit report: www.annualcreditreport.com 877/322-8228. I know I know you and me and the monkey makes three we all get bombarded with offers for free credit reports. But this place is legit. ZThey will try to lure you in to a paying report but if you persevere you will be rewarded with a free one. You can pull one report a year for the following Experirian, Transunion, Equifax. Nina recommends that, over the course of the year, you pull one each quarter or so. Note: Experian scores are very similar to FICO.
What should you do when you get yours? Review Read more…
poetry by e.e. cummings: “i thank You God for most this amazing”
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings; and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt imaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake
and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
poem by e.e. cummings
photo of Ventura Harbor & Channel Islands by Sheila Piala
Because of recent traumatic events in my family, this poem is particularly poignant and meaningful to me today. My husband narrowly escaped death 10 days ago; he is in the 5% who survive breaking a c2 vertebra. He not only survived but he can walk and move and wipe his own butt and has a 75% chance of a full recovery. Please visualize with me his bones as a beautiful mosaic held together with love and as healing and growing.
Be A Saint (of the Arts) Valentine auction at Sylvia White Gallery
This photograph “Wheel Arch” Lives On by Lis J. Schwitters is part of the “Be a Saint–Valentine’s Day Auction” at the Sylvia White Gallery, Sunday, February 14, 6-9pm.
If you’re going to this arts fundraiser tonight, can you bid on this for us?
The event is pricey per person but there’s food and drink and $1000 will go to one exhibiting artist who wins the raffle.
To see more of the art up for auction, check out the Sylvia White Picasa Gallery here.
The show includes one of my favorite local artists Erik Reel and many other amazing local artists.
For more information about Lis J. Schwitters work, check out her facebook page here and her website here.
Here’s a post about Bike Arch sculptor Mike Grieve: Bike Art & Arches: Black Rock City & Beyond with links to his site.
And finally, here’s why I’m not a big fan of Sylvia White Gallery.
Happy Velotines Day!
As long as we can ride, we will…please join us!
I found this drawing of the bicycle built of hearts here: http://dahsin.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-valentines-day.html
Tweed Ride Route: First Friday ArtRide to visit AUG, Bell Arts, Laurel Galleries & more
The rain is pouring down right now but the Tweed Ride today and Tweed 2 tomorrow are still on! I wish my bikergo had fenders (inventer Steven Ascher is working on it) but right now I suspect I will end up with a skunk stripe on the back of my very sweet brown tweed with green piping jacket and on my lovely paisley skirt!
One word for riding in the rain: fenders!
We’ll meet as usual at 5:30pm on the Ventura Beach Promenade at California Street and start our First Friday ArtRide with a visit to the Artists Union Gallery. We’ll ride off into the sunset about 6pm and the rain will determine our route: if it’s not pouring, we’ll take the beach bike path around Surfer’s Point and along the Ventura River to Main. We’ll turn left at Ventura Avenue to visit a swarm of westside galleries if the weather holds. If it doesn’t, we’ll go straight to Bell Arts for “No War Stories – A Soldier Returns to Vietnam” with Moses Mora who will share his perceptions of the country forty years after he was there as a soldier as it is today, post war – a place of peace, progress and development with photos of Vietnam on display by Raya Hayes-Mora.
Also near Bell Arts we’ll spend some time at VITA ART CENTER for “The Games People Play” featuring work by Jennifer Guernsey, Amy Schneider, & Jill Shanbrom who produced a series of collaborative works, each piece based on a childhood game. While maintaining the traditional rules of each game, Jennifer, Amy and Jill have also added a few new rules of their own which should make this a fun show for all of us.
From the Westside, we’ll ride back to Main which we will cruise with possible stops at Red Brick and CSUCI galleries, then roll up Main to Ash where those of us who cycling in Saturday night’s “Saints and Sinners” Fashion and Variety Show will rehearse for our part.
Next we’ll ride to the galleries on Laurel where we will enjoy beer from Anacap
a Brewery (bring money to donate and your own cup please!), to hear Dew Wat’s Rite, and attend the closing reception at the Laurel Gallery for A Month with the Karen: A People’s Struggle Told Through the Eyes of a Missionary Photographs by Gordon Griffith.
According to Griffith, “The Karen are a tribal people who live primitively in the jungles of Burma. They fashion everything by hand from surrounding resources, and are farmers that raise necessary crops for survival. Read more…
After a week or so of intense rain, followed by a week or so of light rain and sunshine, we got out my bikergo and the trailabike for a family ride downtown to the Farmers Market and to see our friend Borbala Arvai’s “Hermit Mermaid” which was juried into the show at the Buenaventura Art Association Gallery at the corner of Santa Clara and Fir across from Plaza Park and the post office. 
We enjoyed the diverse show which closes tomorrow and were tempted to take a few of the very moderately priced artworks home, especially Robert Wassell’s oil of a local mountainscape with pine trees priced at $275.
But we three agreed the most beautiful artwork there was Borbala’s “Hermit Mermaid” which is astonishingly detailed. Borbala uses felt and other natural materials to make her “dolls.” In addition to a variety of felted people, she’s illustrated a version of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” aka “Blanca Nieves y los Siete Enanitos” published by csimota in 2009 
Borbala has a number of other felt projects going including a book project with me as well as felting fairy dolls for Danika Dinsmore’s novel Brigitta of the White Forest which is coming out in March 2010 from en theos press. She also accepts commissions. You can order Borbala Arvai’s work from her Etsy store.
1/29/10: Moon at Perigee, Full at 11
Last night’s almost full moon rose well before the sunset (3:50 moonrise, 5:20 sunset). My small boy and I watched it rise above the trees and shrubs as pillowy clouds picked up tangerine and mango, peach and orange. Our living room was filled with apricot light.
Tonight the moon is full at 10:18pm PST. For us, it rises at 5:05pm and the sunset’s at 5:21pm. Also in the night sky is Mars in its closest approach since 2007, and at sunset, you can watch bright Jupiter go down soon after the sun. If you’re watching all this on the coast, you might notice also that the tide is SUPER low tonight at sunset (and for the next few days as well!) It’s also unusually high.
The moon is also at perigee which means it’s the closest it will be to earth in 2010. According Spaceweather.com, tonight it will be about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter than lesser full Moons of the year.
Pictured is Alps in France on the night the moon was at perigee in 2009 (APOD) Titled “Largest Full Moon of 2009“ Credit & Copyright goes to Vincent Jacques Sky Shows.
APOD explains the phenomenon this way: The large angular extent of the full Moon was caused by the Moon being unusually close to Earth during its full phase. Because the Moon circles the Earth in an elliptical orbit, its angular size depends on how close the Moon is to closest approach (perigee) or farthest distance (apogee). Even so, the Moon’s was only about 15 percent larger in area and brightness than a more typical full Moon. In this image, a dramatically positioned Moon is seen rising above the Alps from Breil-sur-Roya in the southeast of France. Taken with an ordinary digital camera but extraordinary timing, the image also captured a crossing jet plane.
Regardless of the explanation, the moon will indeed seem more full than usual. So go see! Personally, I have a long standing tradition of enjoying a shot of tequila or mezcal on a full moon. So here’s to you! And please subscribe!
So why should YOU subscribe to an LA radio station and to a West Coast based blog?
Because we both offer you eclectic excitement to enhance your lifestyle! On KCRW and on Art Predator, you just don’t know what you’ll run into next! And if you subscribe today, you could win an iPad!
When I started my “Art Predator” blog in November 2007 based on a newspaper column I had for a few years with the same name, I just started writing about what interested me in the arts–literary, culinary, visual, musical, and dramatic–like in my newspaper column. I included a few adventures too.
But quickly the blog evolved to expand beyond the limits of a newspaper column borders to embrace astronomy, astrology, politics, environmental activism, fashion, the latest Burning Man news, and more. And my readership expanded too–from averaging 115 page views a day in 2008 to 350 page views a day in 2009.
I give you the gift of my time. Won’t you please give me the gift of your subscription?
Just as my blog travels through cyberspace to you no matter where you live, you can live stream KCRW and listen to “Morning Becomes Eclectic” just like I do–except it might not be morning when you listen to it! You can also listen to their “Eclectic 24” channel, a web based version of KCRW available day and night. Go here to see what’s playing now on KCRW’s Eclectic 24. I even listened to KCRW while I was in Portugal last November!
A big difference, however, is KCRW asks for a minimum donation of $25 when you subscribe. (Let me get that paypal button up so you too can make a donation!) When you subscribe to KCRW, you get to choose one or more premiums (depending on how much you donate) and you get entered into a bunch of cool sweepstakes, some of which –like a trip to Florence Italy–close today the first day of the subscription drive. There’s also an AMAZING Morning Becomes Eclectic sweepstakes to Coachella: VIP tickets, car service to and from LA, and accomodations.
And today KCRW’s offering an iPad to a lucky subscriber!
I love love love KCRW. I get most of my news from NPR, listening every morning and evening, plus a five minute shot on the hour. KVRW’s eclectic musical progamming gets me through my days and nights. I hear and fall in love with cutting edge music from around the globe. Looking at the list of bands slated to play Coachella, I know most of them from my exposure to such a wide range of music on KCRW because real live djs select the music–and the musical selections range from the completely unknown to the well-known, from Radiohead to Michael Franti to Ozomatli and Beck to Miles Davis and James Brown. From Norman Cook’s BPA to LA’s Dengue Fever and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down to obscure bands from around the world.
And what can I offer you, besides at least one post a day every day on this blog? If you send me a self-addressed, stamped 9 x 12 envelope, I will send you a copy of my poetry collection “The ArtLife Poems” plus a broadside (or two or three depending on how much you donate!) Just like how KCRW lets you choose which cd you want, you can tell me which broadside you want. To take advantage of this offer, tell me so in an email or comment!
If you’d like, I’d be happy to send you an iPad, too. It just won’t be made by Apple.
PS How long will this subscription drive last? As long as KCRW’s–until the end of Monday Feb. 7. And I promise I won’t be as annoying about it as they can be about it on KCRW.
art predator 