Believe it or not, I’m the type of person that actually keeps to myself. I’ve met my neighbors while walking my dog. I try not to turn the TV on too loud, I make sure that I lock my doors, I try and unplug things when they’re not in use to conserve energy, and I try and leave quietly when I leave for work because I don’t want to disturb anyone. So to have somebody come into my space uninvited was a little upsetting.

I hope that whomever it was that broke in is happy with themselves. I hope that they got whatever it is that they felt they could sell and then realized that the stuff in my garage has no value to them. I get that times are tough, but I wouldn’t think of going into someones space and taking their things and it floors me that there are others in this world that think this behavior is ok.

Dear thief – because let’s face it, that is what you are, I sincerely hope that you enjoy MY things. I can’t wait for the moment that you realize that tearing MY hands-free unit from my dashboard won’t work because you tore it out wrong and now its broken. I hope that MY GPS unit gets you to where you need to go and that your child enjoys playing with MY collectible Barbies. I hope that you and your friends enjoy smoking MY hookah and that one of MY phone chargers charges your phone. I’m glad that you’ll now be able to clean your clothes with MY laundry detergent and that your eyes are protected from the sun with MY sun glasses. I, on the other hand, will now need to spend MY hard earned money to replace the items that YOU stole. If you needed MY things because YOU don’t have a job, I’d be happy to help you write your resume — although I’m not sure how many companies are looking to hire thieves, so don’t hold your breath on a job prospects. Tonight when I go to bed, I do so knowing that I am a decent person who works hard to buy the things that I have. I hope that you also sleep well knowing that you are the piece of shit that you are.

Every year,  just before the holidays, I scour the internet in hopes of a recipe that will come out similar, but haven’t had much luck.  And, I just finished watching the Christmas episode of Ree Drummond’s show Pioneer Woman — in which there was fudge, but of course that was the one recipe that wasn’t shared.

If you, or anybody you know, makes an amazing fudge… please, please, please, for the love of Holidays, please consider sharing it with me.  Please?

Anyways, during the morning we got into a conversation about a friend of our who recently paid his debt to society and is now out trying to re-enter the world.  He’s far from perfect and has a long way to go, but he says that he’s taking it day by day — I really hope he is.

My sister-in-law commented on how he made her feel uncomfortable on a recent visit — nothing that he did in particular, just his presence.  She said that she didn’t know why, and she gets that she doesn’t know him very well, so it was just a feeling.  I, on the other-hand, grew up with him.  I explained to her that growing up, he was always vying for attention — and any attention was good attention to him, even if it was bad.  But that despite all of his many many flaws, I respected that he was a man of his word.

Enter another mutual friend, one that is very close to her and my little brother.  This “friend” is one who is known to take advantage of situations and of people. I personally don’t think he is a good person because he is a proven liar.  My brother and sister-in-law insist that to know him is to love him.  I, on the other hand, still classify him as a man of no integrity because his word means nothing.

I have known both of these men, my friend and theirs, all of their natural lives – which is now around 30 years.

So which is a better person?  My brother insists that their friend is the better one because he has not been in jail and does not illicit an intimidating air.  I, on the other hand, feel that my friend is a man of his word, and therefore is a man of some integrity.  I guess it comes down to trying to define what makes a person one of quality.

I think it’s fair to say that we will probably never agree on who is the better person.  I wish my friend luck and strength to continue to take things day by day and to hopefully make good decisions.   As for their friend, I wish him well as well.

Let’s set the scene.  Hungry Valley is full of hills and trails.  It’s home to coyotes and rattlesnakes.  There is no artificial lighting, unless you bring it.  It was dark outside.   We just ate BBQ and my dad decided to toss the bones onto a trail for wildlife to enjoy.  My mom opens the motorhome door to put away leftovers.  She takes just a little longer than expected because the dogs are all anxious to get out of the motorhome and she’s trying to hold them back.  Corky sneaks out. EEK — my heart stopped! 

Fortunately there were a couple of flashlights handy, so one was tossed over to me.  I start calling his name and my dad tells me to keep talking because Corky was on the other side of the campsite coming towards me.  I keep calling him, Corky comes over and I pick him up.   I can breathe again.

The time span totalled about 90 seconds.  It felt like forever!

It may not seem like much of an ordeal, but Corky is my little buddy.  His presence reminds me that there is good in the world.  He pays as much attention to me as I do to him.  Who knew that a little 13lb dog can mean so much.   

About an hour later, a coyote was spotted eating the scraps from our dinner about 20 ft from our campsite.  Sorry Mr. Coyote — no puppies on the menu tonight!

Things have been coming around slowly and of course the To Do list has been growing.  Yesterday my parents came over to help me check some of those items off my list — my Daddy-Do list that is.  That’s the list of all the things I needed my Dad to help me with — like hanging curtains on one of the two tallest windows in the condo, mounting the television, and laying outdoor carpet on the balcony to cover up the hideous wood floor slats.  Don’t worry about my mom — she had her own list to accomplish — consisting of the most important item on the list – making Biscotti (Don’t worry, I’ll give you the recipe below… so keep reading)

The first task tackled was the balcony.  I really would never have thought of this on my own — truth be told, I was spying over at my neighbors balcony and noticed that their floor was green.  I wasn’t sure what it was because our balconies aren’t exactly touching — they’re actually an entirely separate building separated by a rather wide walk-way.  Anyways, I set my dad out on a mission to find an outdoor type of carpet and he was able to find a solution at a really inexpensive price — Score!  He brought with him a green outdoor carpeting that was a breeze to lay down.  Enter staple gun and scissors and viola!   It completely transformed the balcony from something drab to something beautiful.  And, I think the biggest reward was this morning when Corky went out there and fell asleep laying on the floor soaking up sun.  Thanks Dad!

I love the new floor!  Once this was done, we hung the curtains and then the television.  I love that the Sun won’t be heating up the rooms this summer (no disrespect Mr. Sun, but you tend to make the electricity bill go up in the summer time),  and that my wines have a dark place to live.  And the television mount rocks because I literally can watch TV from anywhere!

My mom kept herself busy with Corky and with making one of my favorites — Biscotti.  It is so easy to make and I’m so happy that I had all of the ingredients – including the most important one — my Mom!  I’m not sure where she got this recipe, so I’m just going to say that it’s hers because she’s been making Biscottis for as long as I can remember.

My Mom’s Biscotti Recipe:

3 eggs

¾ cup oil

1 cup sugar

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla flavor, and/or anise and/or almond

Mix liquid first with sugar and flavor in a mixer, gradually add flour and baking powder.  Once dough is made, Shape into two long strips of dough on a  cookie sheet.  Bake 375 for 20-25 minutes.

Cut logs into strips (short wise) to get the biscotti shape, lay the cookies down on their sides and place back in oven to dry out for another few minutes.  Take out and enjoy!

Once you’ve made them and tried them — you’ll see why they’re my fave!  And they freeze really well too, so you can make a bunch at one time!  Enjoy and a HUGE thank you to my AWESOME parents — Love you Mom & Dad!

• purchase a wine card – which is very much like a prepaid gift card
• grab a glass
• walk around and select your wine
• slide your wine card into the slot – and leave it there. Your balance is displayed before you.
• Select your wine and your desired pour — a taste is 1 oz, a 1/2 glass is 3 oz and a full glass is 5 oz
• the cost of your selection is automatically deducted from your prepaid tasting card
• Enjoy.

It’s all fairly simple and pretty fun — my friend described it best when he said it was like going to Vegas because it goes quick!

While enjoying the wines, you have an option to purchase a small cheese, meet or combo plate. I opted to purchase a combo plate, which includes 3 items and 3 sides — for a mere $15. I say that sarcastically, because once you see how much food you get, you realize that like Vegas, the favor goes to the House. It was tasty, but rather sparse. Good thing I had some cheese in the fridge at home to munch on later.

Let’s talk about the wine selection – there were some good ones, like the flight of Far Niente they offered, over to some not-so-great ones, which I already forgot about. Our favorite for the evening had to be the Cab/Zin blend named The Vault from Banknote Cellars — yummy. A 1/2 glass was about $6.20 – and worth every cent! I did try a wine that I had high expectation of, only to find that it had already turned. When I brought it to the attention of management, politely of course, the explanation I received was that it was ‘performing as expected’. What does that mean? “Performing as expected”? All I know is that it wasn’t good and it wasn’t getting any better — so if she meant that it’s bad and it’s getting worse, then I’d say that she described it to a “t”! Otherwise, my unsolicited advise would be to remove it from the kiosk and replace it with a fresh bottle.

On another note, when I got home, I began wondering what exactly a “roman holiday” was, so I looked it up. Apparently it has 3 definitions –

1. A 1953 production staring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck (he was cutie) where a princess escapes her guardians and falls in love with an American in Rome
2. Enjoyment or satisfaction derived from observing the suffering of others.
3. A violent public spectacle or disturbance in which shame, degradation, or physical harm is intentionally inflicted on one person or group by another.

I’m hoping that the name of the wine bar stems from the movie. If it doesn’t then I’m wondering if Roman Holiday is going to “perform as expected” in a community which already has a fairly decent number of wine establishments pouring delicious wines.

Overall, I’d rate Roman Holiday as a B-. It’s definitely above average, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. I look forward to seeing what is to become of Roman Holiday, because the space and atmosphere are top notch. Would I go again? Sure!

Mike:   Mike’s a writer, and I’m sure something else during the days, and it took him no time at all to answer — Carlisle, any bottle, accompanied by Steve Earl’s Transcendental Blues.  (I’m not even sure who that is really, but the Carlisle that Mike opened that night was DELICIOUS — so two thumbs up there Mike!)  (Oh and thanks for sharing that bottle!).

Karen:  Karen, I learned, is in the insurance business  (I empathize my friend) and she’s a big fan of Turley Wine Cellars — anything Turley really.  Karen’s husband, Mike, also opened up a bottle of  Turley that evening and I have to admit, it was very tastey!  As for her music — she prefers the Whitman tapes, 1960, the original audition tapes.  (I may have to do a search to see who they are, but she was passionate about them, so I imagine that they’re pretty good too.)

Vic:  Vic’s into wine — and his wine of choice, after much thought,  is from Caymus – yellow label preferably.  His music – The White Album, a classic.

Christy:  Chisty’s  choices includes Billecart Salmon 1998 white label brut with anything from the Beatles

Shipwreck Bob:  Bob’s into photography and diving, and apparently he was able to marry the both and turn it into a carreer (nice!) — Bob’s wine comes from Paso Robles with Midnight Cellars 2005 Petite Sirah.  His choice in music is going to be Gordon Lightfoot’s Golden Album with The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald.  I just read the lyrics, talk about intense!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then there’s me — Because it’s been so elusive, I originally chose Seasmoke Southing Pinot Noir, but then decided upon something even MORE elusive in the 2005 1667 Army of Geese along with some of my favorite  country music Garth Brooks – the box set.  Army of Geese + Garth Brooks, to me, is a fantastic way to spend the day!!!

I got out of bed early and made my way over to class for the Wine & Spirits Educational Trust (WSET) Level 2 certification test — but not before the obligatory stop at Starbucks for some liquid comfort to get the day start right.  I arrived an hour early and sat in the car re-reading my course notes while sipping my Chai Latte.  Thank goodness that I did that!  I found that the majority of the test questions were from my course notes — something that I didn’t look at while preparing for my study group sessions — but at least now I know — Read the notes!

I walked in and took my seat and waited for the test to begin as I was really planning on relying on my short term memory from everything I just read.  I opened my test — 50 questions.  The first one threw me for a loop and then admit to becoming just a little intimidated.  But then, I decided to read all of the questions and answer the ones I was certain of.. which was actually a little more than 1/2 of them – <insert sigh of relief>.  Then I went back and read the remaining questions.  Questions included things like understanding the characteristics of a LBV Port along with knowing what wines were made of Gamay and the bases of a spirit that I didn’t remember even reading about.  In the end, I do think I did alright.    The hardest part now will be the waiting period for test results and I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

This hurts because my friends really mean the world to me.  My first impulsive says to go up and talk to her, to ask her what’s wrong.  But I realize that the timing isn’t right.  It’s not right because the conversation would no doubt go something like this:

me:  Are you mad at me?
friend: Why would I be mad at you?
me: I don’t know, I feel like you may be mad at me and I’m not sure what I did.
friend: we’re fine
me: ok

But what I would really be thinking is — what do I do now?  how do I fix this because there is obviously something wrong, otherwise it wouldn’t be this awkward.

If you know me… like REALLY know me, this kind of situation causes me to retreat.  I start to wonder if my presence is wanted or I start to think that by staying away then I won’t escalate the situation – whatever the “situation” is.  I makes me second guess my words, my thoughts, my actions.  Sometimes it’s just easier to retreat, but she is someone I consider on of my best friends, so I really don’t want to retreat.  I guess I just wish I knew how to fix this –  I guess I wish that I knew why we’ve suddenly start to speak different languages.

Jack Stewart was our tour guide and he did a wonderful job sharing Hart’s story.  The museum’s website (www.hartmuseum.org) describe Hart and his ranch in the following manner:

William S. Hart was born in Newburgh, New York on December 6, 1864.Hart started his acting career in his twenties. At the age of 49, Hart came west to Hollywood to start his movie career. During the next 11 years, he made more than 65 silent films, the last being “Tumbleweeds” in 1925.

In 1921, Hart purchased a ranch house and surrounding property. He built a 22 room mansion which today houses Hart’s collection of western art, Native American artifacts, and early Hollywood memorabilia. Hart lived at the ranch nearly 20 years until his death in 1946. In his will, Hart gave the Horseshoe Ranch to the County of Los Angeles. It was to be set aside for the use and enjoyment of the public, at no charge.Today, the Horseshoe Ranch consists of 265 acres. Both the ranch house and the Hart residence are open to the public. An assortment of animals reside at Hart Park, including a small herd of bison which were a gift from the Walt Disney Studios in 1962

The home is a beautiful and we learned that at the time, Hart forked over a good $100K to have the home built. That’s a pretty good amount of coin if you consider that it was nearly 90 years ago.  There’s this beautiful texture on the walls, which are all decorated with amazing paintings by Charlie Russel and Fredric Remington.  And a great room upstairs that houses gifts and possessions Hart enjoyed.  We learned that the museum is a static museum – this means if something is broken, it is not replaced, it is simply removed from the museum, so guests are careful not to touch anything.  We also learned that Hart authored numerous books containing stories that he and his sister would write for both boys and girls. Hart seemed like a pretty cool guy – too bad United Artists didn’t do his final movie, Tumbleweeds, justice.  Apparently Hart was mad at the movie industry and produced his own movie which was distributed by United Artists. The movie didn’t do great in the box office and Hart sued United Artists – and Hart won the case in the 1940s.  I guess the last laugh was his though, because when he died, he willed his ranch to the county on 3 conditions – that it would become a museum, that there would be no charge for guests to visit, and that there would be absolutely NO filming.  Thank you William S Hart for opening your home to us!