Wine Has Been Tasted, and Recs Are Made

[kelly_chambliss]

So tonight I went to a charity wine-tasting event. Now I'm home again. Much wine has been tasted.

I did not care for the Australian shiraz. It had an odd lemongrassy finish. I had three tastes of it, just to make sure I did not like it.

I did like the Argentinian red whatever-it-was, and a merlot from somewhere, and something else that was red and tasty. (I am not fond of white wine, so I did not taste any).

The food, I am sorry to say, was mediocre at best: rubbery mini-quiches, ham biscuits (WTF?) that gave new meaning to the word "leaden," tomato-and-mozzarella bites awash in inferior olive oil, "lamb" sausage that made mutton look young.

But who needs food, when there is plenty of wine? I can always eat later. And now that I am at home, I'm considering eating some toast made of nice rye bread with caraway seeds (a weakness of mine) if I can energize myself to make it.

I did not win the door prize at the wine-tasting, but since I'm not sure what the door prize was, it doesn't matter.

I have finished a draft of my hp_beholder fic! As always when I finish a draft, I believe that it sucks donkey dicks, but we shall see. (When wine has not been tasted, my vocabulary is usually less colorful, but as I believe I mentioned, wine has been tasted.)

As part of my procrastination regimen, I have read some fun/good stories recently. The first two have already been recced by my excellent flisties, but I'd like to mention them again:

Could You Be a Little Less by the_birdnest -- A report on the status of women in the wizarding world. Very funny and very scary.

The Things Draco Carries by catsintheattic. The title comes from a book I'm fond of, Tim O'Brien's collection of haunting Vietnam stories/memoirs, The Things They Carried. This story traces Draco's development, from his first to his seventh years at Hogwarts, through an inventory of the items in his schoolbag. Beautifully-conceived, very nicely-written. Even if you're not a Draco fan, you will appreciate this story. Excellent art, too.

Two Colours of Ink (Minerva/Sirius) by one of my favorite writers, pre_raphaelite1. This hilarious story is a sort of remix/continuation of a very funny Severus/Sirius fic by eeyore9990 called Failure to Communicate. While you don't absolutely have to read Eeyore's piece first, I recommend it.

Both stories revolve around Sirius Black's attempts to seduce people with bad art (thoughtfully provided for your reference by the authors). Pre_Raphaelite1's Sirius/Minerva is not only laugh-aloud funny, with spot-on IC characters, but she also provides her trademark subtextual bite: there's depth and chill to this story under (or alongside or someplace) the humor. Yeah, you have to suspend your disbelief a little bit, but only a bit. The whole thing is taut and clever, and I want a sequel.

Comments

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

I did not care for the Australian shiraz. It had an odd lemongrassy finish. I had three tastes of it, just to make sure I did not like it.

My wine-drinking, world-travelling friends tell me that, quite often, the Australian wines sold for large amounts in the US are the exact same varieties of plonk that Australians get for $7-$15. Which I found a bit depressing; while I enjoy paying $2.99 for a perfectly average bottle of local wine, if I were paying more, I'd want something a bit special.

[celta-diabolica.livejournal.com]

Congrats on finnishing (a draft of) the Beholder fic. And thanks for the recs. :)

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

...well, the wine-issue...I make it a point to stick to the German or neighbouring countries varieties - wth should I need a bottle that had to be send from another continent, if there are fine wines around... so no Australian, South Africa or California-Wine for me, no matter how they taste...

Thanks for the recs, I started with "Could you be a little less" and am properly impressed and depressed by it...

And I am so looking forward to your hp_beholder-fic... so it "sucks", oh sure *gg*...

[tetleythesecond]

My condolences on the finger food! I can exactly imagine how it must have tasted. There's no way one can drink enough to make rubbery mini quiches bearable. Merlot and tasty whatever-it-was sounds perfect, though. (I'm more of a person for white wine and the lighter variations of red wine, but that's because I grew up with the stuff.)

I'll save the recs as rewards for later. Something to look forward to.

And I bet you my favourite pair of shoes that you couldn't write fic-that-sucks if you /tried/. So there.

[queen-of-snapes.livejournal.com]

I love your colourful vocabulary, you should drink more often!

[pale-moonlite.livejournal.com]

It's good to hear about your Beholder fic. I don't believe for a second that it engages in bestiality, but I love your style when 'wine has been tasted'. *g*

Thank you for the recs! I bookmarked them for later. My own fic still needs some work, but the end is near.

[therealsnape.livejournal.com]

I had three tastes of it, just to make sure I did not like it. I like your thoroughness and lack of hasty judgements.

And surely the whole point of a wine-tasting is finding out exactly what it is you do like, so I was pleased to read I did like the Argentinian red whatever-it-was, and a merlot from somewhere, and something else that was red and tasty. Seems like the thing was a big success, then.

And the fingerfood sounds dreadful. Cheap mozzarella is bad enough, and to top it with motor-oil just doesn't help.
And I thought that the clever statement 'pesto is the quiche of the nineties' meant that, at least, we were spared the worst quiche excesses. I've been offered quiches, way back in the eighties, that vividly brought to mind Blenheim Castle's excellent practice of putting the food leftovers in two bins - savoury and sweet - to make it more palatable for the poor. Replace bin liner by pastry, and in some cases the replacement wasn't so that you'd notice, and you had our eighties quiche.

I believe that it sucks donkey dicks Great one! When is the next tasting, that we may learn some more vivid imagery?

I've seconded you for the sequel - thanks for the recs!

[diana-hawthorne.livejournal.com]

I really loved the recs - especially the Minerva/Sirius one, which was hilarious.

[minervas-eule.livejournal.com]

Sarah, as you loved the Minerva/Sirius-fic...you DO know this Youtube-clip, don't you..? I laugh everytime I watch it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU02ejY7eKU

[diana-hawthorne.livejournal.com]

I didn't know it, but it was HILARIOUS!!!

[the-winterwitch.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs, and congrats to the draft! And my condolences about the food. I just watered my keyboard at realsnape's description... she is SO right about it...

[kellychambliss.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm still writing madly at other fics -- should be done by Sunday.