Wine Appreciation: Carlos Serres Crianza 2017

Enough beer appreciation, here is wine appreciation, artistically performed on a bottle of Carlos Serres Crianza 2017.

A couple of wine lunches at our summer villa on successive days in August enjoyed by myself alone.

Actually Carlos Serres Crianza is highly rated on Wine Spectator, 90/100 for certain vintages, but not necessarily for this specific 2017 vintage which is said to be not up to par of the previous couple of vintage, having said that it seemed more than all right to me.

Using a lump of local produced mozarella cheese thing for food paring, I think it goes well with it, pretty subtle and does not interfere with the taste of the wine itself.

Here is who else liked:

A huge killer wasp, aka hornet, it appeared out of nowhere and dived into it seemingly on purpose.

I took it out with a fork after it had its fill and a good bath too, and the thing took wing and buzzed off, didn't even have to dry isself, the other day watched one of those pick a chicken bone clean.

Well, back to wine testing, and here is wine lunch No. 2 on the other half of the bottle, the next day.

Liked it as much on the second day if not more.

Locally produced here in Russia, with some blue mold cheese for food pairing; this is not so straightforward as the moldy thing has a strong taste which may go well with red wine on a contrast basis but not so good for taste-testing.

But I didn't have to do any taste-testing - as I already knew from the day before that it was pretty good.

Locally produced but very good, and believe you me, I know what good blue moldy cheese tastes like.

 

 

 

 

Общепит: Пьем вино на обед: Carlos Serres Crianza 2017: Пьем вино на обед: Carlos Serres Crianza 2017 Винный ланч на природе - полбутылки вина и покушать что-нибудь, и все это на природе! На покуш...

Summer Moon Zoom: Waning Moon of Late August 2022

 Here is another moon zoom from late in the past summer.

The waning crescent in late August 2022, yes, it's waning not waxing.

Using an old P900, and a dedicated moon mode

Unedited, except for cropping, straight from camera.

 

Soapbox photos: Moon Zoom: Waning Moon of Late August 2022:  Here is another moon zoom. The waning crescent in late August 2022. Using an old P900, moon mode Unedited, except for cropping, straight fr...

Sunflower Time

 The end of summer is sunflower time in our climate.

So the bad news is the summer is over and has been so for four days at least at time of this writing.

However the good news is it's only the calendar summer that is over, the astronomical summer goes on until September 22.

Also good news is this year I grew some sunflowers at my summer (late spring and early autumn too) country retreat.

They also do attract some insect life like bees and some fat bumble bees too, and they have a lot to do sucking out nectar from those things whatever they are.

Plattenbau House on Stilts in Moscow

I think it's time for an architectural study, so here is a world-famous 1969 Plattenbau residential building on stilts on Prospekt Mira street in Moscow, popularly known as "House on Chicken Legs".

Soapbox photos: House on Chicken Legs Moscow: Here is a world-famous 1969 Plattenbau residential building on stilts on Prospekt Mira street in Moscow, popularly known as "House on C...

Comparsa - Deep Forest III 1997

Here is a more obscure Deep Forest album

Gran Turismo 5 Music - Race BGM - Dance and Electronics

Lotsa dance and electronics

LF SYSTEM - Afraid To Feel (Official Video)

Speed-up and slow down

The Joys and Pitfalls of Fit Posting

The joys and pitfalls of fit posting: removing photobombs in fit images; it's a very ancient tradition

Yes, it's been done before if memory serves. And it does.

Not mine naturally, neither the top nor bottom.

H/t mrachen

Cafe Culture and Georgian Cuisine, Red Wine and Khinkali

The 2022 summer goes on, and so does my street cafe dining, and the summer has been pretty warm so far in Moscow, especially in the second half, about a month already with temperatures at about 30C, which is conducive to cafe culture and in fact makes it imperative to stop at street cafes, at least in my experience, especially if the place has a sun tent or something.

It wasn't today; but the order of the day when it was was some 500 ml of Georgian red wine...

And some khinkali, a kind of meat-stuffed dumplings, traditional Georgian, very tasty when they are good, and not so when there aren't.

These are cooked ones.

And the other three are cooked and fried for a little difference in tasting experience.

These shoes are not made for walking (much).

Unfortunately, the khinkali were just middling at the place, though still eatable, but by no means great.

And some Tequila sunrise.

Collateral view around the eatery. For you to feast your eyes on.

Restroom at the place.

Napkin

Nice pattern.

Jeff Wayne's WAR of the WORLDS

The definitive version.

Another Basic Wardrobe in CM

Here is another take on those "basic wardrobes" or "capsule wardrobe" as they are known in CM (classic menswear), but this one is more like a definitive one since it comes from a well-known, though now dormant, SF poster, M.

And it's pretty easy to complete, I think.

As at August 2022, it's been long near completed for me; in fact some items that were achieved previously may have gone, but here is how it stands:

-a blue odd jacket. If you live in a two-season climate, then two, one for warmth and one for the cold ✔ have many more than 2 all blue, odd, including blazers
-mid gray flannel pants ✔
-decent, non-chino khakis ✔
-at least one funky (but tasteful!) non-blue tweed jacket -
-a mid to dark gray worsted single-breasted suit  ✔
-a navy worsted single breasted suit  ✔
-a white FC shirt -
-several blue BC shirts, at least one BD ✔
-black stitch caps  ✔
-some tasteful brown oxfords (exact configuration up to you) -
-loafers in medium brown calf, suede or shell or else burg shell ✔
-a solid black tie, knit or grenadine ✔
-a solid navy tie, knit or grenadine ✔
-a plain white linen hanky -

So the basics are nearly all done and have been done for a long time.

Actually came across the above while browsing through necro treads on SF, specifically this one - If You Do Not Own The Following Things, You Are Not Well-Dressed and it is a good one too.

 

 

 

Summer Culminating but Nightingales Have Long Fallen Silent

Summer Culminating but Nightingales Have Long Fallen Silent



But don't you worry; they will be back next year.