Maps.

Cool post on Apartment Therapy, one of my favorite ohhh-look-at-that sites along with Design*Sponge and Style Me Pretty.  Love the House Tours on AT (my favorites are here and here) but today's post on maps as art caught my eye.  Printing your own from the USGS site is a cool idea too...

Amara Massage.

Thanks to a gift from sweet Kaitlyn at Namaste I had a massage at Amara last week.  I'm a little bit of a massage junkie, so it takes something really special to impress me... and this was hands-down the best message I've had this year (maybe ever!).

Downstairs below Mugs, it's cozy, comfortable, nicely lit and features a cool vintage bike on top of a vintage-looking credenza-- I was sold.  The therapist I saw, Alicia, did strong, no-nonsense deep tissue and was soothing to be around, in a mom or yoga teacher sort of way.  The music was good, table was heated, and the owner said a friendly hi-- I'll be back soon!

Sushi Hai.

Dinner last night was at Sushi Hai in the Highlands (Denver).  What a cool neighborhood-- northwest on Speer instead of southeast into downton.  Lots of shops, restaurants, and bungalow-style houses on streets that seem narrow for Denver.  We sat in our own French-doored room at a kneeling table (the kind that has the well beneath for your legs).  Fancy.  Creative cocktails, some with unfiltered sake (that was an experience!).  Casi fell in love with the bar tables that had a section in the middle with stones and candles, all around the decor was cool. 
Bailey told some great Vegas stories, we toasted Annie to her new job in Jackson, and celebrated Megan's birthday.  The night ended with the first of my pre-NZ goodbyes-- Casi is leaving to join Nick in Alaska to fish salmon for the summer.  Cas and I have said lots of goodbyes before, back and forth from Boulder and Eugene, me to Italy, and her to Mexico, Africa, and India, but I don't think we've said goodbye for a year before (gasp)!

Mmmm Cava.

A cool NY Times article I read this week on Cava (Spain's sparkling wine).  Champagne, Prosecco, Spumante-- there's something indulgent about drinking bubbly wine, it feels very non-grownup and yet sophisticated at the same time. 

On Easter and Mom's Day we downed a couple bottles of Saracco Moscato d'Asti, a new Italian favorite discovered in a flight at Rustic Oven (along with Kung Fu Girl Reisling and a white from Conundrum-- all pretty sweet and fruity).  Yum.  I'd like to personally thank the person who came up with the idea for flights-- for saving my ability to carry on coherent conversation while drinking three glasses of wine. 

Behind the Bar.

Making a blog post felt good, I think I'll start doing it more often!

My love for wine was fostered by my Mom, of course, and also by the time spent working at Bacaro while I attended CU. What a place that was-- ran by a sometimes cranky, sometimes funny Italian guy, staffed by good-looking-twenty-somethings that partied more than their fair share, and still serving some of the best tapas, cocktails, and Italian food in Boulder. Counting my tips and drinking a glass of wine next to my roommate Annie in the flashing lights/dark as the DJ started and the bar shifted over to late night was often the start to many late nights of booze and fun on Pearl Street.

Annie and I bought bottles of wines we liked at work to drink at home with our other three wild roommates, and replicated some of the cocktails too (Lemon Basil being the favorite, with the customary slapping of the basil to bring out the flavor being the signature touch). I love a creative cocktail maybe just as much as I do wine-- Behind the Bar provides some awesome recipes. Mexican Sangria is looking like a nice afterwork treat...

Revuelvo al blog!

So here I am, one year out from graduation... and returning to a blog I created as a senior project in a Spanish Composition class. Funny too, that its topic is once again relevant.

I've spent the last year sitting at a desk in a windowless room working as a legal assistant for three attorneys affiliated with a domestic violence shelter. I listen to women tell their stories of abuse, translate documents and client meetings, attend court procedures, and spend a lot of time staring at an imaginary spot on the wall to the upper right of my computer screen. Hours outside of work have been spent studying for the LSAT, testing, reading about different schools, completing applications, talking to young attorneys, applying for financial aid, going on campus visits, and slinging my charm to unsuspecting tables in a waitress job.

I wouldn't say I'm depressed, though I certainly don't feel the same way I felt about a life a year ago. Maybe it's part of growing up, realizing that life isn't quite what you expected it to be. I'm meeting so many young law school graduates that are laden in debt and without employment, or that are accepting positions that pay little more than what I make now. Owing more than a small house in student loans. Having made three years of sacrifices in their young adult lives to achieve this education.

I've decided that as much as I admire education, and crave professional success, law school is not for me, at least not at this time. When I think about the joy, the creativity, the possibility I've known in other arenas of my young life-- composing motions and attending hearings doesn't quite stand up. I worry that I might be giving up opportunity for financial stability, for personal career achievement, etc. etc. but... here we go.

I am moving to New Zealand in twelve weeks, where I will ... well, I'm not sure. Pursue a career in wine? Tourism? Wine tourism -- i.e., drive smashed tourists around while using words like "earthy" "loam" and "mouthfeel?" Sounds infinitely better than staring at the spot on the wall!

Vino orgánico versus vino conventional

Poder de viento, carros eléctricos, bolsas para comestibles reusables… todos son invenciones para la búsqueda de una vida más sostenible. A causa del calentamiento del planeta, los precios de petróleo en alza, y el smog creciente, los ciudadanos del mundo están tratando de tomar más responsabilidad con el ambiente. La comida orgánica es un aspecto importante y rentable de esta causa, mientras las tiendas como Whole Foods llegan a ser una fuerza formidable en el mercado de comestibles. Pero, ¿qué tal el vino? Si comes una comida orgánica fantástica en un restaurante orgánico, ¿no debe ser orgánico el vino acompañante también? Tal vez si, tal vez no. Los expertos siguen divididos, debatiendo sobre los beneficios ambientales versus los cambios del sabor que resultan de la ausencia del corcho. Sin embargo, las diferencias entre los dos tipos de vino no pueden ser ignorados con respecto al impacto de carbono, la cosecha, y el costo.
En 2007, un equipo de científicos de la Universidad de Siena, Italia hizo un estudio de las cosechas de dos vinos típicos de Toscana. Un vino fue de un viñedo tradicional, y el otro de un viñedo orgánico. Buscaban el impacto de carbono de los dos vinos durante todas las etapas de producción. Encontraron que durante todo el proceso, el impacto de los productores orgánicos fue casi la mitad de los tradicionales (Niccolucci).
Mucha de la diferencia que se descubrió en el estudio fue debido a las diferencias de la cosecha. El uso de las pesticidas es la diferencia principal, y los viñedos emplean varios métodos de evitar estos químicos. Recientemente en California, un millón de mariquitas fueron liberadas para combatir los afidos en las vides (Lambert). Los químicos son importantes más tarde en el proceso también. En las vendimias mojadas, los productores del vino orgánico tienen dificultad de encontrar una manera sin sustancia química para parar la putrefacción (Lambert). Después de que el vino está en la botella, los productores convencionales añaden dióxido de azufre como preservativo. Sin añadir el dióxido de azufre, el productor corre el riesgo de desarrollar un sabor de vinagre (Lambert).
El costo del vino orgánico resta valor de todos los beneficios ambientales. Sin las pesticidas, las uvas son más frágiles para cultivar y cosechar (Dutel). Los métodos naturales de rechazar las plagas y enfermedades son menos efectivos, y por eso los rendimientos de cosecha son inferiores. También, el transporte ecológico del producto completo requiere modos de transporte más costosos (Niccolucci). Para contrarrestar esto, el consumidor debe intentar comprar el vino orgánico local, pero esto no siempre es disponible. También, los vinos orgánicos a menudo son hechos por viñedos boutiques, a los cuales no les interesa hacer el vino económico.
El movimiento orgánico del vino todavía está muy joven. No hay muchas regulaciones ni estándares. Por eso, no siempre es fácil distinguir un vino verdaderamente orgánico contra un vino que solo se presenta como orgánico. Algunos vinicultores cultivan las uvas orgánicas, pero añaden preservativos no orgánicos más tarde en el proceso del embotellamiento. En Francia, hay la <>, o como los estadounidenses la llaman, el <> que entra e investiga la veracidad de la publicidad de comerciantes, especialmente la vinicultura (Conway). Los otros países necesitan establecer regulaciones así. El movimiento del vino orgánico es un fenómeno global y sin duda, como el mercado crece, las regulaciones se harán más iguales entre los países, y los costos bajarán. También la calidad aumentará, y tomar el vino orgánico sería solo otro esfuerzo de la persona que maneja un Prius y cierra el agua mientras se cepilla los dientes.
Bibliografia
Conaway, James. "The Time Is Ripe for Napa's Organic Grapes. " The Washington Post [Washington, D.C.] 27 Aug. 2008,F.5. ProQuest Central. ProQuest. 3 Nov. 2008
Dutel, Georges-Hubert. “The viticultural and oenological aspects of organic wine...” Journal of Wine Research, 1:3 (1990): 225-231
Lambert, Victoria. “Greens Reds and Whites.” Geographical, 80.2 (2008): 84-5
Niccolucci, Valentina, et al. "Ecological Footprint Analysis Applied to the Production of Two Italian Wines." Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 128.3 (2008): 162- 6