Ice wine...

...IS better than shoes!! If some days ago the term was mentioned to me, I would only imagine wine with ice in it... or very chilled... Certainly did not know any details about this nectar!! Well, what it is is wine that is made of grapes that when they are picked, they are already frozen in the vine! Pretty risky business, pretty hard labour too, as the grapes must be picked up usually during one night while they have just started to freeze but, ahhhh, what a taste!!!

I had the great pleasure of dinning in fabulous small restaurant a few days ago where I tasted this magnificent type of wine... and it came at the end of a meal that is going to stay in my memory for a very long time... Everything was perfect: the ambiance, the company, the service, the food and the wine! A creative, imaginative and brave chef, very young as it turned out to my surprise, and a sommelier who knew his wines very well,  made the experience unforgettable. Delicate tastes, accompanied very nicely by the wines, and the culmination which came with the dessert and the ice wine... a light chocolate cake served with saffron (!) sorbet and perfected by the ice wine... sweet, fruity, refreshing and special... mmmm... orgasmic!!

I will never forget those tastes combined... never have I experienced such match made in heaven when I comes to taste though I have been privileged enough to have dinned in fine restaurants, some even with starry credentials... But this, this was simply amazing! And it all combined with the best company and the greatest of moods in order to produce a night to remember!! The best one out in quite some time! And all this was definitely better than shoes, better than Lanvin's already classic ballerinas, better than Chloe's new sandals...and I could go on and on and on...

PS. Those who want to know a bit more about this delicious wine, go to  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_wine

a good day...

...is better than shoes! And I will explain why in the paragraphs to follow, beginning by the definition of a good day. So, in brief a good day is one that from the moment you open your eyes in the morning you start smiling! Perhaps with a good reason, perhaps of the previous' night's memories (or company...) or even without one... You open your eyes, you start smiling, you get off the bed and when you pull the curtains you see a brilliant sun shinning and then you have a coffee that tastes just slightly better than usually and, yeah, I forgot to mention, it's a Saturday and you don't have to go to work!

And after a nice breakfast you get out in the city, cruise the shops, keep smiling at people and, sometimes they even return the smile, yes, even in this country where people are stingy with everything and politeness above all, sometimes they do smile back... And you find this amazing set of underwear that combines the right amount of cute and sexy and then you go do your hair and, miracle of miracles, the guy finally understands what do you mean by "I hate gold highlights..." and you leave the salon with the smile you had when you got in.

Then you go home and take a nap and then you get ready and you go out in a warm evening to see a film, that proves to be a gem, and on top you get to meet great friends there and chat and laugh and drink a glass of wine and when you get on your way home, under a starry sky, you realize that still you carry the same smile you had when you woke up the same morning...

And all this is a good day! Perhaps not a spectacular one, no... perhaps not one that you will remember forever but certainly one that made you feel happier than usually... And life is full of days like this... the spectacular ones are never this many but the good ones come often and sometimes go unnoticed while we are looking for those exceptional ones... So, the message today is do not look down on a good day... it is better than shoes ;)

Carrot cake!!

Is it really the time to talk about it?... I mean, I suppose at a time like this, when thousands of people are still stranded in an airport somewhere, unable to return to their home and without a shower for far longer that they would admit (and I would want to know...), without money and without a concrete promise of a flight, and all that because Mommy Earth decided to, hmmm, fart... yes, admittedly, at a time like this it sounds a bit awkward for me to talk about carrot cake...

But, I have made a promise which I do not intend to brake and that is that I will be talking about the good things in life in this blog and I will not use it just to bitch about all the bad things that happen... Yes, I will avoid be talking about how my life very often sucks and I am pissed off and frustrated and sad and all I want to do it complain... I will refrain from using this podium to externalise my dismay or anger or to comment on all the things and all the people I do not have the guts to confront...  I will keep making an effort to find nice things to talk to you about, even when it is very difficult to do so...

So, today's post is about carrot cake! A reach, delicious, traditional carrot cake, filled and covered with mascarpone cream that I tasted in a little place in my city where organic, vegetarian food is offered... And, no, in case you are wondering, I do not do vegetarian... but I ended up in this place for a brunch and everything was yummy!! And yes, I will be revealing the name of the place on demand :)

Perhaps it is an overstatement to say that carrot cake is better than shoes... This specific one though, not only it was delicious enough to qualify but is was also eaten on a lovely sunny day, during one of the best weekends I had in a long time, with the best company I could ask for and in the best of moods! So, yes, under the circumstances,  it was better than shoes! It was better than my snake skin Jimmy Choo ballerinas that I had put on for the first time while I was enjoying the cake ;)