Memorizing Moments Now: February 2005

wise words to start off the week

take a pee and think....

sweet wine

latest craze of mine.... recently i am quite into wine...sweet wine in particular... it started when i bought a 375ml bottle of inniskillin ice wine in KL...for around S$26... a product of canada... it was really cheap as compared to singapore... the same bottle i find in singapore was selling at S$138! below is a similar pic of the label and bottle from the net...forgot to take a pic of the label after finished the bottle...:P

a brief explanation for ice wine...extracted from inniskillin web site

"Grapes are left on the vine well into the winter months. The resulting freezing and thawing of the grapes dehydrates the fruit, and concentrates the sugars, acids, and extracts in the berries, thereby intensifying the flavours and adding complexity to the wine made from it.

Genuine icewine must follow VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) regulations that prohibit any artificial freezing of grapes. The grapes are painstakingly picked by hand in their natural frozen state, ideally at temperatures of -10 to -13 degrees C -- sometimes the picking must be done at night to take advantage of the temperature. Yields are very low, often as little as 5-10 percent of normal.

The frozen grapes are pressed in the extreme cold. The water in the juice remains frozen as ice crystals, and only a few drops of sweet concentrated juice is obtained. This juice is then fermented very slowly for several months, stopping naturally.

The finished icewine is intensely sweet and flavorful in the initial mouth sensation. The balance is achieved by the acidity, which gives a clean, dry finish. The nose of icewine recalls lychee nuts. The wine tastes of tropical fruits, with shadings of peach nectar and mango."

the last one i had is a port...bought at S$49+ from jasons wine cellar... a type of fortified sweet wine.. which was made by stopping fermentation of young wine by adding of fortifying brandy... which kills the yeast from turning sugar into alcohol... leaving the wine sweet (and more alcoholic...20%!). this bottle i had was produced by graham's... from the upper douro valley vineyards. a late bottled vintage (LBV) category...vintage simply means it was made from grapes in a single year harvest.. and not a blend of vintages...filtered and ready to drink from the bottled... it was harvested in 1997 (a very good year for northern portugal i read) and bottled in 2003... a few good year in the barrel...

i heard port matured well in both bottle and barrel...giving different taste for each as it matured... i had yet to try out those 10, 20... years old vintage ports... must be very tasty...:P

chingay 2005

went down orchard rd last sat evening to catch chingay 2005, this is the first time i watch the yearly parade live...it was jam packed... we can't find any good standing place to catch it... even walking along the rd is difficult with all the people... any place that can stand a person was occupied... in the end can only take a few birds eyes shot with my camera and call it off... its much better shopping in the cool aircon shopping centre... :P

working today...

been up since 3.30am... another sunday morning work... comming to 7.30am... so sleepy...

feeling fat today

back to work today... feeling fat... can feel some tightness on the pants.... must be all the junk food i had....still having the chinese new yr giddyness and post holidays blues.... dun feel like working.. feeling weak... mind not responding well... sleepish... i think i still need a holiday.... haha..
today got catered food in the office.... an after new year lunch... later having lou hei again.. this the 5th lou hei i had since day 1 of chinese new year... i still didn't win anything from the special $10mil toto grand draw yesterday leh...hmmm...

its over!

the chinese lunar new yr holiday.... is over... just as fast as it arrived.... today is the 8th day of the lunar new yr... many are still half dizzy from the holiday mood... slow email... sheepish responds... all part of the holidays hangover... it will be another yr before i have to face those relative of mine... phews... its hard work to 'entertain' them... till next yr... we look forward to more unnerving Q&A from relative... and smaller ang pao... well actually its not all over yet!... still got 15-8 days to go!... there is the... 15th 元宵...

went to china town on CNY eve after re-union dinner... the street was closed from traffic for pedestrians to walk... it was getting rather crowded and you can feel the atmophere was building up at around 11pm... the firecrackers and fireworks display at 12mn was spcetacular!... the whole gun powder display was around 7-8mins... worth the time and effort of squeezing through sweating, smelly crowds (including me.... hahaha...) luckily it was windy.... so... still not too bad...

right click, 'save as' here to download the scaled down fireworks display video