Via the always thought-provoking Mental Floss, we learn of the rather questionable (though possibly nothing ought to be taboo in the name of science, and equally not surprising given our native stinginess and de-enterprising ways of finding short-cuts) endeavour of crafting wine without the fruit of the vine. San Francisco-based Ava Winery simplifies and expedites the whole time-tested, involved process of growing, harvesting, fermenting and ageing through chemistry.
The utterly fabulous Messy Nessy Chic reports that one can be hostelled in Julia Child’s home in Provence. The small retreat in the countryside was built in 1966 by Child and her husband and called La Pitchoune, Little Thing, and the property has conserved Child’s famous kitchen exactly as she left it. During most of the year La Pitchoune is host to a culinary school, as homage to the palette-awakening work of the French chef, but during the off-season, guests can rent the place. We should model our kitchen off this one.
Expected to be a direct conduit between South America and Europe ready late next year, the underseas cable that Brazil is preparing to anchor over revelations that that country’s government was one of the many targets of American electronic surveillance is not only courting the interests of those who feel directly affronted and betrayed but also of some giants—not of the same spying-industry per se but at least of the enabling kind—of the internet.
The cable, side- stepping the American monopoly on trans-Atlantic submarine lines of communication, links the former colony with her metropolitan, Portugal, with a landing at Cabo Verde, another former Portuguese holding. Called EulaLink, other nations too are interested in joining this network. I wonder, in response, what sort of slant-drilling operations might be enjoined to siphon-off some of this traffic. The terminus of the cable will be in the coastal city of Madeira—which made me think of the old tune that tells the story of a lecherous old man who tries to persuade an innocent young girl to dally a bit longer by plying her with drink: the result is that she does stay but her character is transformed to something akin to his own, which probably wasn’t exactly what he wanted. Maybe that is a cautionary tale for this enterprise.
The always entertaining Neatorama directs our attention to an item that I didn’t realise was missing from our kitchen in this offer from Wine Enthusiast of a fully functional fire- extinguisher in the guise of wine bottle—though at a foot tall, I’d imagine its volume somewhere between a Marie and a Jeroboam, or possibly even delivering a Rehoboam’s worth of fire-fighting expellant and foam. Safety does not exclude swagger, and the price seems comparable with a standard, non-camouflaged unit and looking at the sales-site above, the vendor it seems will even recharge it, should one have needed it to quell something burning.
Although the concept of organic (Bio) foods has gone through some reversals lately in terms of health, environment impact and efficiency, I was not one to completely discount the label. I did grow a bit leery of the movement, however, when it started encroaching on water and wine—the first was recanted as a gimmick, and as for vinification, I wondered how respectable wine-makers would allow wine-hacks to sully their product, since surely there are standards governing the whole production process as well as tradition. They’d have to call it something else, like Champ-pail or Hwine, if it was too treated, wouldn’t they?
The local grocery store recently, however, had a handbill, a guide for vegetarian and vegan wines (initially I thought it would be about pairing the right wine with a vegetarian meal), that was part informative and part pandering fretful-consumer purists, I thought at first. Apparently producers are allowed a few shortcuts, more prevalent among vintages brought to market within the same calendar year (which is not necessarily a sign of a cheap wine, since only a fraction actually improve with age after that first year), and one such hack involves clarifying the pulp (Must, Most) with natural, albeit animal-derived products, like gelatin (made out of old bones and hooves, like the coating for medicine capsules), fish oil, egg white, and casein (a milk protein).
Bottles of wine are a bit like little secondary time-capsules, necessarily so as part of the manufacturing process, hermetically sealed and stored up, sometimes for years and years—although it’s a misconception that all wines improve with age and many times will sour or become corked. This unintentional archive, however, does resemble some of the criticisms of time-capsules in general, those walled into cornerstones or buried under pyramids and parking lots, of being unreliable narrators (unzuverlรคssiges Erzรคhler).
Mostly I tend to think that one should not mess too much with an established look, no matter how basic it is since it’s a part of one’s identity and recognition—although polishing and experimentation within limits, I think is perfectly acceptable. 
We’re presented with pretty good and serviceable templates for use, and I suppose too that there comes a point of departure, best taken in small steps mostly, when one becomes a bit more sophisticated and curious with web-design to take strokes at something more than the standard quiver. 
Even if that’s just a bit of kerning and alignment that’s otherwise too subtle to notice. I wouldn’t want PfRC to become too busy and crowded and would like for the page to look sleek and composed. I am getting a little better—or perhaps just more conscientious, about placement and position and hopefully too making positive progress on having the patience and taking the time to fully unwind a thought, which still some times comes across probably as obtuse and obscure. 
Content and scope aside, I did want to develop a nice new masthead that worked with the background as it is, nothing very ornate and overpowering but something a little more personal and unique. Matching the weight and character of a typeface to the idea (or lack thereof) that one has in one’s head can grow challenging enough on its own, and I respect those type-setters and artists who can turn out something very professional and know what tools to use with instinctual prowess, but try to add a cohesive image to that and I can certainly see why marketers, free-lance and consortiums, are vying for bids and commissions. 
I am also learning why they say imitation is the purest form of flattery, though being derivative is usually asymmetrical. Though after some searching for inspiration and trying on own to conjure up something original and associative, I eventually settled on incorporating a logo from the Independent Wine-Makers of France (Vignerons indรฉpendants de France), since wine and cheese go together, although there are plenty of other good pairings too. 
In the process, however, I stumbled across plenty of motivating artwork and posters of a certain vintage and style, like the series on California cultivars (which incidentally replenished a significant portion of French stocks when the parent vines were killed by a blight in the 19th century; these vineyards then took decades to recover from the wanton neglect of the Prohibition Era themselves).
There were also several classic travel posters and campaigns that incorporated local, regional cuisine with allure, providing some good ideas and nostalgic impetus that will be certainly worth revisiting later as well.
We’re no connoisseurs just yet but with the heat of the summer descending on us and for want of something lighter and with a bit less of a wallop, but we are enjoying discovering white wine as well, instead of just the usual spectrum of reds. That white wine does not seem as strong is a bit counterintuitive to me and I suppose one must consider all the chemistry to appreciate the different notes.
Of course there are red grapes and white grapes but some whites are produced from the same variety as a reds, just with the skin and the gradient of alcohol content is not always a factor—sort of like teas, in all colours, coming from the same tea tree, only harvested, dried and prepared different ways. Another distinction that white wine has earned, either in fact or possibly by association, is that some vintages contain traces of the element lithium. In various concentrations, all soil has lithium in it, so it would stand to reason that a red wine cultivated on a neighbouring vineyard would also have a natural dose of lithium, which some count as another benefit of wine, acting in small amounts as a mood-stabilizer and generally lifting spirits and apparently promoting civility. Consider the wine producing places of the world. Maybe it has something to do with the fruit expressed, however, since it seems that many (but not all) foods are white or light coloured: rice, grains, asparagus, bananas, cucumbers, cabbage and cauliflower. Maybe it’s more an elective affinity having to do with the theory of colours. A man-made tonic, bright, effervescing and an anti-cola, 7-Up was introduced in the 1930s as “Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda.” Later, the lithium was removed from the recipe but the formula was re-branded “seven-up” as an homage to the atomic mass of the element and for its elevating effects.
Tradition, like the Reinheitsgebot (legally enforceable) and secrecy, as with the German chemists and dye-makers or Venetian mirror-makers or authentic charter house Chartreuse, whose blend of herbs is only known to two monks, forms a process with checks and balances, rather than monopolization--renown is not exclusivity, and a better model than relying on trolling and cartels. Family recipes, handed down, though there is a shift to jealously guard collections once shared under a gettization scheme, creation and experimentation should not be hindered by the letter of the law when it usual fails to keep the plaintiff undiluted in the first place.
I saw a quite a few white-washed, Mediterranean-style restaurants and shops in the harbor towns in southern France that were decorated with these larger wine jugs (DE) filled with corks. 
By no means do I consider myself a connoisseur---though it is rather strange how most people over-estimate their abilities when it comes to common feats, like driving: most people estimate themselves as better than average, but are rather self-effacing when it comes to the usual or not-everyday sort of thing, like juggling, where even a mediocre or self-described bad juggler is better than most--but wine is a little vacation for the palate. We have a lot of fun trying new vintages, and I have acquired some favoured varieties: Spanish Tempranillo, South African Pinotage, Austrian Blauer Zweigelt, French Muscat and a lot of regional rich destinations. Though maybe my standards and discrimination are somewhat compromised, I find it a challenge not to find a bad, cheap wine but to find a decent one priced above that catagory.
Recently our neighbour clued us in on a trade secret, mentioning that a discount supermarket chain (this store is inconvenient and across town) carries an astonishingly and incongruously good selection of wines at a low price. I wonder what buyer they have in retainer to orchestrate this coup. Not ascribing to the by-laws of the Institute of Wine Drinkery, they carry a consistent selection of award-winning wines, the sort that let someone with not so refined taste get a fleeting taste of what's meant by all the protocols (burgundy and white wine glasses, letting it breath, temperature), acolades and descriptors. The title, by the way, refers to overs-sized measures of wine, bottles with a volume of 4,5 litres on up.
