Articles | writer-for-hire

My articles sampler

Wine related:

...The wine glut the world has been experiencing cannot possibly support the ethical use of the world’s cork supply, and cork trees stripped of their bark that enables the stoppers need time to recover. In this sense the screw cap may very well have saved many wineries from having to abandon or reduce their production and dodged the bullet of financial hardship. But wine is the most romantic drink in the world, and just like a good dinner that includes the preparation as well as the eating, then the presentation and opening of a bottle of wine should be as ceremonious. There is no hoopla with a wine being opened in the same way as a bottle of water...

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...Depending on the country where Portuguese and other European organic wines are purchased, labels may have other substituted organic logos indicating observance of that country’s regulations. In the US for example, the National Organic Program (NOP) has to endorse whether products sold in that country meet national criteria. This endorsement is not provided directly through the NOP, but instead through subsidiary organizations in the country of origin. The process for American certification is very cumbersome and time-consuming, but mandatory if a product is to be sold as “organic” in the American marketplace. Such a convoluted process deprives American consumers of many fine organic wines, particularly from Portugal, as smaller quintas versus monolithic wineries found in other countries often do not have the resources, or even money, to satisfy such a bureaucracy. Ironically, it’s the smaller wine producers that have been practicing organic techniques the longest...

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...When the sommelier presented the bottle for me to peruse and then the cork, the bouquet from the cork alone showed immense promise of what could follow in the glass. The introductory pour revealed a wine that had intense colour, but not overly dark as might be expected from a wine grown in a tropical country. The initial swirls in the glass revealed a bouquet that was intense, but not overbearing, with undertones of sweet soil, spice and field berries. The intermixing of tannins from oak was subtle, without domineering the nuances of the wine itself...

Food related:

...The finesse and attention to detail found inside is carried out to the garden where there is an outdoor dining area with cascading water features, fish swimming lazily in ponds and exquisitely set tables dotted amongst the lush vegetation, with twinkling candles at each table acting as a miniature beacon and radiating up into plate-focused faces showing content with their food selection. Any lulls in the underlying murmur are quickly filled in with relaxed, soft tempo music...

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...As I savoured my choice of sandwiches and pastries, the grandeur of this building continued to settle on my senses. The soft murmurings of fellow tea partakers were comforting and it seemed so in keeping with the regalness of the situation, without having to be masked by generic background music. Not that I don’t think that music has a purpose, but here its absence forced one to focus and soak in this gorgeous building. After all, the senses had enough here to feast on...

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...When in the vicinity of fresh fruit being sold, I believe we owe it to ourselves to try it. I remember when I was a kid and had an orange straight from a tree in Florida; the taste was never duplicated until decades later when I bought an orange at a Portuguese market. Although our supermarkets give us the luxury of buying all types of “conventional” fruit year round - like a permanent summer - taste and texture cannot match being fresh from the tree or vine, because in North America fruit is grown for convenience and long shelf life, not for variety and taste. Did you know that bananas are the world’s fourth largest agricultural product, but the commercial supply is threatened by a fungi?

Travel related:

...Mahone Bay – Travelling further south is the picturesque town of Mahone Bay with its three church spires reflecting reverently in the still waters. This town is full of heritage homes, many of them topped with a “widow’s walk” where wives would look for their husbands to return from sea. Delightful bed-and-breakfasts are abundant. This is also considered a world-class sailing area and vessels with foreign flags on their sterns are often seen plying the waters.

Lunenburg – As its name suggests, Lunenburg was the focal point in the province for German immigrants. In addition to seafood, German fare is common on menus, with locally made sausage being a delicacy. Lunenburg has been and still is a major boatbuilding town and is where the famous schooner Bluenose, a fishing and racing vessel, was built along with its succeeding two replicas. On the back of a Canadian ten-cent piece the Bluenose is commemorated. Nova Scotians are often fondly known as Bluenosers, although it is debatable whether this name came from the vessel or a blue-colored salve fishermen used to put on their noses to prevent frostbite...

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...Alcobaça – Heading inland, the landmark town of Alcobaça features its working monastery that is open for visits, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Its Gothic architecture was the first building of this type in Portugal. On a hot afternoon, it’s a treat to indulge in a refreshment and a snack in the cool, protective shadow of the monastery’s walls.

Fatima – Further north of Alcobaça is Fatima, a holy town that every year is the end point of a pilgrimage. As recent as 1917 a Heavenly apparition occurred, and Our Lady of Fatima left three secrets: a vision of Hell, the beginning of WWII, and the third that remains a secret with the Vatican to this day...

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...On favorable weather days, your tour boat will enter one of Greenland’s many fjords, coves or inlets to allow you some time to experience the greatness of this country by providing a conducted hike. On land you will be in amazement at the total silence and tranquility, only to be broken by the sounds of birds, many native to Greenland, or the distant rumble of a glacier.

The vast grandeur of this great country lets visitors know that we are all part of a chain of the place we call home – Earth. Long after your return from your Greenland vacation, you will understand what it really means to be a citizen of the world...

Others:

...The sun has been relatively quiet with sizeable activity not seen since 2003. In 1989, Quebec’s power grid was seriously affected with widespread blackouts in Canada and the U.S. leaving six million people in the dark for nine hours. The impact of a solar eruption on Earth depends on whether the massive energy outbreak is directed harmlessly out to space, or in the direction of our planet. Even a glancing blow that parts of the world endured in the March event can tremendously affect telecommunications and power grids.

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center monitors weather in space, and tracks the magnitude and direction of solar storms to prepare people for a possible infrastructure disruption. It takes several days for the effects of a solar flare to influence Earth, when the solar charged particles reach our planet causing fluctuations with the globe’s magnetic field, or what is known as a geomagnetic storm...

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...On a hot July night in 1991 the two in their squad car were doing the rounds in an impoverished part of the city when they came upon a short, athletic black man who had a pair of handcuffs dangling from one of his wrists. Thinking that perhaps he was a fugitive, the policemen questioned him. He identified himself as Tracy Edwards and that he had beaten and kicked his way out from the apartment of a “weird dude” who threatened him with a butcher’s knife.

Edwards’ story had the tone of a homosexual encounter that did not merit further investigation, but nonetheless, the officers decided to visit this “weird dude” with Edwards. Shortly after, they turned up at Oxford Apartments on 924 North 25th Street and went to Apartment 213. A blond, good-looking man in his thirties answered the door. It was Jeffrey Dahmer. When questioned about the handcuffs on Edwards, Dahmer calmly said he had the key and would get it from the bedroom...

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...Being a self-sufficient order, Trappist monks use all local organic ingredients to produce their goods, one of their most famous being Chimay beer. The original beer called La Première, but now known as Chimay Red, is golden in colour with a thick head. There are nuances of fruit on the nose, most particularly apricot with hints of chocolate. Chimay Triple has a higher alcoholic strength with fruit undertones of muscat grapes, raisins and apples, and provides a perfect balance between being smooth and tart. Like all Chimay beers that are bottle conditioned, they are neither filtered nor pasteurized, and therefore should be consumed when young. For a stronger beer, Chimay Blue has a distinct caramel flavour and smell with a thick, creamy brown head. This dry, darker beer has the highest alcohol strength of 9% abv, and as such can be kept for a longer period. This beer was actually introduced as a Christmas beer in 1948, the same year that Première became available, and due to the huge acceptance of the stronger Chimay it became a mainstay...

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Architect Arne Jacobsen was a renowned name in Denmark for using building materials in unique and even controversial ways to produce buildings that certainly provoked discussion. The SAS Royal Hotel had Jacobsen’s stamp on it, right down to the ashtrays, and his chairs became synonymous with Danish design. With his fascination on the use of materials, Jacobsen pioneered methods with his furniture and earnestly followed Charles and Ray Eames' practice of bending plywood to produce shapes.

He had already displayed his ability to design chairs with his Ant (later refined as the Seven Series), Tongue and Drop models. In perfect agreement with the controversial designs of these chairs, a Seven Series model type was strategically used to hide Christine Keller’s nakedness as she straddled it for Lewis Morley’s famous film promotion photograph that precipitated from England’s scandalous Profumo Affair.

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