Wine for When the Hills are Alive

I made it through day one of the introductory seminar, which was, to be honest, really boring. I just want to take the tests already and get it over-with.

On the upside, I am currently doing one of my favorite things: sitting in my hotel room bed in my jammies, watching movies on HBO. Earlier "Fatal Attraction" was on and now it's "Patriot Games". I love hotels. As long as they're clean and don't smell like mildew or poo or something. I don't know what it is about hotels and why I love them so, but i just do. They seem to bring up something of childhood happiness and escapism, reminding me of jumping on hotel room beds when I was young and sharing the bed with my sister. And ordering room service always felt, and still feels, like a secret indulgence.

When I was young, we used to go once a year to The Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. This was the lodge started by the actual Maria Von Trapp and children of "The Sound of Music" fame. The lodge was built in the Austrian style, and the setting up in the mountains of Vermont made me want to run around singing "The Hills are Alive..." Instead, while cross country skiing, I slid down an icy hill on my face while my sister laughed at me.

The meals we had there were unbelievably good, and consisted of German and Austrian delights that I can neither pronounce nor spell. Wienerschnitzel, spaetzle, schvatsweilderkirschtorte, dobishtorte (I did warn you that I couldn't spell any of it, but I sure could eat it!!). After one particular meal when I was about 6 or 7 years old, I was so full that I moaned with a certain level of distress: "Mommy, I think I'm going to blow up."

I'm sure you know that level of fullness, where you don't feel like you're going to be sick, you just feel like you're going to go full-on Violet Beauregard, swell into a gigantic blueberry, roll away and then pop somewhere.

In the spirit of Violet, and since at the moment I am really sick of wine, I am going to recommend a delightful cocktail: Sake and Chambord. I had this at a Sushi restaurant where they called it a Purple Haze, and it is absolutely delicious; warm and slightly sweet, with that lovely black raspberry flavor from the Chambord. A nice way to start a meal.

Introductory Exam tomorrow. Will let you know how it goes.