Wednesday, May 21, 2003

I love it when I

I love it when I get into something and someone I actually like in the media is on about it too within a couple of days.  It’s not like this often happens, but it’s like when I said we should win that war in the middle east and then we did, or when I said I wish the Simpsons was on and then they were.  But this time it’s personal.  Mark Morford, whose Morning Fix is such an important part of my week, and whose cultural explorations and weblinks have so expanded my worldliness, is now pimping this stuff, which I euphorically tasted at their winery just a few days ago - so recently that I can still remember that framboise they poured us - it was presented on a big chinese “two cranes” plate, the classic blue and white willows pattern, in two tiny chocolate cups, dark schmidt chocolate cups molded to resemble interwoven leaves, brimming with a nectar as sanguine and ruddy as blood; a few drops had dripped to the plate through which the white of the china shone deeply pink; the blue came through purple.  I took only a moment to savor the weight of the tiny cup, the satin smoothness of the chocolate against my fingertips, and of course the scent of furiously rioting raspberries wafting from the surface of the liquid… I poured the whole thing into my mouth, letting it drip because it’s as thick as cough syrup, and then dropped the cup in and chewed it up with a mouth full of liqueur.  There were explosions in the vicinity of my endorphin center, and new heights of oral satisfaction were duly recorded.  We wound up buying a white before-dinner wine and a raspberry port, which we’ve been drinking with chocolate as well.  Needless to say, they’re both superb, and this place is one of our favorites - one of our favorite wineries for years and one of our new favorite places to go. 

The upshot: it’s fun when a big time media celebrity like Mark Morford pimps something that you just spontaneously recently did on your own.  Makes me feel like I’m doing the right thing, that my choices have been officially approved.  Maybe that’s not healthy.  Maybe I shouldn’t look to strangers with bylines for my sense of self-worth and the approval I so obviously crave.  But you know what?  I don’t care.  That raspberry nectar in the chocolate cup is all I really needed.  Judge me as you will.