What a wonderful day today (a Saturday) has been! For as long as I can remember, Saturday has had a very special place in my heart! It seems to me to be very providentially placed by the Gods between Friday (a day spent in anticipation of the unwinding of a long week) and Sunday (a day spent in dread of the approaching week — a mental condition that has been aptly given the name The Sunday Neurosis by Viktor Frankl). And yet, despite such contrasting emotions that these two days elicit in me, Saturday always seems to be gloriously ensconced between the two, steadfastly refusing to take on the character of either of them! Instead, it invariably seems to be securely imbued with the color of the here and the now — and is, in fact (even literally so!), a bridge from the past to the future. And by this very nature of epitomizing the present, it is gleefully fulfilling to me and is consistently capable of inspiring great feats of transcendence of the human condition.
Today was one such day for me! Having spent the morning enjoying an almost perfect cup of cappuccino at Cafe Del Doge in downtown Palo Alto, and later working on my next week’s Piano assignment, I ended up going to the beach on Highway 1 in Santa Cruz. Although my intention was to soak in the beautiful sunset, it turned out to be extremely foggy there. Fortunately, though, I came across this very nice part of the coast that was set in the midst of a hilly region — one had to actually walk down a trail to get to the beach. Once down there, the fog actually seemed to elevate the place and time to an unusually surreal degree; and so, it turned out to be a very enjoyable and carefree couple of hours! On the way back, my friend suggested we eat at Castro in downtown Mountain View. There, we discovered this really nice Italian place called Pasta?, and I’ve to admit, the food there was surprisingly good! So much so, it makes me want to go back there more often to explore their other offerings.
There, I also tried, for the first time, a 2006 Malbec from the Mendoza region of Argentina. I found it very impressive — it was medium bodied, had a juicy flavor and left a mildly tannic aftertaste. I’m nowhere near to being an oenophile, so that is as far as I can go in terms of describing it. But it was one of those wines that you know you’re going to remember for a long time and not lose an opportunity to recommend to friends and random strangers alike. After researching a little bit, I found, among other things about it, that it is named after a Hungarian peasant who introduced it to France; that Argentina is currently the chief exporter of wine of this varietal; and that it is commonly used, along with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, in preparing the exquisite and elegant Bordeaux blend. I want to recommend this excellent wine to everyone and am waiting to taste more of it myself the next time I get a chance to do so!
I think this has been one of my longer posts! Time to call it a day and prepare myself for the impending Sunday Neurosis while I wait for another glorious Saturday next week!
Posted by srinivasv 
