Chablis, shortbread and synchronicity

[darkemeralds]

I had a wonderful dream the other night in which I was attending a wine tasting in a banquet hall of the sort you'd expect in a castle. There was a dais, along which a Last-Supper-esque table was arrayed, with a frankly Christ-like figure at the center dispensing the wine samples.



This Lord of the Wine told me we were going to taste a white wine next, and I said I wasn't a big white wine fan, but I'd be curious to try it. "What is it?" I asked.

"It's a 1911 Chablis."

"A Chablis? I didn't think Chablis could get that old."

"This one can."

He pours a sample into my small cordial glass and I taste it. It is the Elixir of Life: rich, complex, neither sweet nor dry, golden, almost glowing. If wine like this existed in the world, I'd honestly give up water. Even food.

That was the dream.

As it happens, I've been reading a little book published in 1911 called "The Science of Getting Rich," by Wallace Wattles, which is actually far more spiritual than the title would suggest, and has aged quite well. I figure that's at least part of what the dream was about. Believe me, I'm re-reading with greater attention and care now that I know Jesus thinks it's good.

But I'm not above taking a dream literally. I went out tonight and got myself a bottle of Chablis--a 2001, as the local grocery store was fresh out of 1911. Who knew that it's an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée and not just cheap generic white California jug wine from the 70s? It's made from chardonnay grapes in the northern end of the Burgundy valley. It doesn't taste like the elixir of life, but it's pretty damn good. People who know how to describe wine say it tastes of "stones." I can kind of see that.

Furthermore, it goes nicely with shortbread, which I just made a batch of. I adore shortbread and have developed a nearly foolproof system for producing perfect wedges of buttery goodness every time. There are about three dozen of said wedges cooling on racks in the kitchen right now. Well, three dozen minus, umm...three, I think.



For the synchronicity: a consultant I'm working with is German and speaks no Mandarin. His wife is Taiwanese and speaks no German. They communicate in English, their common language, and their children are trilingual.

Which is cool in itself. But this consultant overheard me discussing the Pimsleur language-learning method with another coworker today and offered me the use of his Pimsleur Mandarin CD set. These babies cost $250 per level, and he's got three levels that he's willing to share.

I'll drink to that.

Comments

[silent-sensei.livejournal.com]

That's a very cool dream!

The Science of Getting Rich really is an excellent piece!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I felt sure you, of all my flist, would appreciate the reference. I'm kind of working back and forth between it and Haanel's Master Key System (both on audio), and I find that the Haanel supports, explains, and kind of underpins the Wattles quite nicely, while the Wattles grounds the Haanel in a unified, real-world application.

Between them, there's plenty of material for months of study and insight.

[silent-sensei.livejournal.com]

Right after I watched The Secret for the first time, I studied both Wattles and Haanel's materials. I was very impressed. I read them thoroughly, and yet I realized that a slower and more extensive studying of them was warranted. I'm definitely ready for that. And now that I have the audios, that's going to make it a lot easier.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I look forward to hearing your insights!

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I'd say score all the way around! *beams*

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

It was a score all the way around. Yes! ::raises arms triumphantly::

[wedjateye.livejournal.com]

Hooray for serendipitous conversations! And meaningful dreams. And shortbread.

Mmm. Shortbread. We get some every year from the SO's aunt. She makes it for Christmas presents. We went all healthy for a couple of years and didn't even open the tin. This year I devoured it all by the end of January and I could do with more. Feel like sharing the recipe and method with a novice baker? (Not just novice at shortbread - I made a cake last year and it was the first I've made in possibly my entire adult life. It turned out well. There are even photos as proof. kispexi2 even requested the recipe on the strength of the photos. So maybe I have yet unexplored talent in that area...)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I love your peaceful, soothing icon.

I remember the cake in question! It had red fruit in it--raspberries? That was your first baking? Amazing.

I'll put the shortbread method in a separate post.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

My immediate reaction was "1911? That's got to *mean* something". LoM has eaten my brain. ;-)

Apart from the alliteration (is it alliteration when the letters aren't the same), I would never have thought shortbread and Chablis a winning combination. Interesting.

So Christ was offering you white wine? That'd be made from his lymph, right?

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Ewwww.

I'd've googled the hell out of 1911 myself, if I hadn't already recognized it as the publication date of the book I'm reading.

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

You know I was quoting Caleb, right? I'm not quite that sick!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Did Caleb talk about lymph wine? No wonder I blocked him out. Nathan or no Nathan, I'm not hanging on to that!

[kispexi2.livejournal.com]

He sure did. In that speech about the last supper ("I wonder what would have happened if you ordered a Chardonnay or a nice white Zin? ... Guess there's a reason I never found God. Looking in the wrong damn places"). Oh dear. My obsessional streak is showing. ;-)

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Hee! I bet I subconsciously remembered that and hence my dream.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

I think there are rare dreams which are so vivid they engage all senses - taste and smell - and they touch you in a way that ordinary dreams don't. I agree with what you said on my blog that we can't just step in and interpret other people's dreams, but I always take such things as a good omen

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

::waves::

The taste-and-smell aspect of the dream was quite unusual. I won't swear to having had one like it before. And you're right: it was those extra sensory features what made the dream so memorable, much more than the Christ-like figure. (Sorry, Christ.)

[sffan.livejournal.com]

he's got three levels that he's willing to share.

That's awesome!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I've just realized that, in effect, this coworker I barely know has handed me something like $750.

I'm rich!

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

By the way, now that I'm awake and more clear-eyed, I realize that I still don't know quite what I'm looking ati n your icon. Earlier I thought it was Egyptian papyrus flowers. Now I'm thinking it's something out of a Tolkien illustration of Gondor or something. It's nice.

[sffan.livejournal.com]

It's one of those wacky Escher optical illusion prints that I tinted sepia using Photoshop. What's hysterical, is that I can't remember HOW I did it.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

I know just what you mean. It all seems so clear and obvious when you're doing it. And then...

[llaras.livejournal.com]

Inviting you to use_of_a_swap!