Wine Tasting at Duck Walk

On Saturday I went to Duck Walk Vineyards in Southhampton, Long Island for a wine tasting. I've always enjoyed drinking a glass of Chardonnay, so I was looking forward to taste what they had to offer.

I tried five different wines and though a Chardonnay was in the mix, the 2008 Aphrodite is officially my new favortie wine.



Before I could even taste this goodness, the aromatic smell of the Aphrodite drew me in. This wine has a frutty pleasant taste thanks to the honeysuckle, apricot, peach, and hint of spice. It is recommended to be served with dessert. I recommend to drink it anytime.

The other four wines were

2007 Chardonnay: Made with hints of pear, apple and vanilla. Great with seafood or chicken.


Windmill White: This wine displays hints of honey, pear and wildflower. Perfect alongside hor d'oeuvres, seafood, salad, and pasta.

Windmill Blush: Made with strawberry and rasberry fruit flavors. It's Long Island's challenge to White Zinfandel and can be eaten with barbecue foods, chicken, fish, and picnic foods.


Gatsby Red: A semi sweet blend of several red grape varieties along with plum, cherry, and spice flavors.


These latter four wines were not pleasing at all to my palate. They fit the defintion of "dry." To those of you that may not be accustomed to the wine terminology, just know that the first four wines can also be described as BITTER!

Overall, my wine tasting experience was enjoyable. I was just dissapointed that I could not get close to the actual grape vineyards.

Before the wine tasting, Brad, the tourguide, said that this site had been growing grapes since 1987. After a couple of different owners Dr. Herodotus “Dan” Damianos and his son Alexander bought the 30-acre vineyard in 1994 and renamed it Duck Walk. This vineyard grows five different grapes including Merlot, Chardonnay and the unique Pinot Meunier. Duck walk produces about 30,000 cases of wine a year. Now thats a lot of wine.

Three New Things I Learned About My Teeth

Yesterday I received a teeth cleaning for the first time in about five years. Thankfully, my hygienist told me that I was doing something right because I appeared to have no cavities and my gums were pink and firm.

During this visit, Ms. James my hygienist who has been practicing for over 30 years told me three useful tips that I would like to share with you:

• Brush teeth on an angle and be gentle. When brushing your upper teeth, the toothbrush should be pointed downward and for your bottom teeth, the tooth brush should be pointed upward.

(When my hygienist, Ms. James told me this, I responded by saying that’s not how they do it on TV. To which she replied why are you looking at an advertisement to tell you how to brush your teeth? I didn’t have anything to say after that.)

• Vigorous teeth brushing actually makes your teeth translucent. In turn, its harder for your teeth to have that dazzling white smile. Instead James said people ought to pay more attention to their gums since firm, pink gums (like mine, LOL) are the source of healthy teeth. She also said that whitening treatments are fine.

• Wisdom teeth don’t have to be removed if they’re not hurting you. James pointed out that wisdom teeth serve a purpose. They are just an extra pair of molars. Therefore they can help us grind our food better. Even if your wisdom teeth have a cavity, don’t pull them out! As an alternative, you could just ask for a filling.

I hope you learned something new but at the same time this piece of advice only scratches the surface. To learn more about great oral health, go to COLGATE.

Shout out to Ms. James who has so much experience in her field that she gave me content for a blog post by just having small talk during my treatment. I love that.

Perplexed and delighted at the NYC Ballet

Last night I was entertained by the classical sounds of Morton Gould, Sergei Prokofiev and George Gershwin at the 2010 Fall Season New York City Ballet in Lincoln Center. This was a new experience for me since the Nutcracker was the last ballet performance I saw as a little girl.



Now I am a fan of theatre, dance, and Broadway shows but the New York City Ballet is a bit different. For one the music is provided by an orchestra who at times put me to sleep. No manners? Right?

However, I will say that my eyes remained opened for the entirety of the last two acts which were “Opus 19/The Dreamer” choreographed by Jerome Roberts and “Who Cares?” choreographed by George Balanchie. “Interplay,” the first act, was also choreographed by Roberts.

As I was saying the New York City Ballet was boring at first. Then by the last act—“Who Cares”— things picked up once I heard songs like “I Got Rhythm,” “Strike Up the Band,” and “The Man I Love” all by Gershwin. Just like the Nutcracker, “Who Cares” was lively and it had a vague story line of girl meets boy, boy affectionately holds girl when they dance, and girl falls in love with boy.

Also “Who Cares” lived up to of all my expectations of what the ballet should be: romantic, ballerinas in pink tutus, and magical.

Unfortunately, for the first two acts this was not the case. Although most of the movements were graceful and beautiful, I just couldn’t understand for the life of me what the choreographers were trying to convey. This could’ve been avoided if the orchestra added some vocalists. Then, I would’ve been able to connect the dancer's movements with what the vocalist was saying.

Still I was very excited to say I attended the ballet but MsKonflicted would like to know what‘s the point of attending a high cultured event such as the ballet if you don’t even understand what’s going on? Just asking.

Trying to see the “Best in Me”

Marvin Sapp has a song called “Best in Me.” The chorus says “You saw the best in me when everyone else around me could only see the worst in me. “ It’s a great song that makes plain the love and mercy that God has for each of us.

But what happens when in addition to God seeing the best in you, so does everyone else? I would assume that you’re joyfully on your way to living out God’s purpose for your life. Great! Two thumbs up!

But what happens when God sees the best in you, your family sees the best in you, your friends see the best in you, random strangers you meet see the best in you BUT you only see the WORST in you?


What happens when a perpetual emptiness is with you throughout the day? An emptiness that makes everything feel pointless. An emptiness that causes you to forget important things like deadlines, doctor appointment and dear friends' birthdays.

What happens when you see that great future? But a part of you believes it’s a mirage that will quickly disappear as soon as you get close enough. A part of you that feels you’ll always be miserable.

What happens when you can’t shake these negative, self defeating thoughts? Even though you have a relationship with GOD. Even though you’re surrounded by people who really love you for you.

Without a doubt you will never fulfill God’s purpose for your life.

So why can’t I get it together? I have tried prayer, herbal concoctions, talk therapy, exercise, acupuncture and nothing lasts.

So now what? I must keep looking. That’s the only answer.

Recently, I had one of my “moods” as my very close, close friends are familiar with me saying. In these moods, crying for every conceivable thing that gets me upset or makes me feel overwhelmed is my choice of expression. Getting annoyed at the simplest question like when my little brother caringly calls to ask me “Shari, when are you coming home? It’s late. I’m worried about you,” gets no response in return. I usually disconnect the call.

Not nice. I know but during these moods I don’t want to be bothered with explaining anything to anyone.

What’s scary to me is at the age of 26, these “moods” are never far away. I’m up then I’m down. What’s frustrating is that these moods literally attack me like my indoor/outdoor allergies that have so many triggers it doesn’t even matter anymore if I dusted around the house or the pollen count is low outside. In time, my eyes will tear up.

I can’t give into this idea of seeing the world as a dark, lonely place any longer especially when people say that I light up their world. I just want to begin to light up my own world so that the happy episodes grow longer while the darker periods grow shorter.

Please pray that I figure out the solution to this persistent depressive mood that takes my joy away every time I feel like I’m getting better. I believe in the power of prayer and I know that the squeakiest wheel gets the oil. So I’m sharing this so that you can include me in your prayers.

GOD, HEAR MY HUMBLE CRY.