I'm gonna party like it's 1975!

Josh, Bob, Sean and Greg have started a new band called 1975. Featuring members from the famous bands Sexy Mild and Boomhauer and others. They play at The Cat in Itaewon every Friday night, but last Saturday, they had a special concert at Solid Gold in Hongdae. It was a blast!

My evening started off with grilled meat at our favorite samgyupsal place and beer and clamato juice! Yummy! Then we made our way over to Solid Gold. It was rockin! The band was fantastic! The musicians were all decked out in 1975 garb - really convincingly, too! The music was great and we had a great time talking, dancing and drinking Jagermeister. In fact, I may have had a little too good of a time! Me and my fellow rock bitches (Becca and Matt) joined the band backstage for a special hidden-away bottle of Jag after the bar had long been sold out of the stuff. It was a great night!

But...that's it for me. It took me 2 days to fully recover. No more nights like that for me. Boy am I getting old. It was like cruel death had come over me, but was teasing me by keeping my vitals going so I had to endure the pain. Never again!

At least it was nice to go out with a bang!

Wine Swine

On Wednesday night, the Millennium Seoul Hilton held another impressive wine tasting evening. These different from conventional wine tastings in that that they are seated. They are quite luxurious and elegant...
Upon arrival, you are greated with welcome cocktails and salted peanuts. Everyone mingles in the lobby outside the grand ballroom. At 7:00, everyone enters the ballroom, which is set up like a wedding. There are round tables decorated with crisp white tablecloths and lovely centerpieces. Ambience is wonderful: lights turned low, candles burning everywhere, large presentation screens showing picturesque images of vineyards...
The tables are impressive. 8 appropriately-sized glasses of wine sit at your place setting, waiting to be filled with wine. A wine expert introduces the vineyards and each wine. There is also a booklet for you with detailed descriptions of each wine to write your observations in. Only glasses of water and plain baguettes are at the table, for palate cleansing.
The waiters swoop in, one per table, to pour the wine. The wine expert leads the tutored tasting session and the drinking begins...

Corte Giara Pinot Grigion 2003 The first wine is a Pinot Grigio from Corte Giara, from the Veneto region in Italy. It was lovely! You can taste honey, pear and lemon. It has the perfect combination of dryness, crispness and acidity. It was a lovely wine...my favorite for just drinking. (In fact, my friend kindly bought me a bottle since I liked it so much!)
Nekeas, Viura Chardonnay 2004 Then came a Viura/Chardonnay blend from Nekeas, Spain. It was much heavier than the first white and had a bit too much bite from the Chardonnay. Also, I felt the alcohol was a little overpowering. However, with food, the bite was removed and the other flavors (citrus and grapefruit) became more apparent.
Nekeas, Tempranillo-Merlot 2003 The first red was a Tempranillo/Merlot blend also from Nekeas, from Navarra, Spain. It was very smoky, which was a turn off for me. But interesting to note that the smokiness doesn't come from the barrel but from the grape itself. Tempranillos have a very smoky flavor. I wonder if this selection would be improved by a pairing with roast or grilled meats?
Chateau Haut Tucaou 2002 The next red was an Organic wine from Bordeaux. It was a Merlot/Cab Franc blend. During the tasting, I really did not like this wine. It was too earthy for me. However, when I drank it while eating gruyere cheese, it was wonderful! It become a very smooth wine and the fruitier elements came out. Really lovely!
Domaine du Bourdieu 2003 This wine was a Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot blend. It was nice bu nothing spectacular in my opinion. This won the Gold medal at the Bordeaux Organic Wine Challenge 2003/2004.
Cade de Gombaude 2002 Also an organic wine, this was a Merlot/Cab Franc blend. It was nice...well balanced. This is the only Pomerol organic wine and ages quite well. It doesn't pair well with spicy dishes though.
Col d'Orcia Rosso di Montalcino 2001 The is a Brunello (Sangiovese) from Tuscany. It has a lot of tanins and benefits from a lot of breathing. In fact, the wine expert said this wine tastes better the day after it's been opened!
Col d'Orcia, Brunello di Montacino 1998 This was a super fine wine! The wonderful piece de resistance of the evening! One of the finest wines in the world, this wine is so deep and intense and so smooth and full of flavor. A wonderful wine! Quite expensive, though!

After the initial tasting, we were invited to partake of the light dinner buffet provided. Lots of cheeses, salads and several hot dishes (including a delectable spinach pasta in carbonara sauce and spicy chili con carne egg rolls!). The desserts were dreamy. All in all, an angelic nite...especially for this wine swine!

Updates...on me!

Gosh, that sounds a bit self-involved and conceited...
The idea is to keep people who know me updated on my life because I'm not so reliable with the email correspondence. But really, I will try to keep my friends and loved ones updated...but should there be a lapse...perhaps this will help.

I'm still doing the freelance voice acting thing. Work is going well...jobs are pretty regular...knock on wood. I'm enjoying it, too. I recently did a whole series of Jigsaw Jones books. These chapter books for kids are written in first person, in the voice of Jigasaw, 2nd grade detective. I also provided voices for all the other characters including a wide range of kids, teens and other characters (including a Crocodile Hunteresque character) and a handful of animal noises (including a pretty convincing parrot, if I do say so myself! ^^) I really enjoyed it, even though it was difficult work, as it was as close to doing audiobooks as I could ever be. In fact, that's exactly what it was! I continue to do the other recording jobs as well and am enjoying it so much especially since I work with extremely talented and very nice guys!

In addition to the voice recording, I've started contributing to Seoul Magazine...a magazine put out by Seoul Selection (perhaps you receive their newsletter from seoulselection.com). I have really enjoyed writing for them and seeing my work published AND getting credit for it. (Rare in Korea...)

Of course I continue to work at the Millennium Seoul Hilton. It's a great job and I love the working environment there. We recently went hiking together on Mount Dobong, a 3km high peak in northeastern Seoul. Actually I wonder if it is officially still Seoul... Anyway, the day we went was a rainy day. But we hiked up most of the way, manuevering past slippery rocks. It was a fantastic workout, but unfortunately we couldn't make it all the way to the top. It was really pouring by the time we got down the mountain. Still, it was great to be out there in nature, breathing fresh air... I'm looking forward to our next trip...I really want to see the view from up there...I just pray for dryer weather next time!

Jom and I were featured in the April edition of the Korean Marie Claire. It was a feature on different cat and dog owners and Jom and I were spotlighted as one of the cat people. We had several pictures (one full page size) as well as an article where I was described as Rubenesque! Which I kind of like! Although, I'm probably doing an extra 10 minutes of cardio each time I go to the gym because of that!

Anyway, that's about it for now. Hopefully, we're emailing regularly so this is all old news for you. If not, please know I love you and will email you soon!