Late Autumn Cocktail: Cinnamon Pear Sangria

This delicious cocktail sounds like a crisp autumn day in a glass. The recipe for Cinnamon Pear Sangria includes not only white wine but also vodka...however, I got into a very unpleasant altercation with vodka years ago and ever since then, we have not been on speaking terms. So I am sure something else could be substituted if need be. Or maybe try it with just a Chardonnay? The great thing about sangria recipes is that they can be adjusted to include whatever flavors one like best.

CINNAMON PEAR SANGRIA INGREDIENTS
*White wine
*Vodka
*Cinnamon pear syrup (recipe below)
*Fresh pears
*Cinnamon sticks
*Soda water

PEAR SIMPLE SYRUP INGREDIENTS
*Fresh pears
*Granulated sugar
*Water
*Cinnamon stick
*Vanilla extract

To make the simple syrup, put granulated sugar, chopped pears, vanilla, cinnamon stick, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower to a simmer and let cook for about 15 minutes. Pour syrup over a fine mesh sieve to strain out the pears and cinnamon stick and let syrup cool completely before using.

To make the sangria, pour the entire bottle of white wine into a large pitcher. Add vodka, simple syrup, sliced pears, and cinnamon sticks and place the pitcher in the fridge for about 2 hours to let the flavors meld together. Right before you're ready to serve, stir in soda water.

Original article and recipe from We Are Not Martha, here:
https://wearenotmartha.com/cinnamon-pear-sangria/

"Retrogg" by Callecat

"Retrogg" by Dutch DJ and musician duo Callecat (Koen and Gijs from Utrecht)...compelling, driving, hypnotic electronic sounds...swirling and pulsing, taking you to another plane...

https://www.callecatmusic.com/

Happy Thanksgiving 2021!

Despite the many challenges still facing us a nation and in the world, it feels like progress and justice is afoot here in the United States, and it is with optimism that I address all my followers and regular readers of "Oh, By The Way:"

On this holiday of gratitude, let's give thanks for the recent resurgence of hope, and the return of the things that make us good, strong, honorable, and loving human beings. Let's give thanks to the people who bring light and calm and love to our lives and to the world. Let's give thanks for the generous actions and goodwill in our lives--whether done by others or ourselves--that strengthen the fabric of humanism and the choices to unite, protect, and find value in this existence. Hold dear these things and live up to these ideals for which we are grateful. Let's find value in ourselves and others, and express this gratitude in our intentions, deeds, and words. Let's be grateful for the value of human experience, love, and life itself.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thanks, Jesus 2021!

As we eat our Thanksgiving meal, let us thank not an imaginary figure in the sky but those who are TRULY responsible--migrant workers and immigrants legal or undocumented--for helping to bring our food to our tables, through their numbingly long days of low-wage, backbreaking work.

BEAUTY: Painting--Dmitiri Cavander

Apropos of my recent post here about the San Francisco streetscapes and imagery of artist Scott Prior, here is another artist who obviously loves the hilly ups and downs of the neighborhoods and vistas of San Francisco. Dmitri Cavander gives us lovely, concentrated views of specific roads through The City...

Top to bottom: Uphill From Sanchez To Dolores; Up Out Of Marina; From Shrader Street To Cole; 25th From Noe; A Pretty Steep Hill; Above Cole Valley; Carolina Street, Potrero Hill; Cole Via Shrader; Diamond Street Bus Stop; From 26th To Clipper

https://www.dcavander.com/

Happy Birthday "Bringing Up Baby"!

Eighty-three years ago today, the delightful, classic Screwball Comedy "Bringing Up Baby" was released. Starring the incomparable Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant (previously here)--and they made an incomparable duo indeed (they are sublime together in "Holiday" as well as working together beautifully in "The Philadelphia Story" previously here)--"Bringing Up Baby" is often held up as the epitome of its genre. A hallmark of Screwball Comedies is the pratfall, and there are many in this film, as seen in the images below. And despite its age, it still feels as fresh and energetic as ever. If you've never seen it, do yourself a favor and find it somehow...it really is a must-see for anyone serious about film and film history. Or if you just want a good laugh.

BEAUTY: Painting--Scott Prior

Scott Prior is an award winning oil painter and Southern California native but received his BFA from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco so it makes sense that the lyrical beauty, stunning views, and hilly vistas of The City feature prominently in his imagery. I love cityscapes in general, but especially when they are of my beloved city.

There are a few cities in the world that have their own unique visual vernacular, their own architecture, their own special feeling, and just can't be mistaken for any other city. Almost any view of Manhattan is instantly recognizable and can only be that particular city. A view of terra cotta buildings magically floating on narrow canals almost always reveals itself to be Venice. And San Francisco is similar in that way: the buildings, the bay windows, the streets and how they are laid out and how they intersect other streets, a glimpse of a cable car,...it is all unique and instantly recognizable as San Francisco. Prior shows us the unmistakable steep streets and views toward the Bay, but he also treats us to views of specific iconic spots like Francis Ford Coppola's European-style Cafe Zoetrope located in the majestic Sentinel Building in the heart of North Beach, street cars on a rainy Market Street at night, the now-sadly-closed Marquard's, and the classic Café de la Presse on Grant Street near the entrance to Chinatown. But he has also captured perhaps the most unique view of the Golden Gate Bridge ever seen... in his painting International Orange, named for the exact color of paint that blankets the bridge, we see the underside of the monument from the San Francisco side looking toward Sausalito and the rest of Marin.

Top to bottom: Buchanan Street View; Bush And Powell At High Noon; Cafe Zoetrope; Evening Commute; International Orange; Little Cigar Store; Market Street Hustle; Powell Street; Service With A Smile; Steve McQueen Was Here; Time's Up

https://www.scottwprior.com/

I Miss My Mom

BEAUTY: Interiors--Andrew Brown

Interior designer Andrew Brown was hired by a client to bring new life to a 1920s Beaux Arts condo on the edge of downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Last renovated in the 80s, Brown gutted the entire condo and started from scratch. Since the entry is windowless, Brown chose to embrace the darkness by swathing the space entirely with Schumacher's Tumbling Blocks fabric. The double height living room is long and narrow so Brown tricks the eye by lining one side of the room with antiqued mirrored panels to reflect the sixteen-foot windows while an 1860 plaster cast of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, once owned by the British Museum takes price of place among the seating arrangements. A hidden door in the mirrored panels conceals the stairway to the second floor where a moody blue guest bedroom, a powder room papered with a wild Zak + Fox print, a primary suite with a stately four-poster bed and a salon style wall hung with etchings of Neoclassical busts, and a primary bathroom clad in a heavily veined marble and papered in a sepia-toned Chinese landscape by Iksel elevate the entire home into a jewel box.

http://www.andrewbrowninteriors.com/

BEAUTY: Painting--Ans Debije

Dutch artist Ans Debije manages to catch the glint of light off glass and metal in marvelous impasto images.

Top to Bottom: Café matinal; Cheers; Forbidden Drink; More Or Less; Nikka Whiskey From The Bottle; Northward; Puur Dutch Ornacello; Reflection; Sunny Scene; Two's Company

https://www.ansdebije.nl/