Mar 09, 2005, 2:45pm

Dow 1970 It's not sherry, but today was an excellent way to enjoy this 35 year old port.

Flowers Jeanette, who loved my Mom very much, brought over flowers this morning in celebration of Mom's memory.

Today's the anniversary of my Mom's passing, March 9, 2004.

When my Mom was slowly fading away, she made some final requests and one of them was that she wanted a woman dressed in very unique and fancy garb, with white gloves, to pass out glasses of sherry at the wake.

We couldn't honour her wishes because of liquor regulations at the funeral home.

So this morning, I grabbed a bottle of my oldest port. A fine 1970 Dow Vintage. It's not sherry, but port is very similar to sherry in how its made, and this is a 35 year old bottle from one of the best vintage years in the past 50 years.

I bought a couple of 1970s a while back, but didn't know when I would drink it. Yesterday, it came to me.

A few people were over. We were going to take the portion of my Mom's ashes I took back to Vancouver with me, and release them into some special spot in Vancouver. For a while, I considered Spanish Banks, but I thought Trout Lake, so close to where I live now, and part of East Van, the section of Vancouver my Mom loved so much, would be more appropriate.

We enjoyed the amazing port as we toasted and celebrated my Mom's memory. Nothing in this world can equal how special the woman was and is to me, or those who were here today, but our little celebration this morning was fitting. We talked a bit about her, remembered some of the great things about her, and we had smiles on our faces. We then went for a walk from my home to Trout Lake, found a nice isolated pier that jutted out into the lake, and after a few words, spread her ashes in the lake.

Even the ducks were respectful. They thought I was spreading food, and hustled over, but quickly decided it wasn't appropriate to nibble, and backed off.

Throughout the rest of today, I plan on sharing the port with those who visit or drop by, and we'll continue to honour my Mom's wish and her memory. If there's any left over tomorrow, we'll finish it off with another happy situation - Beata becomes a Canadian citizen tomorrow morning at 9am, and we'll toast her achievement with this great port wine.

I think my Mom would have really liked Beata. And I think she's very happy with us celebrating her memory today the way we did.

4 comments | reply

Mixelania

Photos from Algonquin Park
Photos from my trip to Algonquin Park this fall with my Mom and two brothers.

War Stories

Making Snow for the Fortress
One of the worst jobs I ever had... till I got out.

Webiffied

Tools I Use
The tools I use to build websites and lead a tech life.

iPod and iTunes Offline

iMark's iTunes and iPod isn't iPlaying anything right iNow.

Most Recent Songs

Fiddlers Green by The Tragically Hip

Around The Bend by Pearl Jam

Here With Me (Rollo's Chillin' With the Family Mix) by Dido

With arms open wide by Creed

truffle pigs by Matthew Good Band

In the News

Burundi and Beyond - NY Times
Great article by Peter Meehan - provided some background.

St. Petersburg Times
Side mention in an article about good machines

AP Story on Espresso
Background and information provided

NY Times - Grinders Article
Especially proud of this one - got the reporter to focus on grinders

Globe and Mail
LOL - showing bad reporting, dude says I'm an American-based site!

The Olympian, WA
Talks about my love for the El Sal Siberia Pacamara

Seattle Times - Clover
Interviewed for comments on the Clover brewer

NY Times - How it Works
Background and information for various espresso machines

Time Mag Article
Just a brief mention, article about roasting beans.

NY Times
Front page article about consumers getting into specialty coffee.

Washington Monthly
Quoted reference to what I wrote in an article at CoffeeGeek.

USA Today - Barista Jam
Intereviewed for my thoughts on what the epitome of espresso is.

WSJ Article
The Wall Street Journal has interviewed me 3 times. This is the first time my name got in a story.

Reuters Interview
Interview with Reuters, Jan 2 - this is the USA Today version.

My Other Stuff

CoffeeGeek
Launched Dec 22, 2001, this is THE online community for espresso and coffee fanatics.

CoffeeKid Website
It's all new, as of March, 2002. My personal coffee obsession site.

WebMotif Services
My company's site - needs an update!

Amazon WishList
Hey, if you feel the need to buy me something, check here!

Daily Visits

enGadget
Great gadget site run by the guy who used to do Gizmodo.

Google News
This is how I get my daily news fix.

DPReview Forums`
The most active forums for digital photography online today.

Daily Zen
Need my Daily Zen fix!

Jalopnik
A blog about car stuff. Vroom Vroom.

MoCo Loco
An industrial design blog. Very cool stuff.

Friends and Family Plan

Beata Blog
Beata's got her own blog! She updates it most days.

Riddla on Flickr
Matt Riddle's flickr account, updated regularly

Irdy Photos
Irdy, my friend from Jakharta, on Flickr

Recent Acquisitions

Canon EF 24-105 f4 L Lens
The best lens I've ever owned. Super sharp and quick.

Canon 5D
A full frame dSLR, with luscious colour reproduction.

Alzo Digital Lights
Some amazing florescent cold lights for product photography

Canon Xsi dSLR
Amazing technology and image quality in a tiny package.

Canon 40D
Latest prosumer camera from Canon - a much better upgrade than the 30D

Fujitsu P1610
Great 2.2lb computer that does most of my travel / writing needs

28mm f1.8 Lens
A great lens for closeup work and full picture photography

Foodsaver Advanced
Finally got the right tools for freezing green coffee.

Canon 50mm 1.4
Most amazing lens I've ever owned. Produces stellar photos.

Canon 10-22mm
Super wide angle (full frame fisheye) zoom for my Canon 20D