Pizza Diavola

I’ve got a new Friday evening, end of week ritual: wine tasting at Biondivino! Today they were doing tastings from Dettori~Baddu Nigoloso, a small winery located on the north shore of Sardegna, and that led to getting slightly tipsy (it was a long day, an empty stomach, and apparently I hit it off with the bloke doing the pouring, because he kept saying, “Now try this,” and pouring other vintage years to compare the tastes, and a moscaddedu–simply gorgeous and refreshing, not too sweet), then beer with dinner, then meandering down Polk St. and getting dragged into S.N.O.B. (Sonoma, Napa, Or Beyond), a comfortable wine bar that I might start going to in lieu of Amelie. My friend A had a delicious petit syrah there and the vibe was relaxed for a Friday night; the last few times I’ve been to Amelie, I’ve been disappointed by the wines I’ve had, and it gets uncomfortably packed on weekends. Anyway, at Biondivino, in addition to the usual cheese, prosciutto, and bread, there was polpo and some kind of grain dish (similar to Israeli couscous?) to nibble on from La Ciccia, a Sardinian restaurant out in Noe Valley that’s just jumped to the top of my list of places to try, based solely on the strength of the grain/pasta stuff. Mmm!

I had a point, but I think I lost it somewhere along the way while thinking about the Dettori Tenores 2004 I tasted tonight (tasting order: Bianco 2006, Bianco 2003, both vermentino; Tuderi 2003, Tuderi 2004; Tenores 2004; Rosso 2004; Moscaddedu 2006). It was a gorgeous, deep, ruby red color with a warm and refreshing flavor (my wine vocab, it is not so extensive. Nor sophisticated. Nor wine-literate, actually.). Losing my train of thought has been a common occurrence of late; there was wine tonight, wine and beer last night (dinner at A16 and celebrating marriage equality!!!!); and hitting the bars with the SF alums last weekend. I love wine and going out in the hot weather that’s been rolling out recently, the intense heat is a body memory linked with wine, pasta, pizza, and hanging out with friends until the wee hours of the morning. It feels right (more memories and unconscious habits from Rome kicking in).

Oh, right. I was watching the video that Pocochina linked and just cried with joy. The four California Supreme Court justices in the majority decision affected the lives of thousands of people for the better yesterday. I am still deliriously happy when I think about it. I printed off the majority opinion today and I’m going to go read it–when I saw the court officers(?) carry out copies in the video, I started crying, realizing that those papers, those words, are not just letters and sounds. They are the lives of real people, who are now free to marry their loved ones in the eyes of the state of California. They are the lives of real people, whose oppression and harassment the court recognized as legitimate evils of the same type as racism and sexism. The decision, the freedom, the bold cry for equality is an ever-springing fountain of joy deep inside that lifts my whole spirit.

So I’m going to go read the decision because I want to know every single word. I want to grasp them and burn them into my soul, where no one will ever be able to erase them. These are my rights, goddamnit, and I will hold onto them fiercely.