Tory Peña

That’s What I Like Under the Christmas Tree

January 11, 2008 by Tory Peña

I think most of us can remember a Christmas morning like this. You wake up, sleepy but excited and head downstairs to the living room. And there it is. Red. Shiny. Everything you ever dreamed of. You can hardly believe your eyes. Santa has brought you a Kitchen Aid Artisan Mixer.

So, perhaps this doesn’t apply to everyone. But there are those of you out there who wait in breathless anticipation for the new Williams-Sonoma catalog and when it comes, leave it not so subtly highlighted and circled in case your significant other happens upon it. You know who you are. You, the one with

your plans drawn up for dream kitchen. Forget the living room, the dining room and even the bedroom. This is your space. I say, kitchen junkies unite.

That’s What I Like: Somethingness

August 31, 2007 by Tory Peña

I’m not a wine snob. I don’t feel the need to discuss vintage discrepancies or the loaminess of the terroir. It’s just that there are few things as pleasurable as finding a truly great wine. There are some objective truths to a great wine but like all arts, it’s largely a subjective exercise of the senses. Above all else, it fills one with a sense of wonderment as you recognize its endless possibilities. In other words, it’s just so cool.

What makes a wine great can be debated ad nauseam (please, no more about the tannic structure or I will have to get medieval on your %$#) Yet, I find that amidst all the clammer, there is that constant refrain of somethingness, for lack of a better word. In itself that somethingness is indescribable, you just know that it’s there. It’s the a-ha moment.

Why Do I Find It So Hard to Commit?

July 24, 2007 by Tory Peña

One night a week. Thirty minutes, maybe an hour. Yet, I can’t seem to do it. Something came up at work. Dinner ran a little long. Just excuses to mask the fact that I can’t truly commit to any t.v. show for the regular season. (Goodbye, Gilmore Girls. You were the only one.) So, I play catch-up and try to make up for that lost time.

That’s What I Like: Scrabble (or Making the Other Guy Cry for Mercy)

July 6, 2007 by Tory Peña

Scrabble. Is there anything more glorious than the beauty of a word? Yes, there is. It’s called winning. Don’t heed the naysayers that tell you “it’s just a game” or “it doesn’t matter who wins.” It does. To hear someone say they just play for “the love of the words” is just plain wrong. You have to play to win. C-O-N-Q-U-E-S-T (Add to the t, the q on triple letter score, use all seven letters, a fifty point bonus.)

Futhark is fine, a good word, whatever but if you don’t have a k (or blank, for that matter), you’ve got nothing. (And there is no need to look up the word in the dictionary to prove to one’s significant other that it is indeed a word because the argument is moot and one is simultaneously revealing letters to an opponent who only wants to take him down.) There is almost nothing better than a close match with an equal at the top of your respective games. Just one thing is better: Crushing and humiliating your opponent. This is what it’s all about.
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