So, what’s he saying to me? TBD = The Boring Dog? TBD = The Bad Day?

Well, as most of us know, TBD stands for To Be Determined and it can be used in many contexts including one’s faith life, one’s real life or even to measure the quality of something.

Let’s take a look at each of those contexts and we’ll begin with real life. While helping to plan a community event, we ran into a number of “issues.” People who usually helped, couldn’t help this year. Some of the activities to be held at the community event had to be canceled due to lack of involvement and interest. Entertainment seemed very hard to recruit and the list could go on for awhile.

However, it wasn’t all negative. Some very busy people stepped up and produced ideas that resulted in getting other folks involved and the usual became something different and exciting. What will be the result of all this new way of thinking? TBD…

On a recent visit to Painted Prairie Vineyard, I purchased a bottle of Prairie Plum Wine. What caught my attention was the fact the plums used in the wine are grown in southern Minnesota and are sourced to make this local wine. I like the idea of neighbor helping neighbor and a bottle is sitting on my wine shelf.

The wine declares itself a tasty sweet wine with plum tanginess and would seem to be best suited as a dessert wine. I wonder what it will taste like? What will its aroma tell me? Will I like it? TBD…

But, back to how TBD interweaves with one’s faith life. This will shock some of us but for many of us, religion is faith seeking understanding. Our religion guides us — at least should guide us — to a better understanding of the world around us and brings us face to face with this deity called God.

Yet, rationally, how do we know there is a God? We have no actual scientific proof of a God and then, there’s the aspect of whose God is better? Is the Jewish God equal to the Christian God? Where does Allah fit into the picture? And other deities? So much to ponder so…

Following the thought of plums, I came across a bottle of Black Ink Wines Red Wine called Black Ink — kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? The description states this mysterious wine is filled with black plum flavors. Now that could be very interesting and I have a bottle staring at me right now.

Will Black Ink fulfill my expectations of a luscious dark red wine with loads of ripe plum tastes? TBD…

I just listened to a podcast presented by my son-in-law who is the drink editor for the Daily Beast. The episode is titled: “Is the next big drink a Rum Old-Fashioned?” and it’s about how rum is replacing bourbon in an Old Fashioned cocktail. Currently, rum is quite popular and the case is being presented that the classic Old Fashioned drink will be overtaken by this upstart rum cocktail.

I enjoy an Old Fashioned and it’s because I like bourbon. I am also satisfied by rum so I’ll take my bottle of Goslings Black Seal Bermuda Black Rum and make this aspiring relatively new drink. I’ll toss some sweet vermouth and orange bitters into a couple ounces of rum and sip.

Will this relatively new upstart cocktail measure up to my long time known cocktail? TBD…

Always on the lookout for a new beverage tasting experience and as I talked with a friend, there was a bottle of Domaine Bousquet Brut Rosé thrust before me to sample. It was TBD if I liked it and I set to “work” with the task. Even in the hustle and bustle of a busy restaurant, my attention fell onto the bottle and I was pleased with this Argentine wine from Mendoza. The region’s foothills and elevation produces some very exciting wines and this is a sterling example of a dry rosé. The wine’s recipe includes 75% Pinot Noir and 25% Chardonnay grapes and it’s very good.

In this case, there’s no TBD. It has Thus Been Determined this is a good wine.

Returning to the Painted Prairie Vineyard experience, I was also moved to buy a bottle of the vineyard’s Prairie Apple Wine The apples are sourced from Slayton’s Stonegate Orchard and, again,

It’s nice to note this sense of localism. To be honest, I’m not usually attracted to apple wines because they tend to be too sweet for me. Will I like this local wine? TBD…

I play a bit with this TBD acronym and it’s fun to do so. However, please know I will enjoy every wine and cocktail in this column. Why? Because experiences like new tastings brings a sense of belief to me It’s a belief that my fellow human beings do good things because they have faith in what they are doing and, in doing so, try to bring a bit heaven to earth.

It’s my hope that more of us will work harder to bring a bit of heaven to earth and, in doing so, will do away with a bit of hell on earth. I guess that’s TBD.

As always, eat and drink in moderation but laugh with reckless abandon!

Cheers!