Hep Cats and Hippies

It had to happen.

One moment I was your run-of-the-mill cold-hearted bitch, hardened by Smirnoff, magazine internships and Toronto boyfriends. Then I moved to Northern California for five months, took up Bikram yoga and started eating avocado, a food which I had hitherto gagged at.

Now, about a year later, give or take, I find myself hearkening back to the Bezerk-ley days all too often. I recently had to complete a written test for work (ugh, don't ask) which included several pages on wine knowledge, such as term definition (e.g. "round") and suggested food and wine pairings ("what would you suggest with oysters?") When I got to the question asking for outside factors on wine production, I was a little surprised at my own (figurative) balls when I wrote down "social responsibility and carbon emission awareness - more and more people are realizing how detrimental it can be to insist on wines from overseas when locally-produced vintages have a significantly smaller impact on Mother Earth."

Oh God. I actually capitalised "Mother Earth". This is not the type of stunt to pull in a restaurant that prides itself on a wine list with 300+ different labels. Oh, but this was after my morning spent shopping at the Farmer's Market, where I stocked up on organic flax-seed breakfast rolls, vegan brownies and locally-made dolmas.

But I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I trade in my heels and (real) leather jacket for Birkenstocks and sarongs.