Author: Nick Pan

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Wine books to get for the journey

There is just so much knowledge around wine and it is hard not to keep reading up about them. So here are a few books that I came across that is really useful.

Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: The Master Guide

I have to say this is one of the most beautiful wine books out there and dare I say one of the better Infographics ever done for wine. Pages and pages worth of just enough info to get a novice up to speed and also lots of references to varietals and regions. Buy Wine Folly: Magnum Edition from Amazon here.

Wine Folly: Magnum Edition: The Master Guide
The beautiful inside pages

The World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition

One of the world’s most celebrated wine Critic Jancis Robinson together with Hugh Johnson created the atlas of wine. Its filled with details down to the specific vineyard, geography, the climate and more. Super technical and fascinating. Buy The World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition from Amazon here.

The World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition

And here is a little video of the book from the authors themselves.

Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France

Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France

I’ve not read this one yet, but I comes highly recommended by a fellow wine aficionado. Apparently It will change your perception and give you a deeper understanding of buying wines from France.

Buy Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer’s Tour of France (25th Anniversary Edition) from Amazon now.

The Wine Bible

The Wine Bible Karen MacNeil

I’ve not read this one yet, but highly recommended by someone whom I seriously respect and have even published a few books herself on wine. I’ll strive to read this.

Buy The Wine Bible from Amazon now.

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@nickpan.drinks on IG

Of late I’ve got quite serious with wine and looking at my main Instagram account, almost 80% of them were about wine in the past months. So I’m going to stop spamming my friends with all my wine stuff on my main social accounts and I’ve setup a separate Instagram for it at @nickpan.drinks. So follow me there if you are interested in my wine adventures.

During the past months, I’ve also setup a Facebook Group called Little Red Drop which is a strictly non commercial wine group to discuss about wine and make friends in Singapore who love wine . It is NOT about sales, promos or anything commercial.

Also, I’ve setup a Facebook Page called Singapore Wine Mailing List and as it’s name suggests, the content are extracted from Wine Mailing lists in Singapore. And I hope to bring all the wonderful deals and promotions from merchant’s emails to our fellow local wine drinker’s Facebook feed.

More about these 2 new properties on a separate post, for now, follow me on @nickpan.drinks on Instagram. Thanks.

@nickpan.drinks on Instagram

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6+ Texas Hold’em Short Deck Hand Rankings

Have been looking for a reference picture for Texas Hold’em 6+ hand rankings and could not find one where there are some odds that come with it and also with easy readability for mobile phone viewing.

So a friend helped to calculate the number of possible hands, probability and also the chances you will get that hand.

I do love doing Microsoft Powerpoint Slides, so this is my latest masterpiece.

Let me know if something does not add up.

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The Chef

With ideas in her head,
she acquires ingredients from creation.
She picks up some bread,
some meats and some crustacean.

With purchases in her hands,
she assembles them into her curation.
Each ingredient has a plan,
that’s all part of her preparation.

She cook in her pots and pans,
dishes of her imagination.
Juggling flavours and textures,
from experience and experimentation.

She host her friends regularly,
not any one group particularly.
With smiles, laughter and her kitchen art,
everyone sense the generosity from her heart.

She is the artist,
the scientist,
the chef,
the friend
and my wife.

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100%

There are so many characters we love on TV.

Arya Stark, the headstrong, feisty, independent, young girl turned assassin from Game of Thrones.

Wonder Woman, the fearless, blunt, righteous warrior princess of the amazon from DC.

Thomas Shelby, the ambitious, family oriented, dapper Birmingham gang leader from Peaky Blinders.

Sheldon Cooper, the idiosyncratic, unapologetic, socially challenged genius from Big Bang Theory.

Jake Peralta, the talented and intelligent but childish detective from Brooklyn 99.

Phil Dunphy, the positively enthusiastic who sees himself as the cool dad of 3 from Modern Family.

And the list goes on…

Then it hit me.

Why do we love them so much?

It’s simply because they are who they are as a character and they are consistent. Some characters do evolve, but who they really are is usually consistent deep down and that’s why we like them so much.

As an individual, I’ve been struggling since young in what kind of person I want to be. For everyone that tells me to be myself, there will be others that will tell me to be something else with all the best intentions.

I’ve decided.

I’ll be who I am.

I’m not the alpha.

I’m not your typical.

I’m not what you think I should be.

I’ll be who I am.

I’ll be a character in your story.