Pointless ruminations about an American Tradition

The question is, is it acceptable (to appreciate/taste/imbibe/know about/speak about/write about) in moderation, even for the Indian-American young lady?

It has been a while since updating. Unfortunately my computer seems incompetent in uploading pictures.

Anyway, I made a sad yet simple discovery recently. Perhaps it illuminates the simplicity of our American culture in the common-denominator that often brings us together (food and beverage, often alcoholic), and also falls nicely into the historic theory of why Europe had significant alcoholic beverage consumption/production centuries ago (poor water sanitation systems). Therefore it seems as though an opinion about alcoholic preferences or lackthereof (beers or wines) may serves as a conversation piece or icebreaker among strangers (i.e. in situations fourth year students and their associates may find themselves in often, this time of the year, at preinterview dinners. Not that you should be or that anybody does "get drunk" immaturely in an informal yet semiprofessional setting).

OK, so I'm not a beer drinker and realized long ago (well around age 21 when I probably had my first drink of a bottle of beer with relatives) that the colder beers may be more tolerable and perhaps the "paler ales" (?) are somewhat more palatable to me than darker brews. One drink of "blue moon" (with a slice of orange) may take me an hour or more to finish but that is (more than) enough for my preference! With wines, as confusing as I thought it can be (are all "Rieslings" the same?), I think sweeter wines (like white zinfandel, riesling, or moscato) are my preference. I think of my friend Rupa when thinking of "blush wines" like white zinfandel, Anu and Arti with "Moscato" and my roommate Jaya with "Sangrias" as they were the ones that introduced me to those or I somehow associate them with preferring those drinks. I got confused with the concept of Rieslings as (from the handful of samples of I tasted), I found some to be sweeter than others, so I had given up on classifying my wine knowledge as logical, but I believe they may at least usually be sweet, but all certainly aren't "made equally." I should probably study this matter, especially if I ever make it to a vineyard and go wine-tasting, which hasn't happened yet.

Alright, it is not like I have even been drinking more than usual here, but these were thoughts that I wanted to share regarding the as yet not too familiar territory of alcoholic beverages and etiquette associated with what drink to order in a social setting.

OK, photos of what we have been upto shall follow (Tech Museum, Christmas in the park, trip to Palo Alto and San Francisco - one evening for the "Jingle Ball 2011" Concert, and the other late afternoon/evening for a visit to the bay -- since I wasn't too proud of not having yet seen "the bay" despite being so close to it for over a month!, followed by an interesting experience with learning and doing some bhangra at "Non Stop Bhangra's" last time to be holding an event at the "Rickshaw stop" after 7 years of regular events - interesting experience in some ways). And I also took some photos of things I see at times while in my car, or in my brief exploration of America's "salad bowl" (Salinas, CA) in its old town/by the Steinbeck museum (Salinas is author John Steinbeck's hometown).