Edition IStanding Rulings

Stickler

A field guide to things done correctly. Pedantic, non-negotiable, and frankly overdue.

Most opinions are weather. These are not. What follows are standing rulings, written down so the argument only has to happen once. Each one has been tested in the field, defended at dinner tables, and upheld.

3Standing rulings

0Tomatoes permitted

8sMinimum acceptable finish

STD-001Fast Food

The Sourdough Jack is ordered without tomatoes.

No tomatoes. Not fewer tomatoes. None.

The Sourdough Jack is a complete object. Sourdough toasted on the flat-top, two slices of cheese, hickory bacon, and beef are in equilibrium. The tomato is a wet, cold intruder that softens the bread from the inside and drags the temperature of the whole sandwich down with it.

A warm sandwich should stay warm. A toasted bread should stay crisp. The tomato is the single ingredient that fails both tests at once, so it is the single ingredient that leaves.

The rulingHold the tomatoes. Every time. This is not a preference, it is maintenance.

STD-002Travel

The RV is driven by the 3-3-3 rule.

300 miles. Arrive by 3. Stay 3 nights.

Drive no more than 300 miles in a day. Be parked and leveled by 3 in the afternoon, while there is still daylight to back into the site, find the dump station, and notice the slope you are about to sleep on. Stay at least 3 nights before you move again.

People treat the rig like a car and the trip like a deadline, then wonder why the vacation felt like a commute. The 3-3-3 rule is the difference between covering ground and actually being somewhere. The miles you skip are not lost. They are the trip.

The rulingThree hundred, three o'clock, three nights. The road will still be there tomorrow.

STD-003Wine

Wine is studied, not guessed.

The glass gets the full WSET Systematic Approach. Every time.

Appearance, then nose, then palate, then a conclusion you can defend. Clarity, intensity, color. Primary, secondary, tertiary aromas. Sweetness, acidity, tannin, body, finish. The Systematic Approach to Tasting exists so that "I liked it" can graduate into "I know why."

Calling a wine "smooth" is not a tasting note, it is a surrender. Medium-plus acidity, ripe tannins, a finish that holds for eight seconds: that is a note. The structure is not snobbery. It is the only honest way to tell whether the bottle was worth what it cost.

The rulingSwirl, sniff, sip, conclude. If you can't justify the note, you haven't finished tasting.

Addenda

Lesser, but still binding

A-01

A door held open is held until the next person has their own hand on it. Letting go early is worse than not holding it.

A-02

Coffee is measured by weight, not by scoops. A scoop is a unit of hope, not a unit of mass.

A-03

The dishwasher is loaded with a plan. Plates face the spray, not each other. Cutlery is sorted on the way in, never on the way out.

A-04

A recipe is read all the way through before the first ingredient is touched. "Meanwhile, marinate overnight" should never be a surprise.