Tag: wine

A couple of bottles of pinot noir/merlot later…

Did I mention that my sister-in-law was visiting? Yeah, we grabbed some takeout Pollo Compero (if you don’t have one of these places close to you then I’m sorry to hear that) and a couple of bottles of red.  Nice to veg out and shoot the breeze; absolute hell on posting, of course.  There’s a word for this, though, right?  Socialisting?  No, right: socializing.  It definitely has its points.

Can you really trust your wine now, California? REALLY?

This is horrible, in that specialized and frankly pro-forma way that comes from being told about a poor situation that doesn’t really affect me: “Cabernet sauvignon grapes from California’s Napa Valley have been among the most prized on earth for fine wine, justifying the cost per bottle of $100 or more. But it seems that one of the area’s top master blenders for elite brands has been fooling gourmets into paying top dollar for bottles that might really be jug quality wine.” …I mean: I generally don’t drink cabs. And I don’t buy $100 bottles of wine, because I can’t tell the difference between them and a $30 bottle.

…Apparently I’m not the only one, huh?

Via

I have to ask myself: is finding this Wines for Dummies stuff…

…REALLY going to be worth the time, trouble, and travel that I apparently am going to have to expend in order to acquire a bottle?  Bear in mind that it’d all be for the sake of a single throwaway post; and yet, I really am obsessive that way and I know it.  I also suspect that I will be grimly determined to like it even if it tastes like… ten buck wine, which while not really awful* is still not perhaps the most worthy vessel for my muse.

Open thread, I guess.

Moe Lane

*Although in comparison to that glass of rhone that I had yesterday…

Three admissions fueled by a glass of Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo.

In no particular order:

  1. I sometimes wonder if there’s anything wrong with me because there’s nothing particularly wrong with me that keeps me from doing regular updates and posts and creative work on this blog.  It’s like half the artistic types I see online are always telling me about the last thing that legitimately knocked them on their butts; after a certain point you start to wonder if that’s, well, normal.
  2. …It is depressing that a single glass of red wine can make me slightly loopy like this.  Dammit, I had an apple and cheese while imbibing.  This is not me drinking on an empty stomach.  This is me apparently getting old.
  3. “Yellow Tail Sweet Red Roo” sounds more and more unfortunate, the more and more that I think about it.  But that might simply be #2. Or maybe I should have opened the Chilean merlot* instead.

That’s it.

Moe Lane

*Dammit, Firefox, ‘merlot’ is a word.

It’s healthy to sit in a outdoor cafe overlooking the Aegan sea…

…with a bottle of wine to hand and the sunset just beginning:

Too much sunlight is bad for the skin, but not enough may be a risk factor for stroke, according to a study presented here at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference.

Of the more than 16,000 black and white patients followed, those who lived in areas that had shorter exposure to sunlight had a 56% increased risk of stroke, Leslie McClure, PhD, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Ala., and colleagues found.

This is SCIENCE.  You may not argue with it.  Red wine and sunsets; SCIENCE demands that you do this.

It also recommends a nice antipasto.

Paul Ryan: 20% tipper.

(Background here.)

That’s pretty much the most important thing that you should take from neo-Puritan* Susan Feinberg’s decision to make a scene in a restaurant by accosting (drunkenly?) Rep. Paul Ryan’s choice in alcoholic beverages (which he paid for on his personal card**): the man subscribes to the “20% is the new 15%” rule of tipping in this wonderful new economy that Reid, Pelosi, and (after 2008) Obama has wished upon us.  Which I do myself.  After all, aside from the aforementioned bad economy waitstaff don’t really have that great a job.  I mean, at any point they may be called upon to… I don’t know, handle low rent, belligerent drunks who are accosting folks who are just trying to peacefully enjoy their dinners.  You know.  Trash behavior. Continue reading Paul Ryan: 20% tipper.

Define ‘sensible drinking.’

…OK, they do (1-2 ‘small’ glasses of wine/day), and it’s unfortunately… sensible.  At least, when you’re my age.

Sensible drinking can substantially reduce your risk of a stroke, but only if you don’t enjoy a cigarette at the same time, research suggests.

A study of over 20,000 people in the UK found non-smokers who drank moderate amounts were nearly 40% less likely to have a stroke than non-drinkers.

But once cigarettes were added, this protective effect vanished.

It’s always somethi…

Wait.  I quit smoking years ago.  So it’s all cool.  As soon as I can determine whether insensible drinking counts.  Or at least drinking until insensible.  Which, knowing my tolerance these days, takes us right back to what are called ‘sensible’ levels…