Now you talking :~)

OH yes a wine lovers get together sounds like a fun time! I will put it on my agenda!! where is SA?
I like to try regional wines, apertifs, etc.. when traveling. I widh I had a funny story,..... I will think on it.
Anne

Hi Anne,
SA is Cape Town, South Africa and now you're number three on the list for the wine lovers GTG :-)

I see you moved from chocolate chips to vino last night, eh Scarlett?? What better way to ride out the tail storms of that beast, Ivan!!

Oui! I do like to drink more when overseas. After all, I'm on vacation. :) And kidless. And responsibilitiless!!

When in Paris I like to drink Sancerre wine (rosés, reds, whites), Kir & Kir Royale (naturellement!) and champagne! What I really love about drinking champagne in Paris is the little dish of nuts & olives that goes along with it, it just seems so very, very French, definitely not done in Cincinnati, my dear. So when at home I create a little dish of nuts/olives to drink with my asti spumante or champagne to help bring me to a Parisian moment.

Another new favorite is cidre. Mmmmm.

Anyway, on my last trip to Paris based upon the recommendation of JOdy and the numerous mentions of Sancerre in the Bistros of Paris book, I decided to try as many varieties/versions of Sancerre I could find (because each trip seems always to be in a quest for something and invariably lends itself to a theme). So my first meal in Paris I dined at Le Vieux Bistro. Le Vieux Bistro does not DO glasses of wines. Nor do they do 1/4 carafes, nor 1/2 carafes, nor indeed whole carafes. One must order a bottle of wine. When one is dining alone, one feels the need to DRINK said bottle of wine all by ones little lonesome because one does not feel like lugging about a half-bottle of wine around Paris after lunch! SO, what I thought would be a (quick) one-hour lunch in Paris stretched to an enjoyable 3. I chit-chatted with the lady next to me, the family across the way and with the maître d'. Anywho, it appears that wine has a higher alcohol content than what I'm used to in the US, hence that nice little buzz I had going while I walked from Notre Dame to the Place Vendôme (steady, girl). Sweet!!

I think next year's theme will be the quest for St-Emilions and some of the vin jaunes I've been reading about and, of course, pastis!



When at home I love amaretto sours, ((D)) Asti Spumante, shots of Bacardi Black and Merlot.

I've tried to buy Sancerres here, but alas, they are too expensive. ((U))



Well, lovies, I am off to see Before Sunset (again!) in Dayton. According to imdb.com it is still playing in 45 cities across the U.S. The closest one to you, my dear Scarlett, is the Altamonte Cinema 8 in Altamonte Springs, FL! Go to imdb.com, type in the movie you wish to see, click on "Showtimes" (next to "Photos") and up pops a map with little triangles indicating a city where your movie is playing!! Quite useful if you've missed a movie and are just curious as to where it's still playing.

tchao,
MaryC

What exactly are amaretto sours? I LOVE amaretto. mmmm.... think I'll have a little sip now :-)

i guess we're a little more alcoholic than the rest of the crowd...

upon landing in europe, i immediately go to the duty free shop and buy a litre of jameson irish whiskey to keep in the hotel room (it is oh so cheap over there).

our usual MO is breakfast (early), tour around, catching a street vendor snack until about 3pm and go have a couple of beers in whichever local cafe we intend to frequent (we have developed favorites in different cities over the years...we're known by name at the one in paris).

returning to the hotel, we have a couple of drinks while transfering photos to the laptop. normally we take about a 2 hour nap, shower and dress for dinner at around 8:30 pm.

dinner will consist of one aperitif, one bottle of wine with dinner and either a sautern or cognac after (depending on the type of meal and whether i'll be smoking a nice cuban cigar).

at about midnight, we'll return to said favorite cafe, have a night cap and sleep up for the next day's outing.

Mischka, it's like a whiskey sour but with Amaretto instead. Generally, it's Sweet sour mix and Amaretto. OR:

1 1/2 oz. Amaretto
1 1/2 oz. lemon juice
1 1/2 oz. orange juice
Shake with 1 cup of cracked ice, pour into an old-fashioned glass or strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with orange slice and a cherry.

Mmmmmm!

Oh Good Lord, an Amaretto Sour!!
I cannot wait to try it. I don't like whiskey, so this might be just great for me :D Tanks, Mare~

Also- that part of Florida is near Winter Pk/Orlando, a wee bit too far to go to the movies :) Thanks for thinking of me though..when we are in Portland, I plan on a foreign movie orgy also :D

In Prague I had some Becherovka, can't remember if I enjoyed it.. ;-)


Muck

LOL, Mucky, how many drinks might we have tasted and enjoyed too much and have no memory of it :D

Mmmm ameretto Sours - they are a pretty popular drink in St. Louis, but haven't had one in ages! My mouth puckers up after 1/2 of a glass and then I switch to a glass of Pinot or Chradonay.

I did think of some funny stories, but they are from my years studying in Scotalnd, and they are a bit,hmmm riske
(ris-kay!)
Just returned from the big Hot air Balloon Race, and I am going to fix myself a big glass of local water!

Thanks for your kind words, cigelachanta, I liked your story too. And thanks to everyone else for all of these funny stories. I just love threads like this when we are all having a good laugh together, instead of throwing tomatoes at each other over silly issues. Now let's hear some more drinking tales. Anyone else?!?!

Years ago my husband and I and another couple went to Spain. The night of our arrival in Madrid we went out looking for something to eat, not being terribly aware of Spanish dining hours and, of course, being jet-lagged. We went from bar to bar over a period of several hours tippling little glasses of rioja and occasionally having some tapas. By the time it seemed people were going into restaurants to dine (10:30 or so, if I recall), we were too wasted to even consider food, so we kept up our bar-hopping, eventually ending up in the wee hours of the morning across the street from our hotel in a bar where the last thing I remember is the bartender offering us a free pitcher of rioja.
Next morning was a killer. I went into the bathroom to take a shower and encountered one of those rectangular hard plastic shower stalls. Try as I might I couldn't open the shower door (I was trying to push it in instead of pull it out, but the latter option apparently never crossed my mind in my stupor), so I just ripped it off its hinges and continued with my shower. My husband came in a few minutes later after hearing the crash, and was horrified. Me, I was completely unconcerned - amazing.
The four of us spent the better part of the morning retrieving a jacket, a ring, a hat, a guidebook, and various other items from several bars where astonishingly, people had kept them for us. If it hadn't been for one member of our crew who was diabetic and did not consume anywhere near as much as the rest of us did, we wouldn't even have known where to go to get our stuff back.
I framed some of the photos of us wandering around Madrid the next day in a stupor - GOD, did we look terrible!
Ah youth :)
As to the original question, I enjoy my wine equally on both sides of the occean, but I've sure cut back since Spain!

Thanks Beatchick, I'm going to have to try that.

I obviously don't drink enough on trips because I can't think of a single drinking story, will have to remedy that on the next one :-)

We do tend to drink more on vacation, mostly local wine.
In May we had a house in Le Bugue in the Dordogne for a week. There were 5 of us, my husband and I , our two adult daughters and a friend. The first night as we were reading our garbage instructions, including bottle recycling, one of our daughters suggested we save our wine bottles and put a rose in each at the end of the week and take a photo. The house had many beautiful rose bushes and we were frantically cutting and filling the house with flowers.
I look at that photo now and wonder how we managed to accumulate all those bottles, as we were also consuming at restaurants....it is a REALLY COOL picture though!
We are now in training for our October trip to Paris & Burgundy.

Judy,
How lovely, roses in the wine bottles ~
I remember one year in the islands (St Martin) where we had these precious tiny birds having coffee with us every morning for our sugar..At night when we would sit outside on the terrace, I would have my drink and put a few sugar cubes on the wall, just so they could enjoy cocktail hour with us too :)


StCirq, that is always the problem with having a fun night drinking . . .The next day :(

Drinking is the opium of the masses.
May we read more stories, please?

Way back in October, 1958 I visited Paris for a few weeks to renew my courtship (lovely oldfashioned word) of a young woman I met when she attended a UN session with the British Foreign Service. She had been reassigned to the OEEC (forerunner to the EU) and lived in an apartment on the Rue de LOngchamp. In the same building were two mid-20 American woman who were spending a few months before returning to the US after teaching at an airforce base in Germany.

My friend was working most days as was one of the Americans and so we would all meet after work. Because the two Americans had worked for the Air Force they had visiting privileges to the Air Force bar and the cafeteria which I think was on the Champs-Elysees,

One evening three of us were in the bar drinking martinis and were talking with an Air Force colonel who suggested we go out together to eat. We squeezed into his Jaguar convertible and went hell-bent to Rogers Madhouse. I don't think Dodi's and Diane's driver could have kept up.

Roger's was a very casual place with long communal tables and I had my first froglegs there along with much wine. As the evening wore on the Colonel began to get obnoxious and very attentive to the ladies with suggestive remarks as to their careers while I got more drunk. Things got out of hand when he told the rest of the table I was a white slaver (his words) and threatened a duel in the park if he didn't get his way.

The girls had had enough by this time and said we should leave. The Colonel said I should pay the bill and we would all go elsewhere for dessert, coffee and brandy. We would, he said, square up the bill then.

As we left he stopped at one of the other tables to talk with some friends while the girls and I continued outside. When we did get outside, the girls got on either side of me and pulled me as fast as I could stumble to the Metro.

That was the last we saw of the Colonel.

I have a few memorable drinking tales, however my favorite one is as follows:
We were on a bus tour through Italy...When we got to Rome, we went to this large restaurant with many rooms in it..There was about 50 of us..We were all seated and ordered our wine...IN the next room, it was so noisy that I thought, god, are we ever boring..Nobody in our group was barely making a sound..My husband was taping the whole evening...
The bottles of wine kept a coming,(it was all the wine you could drink)..And then the entertainment came out and the singing started, and more wine and suddenly people were dancing and singing and you name it...
When we got home and watched the video, it was just hilarious to see a totally quite group one minute become totally wild after a few bottles of wine..It really was hilarious!!

Send us the tape!!!!! Very funny. I've seen that in other situations.