Being Brazilian, Red Wine and Late Nights, or Early Mornings

I survived last night!

I tell my fellow wine drinkers that the best way to avoid a headache or becoming 'tipsy' after a wine-tasting is to actually drink a wee bit more, more often. I don't mean bottles, just a glass. I mean tasting glasses, those small things we use! (Actually I noticed last night that they do make a difference!) I was 'nosing' my vinho tinto numero dois and immediately picked up the most delicious mocca chocolate. My tasting buddy didn't, click - he was using a big glass, we 'nosed' each others and viola - my nose was indeed more concentrated and rich!

So a small glass of wine an evening or every few days will actually help your body to adjust to the occasional 'extra' load. This also has health benefits! The judge is still out there, but a book 'The Wine Diet' by Roger Corder is worth the read! It's based on his 25 years of research. The latest comes from Iceland - and no it's not Volcanic Ash!! As a part of The Reykjavik Eye Study it was found that drinking red wine may help prevent cataracts. According to the report, large doses of resveratrol, an ingredient found in red wine, delayed or prevented many ailments associated with aging in mice who began taking it at mid-life.

I set off for my tasting at 19h35, traffic being a problem on a Friday, well everyday actually. I also didn't want to arrive too early, night life starts late in this country! Tasting started at 21h00 by 22h10 when Frank arrived home from work - we were only 'ripping' apart the second glass of wine! By 0h00 we were actually finished. I had decided to stay for dinner so that I could line my stomach with food before heading home - and because that's what my wine buddies do!

Dinner was delicious! Salad with figs, greens, shavings of parmesan, aubergines ...... for mains I chose the Bom-Bom - it's actually a steak!! Served with a creamy risotto! (Guess where that is sitting this morning! It's going to take weeks to shed!) And dessert .... cream of mascarpone with strawberries, sprinkled with meringue, nuts, chocolate sauce ...... followed by a xicara of strong Brazilian coffee com leite - it's growing on me in a big way!

By now it's 02h15.

The best part, I felt on top of the world! I could have danced all night and still come back for more!

So although I did not see the sun rise, that will still take a bit more training, like a wee bit more wine a wee bit more practice is partying till late, or is it early? Sooner rather than later I may not even need a few hours sleep between one day and the next!

Jonny - thanks for being a fantastic host! To your team at Sao Praca Lorencao, pronounced Prasa Lorensao (sorry, I have a Swedish keyboard!) To my fellow wine tasters, it was great to see you all again, to the special guests, thanks for enriching our experience!

So perhaps I am going to manage and become 'Brazilian' afterall - with a little help from my friends!

PS Vinho nemero dois was actually a Vin nombre deux - yes! Jonny threw in a Bordeaux! Wonderful on the noise and a bit flat on the palate unlike the Brazilian reds which are fruit bombs on the nose and palate! I loved them all! Alright, they were 'fine' wines!

'Lost' Friends Found

For those of us who move around a bit find that as time passes we seem to have lost many friends along the way.

For the younger generation, please note - there was a time when we didn't have computers, internet, emails, Facebook, cells phones, cd's and TV's! (TV only arrived in SA during the 70's!)

BTW I did get my first PC - an Amstrad PCW in 1989! Early days, those PC's were more for programmers, the W part was for the rest of us - it stand for Word-processor. A step up from the typewriter! This PCW was actually just an 'empty brain' One had to 'load' the program needed to do anything every time you switched it on!

In 1990 I got my 'modern' PC an IBM desk top with Windows 3.1! Soon afterwards Microsoft released Win 95 - what a joy that was. Internet followed in1998 - at least for us.

Okay this wasn't supposed to be about computers ..... but it is WWW that has made a profound difference in our lives.

I am sure the younger generation will never imagine a time BI -'Before Internet.' Mind you, now that I really think about it .... I don't ever want to think about it either!

So basically what used to happen was, we communicated by snail mail and telephones. This was very very hazardous. Addresses and telephone numbers got lost. So unless the information was imprinted in your memory, it was gone. Families never got lost as their details were ingrained in one's memory, well or else you would never hear the end of it!

Advent of emails was a major blessing, if you could get the older generation to use it! Yet even those early days information got lost! One computer crash and voila, all gone! Especially for those of us conserving trees by not having hard copies! Moving mean't new email accounts as well. Now one can have an address for life and emails are stored 'somewhere out there.' Computer crashes no longer make me break out in a sweat. I had my first total wipe out in February. No fear hotmail, gmail, Facebook all there safe and sound just waiting for my return.

(I was able to save important data before reformatting and reloading the OS.)

After a few moves, from one continent to another, a few computer crashes you realize that you have lost touch with your friends.

So back to 'lost' friends. Since the advent of Facebook, slowly but surely I have been able to find many of you once again. I am not the only one who seems to enjoy this as I get 'wiser' - note I did not the use the 'o' word! Slowly but surely as memory spews out the names of the kidz of friends, so Facebook presents them to me! (If they are not on FB themselves that is!)

Recently I was found by one of my first school friends! Someone I had though about for years. It made me smile for two solid days! Last week I found another 'lost' friend, via her daughter, today I received an email from her! Now our little 'Windhoek Ramblers/Kekkel/Cooking/Party' group is almost complete - and if life so wills it, reunion next year!! After 12 years!

I am slowly reaching the end of my search now, unless demetia spews out some more names and faces.

PS. I don't every single I ever walked past in school or in my life, just those that really were friends and whom I do not wish to lose again!