You will laugh, but without stopping vodka consumption I have made an effort to cut it down. As some of you know, I buy in 1.5 liter size, and one of those bottles used to last me only a week. I have managed to make a bottle last for ten or 11 days in this fashion. My cocktail hour is a ridiculously regimented ritual - I prepare a small plate consisting of about 3 inches of cucumber sliced into six segment, six pieces of carrots, about 15 small nibbles of cauliflower, 8 of broccoli, and a radish or two sliced, a green, red or yellow pepper (one slice) if I have it on hand. On a folded paper towel which I set on the same bamboo tray I use for the veggies, to the right and above them, I place 4 crackers - a Carr's wafer, one (which snaps into two) stoned wheat thin (low salt) and one half, as close as I can get it of a Finn crisp multigrain. On the last I place a slice of cheddar, on the two parts of the stoned wheat thin a daring variety, that one night will include a slice of gouda on one, emmental on the other - with variations (you see, I'm not ALL order-obsessed), and on the Carrs (or, cheaper and as good, TJ brand) a soft cheese, usually goat, but sometimes port salut - a bargain from TJ's - and on rare occasions a brie (also TJ's imported from France and more like a brie than any American brand - or some others claiming to be made in France. To the right above the cheese plate I place "una coppetta d'olive" a tiny cup of olives, whole, not pitted (usually kalamata, cerignola, picholine (courtesy TJs) and others - maybe 6 or 7 in all.
With me so far? Or have you stopped
reading and started laughing by now. I sit down, precisely at 6 when the PBS
News Hour begins, start with a sip of vodka, followed by one nibble (imagine a
squirrel nibbling away at a nut, but in slo-mo) of an olive. Before I go farther,
I USED to follow that nibble with another sip of vodka, before having a bit of
one of the crackers, followed by a bite of a cucumber, then of carrot, then of
cauliflower, then of broccoli, then of radish and/or peppers. And after a sip
of water I started the process all over again. As of about two or three months
ago I tried an experiment: Instead of the second sip of vodka (after the olive
nibble) I sip water, which cleans the palate - TNEN go on to the olive and the
rest of the cycle.
So basically I have trimmed my
vodka consumption to nearly half of what it used to be. As a result, fewer
calories, less tipsiness, a better night's sleep (most nights at least), and a
small savings of money!
You may think I'm joking, but I
fear I'm as anal as that. After that of course, the main dish of the evening,
accompanied by the white or red. I know I am sleeping better now, though I have
a suspicion I might be drinking a wee bit more wine than before heh heh -
seriously I try not to.
Anything for order - and moderation - in a disordered immoderate world
Anything for order - and moderation - in a disordered immoderate world
With sincere apologies to William Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov
