Wednesday, February 07, 2007

But It's Not Lent...

February is a special month chez nous. It's the month when friends are invited for tea and cake or coffee and biscuits. Connoisseur-like we debate the merits of Perrier, Badoit or San Pellegrino: San Pellegrino every time, it has a "purer" taste to my mind. Our shopping bills are halved and it's not even Lent.
Every February H. gives up wine (we drink nothing stronger)....to prove that he can. Living here slugging back a glass of the red stuff with dinner can easily become two glasses, half a bottle until we reach: "no point in putting the cork back in that" and we're talking bottles which is too much especially after Christmas and all the extra joviality.
It isn't difficult to do but it is harder to restructure our social life around it; friends approve of the idea but don't necessarily want to spend their Saturday evenings nursing a glass of fruit juice or being made to feel guilty sipping their glass of choice while watching us drink fizzy water, so good for the liver you know.
In March it'll start all over again, a glass of red with dinner and so on till we reach next February and we do the whole thing all over again...
And the photo? A friend introduced us to this last Summer and it slips down so easily I had to share it. It's a Spanish fizzy white wine. It's light and has a pleasant taste though not at all sugary. It's exactly what you need when you're sitting in your garden one warm, still evening watching the sun go down. The next best thing about it is its price which is why we bought a box of it ready for the warm weather.
Why did H. choose February? Because it's the shortest month, of course...

15 comments:

Pam said...

And to think that I figured H chose February because it's right after the holiday season...LoL!

Sarah said...

Great stuff, Cava. It's even won competitions pitched against champagne.

deedee said...

I prefer San Pellegrino, too. The floor on my side of the bed is an empty Pellegrino water bottle cemetery. I've never tasted Cava, but you make it sound good :)

Unknown said...

I knew there was something good about February.
Here we need to drink hot toddy's to stay warm.

Gigi said...

Er...well, what is the point in putting the cork back? :-)

It's true that the wine habit sort of creeps up on you and it's probably good to give it a break now and again (says I trying to convince myself...)

However, February's already started so I can't do it this year - I'll have to wait until 2008 :-)

tut-tut said...

You'll feel purged and pure on March 1. And I agree, that is a great sparkling wine for summer.

Anonymous said...

I am having a similar experience in Feb but it's called "Frugal February" in this house!
That bottle looks to good to sit there not being drunk....pass it over please!

Cheers!

J x

Darlene said...

*clink*

cheers love,

xoxo Darlene

savvycityfarmer said...

You've got that right!!!

Dave said...

You are so right Freixenet is a great sparkling wine especially for the price. I think in the US it is about $8.00 US Dollars. I agree with the giving up the wine for Lent although I usually give up Lent for Lent!!!

Betty Carlson said...

How very noble of you. Don't think I could do it though -- I think February is when we like our wine most, and we have all of these grey, cold evenings to get through...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog. Our weather continues to be cloudy and generally miserable, hope you're enjoying better. And best wishes for Lent!

z from basedinvilligen.blogspot.com

savvycityfarmer said...

We won't be giving this up even for Lent

Open Grove Claudia said...

Go H! Good for him.

Anonymous said...

I know the "it won't keep" dilemma. Our plan is to NOT drink during the week UNLESS we have friends over or are out. Seems to work - we can console each other with diet coke and dispense with envy.