Too Much Wine

Needed a bottle of wine for Valentine's Dinner.  I had been shopping for a few final items the day before but the distance between Shop-Rite and Total Whine was more than I wanted to drive for a basic bottle.  My state restricts alcohol sales to licensed stores, of which there are an abundance.  My route home from the supermarket took me to three.  I stopped at the one with the emptiest parking lot, a small store as these go.  There are some studies that people who choose from a few options, like at this store, tend to be more satisfied with their choice than people who choose among hundreds, as at Total Whine.  I only needed one.  Based on price and availability, I judged the best option to be a 1500 ml corked bottle, not the lowest price, but of the next tier in quality from a mass winery of good reputation.  For $13.99 I left satisfied, figuring I could have what I wanted for our dinner and gradually sip the rest over the week or maybe use some for cooking.

It really was a best buy.  Just right for seared tuna.  Mostly right the next supper for reheated lasagna I had made the week before.  Not at all right for Fish Market Apple Pie with home whipped whipped cream which made the aftertaste of the wine bitter.  But at least I know now that wine is not generic.  It really pairs better with some things than others.  The sommoliers that tried to emphasize this over the years remain snobs.

Not having anyplace to go after supper and needing to finish some of this stuff before it becomes only useful for cooking, I treated myself to one glass more than I would have ordered at a restaurant.  Went well the first night.  Less well the second, when I had also intended to do a major project while sipping the second glass and the desk timer ticks down to make sure I do it.  Didn't happen.  In its place, an early crawl into bed with a full agenda the next day, some e-reading from the cell phone, and an early drift off to the world of some stage of sleep.  And not very prolonged sleep at that.  Sleep Hygiene experts warn that evening alcohol makes falling asleep more predictably, but the piper gets paid in the later stages.  That's what happened.  

I never did my project.  Today for sure, earlier in the day.