The Wine Commonsewer™

Bad Advice in a Bottle

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

In the distant days of my vagrant yoot, Miltie dragged me off to a New Years celebration that was nigh on as perfect a set up as any guy could hope for. Just us and a house filled with gorgeous teen age girls. No parents. My eighteenth birthday was lookin' sweet. Things were pretty cool until Jim Beam crashed the party. By midnight, Jim and I were bouncing off the walls, laughing maniacally, and generally making ourselves obnoxious.

To ring in the new year and the new decade (not saying which one), we whooped and hollered and ignited a variety of illegal Mexican celebratory devices. Mine were obviously shoddy firecrackers with defective fuses that kept exploding before I could let go. Miraculously, all my fingers still work.

Like a sled to Hell with greased runners, things deteriorated rapidly after twelve. The promise of an evening spent with a sweet young thing entwined in my ams ended with a faceplant in a chilly, damp, backyard lawn. Oh, and Mr Beam was kind enough to introduce me to the lonely Samoyed, who was considerably more delighted with my company than any of the chicks were. You ain't lived until you've been face-licked out of a drunken stupor by a happy dog. The only upside that night is that TWC doesn't get hangovers. Still don't. Good genes, I guess. 

I don't drink Whiskey, Scotch, or Bourbon. Now you know why. And to this day, just the faintest aroma of any of it roils the contents of my stomach.

I can't blame any of the really stupid stuff I did as a kid on alcohol because I didn't drink or do drugs in high school. At 18, I had no experience with alcohol and nobody told me a thing about it except Pop, who said.....

If you show up on my doorstep drunk, I'll take your keys until the Second Coming, or when you leave home. After I kick your butt from here to breakfast. 

My kids have had a sip of wine here and there, but I do not let them drink. I do talk to them about alcohol and weed, though. I tell them that there's plenty of time for any of that later, that the law will make their lives miserable if they get caught, and that a little bit goes a long way. Hopefully, they won't have to learn the hard lessons. 

As Always,

TWC

Tip of the glass to Antonia

Unbreakable Wine Glasses A Great Gift For the Wino In Your Life

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

On her way from the dishwasher to hang up three sparkling clean wine glasses, The House Blond got a little distracted and jumped into animated conversation mode. As she became engrossed in relating the story, a particularly emphatic hand gesture sent all three glasses flying. Two of them exploded instantly, sending glass shrapnel in every direction. The third slammed onto the ceramic tile and skittered across the kitchen floor where it then ricocheted out from under the kick space and came to a halt by the sink. Undamaged. 

Plastic? Nope. We have plastic wine glasses for the boat, but not at the Casa. These are roomy, good looking, twenty ounce Italian glasses, with enough swirl room to satisfy even guys the Kosmik Kid, who need a lot of glass to enjoy a big, bold red. The titanium reinforced stems also add strength and they'll hold up to the dishwasher.

I was a bit skeptical of Luigi Bormioli's claim that the glasses were nigh on unbreakable, but the proof is in the puddin' so to speak. I watched the glass bounce across the floor and it didn't break, chip, or mar, which may explain the twenty-five year warranty.

Wish I'd had unbreakable glasses hanging up when the wine glass rack let loose one night and left this mess behind.....

These are perfect every day glasses but they are classy enough for your exquisite holiday table. They'll also make a wonderful holiday gift for the wino in your life. 

They ain't Reidels, but you can buy sixteen unbreakable Luigi Bormioli Symphony wine stems for the price of one Reidel, which is guaranteed to shatter upon impact with ceramic floor tile.  

As Ever,

TWC

Best Scrub Brush Ever

Good Morning Gentle Readers,

Long time Gentle Readers know that TWC loves cast iron frying pans. Cast iron is the original no-stick cookware. Bonus: Unlike even the highest quality teflon, the no-stick surface never wears out and will last several lifetimes.

Best and easiest way to clean a cast iron pan is with one of these:

Lodge is a manufacturer of cast iron cookware and this brush is, hands down, the best scrub brush that I've run across. The stiff bristles aren't easily flattened or pushed out of shape like 90% of scrub brushes on the market. The shape and size is absolutely perfect for a quick cleanup of a round cast iron skillet. Hot water, the Lodge scrub brush, and one minute of your time. Bamm! You're done.

I love this brush. Mine was a Christmas gift from Mrs TWC Santa (it was in the sock hung by the chimney with care) Get yours at Amazon or Bass-Pro.

As Ever,

TWC