A night off - the second of three

Drinking vinho regional Estremadura - a medium sweet Portugese red by the name Portada, 2006, which is a combination of the fruit of Tinto Roriz, Touriga Nacional and Alicante Bouschet vines. A very delicate wine resembling the mildest blackcurrant juice. Delicious. Not too sweet, not too acidic, perfect on its own as a thirst quencher or perhaps with mild tasting appetizers or the lightest of desserts.. anything else will overpower the wine.

My cats - the teenage bunch of three, that is - have been criminals tonight. After I finally managed to wash the floor of my TV room not once but twice of weeks of dust and, here and there, in the darkest hidden corners, their urine, they managed to throw my tall euphorbia tirucali plant off the sill, covering the floor with soil and gravel from its pot. Despair! I screamed at them but they were too curious of what was inside the pot to listen. I clapped my hands loudly and threatened but they wouldn't run. Instead, they placed themselves above me on the window sill and watched me crawl on the floor sweeping the soil and gravel back into the pot with my cotton-gloved hand.. Arrrgh. It needs to be added that normally it's me who overturns a pot after the floor has been freshly cleaned and spills its contents onto the floor.. or a bed.. if the sheets have also been changed. So I forgave them easily.

But the door to my TV room is now closed and the cats are sleeping on their armchair in the hall, while I'm sipping the wine and, with one eye, watching Padma Lakshmi present the cuisine of the South of Spain in Planet Food. Very tempting. I visited continental Spain once - Andalusia - and the islands at least twice, I think, and I loved it all - the landscape, the people, the language, the music.. everything. I have not tried any of their gourmet food, though, such as the hams and seafood, and I miss that a lot. They would be so delicious with their lovely wines ;-) (Wow, here's Padma entering a Moorish bath, wrapped merely in a towel.) Now she's talking lamb stew with garlic.. now consuming Serrano hams.. yum!

The truth is I walk around hungry these days because I have no money left to feed myself properly (by properly I mean the way I like.. and I like it exotic.. and elaborate.. within reason..). My first winter season heating bill has materialized - payment's due March 10th - and after paying all (but one) other bills due this month I will be left with about two Euros to my name until my next wages arrive at the beginning of April. My food will be purchased with a credit card, payable mid-April. Along with the single bill I left out this month cause I just have no cash to pay it with.

I don't think I've ever been been this short of cash in my life. I realize many people are worse off than myself, like feeding children off the same wages, but still it's tough. I must find another job or a second job because I won't be able to live like that for much longer. And considering that prices continue to rise, more or less subtly, while my wages do not.