Brandy de Jerez vs. Metaxa

That's brandy de Jerez by Romate, not a reserva or anything, just another item on a budget. Not embarassingly cheap, simply a cheaper option on the manufacturer's menu. In case you're curious how it compares with the Greek Metaxa (five star), here you go: Metaxa is nicer. Which is reflected in its slightly higher price. Metaxa has the nicest aroma of dates and spices while taste-wise it is somewhat lighter on the palate. This is not to say that Romate brandy is bad. Metaxa is just more refined.. interesting.. spiced up! Don't worry about the rosewater ingredient, like I did prior to purchase. Organoleptically, it's nowhere to be found. Both drinks work great as warming agents if you happen to stroll outside dressed improperly for a surpisingly cold early spring night. And don't worry, neither is sweet.

A Tokaji-based Budafok brandy brand to be reviewed next.

Late night before summertime

Yestarday night I was listening to Bibi Andersen performing Call me Lady Champagne for Musikladen on youtube and sampling Krymwein Krasnyi Krymskii Juznobiereznyj, i.e. Massandra's Crimean sweet red wine from the south bank of Crimea. The wine is very sweet, I suspect around 150 mg of sugar per liter, 18% proof. A good substitute for the Moldovan Kagor I ran out of the day before yesterday, although of somewhat more developed and complicated taste, more oaky I'd say, with distinctive honey notes. Eight medals plus an award cup on the label convinced me to buy it.

Tonight I'm continuing with the Juznobiereznyj and watching a person I actually dated - many years ago - on youtube. The person looks quite beautiful, has become somewhat famous, in certain circles, should I say, and has appeared in an awarded documentary. I saw the documentary a while ago when it was first released and it was indeed good and true to life, I certify. However, the comparison with the real person I remember made me acutely aware of how deceiving media can - un- or perhaps intentionally - be. The person I knew didn't at all resemble the person I might have imagined based on the documentary. The person's real energy is just not there on the screen or is almost impossible to guess. One friend's comments about the person were indeed 100% true, however without having met the subject you just wouldn't know what to think of them. Very deceiving. What makes you dream about someone on the screen is a pure illusion. It would take a mere one or two dates in reality to realize they're just not for you. So much for fantasy.

Off to watch my new favorite show - an interactive fortune teller show. Wow. I've just discovered it and I'm mesmerized by some of the tellers. They do Tarot readings on request from the viewers, they select runes for them and even consult a yet mysterious angel deck. Just pure whoa, I can't resist. Unfortunately the show begins the earliest before 1 a.m. to end at 3 a.m. I haven't slept properly for at least a week now. But this too shall pass ;-) Looking forward to switching to daylight savings time, or whatever it's called, this very weekend, when my days will become longer by one hour, to end before 7 p.m. Summertime ahead !!

Kindzmarauli wine revisited and more February blues

I secured a bottle after noticing it had been gone from my usual supplier for quite a long while. Upon opening, I was surprised I liked it less than my recent dry red Viňa Maipo! This time it tastes exactly like very slightly fermented cherries with plum undertones, and, like the previous one, is extremely fruity, without a trace of acidity. Not well suited to fried food which I currently consume in large quantities. To me, it's definitely a dessert wine, gentle and refreshing, remininscent of lazy summer afternoons.

By the way, I'm now watching Dominick Dunne's Power, privilege and justice episode dealing with the Texas millionaire Cullen Davis and boy what a disgusting jerk he was. Enraged by his daughter Dee, he killed her kitten by throwing it twice against the floor. He emerged from the basement wearing a woman's wig, said "Hi!" and shot his wife's lover dead, while he had gotten himself a mistress long before she did. Et caetera. An unbelievable, old-school a**hole. (Conclusion of the story: thanks to his money, he got acquitted of the killings and went free; in the 80s ultimately lost his oil fortune, found Jesus and now travels around the world as a missionary, preaching.)

I've been feeling quite exhausted after some job and family related stress as well as my own health issues, manifesting in pain and sleepless nights, all happening in a close sequence during the last three weeks. On the family front, my father spent a couple of days at the hospital being re-diagnosed for his heart problems, and I had to help my mother care for his needs. Quite a draining experience. Luckily dad's back home now and after over a week of worry I've had two days to relax, today being the second day. I inteneded to visit my sister at the farm tomorrow but gave up the thought, I need some time to myself. So tomorrow I'm staying home and hope to enjoy my day as well as accomplish at least something tiny. Right now I feel so drained I'm having a problem taking the laundry out of the washing mashine.

Viňa Maipo - Carménère Cabernet Sauvignon

I was thrilled to purchase four travel-size (180 ml) bottles of the above bi-varietal Chilean wine at the same moderate price regular 750 ml bottles are sold. Each bottle contains two glasses of wine - perfect for single dining. I only bought four bottles because the wine was described as dry, which means not exactly to my liking. It turned out to be surprisingly tasty, very fruity and well built. It is the first dry wine I recall drinking with pleasure. Regretfully, it does give me some headache the day after but it maybe just me. The wine is perfect for drinking on its own as well as to accompany a meal. Tonight I had it with a veggie stir fry enriched with cut-up frankfurters.

Since travel size bottles are raraly available, I've been looking for a good boxed wine, if such a thing exists. So far, I've tried an Australian Shiraz - Quay Landing - and the French-German J.P. Chenet's Cabernet-Syrah. Neither exactly threw me to my knees so the search continues.

Update Feb. 04/11 10:15 p.m.:
Talk about making assumptions! I actually checked the price of Viňa Maipo Carménère Cabernet Sauvignon 750 ml sized bottle on the store shelf, and it's half of what I thought it was! This is a four dollar wine, folks, and not a nine dollar one. This might perhaps explain the headache factor. I'm not in the least discouraged, though, and I'm having it as un poco after dinner digestivo this very moment. Still tastes fine to me.

Update Feb. 18/11 4:45 p.m.:
A final update on the price of that wine. It is an eight dollar wine, after all. It simply went on sale which I didn't notice. Today the price is back to normal. All the wine is gone from the shelf, nonetheless. I wanted to buy a bottle as a gift for my sister but there's nada.

Good news regarding the price, though. It turns out I did not pay too much for my travel size bottles and I've just spotted travel size bottles of another Chilean wine at the same store! They also lowered the price of their Sauternes in 325? ml bottles from over twenty dollars to sixteen but it's still too much for what I earn.

A good brandy is...

Quote of the day: "A good brandy is like a tiny cat in velvet slippers scampering down your throat. A bad brandy is like that same cat, barefoot, being pulled out by the tail."

I had an afternoon off the day before yesterday and wandered around several neighborhood stores carrying luxury food and drink items in search of belated Christmas gifts for my family who had duly presented such gifts to me. I purchased various teas, the most expensive one - by Niederegger of Lübeck - marzipan, i.e. almond flavored, as well as halvas (one of them a Pişmaniye or floss halva, in the form of wool-resembling nests for my thirteen-year-old niece), and unusual chocolates, such as marzipan and anise-flavored. I also noticed a Pedro Ximenez sherry at one of the stores and was appalled at the price of almost 17 Euros for a regular 0,75 liter bottle but todays web search revealed that price was indeed the lowest I encountered. So I decided to buy the bottle tomorrow and sample the PX once I finish my current sweet (we're talking at least 100 grams of sugar per liter) oak-aged white Crimean wine - Kрымвейн белый крымcкий, one of the delicious products of the renowned Massandra estate, made of the white Kokour, Aligote, Rkatsiteli and other varieties.

I can only enjoy wines occassionally these days as I work a lot, too much in reality, and I don't have enough time to sleep not to mention sobering back into shape. I must have had the Crimean bottle opened for a month and there's still enough left for two small sippings. Being a fortified wine, though, it hasn't really gone bad taste-wise, only the best parts of the aroma are gone. I basically only buy fortified wine now so that it doesn't go to waste if not drunk within tree days, which I can't possibly accomplish. I'm planning to work somewhat less by spring and hopefully will be able to make the necessary formal arrangements with my employers in the coming weeks.

Of other news, the cats have brought in fleas and my place is quite badly infested. I mean a flea jumps on me at least once a day. I saw it happening, that is, I saw what I now know were flea eggs falling out of their fur a couple of weeks ago but - alas - at the time it didn't occur to me what they were. What kind of a strange sand is that in the cats' toilet?, I thought. Does clay litter indeed decompose into such tiny, round, pearly granules? Well, hello, the answer is NO, and on top of working outside the home I now have loads of cleaning and spraying to do inside my apartment. Luckily I don't find fleas particularly disgusting or I might have gone mad thinking about the 95% of the flea population sharing the place with me in any available crevice of the floor and furniture.

I'm off to at least do the washing up before watching today's episode of Colin and Justin's Home Heist... I felt so tired yesterday that I fell asleep at 11:30 p.m., missing all the fireworks, and woke up today at noon.

Beaujolais Nouveau - spare yourself

I gave in to the hype and bought two bottles of this year's crop. One Duboeuf's and the other a cheaper one which I'm currently sampling. Well, this is a wine to be. Definitely not a wine yet. A sour purplish fluid, remotely resembling an actual wine, which could just as well go down the drain were I not so thirsty tonight. A pure waste of money I assure you. Unless you are having a miserable night and are desperate for its 12% alcohol content, don't even think of buying it.

The morning after update: I woke up with a headache that required pain killers to get rid of. This was the first wine that gave me one in years.

Sick

I'm a tad sick. And I've been able to take some time off work now that I work two jobs and do not have to worry if the last pennies of my wages will last me until the next payday. While the symptoms are mild they persist even though I've been taking an antibiotic, so it might be something viral. It actually began around October 4th and although I do feel better, especially when making sure I stay warm and at home, I still don't feel completely healthy. I hope it will not last an entire month like it did last December when I went to work sick with another something for over thirty days, hoping it would go away any day but it didn't, I just kept getting better and worse in a couple of days' cycles.

Sipping a randomly bought 12% alcohol Moldovan white wine the name of which translates as "Monk's Soul" (?). It is definitely light bodied compared to the wines I've been drinking recently. Although labeled as semi-sweet, it is also not sweet enough, so I'm mixing in honey as I drink. The honey helps quite nicely, canned peaches might also fit in but I'm still planning to eat soup with white kielbasa so I'll skip on those.

I bought the wine after work at a local 24/7 store so it was double overpriced. Still, it's better than nothing after the six hours I spent at work with one of my charming female colleagues whose life amounts to nothing if she doesn't stir up an argument with someone about once every ten minutes. I thought our evening together would never come to an end. My head felt like it was square-shaped and I was clenching my teeth in order not to get up and strangle her. I mean this woman annoys and stresses the hell out of me. She's married with three young children. Especially in my present state of slight tipsiness, I do not understand what kind of a pervert it takes to enjoy her company day and night night and day.

However, my day at work ended on a pleasant note. Imagine this: around 8 p.m. the charming colleague storms out of where we work together, as usual, without saying a word about where she could be found or the hour of her return in case someone needed her. Comfortably ignoring her uncooperative behavior, I continue to work in the most pleasant solitude. A couple of minutes later, our boss, a guy in his twenties, storms in, red in the face, and asks me: "Please announce through the loudspeaker that Ms. X (i.e., my charming colleague) is requested to present herself at my desk immediately." Honeybunch! Trouble! I obeyed with pleasure, trying to sound as detached as I could through the loudspeaker. My mood improved considerably. Soon after the announcement, my charming colleague walked in, surprisingly quiet and immersed in thought, mumbling: "I'm not signing any reprimand notes!" Ooh. A reprimand? Finally. Lady, if I were your boss, you'd be miserable every minute of your life at this job. The reprimand story continued until our work ended today, our young boss was clearly so mad at her he was not about to let go. They were still arguing at his office when I left for home at 9:32 p.m. I'm curious as to what she had done to annoy him so badly but I'll have to wait for tomorrow's gossip to learn - today, with everybody around me mad, I preferred to keep my mouth shut. My tension melted somewhat - finally someone kicked her ass as she should have it kicked - but then on my way home I craved for something sweet to put me to sleep and drifted to the 24/7 store.

I'm now browsing through some photo galleries showing the great models of the nineties - my fave at the time was the short haired platinum dyed Linda Evangelista - and I encountered a photo from the L'Oreal Legends Gala 2008 at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC 10/11/08, where she appeared next to Diane Keaton. Well. While you should know I really really liked Ms. Keaton in all her movie appearances, including "The First Wives Club", and I think she is a beautiful and charming woman, I cannot understand how a person who is so successful and can certainly afford a stylist, could appear in an outfit, hairstyle and haircolor she wore for the aforementioned gala. Hands down, hers is the tackiest look of all. Everything is wrong, including the necklace and the way it's worn. Sheesh. A true shocker next to the clean-cut, pin-up haired Linda.

Moscatel wine by Castillo de Liria

Temporarily out of red wine, as well as with the upcoming spring and summer months in mind, I reached to the wine shelf in my kitchen to try the white Spanish Moscatel by Castillo De Liria from the Valencia region of Spain. It turned out to be yummy! Deliciously sweet, a rich taste with distinctive honey notes. Made from an indigenous Spanish variety Alexandrian Muscat. Perfect for prolonged sipping (hours) on its own. Strong, though, 15% alcohol by volume. I had half of a bottle yesterday night and another half tonight. I'd have drunk less were it not so deliciously, raisin-grape sweet. If you crave for sweets, a glass or two of this wine will satisfy you completely. It will also make you sleep very well. I'm, well, too drunk to further elaborate. I highly recommend it!

Picture taken from the manufacturer's page. They've recently changed the bottle to a sleek modern one with an op-art flowery label; I much prefer the old design, visible on the picture, which is actually what I managed to buy.

Black Doctor wine

A Moldovan red wine that a customer accidentally recommended. I asked her if she normally bought Moldovan wines at the specialty store where the cute blond guy works (obviously without mentioning the guy or his cuteness to her) or at the supermarket next door, and how the wine selections compared. She said she bought at both stores, and that the selections were different. "Which do you prefer then?" - I asked. She said both were good but she particularly liked the Black Doctor red wine, which was only - and rarely, at that - available at the supermarket. She liked it so much that she tried to buy it each time she saw it. Hmm, she made me think. I immediately wanted to taste the wine. Several weeks later, I ventured to inspect the shelves of the alcohol section of my supermarket. And voilà! There it was, well hidden behind a large column supporting the ceiling, inconspicuous on the second shelf from the bottom, next to a stronger 16% Moldovan wine named Kagor contained in identical bottles so it was difficult to tell which was which (the labels on the rounded bottles as well as the letters on the labels are quite small so you need to carefully read them to learn what's in the bottle).

I'm now drinking the Black Doctor and either it's exceptionally aromatic or I'm developing an actual ability for tasting wine because it immediately struck me as having a distinctive coffee or chocolate aroma. The wine anthology confirms my discovery and further says the wine is made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Saperavi varieties grown in South Moldova. Moldova is located only across a small pond called the Black Sea from Georgia and so its wines are also good! Having sampled a few, I've become a dedicated supporter of the wine industry of both of those otherwise little known countries. Buy Moldova and Georgia, people, they need your monies and you'll love their wines!*

By the way, I'm also developing an appreciation for the tannins, such as of Cabernet Sauvignon. While I initially disliked them and only bought wines made of tannin-free varieties such as Merlot or Pinot Noir, I've come to miss tannins on my red wine drinking journey of the past months. They add spice and depth and make the wine more complex and interesting. I actually like the wine more when it has some Cabernet blended in. Now that I think of it, one of my next wines might be a sexy and spicy Shiraz. For the full experience, I'll have to splatter the worth of another bottle on lamb chops to go with it..

* The store - which I found at random by googling and am not affiliated to - is WineAnthology.com, a Divison of Clark Circle Liquors, Inc., 77 Central Ave., Clark, NJ 07066. Phone (888)238-2251, thank you very much. Close enough to be called your local supplier. They carry both the Black Doctor and Kindzmarauli for the mere 10 bucks a bottle, as well as the even better Mukuzani and other tasty Georgian and Moldovan reds. You will not regret your purchase!

Kindzmarauli wine

If you want to get someone drunk, down and accessible in a flash without even knowing it, forget the GeeHBe. Give them this red wine: Kindzmarauli. Geez. This is the ultimate "it can't be wine - it's fruit juice!" experience. This Georgian wine comes from somewhere near the mountains of Caucasus where wine production as such was born, as estimated, around 5000 B.C. The people of Georgia, of whom I've never heard before (if you count out Stalin - I wasn't aware he was Georgian), have a good life, let me tell you, if they can drink it everyday! It took me about thirty minutes to drink half of a bottle, I'm now making typos in practically every word I type, and I'm lovin' it!

Apparently, Kindzmarauli is made of Saperavi wine which is a teinturier wine. Indeed, the color is gorgeous, a rich dark ruby. But the taste! Not a trace of tannins, just pure fruity smoothness. If your date is thirsty, simply buy them a bottle and there you go. And they will thank you later.

I bought a bottle for less than 6 Euro (tempted by both the male customer who was buying and praising it and the exotically beautiful girl who approached the customer service desk to obtain her invoice and turned out to represent the Georgian Embassy) and I encourage everyone to do the same. You wil not regret it. Buy Georgia!

Moldovan Pinot Noir

All right, so they've had that cute blond guy selling Moldovan wines adorn the wine store with his graceful persona for months now. A pretty face and an ever so slightly rounded body - just squeezable - wearing a collection of closely fitting v-necks in flattering colors such as greyish blue and cocoa. Appearing back at work slightly tanned after his days off.

I've been staring at him for just as long while at work. They finally sold the region to me tonight.

I made my first purchase of a Moldovan wine ever and I'm now drinkng a semi-sweet Pinot-Noir - Kazayak Vin brand - which was very moderately priced as compared to its Western European counterparts. I'm quite pleased. While at first sip the wine indeed seemed sort of rough, not too subtle or polished, you more or less stop noticing this once you get past your first glass. It then becomes mostly fruity and very slightly acidic. Not exceptionally smooth but then again it's my first Pinot Noir so I have nothing to compare it to. Perhaps that's the way Pinot Noir is. Anyway, I'm quite pleasantly surprised with the quality of the wine for its price - about 4 Euros per bottle. I think it is a decent substitute for the more expensive French or Portuguese wines when you have to drink on a budget.

Drinking red Tempranillo 2006 named Don Hugo from the Spanish Bodegas Victorianas, labeled as semi-sweet. I'm not too pleased with it because it tastes definitely acidic and is also sort of watery. I've never tried Tempranillo before but I don't think I'll be buying it again.

Off - night three of three

I decided to withdraw the cash I need to pay the one outstanding March bill from my credit card. I recalculated my expenses again this morning and it turned out I would only be about 11 Euros short to pay it. The 11 Euros will be saved from my - and the cats' - daily food expenses, and the bill will be paid in due time March 15th.

I decided I need to pay it thus getting rid of any extra money I'd be left with this month because it's more than certain that money would be spent on wine. The wines I've been recently mentioning, and in particular the unfortified, standard 12% alcohol medium sweet reds are so good it is extremely difficult to stop drinking them once you begin. Remember an episode from "Anne of Green Gables" where a little girl fell asleep heavily drunk because she had consumed an entire bottle of red wine which she mistook for blackcurrant juice? That's exactly how good they are. The only way to stop drinking them I can think of right now is getting rid of any extra cash. And I just know I will find a way to sneak in a bottle or two before Easter using my credit card, anyway.

The ones I buy are supermarket wines costing about 8 Euros per bottle. Believe me at Carrefour you can get a tasty, decent wine for that price. I was reading articles from our local online Wine Magazine yesterday and they shared my conclusions regaring that particular, as well as another French supermarket I haven't yet tested.. wine-wise, that is. Last time I left Carrefour it was with no less than four bottles of wine. Of which only one remains untouched in my kitchen - the sweet, deliciously golden colored Spanish Moscatel from Castillo de Liria. All others are memory.

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.

Lots of wine

I am going through a wine-drinking period and boy are the wines good! Most of them Spanish. I've tried Malaga and port for the first time and I recommend both. Malaga tastes literally like fluid raisins while port - a fine ruby I am currently drinking - tastes like the mildest of kirsch - a gentle but rich cherry or berry taste. Exquisite! Very strong, too, 19% alcohol. Don't be fooled into drinking half of a bottle in one standing 'cause man you're going to look a drunken old sod the next day at work ;-) It's not easy to stop, though, especially if you sip them slowly in front of the PC or TV, like me.. So sweet and warming! I'd say it's safer to drink them if you have company.. hopefully they'll persuade you to stop once your speech becomes blurry ;-)

I love the traditionally shaped black bottles, too. I haven't thrown away any yet.. I store them in my pantry in the hope of filling them with some sort of an equally delicious fruit syrup in the summer.

Having inspected the bottle shelf, I can tell you that this fall and winter I've gone through five sherry amontillado ("Piconera" by Bodegas las Urtas at El Puerto de S-ta Maria, 15% by vol.), one golden sherry 15% by vol. ("Don Pablo" by Bodegas Bellavista), one Malaga Dulce 15% by vol. (Quitapenas Malaga Vina with bright red cap) by Bodegas Quitapenas and one fine ruby port 19% by vol. by Westport I've actually just opened this evening.

Yummers all of them, Malaga best to pour over ice-cream while the others perfect on their own as aperitivos. Don Pablo appearing a sherry of lesser quality which I do not intend to purchase again (unless I become an alcoholic), if you don't mind, messieurs - or senores - manufacturers ;-)

As for non-fortified wines which tickled my fancy, I also drank two random bottles of Merlot, one semi-sweet Australian (Cudgee Creek, as encouraged by the previously drunk Merlot by Jindalee.. I was pleasantly surprised to discover both brands came from the same producer/family) and one semi-dry from the Veneto region of Italy. The latter perfect to accompany pasta, not so much as an aperitif.

Ten bottles alltogether in a several months' period. That's a lot of wine for (the innocent little) me.. and all by myself!

I'm enormously tempted to buy even more wine when I see store shelves filled to maximum capacity before Valentine's Day.. I mean where have I been not having tasted all those gorgeous wines before? The white port, the cream Osborne sherry, the sweet Sauternes, the Gewurztraminer - along with the Greek Metaxa and the long forgotten Southern Comfort - are all there waiting for me! I can't believe how greedy I've become for them!

I can't really afford any of them either, mind you. I've just read my gas meter and, well, I've used four times as much gas during the last - winter - months as I had used during the summer. This translates into a bill almost four times as high.. which I can't possibly pay even though I've been saving towards it from each of the last three monthly salaries. I can only pay abouth two thirds of that bill, splitting the outstanding amount between the three "summer", or non-heating period, bills of May, August and November. The latter marking a beginning of a new heating period, in fact. What can I say but "be grateful that you can still pay them"?

Spring! You are anxiously awaited!! I've planned my first vacation days this year at the very end of March, right after we switch to daylight saving time. I can't wait for the miracle of light.. as if it could cure.. or make everything right. Or more bearable.