the alcohols in my life ...

For people who know me, sometimes I tend to enjoy alcohol a little too much ... but hey, I'm past the wild days of "youth" and besides I was sipping wine way before it was the "in" thing to drink these days! Basically, alcohol is no stranger to me, for almost my entire life.

I started young ... probably by 4 or 5, i was onto Tia Maria and Kahlua (courtesy of my mum). In fact, I liked it so much, I was swigging it from the bottle ... IN SECRET. Apparently I would hide behind the big armchair in the study room before bedtime, and quickly chug down a few mouthfuls and appear innocently and go to bed. The cool thing was, stories books and the bottles of Kahlua were placed side by side BEHIND the armchair. So that explains to those who was curious how I managed to acquire the "sweet" taste of Kahlua neat or on the rocks that start and end my drinking session.

Then as I got slightly older, the variety I got was much wider. Brandy (Loius XIII anyone?), red wine, white wine (my dad used to buy a crate or 2 and share with my uncle Macolm - supposedly from Provinage's father), Baby cham and ... Boones Strawberry wine (we did try Bailey's one of the year but it was never drunk again within the family).

Boones Strawberry wine was something we (my siblings and me) looked forward to, since we only get it during Christmas. Not sure what it is? Go to http://www.lovotti.com/brochures/Boones%20Farm%20Strawberry%20Hill.html. The packaging is quite different from what we get here. Along the way, it dropped out from our list of drinks, not sure why though.

Then some 10 years ago, I tried it again and the taste seems to have changed with the revamped packaging. Didn't taste as nice as before and so, of course I was quite disappointed. Kinda an "end" to my childhood memories.

However, an ending always begets a new beginning. So, I discoved Sun Peak Peach, which is GOOD! And as with all alcohols in my life, it celebrated good and bad times with me, as well as bringing me fond and not so pleasant memories.

Whatever they are, I treasure them in my heart. For that, I propose a toast, "to all the alcohols in my life, thank you for being with me." Yes I'm sober and No I'm not an alcoholic.

Psst, by the way, it goes well with desserts, in case you are wondering what it has to do with food ;)