“A man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is visible labor and there is invisible labor.”
Victor Hugo
Thursday
Back to work. I fluctuate between enthusiasm and blasé.
Tonight I made the most tasteless pasta in history and ate three serves.
Justifying binge eating good food is one thing. Gorging on the tasteless is another level of derangement.
“I have felt the wind on the wing of madness.”
Charles Baudelaire
I finished The Call of the Wild and moved straight on to White Fang.
It was my fourth reading and is still one of my favourite adventure books.
“Deep in the forest a call was sounding, and as often as he heard this call, mysteriously thrilling and luring, he felt compelled to turn his back upon the fire and the beaten earth around it, and to plunge into the forest, and on and on, he knew not where or why; nor did he wonder where or why, the call sounding imperiously, deep in the forest.”
Jack London
Early to bed. A big week.
Friday
“The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world.”
Leonard Cohen
I wake up tired.
I am not sleeping the best.
Sleep, but it is not great sleep. A restless half sleep.
Gym. Breakfast.
A quick trip to grab some ingredients for tomorrow night’s dinner.
I made gazpacho all the time in Malaysia. It’s a great soup for hot climates and the tomatoes here look excellent.
Pies play the Demons today. A nothing game with both teams out of the finals.
I read.
I start making the ragu for tomorrow night. shell is a firm believer that slow cooked dishes are best on the second day. I can’t disagree.
The Pies win by 50. A great team when the result does not matter.
I am left with the problem of what to do with the half bottle of Chianti left after adding it to the ragu.
The no drinking through the term unless there is a special occasion policy is still in play. Theoretically, we should not be drinking until tomorrow evening.
I could save it until tomorrow. I can’t bring myself to pour it down the sink.
In the end, we drink it.
Three weeks into the non drinking agreement and it is broken.
“Life is not an easy matter…. You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness.”
Leon Trotsky
Saturday
“It’s not love or anything, but I think I like you, too.”
Chuck Palahniuk
Gym. Breakfast.
We are hosting a birthday tonight. I did the cooking yesterday. Just the three of us. Me, Rachelle and our friend who is celebrating her birthday.
A busy day of job applications and reading.
There is pre-dinner wine. This is followed by first course wine, second course wine, wine with dessert and the mandatory nightcap.
Dinner is delicious. The gazpacho is a perfect starter—the ragu, cooked for eight hours over two days the highlight.
We order in mille-feuille for dessert and eat it with the 20 year old tawny port.
An outstanding night with a great friend.
“I like on the table,
when we’re speaking,
the light of a bottle
of intelligent wine.”Pablo Neruda
Sunday
I wake up at midnight with waves of nausea. My stomach is churning and I cannot sleep. Getting up seems beyond me. I curl in a ball and let the queasiness wash over me.
I finally muster the courage to move into the lounge room. My mouth tastes like the bottom of a shoe. I drink water and it gurgles down into my gut. My mouth feels better, my stomach is worse. I doze on the lounge for a few hours.
At 5.00 am the sun wakes me up. My stomach has settled but I now have the makings of a tremendous hangover. I head for bed.
I wake up at 8.00 am with no sign of the sickness that afflicted me through the night. I do have a wonderful hangover.
I have drank more wine than I did last night with far less trauma.
It is a message. Drink more and build resilience or stop drinking altogether.
“There is no escape. You can’t be a vagabond and an artist and still be a solid citizen, a wholesome, upstanding man. You want to get drunk, so you have to accept the hangover.”
Hermann Hesse
I prepare next week’s lunches and spend the day recovering.
Last night’s wine –
2020 Château de Jarrnioux Beaujolais (Beaujolais, France)
An excellent, fun starter. Light bodied and easy to drink.
2019 Castello di Gabbiano Chianti Classico (Chianti, Italy)
An extra pre dinner bottle. Typical Chianti and excellent value.
2021 Bodegas Emilio Moro Polvorete (Castilla y León, Spain)
It is difficult to match wine with soup. Moreso with chilled soup. Made from 100% godello grapes, this is a great wine. Green apples and pear on the nose, it is bright, youthful and textured on the palate.
2018 Riecine Chianti Classico (Chianti, Italy)
Vibrant and fresh with typical Chianti savouriness. Black fruits and floral notes. Very good drinking.
Gran Cruz 20 Year Old Tawny (Porto, Portugal)
Sweet caramel and toffee.
1998 Gran Cruz Vintage Port (Porto, Portugul)
Dark and heavy. Like drinking Christmas pudding. Sweet spices and stewed fruits.
The food looked delicious!!