Drink your cares away

Remember when I mentioned the new medical study which essentially recommended red wine at night, radiation patient's delight? Well, I do. So I have been having one glass -- ONE 4-oz. glass only -- of red wine after (or during) dinner every weeknight. (hic!) Since the study seems to indicate that ONE glass -- not half, not two -- helps breast cancer patients fight off skin toxicity during radiation, I have been sticking to one WW-size glass nightly, not the economy size pour / gigantic glasses some restaurants serve.

So far, I've finished off one of my favorites, Dominio de Eguren's Protocolo Tinto, a Tempranillo from my local wine store, The Winery (yes, the yuppies have landed in Harlem), which I like because it only buys from small wineries, keeps most selections under $20, and has fair trade wines, organic, etc. (They also track every purchase you make, so you can call back and say, "I want more of that Tempranillo I bought last Friday" without having to know the brand because the bottle's already in the recycling bin downstairs.)

I've also restocked on a French Languedoc red, Collection Daniel Bessiere St. Chinian, which is naturally, a Saint Chinian red. As with my clothes, I am fairly cheap when buying wines, especially when I can't really tell if something has "notes of berries" but rather only if I like something or not. You see why I like shopping at The Winery, right? I can stick with inexpensive but tasty wines and not need to remember the exact details of each wine. And oh yeah, they have free wine tastings every Friday and Saturday night. :-D

Since I've only had 9 radiation treatments to date (21 to go! 1/3 of the way down!) I can't tell if I'm supposed to have started getting a skin reaction yet, but I have noticed my skin is getting darker there (an expected side effect), I am getting itchy around my chest area, and occasionally I feel really flushed (or as my engineer teases me, "What? Hot flashes already?" Just you wait till I start my tamoxifen, buddy -- then I'll really show you hot flashes). Otherwise, between the Eucerin and the wine, I seem to be doing okay. Basically, imagine deliberately getting mildly sunburned every day and you'll get the idea of how it feels.

Speaking of grapes, my local supermarket (conveniently across the street from me) has started selling mixed grapes, a boon to the perpetually indecisive amongst us (i.e., people like me). So I bought a box of seedless red, green, and black grapes. The white film is just condensation (not mold!) and it's a reasonable quantity, so it won't be a race against spoilage to finish everything.

Speaking of eating, it's late and I'm hungry. Time for lunch and then I'm off to my sweetie's place and his newly renovated kitchen!