The Wine Raconteur is feeling mortal at the moment. In the last month, I went from being a teenager to getting a crashing blow to the psyche, my Blood Pressure went from a wondrous youth to the inevitable onset of getting old. I mean I was able to shrug off the letters from AARP easily enough, but I got hit with a double whammy, just after getting my Blood Pressure under control and I am not one that enjoys the idea of daily medication, then I got hit with another Kidney Stone attack. I think my body is dealing with the enemy.

According to all of the reports that I have read, wine, especially red wine in moderation is supposed to be good for you. If that was the case, I should be living until I am the age of Methuselah. My physician has disagreed, so I guess I am going to have to change my life style, but I am not giving up my wine. I will just have to alter some of my habits, which have been changing over the years. I have just given up on caffeine, and I really enjoyed my two cups in the morning as I would read the newspaper, and I guess that I will no longer indulge in an occasional cup of Armenian (I will never call it Turkish) coffee. I have also given up using additional salt on my food, and trust that there will be enough salt used in the original preparation that I won’t have to use more, and salt was always a staple on the table while we were dining. It may be a little while longer before I attempt an order of Foie Gras, oh be still my heart. I guess more red wine and less red meat.

As for my Kidney Stones, let me say that they have been with me (in the background) since my senior year of college. I think that the first attack was probably the worse, only because I never expected it, and I can only say “thank you” to the “Morphine STAT” that I heard the emergency doctor yell while I was still cognizant. I have probably had about sixteen attacks since that first night and one attack even delayed a trip to Maui for a day. That was the first time that I had to change my diet, though I have to admit that I do stray from the regimen at times. I had to give up all forms of calcium, as in milk, butter, cheese, spinach, nuts and chocolate; and I am not sure that anyone could totally give up all of those foods for life. In fact, after the first attack, my first urologist suggested that I have a beer a day, but I am not that fond of beer, even with my background and my youth. To this day, I still recall the old painted billboard on the side of a building that we used to see as we were crossing the Ambassador Bridge to go to Canada. The billboard said “Drink Canada Dry” and off course my Father would read it as “Drink Canada, Dry” and he and his cronies always attempted to do just that, and I am sure that the Molson family were pleased. I am not writing this as a way of extracting pity, but just to mention that I may be writing about different foods in the future, but the concept of life and wine will still go forward.