A good friend of mine recently informed me that it is against the law to be stinky in SLO County Libraries.. One step into SLO City Library and you’ll realize this ridiculous law isn’t being inforced… P-U!

According to anthropologist Louis Leakey, body odor was responsible for early man’s survival…most predators avoided feasting on humans because our body odor was “too repugnant”. One step in the library and you’ll be a believer of this theory! Thankfully, the Egyptians were the first to popularize the idea of applying scent to the armpits, they used cinnamon and other spices.. scents you can still find today in some of the most popular deodorants.

Over at the Granada we have a small group of dedicated regulars. Some stop in for a panini everyday on their lunch break, others sit at the bar for a glass of wine and a chat, and then there’s that guy, THE regular, the one who doesn’t miss a day, who comes in faithfully to share his story of the day with not only the staff, but every patron in the place. Sweet, harmless, but a handful. On the night of my birthday he came in with tubs of homemade gelato..  Which was really a very kind gesture… until he starting plopping it into customers wine glasses!  Cote du Rhone and chocolate peanut butter sorbet.. not a good pairing. 

As if the recent findings about the vast health benefits from drinking a moderate amount of wine, weren’t reason enough to enjoy a glass o’ vino… now doctors have determined that wine can reduce the risk of ovarian cancer, delay dementia, and prevent arthritis, and also keep us young! Sounds too good to be true, but instead of spending hundreds of dollars on wrinkle cream and botox, a glass of delicious red wine will do the trick.. Red wine contains resveratrol which has been proven time and time again to prevent illnesses, including age related illnesses. David Sinclair, a biochemist at Harvard discovered that the sirtuin gene (found in almost all life forms), could extend life when activated. So Sinclair tested thousands of compounds and guess which was a hit? Resveratrol! Hopefully, soon women across the globe will trade going under the knife with consuming more red wine.. sounds like we are on the path of enjoying an intoxicating life!

The US and EU have reached an agreement which has lifted the outrageous tariffs on imported items—such as one of our favorite cheeses, Roquefort! Oh happy day.. Yet while reaching the agreement another interesting subject came up—hormone treated beef. The US can now export triple the amount of beef to the EU….one catch- the beef cannot be treated with hormones.  Smart ones, them Euros.. wish we could curb our addiction to supersized foods.  I cant help but notice the ever increasing size of produce. Before long, our strawberries will be the size of watermelons.  But have no fear, Roquefort, with all of its moldy glory, is 100% natural goodness.. so grab a glass of sauternes and a huge chunk of cheese, and toast to life’s simple hormone free pleasures. Salute!

While thinking of a creative name for our Thursday night guitar circle and sangria special next door at Granada we came across a hilarious list of “Two Hundred and One Ways to Say Your Drunk”. Some of our favorites include….”howling drunk”, “in orbit”, “zonked”, and “drunk as a skunk.” We were so inspired we even came up with a name for our Thursday fun-filled nights at Granada– “Sangria Serenades”. Graham will be riding around town in our new pink and red Granada beach cruiser on Thursday handing out flyers with “Sangria Specials” for the night! Track him down and come say Hello at Granada! Picture of Graham in action coming soon!

http://pist.ca/article.php/201d

Today we had a meeting about how to better manage our social networking sites with Amy O’Kane, the fabulous custom cupcake genius for Granada who has 1400+ followers on Twitter. Its been nearly impossible to keep up with our 3 Facebook profiles, 2 Facebook groups, 3 Twitter accounts, and 2 blogs with only the two of us! An identity crisis is bound to occur if we keep it up…one minute we are Borracha tweeting about some fun adventure, the next we are Wine Wipes blogging about our latest promotion, and then we transform into Granada Bistro tweeting about the day’s specials. This goes on all day between 10 different accounts….talk about crazy making! Just a few minutes into our meeting Amy graciously advised us to delete, delete, delete! With her advice in mind we are deleting Wine Wipes and including all promotions, updates, and media news in our Borracha profiles which will include everything pertaining to an intoxicating life- travel, adventure, wine, news…We are also keeping our Granada Bistro accounts and will be updating those with daily specials just for our followers.

And please remember we are new to the scene, so please be patient….we do want to tweet with you, we just need to figure out how! J

I knew that opening a bistro and wine bar would entail a few drunk asses slurring their words, saying something inappropriate, or perhaps the occasional drunken outburst.. But I had no idea something like this would happen. Last night, around closing time, a very conservative looking man and his girlfriend came in for a quick night cap and dessert. Both were visibly intoxicated but they had smiles on their faces and were friendly and excited to be there.. And then I asked them if they were interested in dessert. The conversation went something like this

Me: What can I get you two for dessert? We feature Amy Bakes cupcakes.. tonight’s flavor is Chocolate Merlot Grenache

Girlfriend: Id LOVE a cupcake, thank you.

Me: Sure… And what about you, sir, would you like a cupcake?

Drunk-ass: (as he looks over at me with a childlike smile) I’d like a big Pussy, please…

Needless to say, he takes the cupcake for drunk-ass.

Just read in the Tribune this morning how cell phones are dirtier, germ-wise, than the bottom of our shoes and toilets according to a recent study in Britain. Okay, okay, not all bacteria is necessarily evil, but nevertheless, some do make you sick. And indeed, these nasty little germs such as staphyloccus, microcococus, and bacillus, are all over our cell phones. The next swine flu could be the cell flu!!  So what to do? Stop talking on it all day and start paying attention to what’s in front of you Be Here Now, as my friend Mickey would say…

This morning Vern, my electrician at Granada Bistro, came to repair yet another electrical problem. Vern is well into his 80’s and works almost every day. Each morning he comes into my office at Borracha, taking off his red cap as he enters, asking each one of us how our morning is going. He never leaves our office without leaving a smile on our faces. Vern has lived an amazing life. He has dabbled in many careers, traveled the world, raised a family, lost the love of his life, and miraculously, fallen in love once again. He and Nikki fell madly in love after losing both of their spouses almost 10 years ago. Neither would have imagined that their friendship could have grown into the love of their lives. A few years ago, they married in the backyard because they both felt that marriage just makes it sweeter. When he speaks of Nikki, his eyes sparkle, and his lips curl up into a smile that encompasses his entire jaw. Nikki once told me that she considers herself the luckiest woman in the world.

Often when people lose the love they’ve had for their adult life, the possibilities of finding love again, seem slim. But Vern and Nikki are a reminder that Love will find a way…

Got my fancy new iphone today.. Spent about an hour at the ipod store, trying to keep up with the techno-talk on how to operate it, while being completely entertained by all the colorful characters littered throughout the store. How many of the people in the store are actually buying something? When I asked this, the clerk just rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle “well, you see, we have free wireless here at the store, so basically we are like an internet café without the snacks”. Good to know! Do they have ipod stores abroad?