Skol!

[robinturner]

The holy month of Ramadan is the time, we are told, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. This is actually a bit of an exaggeration. It's a time when pious Muslims, and Muslims living in repressive countries, fast (or at least pretend to fast) but I see plenty of business in Ankara restaurants and cafes during daylight hours. Hell, I even see people drinking beer on cafe terraces.

I give up alcohol during Ramadan, not for the sake of my soul but for the sake of my liver. While there are definite medical benefits to moderate drinking (not that my drinking is moderate), it is also good to lay off the stuff for a while to give your liver a rest, and Ramadan is a good excuse. And the best thing is that when the month is over, any kind of alcohol is like ambrosia. I am currently imbibing Skol, a cheapo lager that was popular in Britian in the 1970s and has somehow recently found its way to Turkey. It tastes wonderful! It is like sipping Chateau du Poncy Blancmange.

Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder.

Comments

Epicurus and his Last Half Bottle

[bram.livejournal.com]

Cheers on your month sans booze.

I'm actually starting regular moderate drinking--for my health. Particularly red wine, particularly Pinot Noir, particularly grown as far north as possible. These are the varieties highest in resveratrol, a chemical which is supposed to do good things to one's non-liver body and which may be responsible for the French Paradox.

[oblomova.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine was speculating that perhaps Arafat died earlier than had been officially reported, but they wanted to hold off on his funeral so it could fall on the last day of Ramadan.

I'm not that big of a conspiracy theorist to buy into it, though the whole "he's dead! Hold on, he's still alive! But he's in a coma!" reminded me of two classic comedy bits from the 70s. The first, of course, being "Bring out your dead!" from Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- I could just see the French doctors trying to toss Yasser on the cart. "I'm not dead yet!"

Then there was a running gag on the first season of Saturday Night Live, when Chevy Chase hosted "Weekend Update" (before he decided to leave, have a brief success in movies, and then become a national joke). Every newscast, Chase would solemnly say "This just in: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. Spanish authorities report that they expect his condition to remain dead for the foreseeable future."

Funnier at the time, I guess.

[vret.livejournal.com]

You know you have been smoking too much when Skol tastes good.

[vret.livejournal.com]

A few years back, during a hot summer, I got a taste for Coke and was drinking about one small bottle a day. At the end of the summer I went to the dentist and the first thing he said when he looked in my mouth was "You've been drinking lots of something like Coke", so I haven't had any since.

Skol!

[cf.livejournal.com]

Actually, i think that Skol is pretty good too. I have started smoking again, so maybe vret is right. But then again, i thought it tasted pretty good when i wasn't smoking.

The best thing about Skol is that it comes in 1 liter plastic bottles. And you can put the cap back on after you've poured a drink.

I've been cutting down on my alcohol consumption, but going the entirety of ramazan, eeek!

Heart medicine

[maggie-lucy.livejournal.com]

I have 20 mins. to yardarm time. I would find it very difficult to cut out my red heart medicine and , like dieting, cutting down would make me constantly aware of its absence & thus drink even more. My Australian preference has been missing from the supermarket shelves while the store undergoes vast reconstruction but I've found a pleasant Chilean substitute which I shall imbibe while watching my recording of the latest costume drama - Gaskell's 'North and South'. A good contrast to the dark Satanic mills.