El Matador and Le Digestif

France, as you may have guessed, has many cultural differences to my beloved United States of America. One sees the differences  vividly when  it comes to the area of alcohol. French people can drink! And when they do they dont have a feeling of guilt or caution to it, drinking is just what you do. A beer at lunch time? Sure, hell your boss is buying. Ricards at 3pm? Why not? Its good for your cholestroal. Two cups of wine for dinner every night? Is there anything wine is NOT good for?

A girl can get use to this. And I dont mean to make French people sound like uncontronable alcoholics, its far from that. I have spent a total amount of 9 weeks in France (collectivly) and have to say that I have never seen a druken "hot mess" like I so often have seen back home. I dont believe that problems from alochol steam from how frequently you drink but instead in why you drink, and how you act when you do. The French seem to have a healthier relationship with this sweet nectar than most Americans.

Let me walk you through a typical French dinner party: you start with the apertif, which is kind of like our cocktail hour (I guess, aside from weddings Ive never been to one). The Apertif is a small cocktail or two when your guest arrive. After the chit chat you move to the dinner table where there is of course...wine! A cup of white wine  to go with the entree (which is a starter here, i know...), then a glass of red for the main dish. After the meal we have desert which is accompanied by champagne of course! So here you are, about 2 hours in and you have already had 2 cocktails, 2 glasses of wine and champange and you know what? Everyone is under control, nobody is slurring their words, acting rude or stumbling. How? I dont know, I cant explain it.

By the end you are feeling warm and and tipsy and everyone is having a pleasurable time. But the booze are not over yet, we still have my favorite part, le digestif.

Le digestif is a concept that once I heard about made perfect sense. You know that "I ate too much" feeling you get when you stuffed yourself silly? Well the French have found a solution to it, it is le digestif. A small amount of strong, flavorful alcohol at the end of the meal. Usually a cognac like Remy Martin, this small portion of potentency served in a tiny glass cup really does seem  to help you digest and feel less full. The French swear it does, I have no medical proof but I can testify it at least feels that way.

So knowing and loving this small ritual you can imagine my excitment when I found these vintage, tacky spanish digistif glasses. All four for 50 cents. Now all I need is cognac, I can skip the whole dinner party and just go straight to the end.