Sanbitter

A few weeks ago I was visiting Raindog at his palatial estate by the Pleuvoir le Chien Estuary. He had decided, for novelty sake, to give his staff a day off during which we would fend for ourselves.

Having drunk all of his champagne (even the domestic stuff he normally saves for when the Jehovah's Witness's come to call) and eaten all of his caviar (including the blowfish eggs, which sounded like a good idea at the time but weren't) we decided to visit the shops before we starved to death.

We visited a little gourmet/imported food store, called something or other. It was the first store of its kind in the Regner Hund district and so was packed with the idle rich desperate to impress one another with the provenence of their balsamic vinager.

We just started grabbing things at random-some were excellent (the semi-dark chocolate and the gouda), some were alright (the cracker things that sort of exploded when you bit them), and some were mistakes.

My biggest mistake was buying an Italian soft drink called SANBITTER, made by Pellegrino. It came in a tiny, old fashioned looking glass bottle, was bright red and charmed the hell out of me. It sat in my fridge for about a week.

Then I was thirsty, it was there, things happened.

If you ever see this product flee for your life. Either it had gone bad or there is a big market in Europe for stomach bile flavored with Robutussin. I actually spat it out, staining my duvet and angering mrreall and the cats.

Learn by my example and be safe gentle reader, Italian wine is good, Italian sparkling water is lovely, but avoid their beer and their bitters.

my mood as most clearly described by a soda pop-Wildwood ginger ale.