THE CONTEMPLATION OF FISH WINE FROM CHINA OVER MORNING TEA & OATMEAL...



Well, I've been up for a couple of hours and am now fully prepared for my 11AM phone interview. So, as I sat here sipping my second cup of tea from my "lucky" Mickey Rourke cup and try to eat my oatmeal (I go through phases when breakfast is just not appealing -- am in one now) ---- I read a comment on my Blog from the wonderous Miss. Marisol enquiring about fish wine from China. I figured I would share "the warmth" of what I know.

I saw a news report on CNN.com that showed the place, the inventor and the process for making fish wine. It looked disgusting. I believe they use 7 different types of fish -- including eel and squid. The "innards" of the fish are what constitues the wine. After extensive boiling, the creamy-looking stuff is fermented for 3 months or so with a rice formula to eleminate the odor and add a "soft" flavor to the blend.

It is a white wine. I think I mentioned that I attended a wine tasting at a close friend's home recently. Milford is well educated in the ways of wine and it was quite interesting -- even tho I can't drink wine anymore. Anyway, I learned a bit about how to judge a wine from the look, the scent and the way it clings to a glass when swished about. Well, the fish wine appeared to do quite well with the swishing and it is full of vitamins which make it rather healthy. ...or so the owner says. I am quite curious and would love to try a bit of fish wine.

I pulled the following from the Reuters web site. Let's hope it is OK for me to cut/paste their brief coverage here. For some reason I could not make the link work.

"Beijing -

The French used grapes, Russians fermented potatoes, Koreans put ginseng in their drink and Mexicans distilled cactus plants to make fiery tequila. Now China is introducing fish wine.

Sun Keman, an entrepreneur in the north-east port city of Dalian, has formed the Dalian Fisherman's Song Maritime Biological Brewery, with a plan to use his background in the fishing industry to make fish into wine. "Different from China's thousands of years of brewing, the brewery will clean, boil, and ferment fish for making wine," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The company already had orders from Japan, Russia and other parts of China, it said. Tipplers might also take heart in knowing the brew is purported to be good for them."

However, judging from the way the wine slipped down the glass after being swished --- it appears to be a bit low on alcohol content. So, one might have to consume quite a bit of fish wine to get a buzz or chilled-out feeling. Still, wouldn't it be kind of cool to try? The packaging is quite pretty as well! I couldn't find a picture of it, tho. So, I've presented you with a shot of my breakfast which was sitting on my night stand. I ate half the oatmeal.

Oh, so I spoke with the folks "minding" my 401K "monies" -- and my former firm requires one additional business day before I can "cash out" --- so this probably means that I will not get that money wired to me till next week. Oi! ...so it goes! LOL!

So, now I just wait for my interview --- "I'm ready for my close-up"