Accidentally in...drunk?

I have discovered the best drink in the world here. It is only equaled by Sparkling Cider. It is called mosto. The other name for it is "wine without alcohol."

Yesterday, I was contemplating around noon what I wanted to cook myself for lunch. I had finished class at eleven thirty and so I began wandering the streets. The easiest choice would have been to run down the street from CLM and pick some ready-made thing up from the bakery, but I was in the mood to cook. Instead of taking my normal route home I went down a different street to see what I would come across. I knew I would be pleasantly surprised as Spain has a mountain of little shops waiting around every corner. I figured I should mention this because no thanks to WALMART this wonderful phenomenon has been eliminated in the US.

Luckily, I had chosen my street wisely and I saw a sign that made me die and go to heaven. "We Sell Mosto." I thought, "Hey, great! I will buy a bottle of that and pretend it is wine while I cook lunch. That way I won't have to be sleepy for class." When I bought it I was especially pumped because it wasn't the normal white grape color that mosto usually is. It was reddish, which meant a new flavor experience...always an exciting thing for me.

I got home with my first-ever butcher shop purchase of "less-than-five-euros-please" of ground beef, and commenced my cooking adventure. As the butter and mushrooms were combining and sizzling over the flame I poured my first glass of mosto. It was tangy, so delicious, and surprisingly, it tasted almost as if it had alcohol in it. That is something that the white kind doesn't live up to. YAY red non-alcoholic wine! You win the prize.

I was boiling my noodles in very salty water (Italian style) and frying up my ground beef with some fresh cut garlic and oregano, and was really thirsty so I had a second glass of this while I waited. All these good smells were making me a little dizzy...I am still not accustomed to eating at three in the afternoon. The hunger sometimes overwhelms me.

The food was finished and at this point I poured myself one more glass to drink with my meal. I was feeling a little drunk though. Strange, seeing as this wine has no alcohol. I chalked it up to my thoughts having way to much power over how my body feels. A very good example I thought of how a positive outlook can actually make you live longer.

When my flat mate came into the kitchen before going out though, I figured I would ask out of curiosity whether it was possible it actually did have alcohol. Her response was, "No, you are right, mosto is non-alcoholic." When I mentioned that I was feeling funny though she said, "Ooh, wait. What kind of bottle was it in. A plastic one? And it was a red color? Oh Eleanor, mosto on occasion can actually just mean a really young wine. Like a few weeks old. You had three glasses already?! You are going to have a really great siesta today I guess."

And that I did.