Back to Booze

I'm reluctant to blow my own trumpet, but I usually cook a mean risotto. My first attempt at this dish in Sweden didn't taste as it should and a quick check on the wine I'd bought in the supermarket gave the answer. It was bereft of any alcohol. I hadn't realised that only beverages under 4% proof can be sold in the shops. If you want a serious drink you've got to plan ahead and visit the Systembolaget. The official off-licence. This rather seedy looking shop in Bastad is the only one in the Torekov area (about 15 kms away) and closed on Sundays (my day off). 

This explains the tiny bottles of gin  flavouring I came upon in the Ica supermarket. I don't know if one is meant to produce home made alcohol and add the flavouring or put a few drops in tonic water and pretend. 

The draconian restriction on buying wine meant that I drank nothing stronger than tea for 5 weeks. I was hoping when I hopped on the scales I'd be a few kilos lighter but no. This therefore suggests to me that if abstaining from wine doesn't lead to weight loss, drinking wine doesn't lead to weight gain.
I'm already putting this theory to the test as, at the last minute, my plans were changed yet again and instead of boarding a plane to Inverness I got on one to Bodrum.  A bottle of red has already been shared with my other half and I am closing the Swedish chapter of BacktoBodrum with a photo of the sun going down taken from my room on the Bjare peninsula.