You Are What You Eat

I get asked all the time: "David, do you really drink as much booze as you say you do on the blog?"

The answer: Yes, I drink every single day. Usually more than I should.

The follow up question is usually, "How do you have time to drink that many different things, and how do you even decide what to drink?"

Easy. First off, I don't have kids, or a mortgage, or anything else that requires me to be socially or economically responsible. I have nothing to do when I get home but kiss my beautiful wife on the cheek, take a load off, put my feet up, and pour myself a drink. When you eliminate some of life's more demanding obstacles from your path, you'll be surprised how much extra time you have (to drink). How do I decide what exactly to drink at the end of the day? It's simple: the food comes first. Then you pick out the booze. It's not all that difficult. You just let your stomach guide you and you literally go with your gut.

For example, I do a lot of take out and Door Dash. At least three to five times a week. Let's say I'm eating chinese food that evening. I call Little China Kitchen in San Mateo, I talk to Christine, and I give her my order. Heavier spirits and fuller-bodied wines don't pair all that well with spicy food, so I'll usually start with a gin and tonic while I'm waiting for delivery. Forty minutes later I get a knock on my door, along with a giant bag full of pot stickers, spicy chicken, and sauteed broccoli. That's when I break out the cold Champagne or the riesling, and get going. After we eat I might have a glass of something brown, maybe not depending on whether I want to go for a walk.

If I do pick up rather than delivery, I might swing by Pronto in Redwood City on El Camino (just up the street from our store) and grab a chicken combination dinner: a whole roasted bird, a side of potatoes, a container of white beans with garlic, and a few pieces of focaccia bread. If we're doing roasted chicken I'll probably grab a bottle of pinot noir before leaving (my house gets hot in the summer, and we don't have A/C, so I don't keep many reds in the building). We'll probably pound a Campari and soda right when I walk in, then have the wine with the meal, then I'll probably pour a glass of Armagnac after that. I like the rustic French spirits after eating chicken for some reason.

Sometimes my mother-in-law comes over and cooks, which means Mexican food. That means I'm drinking tequila/mezcal cocktails, beer, and probably more tequila after the meal. That's pretty straight-forward.

If we're snacking—let's say salads, olives, cheese, things like that—then that means white wine or rosé, with gin martinis to start, and most likely something like whiskey on the back end.

The point is: I don't drink any one particular thing on a regular basis. I drink different things every single day. I drink anything and everything because I like to eat different things all the time. Sushi with sake, indian food and a cold lager, cocktails and the Giants game with a handful of salty peanuts, a bottle of Bordeaux with a juicy steak, Mojitos and Pad Thai, you name it. When you look at each day purely as an opportunity to eat and drink something new, then this is just part of the game. It's not so much a job as it is a lifestyle. And I'm fully committed.

-David Driscoll