orge Clooney and Amal Alamuddin will be married by a  cheap wedding dresses municipal politician!Veltroni, who wrote the foreword to Barack Obama s 2006 book The Audacity of Hope.forcing his stupid new album down our throats.It is still unclear if Brad Pitt and wife Angelina Jolie will be among the guests These are dark times, indeed.Pre-flight selfie on rookie costume day.Out here in my wedding dress!MStrooo7) September 14, 2014The Jays have indeed been sweating, trying to rebound from a wretched August, winning 10 of 14 games, but gaining no ground in their playoff bid.There's really no room for error.This time of year, considering where we're at, it's especially tough.Toronto fans found little to cheer about until the late innings.They did, however, find opportunities to give vent to their mounting frustration.slammed a Todd Redmond pitch off the facing of the Level of Excellence above left field to make it 5-1.Escobar crossed his arms and mimicked a safe sign as he crossed the plate, then pointed mockingly at a group of hecklers as he entered the first-base dugout.Boos resounded from the gathering of 28,633.Buehrle gave up two runs in the third and two more in a very ragged fourth, but soldiered on through the sixth.With two scheduled starts remaining, he has reached 188 innings in his quest for a 14th straight 200-inning season.His outing gave the Jays 20 consecutive starts of six innings or more, a club record.The bottom four players in the Toronto lineup struck out nine times in seven innings against Rays starter Chris Archer, accounting for all of his whiffs.Colby Rasmus, who got a rare start in centre field, struck out three times.These days, when one goes to a party, waiters offer trays of barely palatable wine and look puzzled and even shocked if a guest dares to ask for a Scotch and water or gin and tonic (Although vodka is more fashionable than gin these days, you will get the same reaction.If the affair is in someone's house and the fearless guest asks for a scotch, the host might bring out a dusty half bottle of some rare old single malt mumbling that it was a  beach wedding dresses Christmas present.In general hard liquor at public affairs has become bad form and any plonk from some island off the shores of Australia is more acceptable.Drinking habits in public have changed: Wine is in, spirits are out.When we were in Washington during the '80s, everyone drank martinis and old fashioneds before dinner and left the carefully chosen wine at the dinner table untouched.Few people professed to be wine connoisseurs and hard liquor was even served at lunch.I had one friend, extremely skinny, who always ordered two martinis and deep fried puff potatoes, the latter item being a specialty at her favourite restaurant.Nobody ever thought anything about it but certainly there was no ceremonious glass of wine served.Wine wasn't served by the glass at most restaurants.You would have to order a bottle or perhaps a half bottle.Once my father went to a party in Toronto where young barbarians were drinking rye and CokeAt some point during our long life we were given martini glasses and even a shaker.They have now been in the same place on the shelf untouched for 25 years.If a guest actually asked me for a martini I might have the gin, or vermouth but not at the same time.We generally keep Scotch because Allan likes a Scotch before dinner, but not wine during.His taste reflects his background.When we were young in Winnipeg a half-century ago, both our fathers would have a schnapps, a small glass of rye or Scotch, drunk straight while they were standing up.There was no lingering over the drink or polluting the liquor with soda or flat water.Once my father went to a party in Toronto where young barbarians were drinking rye and Coke, he told us in horror.He had never been to the Caribbean or mingled with the rum and Coke crowd.My parents never had wine in the house except, as the liquor store called it, sacramental wine for religious purposes, which they passed over the counter to my father.My mother never went to the liquor store and I believed until I was 18 that it was illegal  wedding ball gowns for women to enter liquor stores in Manitoba.ow so many countries make decent wine that the French vintage system has become lost in my mindThere was a time when I took my wine seriously and read the Wine Spectator and various books about good vintages and bad.But now so many countries make decent wine that the French vintage system has become lost in my mind.All I know is that the best wines I ever tasted were a French Bordeaux Chateau Cheval Blanc '47, a Burgundy Nuit St.George of similar vintage, and an ancient Barolo served to me by an Italian wine connoisseur.Of course there's certain phoniness about all this swishing of the glass and the waiter giving the person he thinks is paying for the meal the ritual drop of mediocre wine to taste.The host generally nods his head.I've only seen wine sent back on four occasions, three times in France and once in New York.I have sent back a cheap wine once myself.It was the dregs and was truly undrinkable.RelatedFix My Drink: Where to begin with gin?Fix My Drink: Puttin' on the (Aperol) spritzSondra Gotlieb: All men over 60 look better in tiesMost people look forward to a drop of something, especially if the room is full of strangers and you have to be on your best behaviour.A friend found herself in Arkansas going to a party in honour of her child's wedding.she didn't know a soul and because she was a member of the wedding party she was supposed to be there from beginning to end.You'd think they were Muslims.I balked at stockings but not the drinkSpeaking of Muslims, many years ago we were asked by the Aga Khan to a dinner party in Newport, R.where he had rented a house.We gathered beforehand with other Canadian guests and decided to fortify ourselves in advance because the Ismailis surely would not serve alcohol.It was August, over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and in deference to the Muslim faith some of the Ontario ladies w