I am a little confused by your question . . . it sounds like something a friend’s 15-year old asked me when he was concerned about trying to look cool at a high school party.
Are you expecting your local SWAT team to come swooping in if you have a _____________ with/without having a _________________?
No, I have no problem drinking without eating. Not right away, at least.
Huh I can be plenty cultured when I want to and am familiar with different fare and nice restaurants etc. I also know the Wine country inside and out and am familar with many restaurants SF/Bay. And I know a few restaurateurs personally.
But I am not in the SF/Bay anymore or involved in the City scene. I’m back in school as a MATURE student on the cheap. and sometimes it’s just back to basics around the house and I had a nice Micro brew beer but no chips or peanuts ok?? At least it wasn’t PBR and I haven’t grown out a Mullet just yet, and I went for the Coconut oil chips!
So pardon me that I didn’t come up with a Foodie doodie topic to your liking.
Whats the big deal to ask about peoples personal preferences re. little everyday tendencies, like drinking a cup of coffee or smoking a cigarette?
It could of gotten a little more interesting if people share what they like to pair the mainstay things with or maybe they just don’t mind um straight.
There is also a psychological component with the little food habits that we all have that I am interested in.
SWAT?..was I sounding paranoid
When we get up in the morning we have a cup of coffee first thing with breakfast to follow. I discovered a few months ago while having breakfast out how fantastic coffee tastes with breakfast, i.e., eggs, bacon, potatoes, toast. Like a different ‘animal.’ Still don’t have it at home and I’ve eliminated one breakfast place where the coffee isn’t that good but this was a nice surprise.
Re beer, I don’t really like beer so only drink it with food. Tsingtao with any Asian and Tecate with Mexican or other Latino.
When I quit smoking, I quit drinking coffee, too. They were my morning routine so I needed a clean break to have a chance at successfully quitting. I also avoided, for about a month, getting together with my smoking friends, aka my drinking friends, because, yep, they also go together.
My cousin and I have overseas happy hour phone calls every couple of weeks. I had to put those calls on hold for a month, because, in my martini-compromised state, the sound of him inhaling triggered a mad cig craving for me.
It’s been years since I drank beer, but, as I recall, crappy light beer and 7-11 nachos were a match made in heaven. Bugles-n-beer also works.
I don’t need to eat with my alcohol unless I start getting really drunk and get hungry.
Coffee I always drink on its’ own.
Don’t smoke but everyone I knew who was a smoker would always do a coffee and cigarette.
Oh I just remembered that my mother said she gained weight after quitting smoking because instead of having a cup of coffee and a cigarette, she’d have a cup of coffee and something sweet 
That’s a sweet memory.
Yeah I came off 4 years sobriety from alcohol/pot/cigarettes during 2015 holidays. After a couple months of fairy regular usage of all three vices mixed with food cravings and too much caffeine, lets just say I had a tough start to the semester and didn’t really get on the workout healthy routine that I wanted to to start 2016.
Well I have tapered off quite a bit, because I have to pass my classes and I don’t like feeling like crap and out of shape. A pack of smokes lasts me over a week now and its just a little beer and red wine now on the weekends. Coffee fine never wanted to quit that, but now I am starting to go half decaf. I do notice that I like coffee with a cigarette alot say after a good meal.
I’m not a 12 step guy and have had the most success with going Cold Turkey, However I don’t like saying i’m never going to have a beer or smoke some pot again. On some stuff I am trying to see if I can still have it in the room and make peace with it. That goes for food cravings too like a box of Oreo’s or that Pint of ice cream in the freezer.
Good for you ,Ross, for recognizing that your substance use is having too great an impact on the rest of your ability to function!
I’ve dealt with mental health and addictions clients over the years and one recommendation was for the individual not to give up too many things at once. Ie. Alcoholics who also smoke should wait before trying to quit smoking when they are trying to get sober.
On the other hand, one of my best friends just quit everything at once(drugs, alcohol and cigarettes). To each one’s own, I suppose.
Drinking a good craft beer by itself is like looking at art without a sandwich. When it is good you don’t need anything else. I drink coffee by itself, and I smoke quality cigars usually with a drink. If you like the taste of something then by all means explore it.
Back in the day when I drank alcohol, I had no trouble just drinking. Beer, wine, brandy, calvados, whatever was around. Of course, it was even nicer with a cigarette.
It’s been sixteen years since I stopped both alcohol & tobacco. I doubt a day has passed since then when I havnt thought about them.
I did much the same when I quit smoking. Alcohol was a big trigger for cigs. But so enjoyable!
A little . . .
The most important thing is to do what YOU want: eat/drink what YOU want and how YOU want to eat (or drink) it.
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Cigarettes? Not acceptable anytime. Period. (Then again, I live in California. If I lived in Greece, I’d probably smoking at any time of the day or night was not only perfectly acceptable but mandatory!)
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It seems to me that the consumption of such things like coffee and alcoholic beverages is situational. For example, if I’ve been outside working in 104° heat for an 8-hour shift, I’ll slam down a 16-ounce can of Bud before starting my second shift. On the other hand, I typically a) never drink Budweiser, and b) drink my beer(s) with lunch – think a dozen oysters and a soft shell po’boy in New Orleans.
Coffee? I start off my day with a double espresso as I feed the dog and empty the dishwasher. Then, I’ll make two lattes and take them back to our bedroom, so my wife and I can have coffee in bed while sorting through emails and getting ready for the day. After eating lunch, I like to have coffee, which may or may not have some food accompanying it . . .
Wine? What kind of wine?
When it comes to sparkling wines, or fortified/flavored wines, I’ll often have a glass of Champagne or other sparkling wine as an aperitif by itself, but it also may be served to accompany appetizers. Same thing with (e.g.) a Fino Sherry. Generally, if I’m having Spanish vermut, it’s going to be as an aperitif and served by itself, whereas a glass of Porto Branco (White Port) will be served with appetizers/charcuterie. Depending upon the type of Porto Tinto (Red Port), I may savor it by itself, or served it with a cheese course.
Table wines general are always served with a meal, except when they aren’t. I may, for example, have a glass of wine by itself in a wine bar, or while cooking . . . but generally, the bottles of wine I open at home, or order in a restaurant, are to accompany the meal we’re sharing . . .
But there is no right or wrong here, so go forth and do what you want . . . .
We find drinking sparkling wine while doing home improvement projects to be a good thing And then there’s the new report saying that drinking three glasses a day can help prevent Alzheimers. Any excuse
Hi Jason,
I Just kind of put that topic one up there quick in basic terms, So maybe you interpreted it as sounding a little immature. Well anyway I can be a big kid at heart, but I like to think I also have a little culture and l can engage intellectually stimulating conversation from time to time. I mean I did grow up in Berkeley and later lived in the City for 15 years.
Your right though do what YOU want eat what YOU want etc. Right now the 80/20 rule is working pretty good for me so I don’t feel like I am depriving myself completely.
After that inconvenient chip run to the store I made, because I just had to have something with my beer. I was just sitting with my feelings around vices and cravings for combinations of things like coffee, sweets cigs, chips, beer, red wine with chocolate, cheese some apple, maybe fig spread. On a Finn crisp man I am in heaven. Especially if the wine and cheese is good.
Iv’e never been a heavy smoker btw.
Regarding wine I know what I like and am good at picking out pretty good tasting bargains at Grocery Outlet hah hah. That’s my budget right now. You are far and away the expert in that field.
When I say I know the Wine Country “inside and out” literally thats true because I led chauffeured tours up there for years.They ranged from people knowing exactly where they wanted to go to me planning my clients dining/winery itinerary in it’s entirety So in my tours I would provide general wine and Wine country information and then of course hand them off to the experts–that were actually in the winery. I was owner operator and had a couple drivers and then worked for a larger Livery company in sales/managing/part time driving. We did lots of tours up there.
I also gave a great tour of San Francisco and would recommend restaurants in SF. So I got to know some good restaurants and a few owners a little. I lived in North Beach for years and still miss that neighborhood.
This is/was a tradition for Germans. They might or might not have coffee with lunch, but no dessert. Instead, a mid-afternoon stop at a Konditorei, for a slice of cake or some other pastry, along with a cup of coffee. My immigrant parents maintained this tradition at home. Also, in our home, dessert, if any, was consumed, unaccompanied, 2-3 hours after supper. I don’t know if that was a unique custom, or traditional. When there was a prominent German population in the Yorkville area of Manhattan, it included Konditoreien. http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Konditorei
Coffee: with a few squares of Lindt 99% chocolate. (Double) espresso or “normal coffee” depending on where I have it. On holidays I also order pastries for my partner.
Beer: with lots of water alongside. Beer is an expensive hobby of mine. With food/something if it’s not good.
Wine: always with a meal, every day, as seen in most of my photos on the WFD threads.
I have no problem quitting coffee temporarily and have done it many times. Why? Because sometimes when I’m in some place where there’s no coffee culture, or when I have to get up early if travelling by bus for hours on end and I have a very small bladder! Now I bring my own powder coffee to non coffee drinking/expensive countries. Being stuck on the bus remains a big problem.
The Kaffee und Kuchen culture is very much alive in Germany and Austria. The Austrians take it up a notch.
I smoked for most of my younger years (unfortunately) - up to 2 packs a day, more when I went out late & booze was involved. Oy. My standard “breakfast” in those days was a couple of cups of coffee, cigarettes and Fisherman’s Friend (the mint lozenges). I was a real health nut, you see? 
I very, very rarely crave a cigarette now, but it is exclusively when I drink alcohol. For some reason, these two go together well. Also, the cig tastes less like ass when you can wash down the nasty flavor with a cold one.
I still start the day with two cuppas & Fishies, but thankfully no cigs.
Don’t require alcohol of any kind with most meals – unless I’m at a restaurant, then there will be wine or beer, depending on the food.
Scotch or any other hard liquor is perfectly fine on its own.
They were my saviour when I stopped smoking. It was about having a strong taste of “something” in my mouth. I got through a pack a day in the early weeks.
By the by, they are made here in northwest England in the town of Fleetwood which used to be home to a thriving trawler fleet. Long gone, unfortunately. But, for anyone visiitng the town, there’s quite a good, if small, outlet mall and, just opposite, a really good fish & chip shop and, a couple of minutes away, a really, really good fishmonger.
