The Mrs. has a sharp eye for bargains. Every now and then she'll take a flyer on a cheap bottle of wine at Trader Joe's. (That place is a chick thing.) Sometimes it's a hit, other times a bust.

The other day she came home with a red wine called Flying Heart. Gack! Way too sweet. But it seemed to us that it might be a good base for a sangria. So we corked it back up until this evening, when we tried to remember what the Portguese bartenders in Down Neck Newark put in the pitcher.

We were right about this wine. Sangria may be all it's good for, but it's excellent for that purpose. Now we're sipping away on some divine stuff and picturing ourselves on a balcony overlooking the beach in Nazaré. And dinner is all fresh seafood, which adds to the atmosphere.

Here's the recipe for the sangria:

Combine in a glass pitcher:

2 shots Fundador brandy
1 shot Triple Sec
4 oz. or so orange juice out of a carton
1 tablespoon table sugar

Fruit, all cut up fairly small:
Half of a lime, juice squeezed into the mix
Half of a golden delicious apple
Half of an orange, unsqueezed, with some of the rind trimmed off
3 brandy soaked cherries out of a jar, and a splash of the brandy they were soaking in

Ice cubes
1 bottle Flying Heart red wine

Stir with wooden spoon. Let it fester for a while. Serve on the rocks in water glasses; make sure some fruit spills in.

It's potent stuff. Sip and don't drive. Before eating the fruit, remember what you're supposed to do tomorrow morning.