Ah the delights of home have come to an end. It’s back on the road again. This week it will be off to Atlanta on Monday, then on to Chicago Tuesday night and back home on Friday.
The weekend was pleasant. I did a good hard hike on Saturday. It was cool when I started (59 degrees) at 7:45, but got hot real fast. I was doing one of my favorites, the South Crest Trail, and even though I didn’t feel great I did it within five minutes of my best time. On Sunday, we had our friends KA and JA (of the Minnesota Mafia) over for dinner. It was a fairly modest affair by our usual standards focused on grilled country pork ribs in an oriental…oops I mean Asian, ASIAN, see PC cops I remember ASIAN… inspired marinade. They were muy good. As usual we had a lot of good wine, two from my collection, a Ribbon Ridge 2003 Pinot Noir from Oregon and a 2001 Havens Bourroquet which was about a 50-50 blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc from California.
ODDS AND ENDS
Mankato Vacation Homes
If you know and are familiar with Mankato what does this say about you (other than you are a part of Wife’s extended family? Evidently KA and JA are thinking about buying a place on a lake near there. Hmmmm Mankato or France, hard choice.
Wine Buy
Hats off to KA for introducing me to Berringer’s Founders Estate Pinot Noir. He picked this up at Trader Joes months ago and has been raving about it. He gave me a bottle to try which I did a couple of weeks ago and it certainly lived up to the advanced notice. Then just this last Friday, the Wall Street Journal wine reviewers were doing low cost Pinot Noir and the Berringer came in the top tier and at around $10-12 is an unbelievable bargain. Stock up on this Lakeview and Ricardo!
Remember the Frugal Gourmet?
Jeff Smith aka the Frugal Gourmet was hotter than hot in the 1980’s on PBS and with successful books, talks, etc. Then came the scandal where he was accused of improper acts with boys when he was a minister. Of course nothing was ever proven, just the destruction of his career. One of his geniuses was extracting great results from minimalist ingredients and actions. I was looking for a simple potato dish to go with my pork yesterday and looked at one of his books for the first time in years. There was a recipe for a warm potato salad with pesto. Pesto is easy in the blender. I had lots of basil in the garden. Just boil some cut up potatoes and add pesto. After sitting for an hour or so the sharp pesto flavor mellows out. KA scarffed them down.
Mrs. De-I Stars as Pharaoh
We have come to conclusion that the story of the Exodus is being replayed in Wife’s garden with Wife playing the role of Pharaoh being inflicted by plagues. The aphids are back in the newly growing artichokes and are killing off the rhubarb. You know about the squirrels (btw the latest poison seems to be working). The tomatoes have curly leaf virus because neighbors around us let their yard run wild. Just about everything is less than usual because of the unusual weather this year (wet early when it usually is dry, hot late when it is usually cooler).
4 comments:
Sounds like you had a great weekend!!! Great to hear you were introduce to a new wine and made use of all the lovely basil in the garden....BRAVO!!!
Good luck to the Pharaoh !!!
Agent W
Shit, what year was the pinot? Maybe I'll take a break from work tomorrow and head over to Trader Joes. Can't beat good, inexpensive wine.
The Asian Mafia appreciates your correction.
I think Mankato has a U. of Minnesota campus doesn't it? I might choose it over France, but that's not saying much for me.
that's funny you make the reference, I am just reading The Plague by Camus. You know, some light reading...
I totally support using cook books. Not that internet recipes aren't great, but the books are already bound and thus if I like one much more likely to be findable again.
I think I'll give that pesto potato salad a try - we've been eating a lot of mayo-based potato salad, loaded with fresh corn, green beans, and tomatoes, but this sounds like a nice change.
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