Winding down the year, and a bit under the weather

December 30, 2007
Peoria, AZ

We’ve both been a little under the weather for the last few days, so things have been pretty quiet around here. Geri’s started physical therapy to help her bursitis, and that always brings on some different aches and pains. I haven’t had a bout of sinus problems for a few years, so I suppose I’m overdue. I started with a tickle in the throat and some stuffiness, but I think I nipped it in the bud.

The weather’s continued to be on the cool side, although it’s starting to warm up to “normal” and should stay that way for most of the next week. That’ll be a welcome change, as we have several projects to complete before we head out to California next weekend.

Geri picked up some nice Tilapia for dinner on Friday, and we sautéed it with some of the Stew Leonard’s (a regional grocery in Connecticut) flavored bread crumbs (Pat sent us a “care package”). I made some rice with peas and Geri did up some of her haricots verts. I found a nice 2001 red Burgundy, a Savigny-les-Beaune «Millésime» from Patrice Rion, which might have benefited from a few more years of cellaring but was quite pleasant at this point.

Yesterday, we were both feeling better so we took a “day trip” out in the “country”. Geri wanted to do some shopping in Anthem (a new and growing community north of Phoenix, and I’d seen some property in New River (a rural community a bit further north) that looked interesting, so we headed out after breakfast. Geri found the shoes she’s been looking for (she’s still trying to convince me that women’s shoes need to be replaced after 4-6 months while men’s can last for years) at a specialty shop, so the trip was deemed a success early.

We’re not exactly in the real estate market, but we’d love to find a piece of land where we could a) build a small house laid out they way we want and b) has room for the coach to be parked on-site. It’s still a “buyer’s market”, and may be for the foreseeable future, so we’ll continue to poke around on “realtor.com” and the MLS sites. It would be nice to pick up the land while the market is soft, and wait to develop it until it turns and we can sell our current place for a reasonable price in 2010 or so. We have the advantage that we can live in the coach so we won’t be “house-less”.

After our drive in the country, we stopped at Whole Foods and ended up getting a couple of dry-aged steaks and some potatoes for fries. It turns out we were both thinking Steak Frittes – excellent! I overcooked the steaks slightly even at 3 minutes per side, probably due to inexperience with dry-aged beef and a not noticing that they were a tad thinner than I usually get. It’s also time to change the oil in the deep fryer (and probably replace the deep fryer as well), so it wasn’t the perfect meal. Good, but not great. I’d grabbed a bottle of value Australian wine, the 2005 “The Stump Jump” Shiraz from d’Arenberg. We’ve had prior vintages of this wine that I wasn’t thrilled with, but the 2005 was quite nice, with lots of fruit and good balance. I’ll have to get some more of this one.

Today, it was time to get back on the project list; no more being sick. Geri found a few recipes that she wants to try out, so she spent the day developing a meal plan and shopping. I got a few leftover items completed (added a second brace to the satellite dish for stability, touched up the paint on the trim installed over the cables) and started to put things back in order in the workshop side of the garage. I had quite a few things “out” and it was in need of a dedicated clean-up. I also managed to address a couple of things needed for our trip, like getting Geri’s motorized scooter (really helpful at rallies) charged up and making sure my mountain bike is ready to hang on the bike rack. I’ll dust off the to-do list tomorrow, so this coming week should be much busier.

Tonight, Geri’s making the most humongous empanada that I’ve ever seen. Actually, it a Food Network take on a chicken pot pie, starting with a whole chicken done in a stew, and then baked inside various layers of puff pastry. Sounds like I’d better get going on picking a wine!