Happy New Year!

January 1, 2008
Peoria, AZ

Welcome to 2008! As usual, it seems that the past year has flown by, and we’re looking forward to the new year, even though we don’t have firm plans beyond the next 10 weeks. I suppose it’s time for resolutions, but we’re not big on that process so nothing’s come up in discussion. If I had to pick a couple of things, it’d be to continue our approach of eating better, fresher foods, and to continue traveling slower and off the Interstates. We’ll see…

One correction to my last post: I was wrong about what Geri was making for dinner. Well, sort of wrong. It was the same chicken stew/pot pie recipe but, instead of the large filled dough version I’d seen on the TV show she was watching, it was done in oven-proof bowls with the dough baked on top. Still excellent, though, and paired nicely with a 2000 Bordeaux from Chateau Puygueraud that I’d picked up as futures in 2001. Wine futures are a kind of crapshoot, where you pay for the wine up front, while it’s still aging and before it’s bottled, and then wait a couple of years for it to arrive. I bought three cases, each from different producers, from Zachy’s, a high-end wine retailer outside NYC. I’ve let them age; this was the first one opened. It was smooth and elegant, perhaps a little tight, and should serve us quite nicely over the next decade or so.

Yesterday was a quiet day. Geri had Physical Therapy (it seems to be helping quite a bit) and some shopping to do, and I managed to putz away the day without getting too much accomplished. We talked about having our traditional lobster feast for dinner, but I’ll have to admit I just wasn’t in the mood. Of course, this appears that I’m anti-tradition. I don’t think that’s the case, but who knows?

Instead, Geri tried another Food Network recipe she liked, and it was definitely a keeper: pasta with mushrooms and artichoke hearts. She added her own touches, a little bit of chorizo and some sautéed shrimp. We ran into our neighbor, Clisby, wile we were walking the pups and she wasn’t doing anything special, so she joined us. Because of the heavy mushroom influence, I chose a Pinot Noir, the 2004 Longoria Santa Maria Valley Bien Nacido Vineyard. We’d picked up this wine early in 2007 when we visited their tasting room in Los Olivos, which is about 20 miles from where Geri’s sister lives. It’s beautiful out in the Santa Ynez valley, and we’ll visit there again in early-March.

Today, we’ll probably start packing up the holiday decorations, and it looks like I’ll finally be able to get back to shorts and sandals as it’s warming up nicely.