March 17, 2008
Peoria, AZ
Actually, we felt 3 or 4 raindrops yesterday, but more on that later.
Late last week was a blur of mundane activities: shopping, house cleaning, etc., once we finished up Geri’s dental appointments for the week. She was able to successfully get through the process of installing the first two dental implants on the lower left, and a fitting for a replacement crown on the upper right. We’re about halfway done with this process, and she’s been an excellent patient.
One of my tasks for Friday was to get started on a recipe we’d planned for Sunday. We make a nice grilled leg of lamb, and it’s at its best when it has a chance to marinate for 36-48 hours. On Friday night, we headed to the airport to pick up Rick and Annette. Their flight was close to on-time (9:25 PM arrival vs. scheduled 9:10), and the delay at baggage claim wasn’t too bad, so we were home by 11:00 PM-ish (or 1:00 AM-ish Alabama time). We motored through most of a pizza and a bottle of Chianti as a snack, and turned in pretty quickly.
Saturday evening, Rick and Annette had a dinner date with an aunt who lives in Mesa, about 45 minutes away. We did a little shopping during the day, and they left around 3:00 PM for their visit. Geri and I had Chilean Sea Bass with a mushroom sauce over rice and peas with a nice Santa Barbara County Pinot Noir from Longoria that we’d brought back from our recent trip.
Yesterday (Sunday), the weather turned cooler as a cold front passed through. Unfortunately, this was the day I’d planned for an outing to the local “Cactus League” spring training baseball game. We bundled up a bit as temperatures only topped out near 60°F, and we felt a couple of raindrops as a stray gray cloud passed overhead. We could see clouds dumping rain somewhere off in the distance, but it stayed pretty dry in our area. We could actually feel the front passing through, and watched the wind shift from the south to the northwest as the game progressed. Since this shifted the wind from our backs to our faces, we all looked at each other when we were standing for the “7th inning stretch” and said, “We’re outta here”. The ‘home team” Seattle Mariners (our local sports complex is shared by the Mariners and the San Diego Padres for spring training) were getting thumped by the visiting Milwaukee Brewers anyway.
At home, Geri did most of the prep work for dinner while I apparently took a nap (I don’t remember it this way, but the vote was 3-1 against me). The lamb hit the grill at 6:20 PM and we were eating by 7:00. Coupled with Geri’s famous Crispy Smashed Red Potatoes and sautéed haricots verts (French green beans), it was a pretty good meal. We started with another of the wines we’d brought back from California, a 2005 Longoria “Blues Cuvee” blend of several different grapes. It was a little rustic, but a good starter with salad. We moved to a 2003 Two Hands “Bad Impersonator” Shiraz from the Barossa Valley in Australia (excellent with the lamb; quite flavorful and fruity), and ended with a 2000 Bordeaux, Chateau Potensac from the Médoc (smooth and refined).
Today should be a nicer, warmer day, but we decided to put off the day trip to Sedona until tomorrow when it’ll be even nicer. We made huevos rancheros (no, they weren't green in honor of St. Patrick) with the leftover lamb and potatoes from last night (and any other leftovers handy in the refrigerator), so we’re primed to tour Old Town Scottsdale in a bit. This means I’d better stop typing and start getting ready…
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