New Kitchen, Art of the Table and other ramblings...

We are literally counting down the days until the professionals at HWC begin the demolition and then construction of our new kitchen. As you can see by the counter to the right of this post, we are just a scant week away from the start of the project. Last week, I went on line and ordered all of our new appliances, using the GE Employee Store to purchase a range, fridge, dishwasher, microwave and a beverage fridge. Needless to say, life will get a little messy and challenging for us for the 3-4 weeks it will take for the new kitchen to be finished. Dee and I are expecting to be eating a lot of take out and visiting local eateries for most of the month of August. Thus, I am trying to make the most of the days remaining, cooking meals at each opportunity. Last night was no exception. Dee and I went to Sam's Club to fill up her car (the last time we got gas for her car was on May 28th!) and to look for some bargains. We came upon a three pack of ribeye steaks that were on sale, so we snapped that package right up.

So the next question facing us was what kind of wine should we get for the meal? Dee received a gift certificate for the Art of the Table for some freelance photography work she did a few weeks ago. As I have posted here in the past, Art of the Table is a favorite place to spend our disposable income. When we got there, our friend Amy was working and she said to Dee, "We had a wine tasting the other night and I realized that I should have called you! We will not make that mistake again." It is nice to be missed.

We told Amy what we were planning on making for dinner on Saturday night and she recommended a Spanish wine called Vizcarro. She did not need to tell us twice. We snapped up a bottle of the 2004 vintage for our meal. About an hour before I fired up the grill, I seasoned the steaks with a little salt & pepper, plus some pressed garlic. I covered the steaks with some foil, cracked an oat pop, and waited for the seasoning to do its magic with the meat. Half an hour later, I opened the wine, decanted it and waited for the the process of oxidation to bring out the best in this vintage. About two beers later, I prepared a fire and put the steaks the grill. Sixteen or so minutes after the steaks went onto the grill, they were done and after a few minutes of resting, we began our meal. To say that the wine was perfect would be an understatement. This potent potable was smooth as silk and stood up to the ribeyes like a champ.

The morale of this story is simple: Life is too short to drink cheap wine... or beer!